Reddit Is Working on a New Front Page Algorithm

[ble]

The discussion in the article makes it seem like they are considering an adjustment for the fact that many users only view the front page, creating a somewhat artifactual disparity in votes received between front page and non-front page submissions.

Sounds like a plausible explanation, good intuition, and a good idea.

[Artistry121]

I wonder if they could have an algorithm that changes based on the user - regardless of if they're logged in.

If someone (judged by ip address or cookies) often reloaded or came back every 20 minutes or so the front page could become more variable to provide new content.

[yummybear]

There are also an advantage to everyone having the same frontpage (r/all). A lot of what makes reddit reddit is the meta discussions relating to the frontpage.

[r721]

They could just make 45 000 (in this formula: http://amix.dk/blog/post/19588) a used-defined parameter, the formula basically means tenfold increase in score should be approximately during 45 000 seconds (12.5 hours) for submission to stay. Make it 4 hours for those who want a less stale front page or even 2 hours.

[deong]

I imagine there would be a significant backlash if it came out that reddit was explicitly acting on knowledge of a persistent profile of you that persisted across logging out or logging in on a throwaway account.

[smcl]

From what I understand getting to The Front Page of Reddit is pretty big deal for some folks (or so I can tell from some FB friends' screenshots\comments they've posted - it's not my thing). I suspect that changing it so everyone (or some) people see a different front page would diminish the prestige of that and maybe make Reddit less special for some people.

[rip747]

I imagine the main part of the algorithm will be:

weight = title.toLowerCase().indexOf("cat") < 0 ? 0 : 1000;

[lfowles]

Isn't it written in python?

weight = 1000 if "cat" in title.lower() else 0

[anthrophuman]

why does reddit get so much press coverage now? a whole article talking about their front page? or is there just a lack of real news to cover

[jkoebler]

Hey, I wrote this article. We cover the internet and internet culture—Reddit is a massive, massive website that has very real impacts on the media and on what the average internet user sees on a day to day basis. As a reddit user, I saw dozens of threads complaining about the front page algorithm, so I decided to look into it. I emailed Reddit and asked what the deal was, and their CEO wanted to talk about it. We write about Reddit maybe 2-3 times a month and this took me only a couple hours to write. Felt it was important.

Reddit has major problems with its community and racism and sexism and the like, but it's still a hugely influential website so changes to how it works is important

[seren]

Reddit is a YC company, so it is discussed frequently on HN.

[Phlarp]

It's possible this is just a submarine after a few months of negative press. I have to imagine they hired a serious PR firm after all the drama over Ellen Pao and random firings.

[pwython]

Its the 11th most popular website in the US (according to Alexa) that many people rely on for information and entertainment. When you're that big and make a mistake, the backlash becomes the entertainment.

[mahranch]

> why does reddit get so much press coverage now?

They're the 10th largest website in the U.S. I think the question should be; "Why does reddit see so little press coverage?"

[thornofmight]

It's also a Vice article.

[billybilly1920]

If they would have converted the school shooting story to a funny gif or an image demeaning to women, I'm sure it would have trended to the top of reddit within seconds.

[on_]

Bit distasteful, no?