⚙️ Control your Feed Preferences - Fixes & Updates Coming Soon 🛠️
Similar Worlds has now for the first time since our launch 5 years ago, upgraded our Default Feed's algorithm, from being purely 100% Chronological, to now taking into account Both Content Relevancy and Time of Post.
[i](This is something we have been letting users know, for years, is planned and being worked on.)[/i]
We understand that after 5 years of being accustomed to one specific feed format, this change will be "Drastic" to most users, and can seem confusing and uncomfortable initially. We do apologize for that, and ask that you please bear with us.
However, we do believe, and have already begun to see, that many users are beginning to understand and get more comfortable with the recent changes.
We also understand that such a major cannot have a perfect initial release, as much tweaking and improvement needs to be done, as we test the performance and results of these changes, and listen to user feedback.
[sep]
As some users may have noticed, the "Customize Feed" options are currently unavailable, but are being worked on and will be Upgraded to offer more control, and compatibility with the new Feed Structure.
Certain amount of user feedback was needed (which has been helpful) to help us finalize what customization options will be offered, and how they will function.
[i]Some of the options that will be made available very soon:[/i]
[c=004A59][big]Customize Feed[/big][/c]
[b][u]Show more of:[/u][/b]
[b][i]Friends & Following:[/i][/b] 🔲 Everyone | 🔲 Mix | 🔲 My Friends & Following
[b][i]Subscribed Groups & Categories:[/i][/b] 🔲 All Groups | 🔲 Mix | 🔲 My Groups & Categories
[b][i]Comments in Feed:[/i][/b] 🔲 Less Comments | 🔲 Mix | 🔲 More Comments
[b][i]Post Order/Sorting by:[/i][/b] 🔲 Time Posted | 🔲 Mix | 🔲 Most Relevant
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[b][u]Additional important notes:[/u][/b]
• The New/Smart Feed changes does take some time to initially "Warm Up", to sort itself out. The Stability of these new feed changes should improve with time, and with your usage of the feed, and regular interactions with other users.
• Your "Own Posts" appearing in the Home Feed, will likely be returned soon.
• The new Feed changes are not "Random", but they are also not purely Chronological, as have been for the past 5 years. The feed now takes into account, Users and Groups you Follow and interact with, as well as the recency (time) of the content (Post/Comment).
• The more often you see a particular Post/Comment in your feed, the more it will slowly begin to "Drop" lower down the list of posts in that feed to you. This helps you to see more content you may not yet have seen, and less of the same, each time you visit the home feed.
• We will be continuing to improve and adjust these changes, based on user feedback and analysis.
• [b]Customize Feed[/b] (Control your Feed Preferences), will be returning very soon, as mentioned above.
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Thanks for reading, and for your feedback. Kind regards! [i][c=005E2F]- The SW Team[/c][/i]
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[quote]However, we do believe, and have already begun to see, that many users are beginning to understand and get more comfortable with the recent changes.[/quote]
At the time of writing this, this thread sits at a 16-to-1 ratio of thinking your changes are good. This was posted very recently too. Seems like you are just trying to play it off to us as if we are blind to what other people think. https://similarworlds.com/groups/community/4097691-Are-the-new-SW-changes-user-friendly-or-necessary
[quote]Certain amount of user feedback was needed (which has been helpful) to help us finalize what customization options will be offered, and how they will function.[/quote] I mean, you could have run an opt-in beta test, or simply asked instead of thrusting this upon us and seeing what seams rip apart.
[quote]The New/Smart Feed changes does take some time to initially "Warm Up", to sort itself out. The Stability of these new feed changes should improve with time, and with your usage of the feed, and regular interactions with other users.[/quote] You could have pre-fed the algorithm for a while, run it in tandem with the old one a little before hiding/removing the old feeds. But hey, better to just make us all beta-tester for a product that isn't ready for prime time, am I right?
@PirateMonkeyCabinet I’m sure they tested it before implementing it? No matter how many tests you run, there are a few problems you somehow didn’t foresee before release, right?
@Sheer Bugs happen, sure, but a lot of this sounds like bad and avoidable decisions rather than actual bugs. Certainly doesn't feel like it was tested beyond the two of them (or however few they are) in the office. Not only that, they released it in an unfinished state without any prior warning.
In fact they have been given feedback in post prior to the release of the update about some of the issues that we now see (i.e. the importance of chronological order to some), yet still these issues ended up becoming a major issue here.
If they wanted feedback and help there are people here who would be more than willing to take part in constructive talks with them. There are people who'd be willing to help test it. They could have been given user perspectives, but it doesn't seem like that was important to them until after it blew up.
