I’ve noticed that the current sorting algorithms prioritize posts based on votes, which can sometimes lead to posts with high votes but few comments dominating the feed. This may not accurately reflect user engagement. On the other hand, sorting by “Most Comments” disregards votes entirely. I believe Lemmy should consider taking into account multiple user engagement metrics in their algorithms like comments, votes, time spent on a post, etc. What are your thoughts on this? Would you prefer a new sorting algorithm that combines various metrics, adjustments to existing algorithms to include more metrics, or do you like the current sorting algorithms available the way they are?
What is the goal? Is it to drive more comment engagement? To ensure that posts with comments outrank those without, if vote metrics are comparable? (Look at me, gathering requirements like a little business analyst, aww)
If so then I would say incorporating some sort of comment metrics (even simply comment count from unique users) seems like a good way to achieve the goal.
I admit I get a bit disappointed seeing posts with no comments. Sometimes the post is cool and I’m glad I saw it. But most of the time I don’t have anything to comment on, either. I am kinda here for the conversation more than anything.
Exactly what algorithm would work best requires some trial and error I suppose. And I guess we would have to refine what behavior we want. Would it be better to have a few posts with boat tons of comments, or many posts with a small number of comments? I vote for the latter. In which case one could maybe boost posts with some middle range of comments, suppress those with either “too many” or “too few”.
Idk I’m just brainstorming here