Thanks a bunch! It took me a while to craft the solution to make sure it was both effective + private. I was originally inspired by Canopy. They built a news aggregator with private & personalized posts a few years back and the idea sat in my head.

To answer your question(s), there are quite a few signals that big tech uses to recommend content. Not all of them are privacy invasive (or at least they don't HAVE to be). My approach was to do thorough research on the different signals used by big tech to make their recommendation engines, and just build ones that 1.) were possible given fediverse API limitations and 2.) private. I had to craft some novel approaches to make it work but I'm pretty happy with the outcome!

One of the biggest differences between the "big tech" approach and Quiblr's is that most big tech does not keep data simply on your device. They store it in datacenters to build large social-webs to essentially cluster users (and push more relevant ads).

But I was able utilize many of the other signals used by big tech (e.g. communities you engage with, metadata of content you read, dwell time, post/comment/vote activity) and I designed it to work offline with no servers.

Edit: grammar

Everyone. NO EXCEPTION

I wonder who is funding such efforts 🤔

This dude is straight up frying avocado and rice

This is a fascinating read and very relevant given that Meta is moving closer to connecting Threads (per OP). The article gives a good example with How Google killed XMPP

You make great points. I think this should be one of the top goals for frontend Lemmy devs. Most users are not super technical. The fediverse (lemmy included) should work with minimal friction to be accessible.

If you're open to it, I'd love to get your feedback on my Lemmy frontend's onboarding and overall user experience. I've been trying to make it simple, effective, and accessible. I can DM you!

I built the Quiblr web app. I love the idea of being able to filter results for a given instance! I will see if I can push an update tonight

Edit: I pushed an update to implement Advanced Search options on the Communities Page. Given how the API works, community IDs are different between each Instance so you can't view the post feed on another Instance's community -but- I made a solution that lets you VIEW the communities on different instances (regardless of your home instance). If you are not signed in, you can change the instance with a single button push.

Hope your friend finds this feature helpful!

Not open source (at least yet). Quiblr has been a side project for me and I've never managed an open source project before lol I'm talking with a buddy on how that could work though because he manages a few open source projects

Also, I added an about page in Settings >> For You >> Learn More

That's a really good point. It's unfortunate that polyester tends to be the go-to cheap option for clothes

I would imagine that if bots accounted for so much traffic, we would see more steep vertical growth in numbers

Nobody could have predicted this. NOBODY! /s

This seems like a reasonable regulation from the government. These tire companies failed to self-regulate and innovate to replace these chemicals. This is the push they need to invest in a better process that is a good alternative

Notes! I’ll aim to add it to the next release. Thanks

Lots of great feedback. I'll try to address each:

• I tried to differentiate voting vs. "like/dislike" for the algorithm as to not confuse users who think they are logged in. I can put more thought into how to make this a bit more intuitive
• Quiblr is built as a progress web app (PWA) so it uses native app components. The benefit is that it is faster and easier to manage multiple code bases. But the con is that it doesn't have all the same benefits as HTML. I added an "open posts in new tab" feature in the settings
• I like the idea of added more body text in the post itself. My fear was that it would make the feed look too crowded, but I can take second look at it
• I love the tooltips idea
• The 3 dot ellipses has a Post Detail section for each post. Maybe this could be a good place to add the link back to the original Instance url.
• I like the scrollbar idea. I think this could make sense as an optional setting because I personally don't prefer the scroll bar but I want to include it for users who do prefer it
• I added a refresh button for users using the PWA version (since they don't have a refresh button in the browser). Maybe something like "pull down to refresh" could work on
• You should be able to press the "<" back button when viewing a community on mobile or just back in your browser. Both should take you back to your feed. Let me know if it isn't working as intended
• I'll have to see the API allows for removing downvoted items from feeds. I can try to get creative if needed

Edit: Added tooltips for post buttons + original url on the Post Detail page. I will continue to update this comment as I work through other additions in this list

Web based for now. IOS and Android apps are in the works!

Say what you will, exam nightmares are real

Thanks! I work on Quiblr in my free time as a side project. I've never managed an open source project on my own, but I'm working with a buddy who has experience managing open source projects. I'll let you know!

This community in particular or do you feel this toward all of Lemmy?

I used lemmy.world as the default for non-technical users or for folks who can’t decide. Users can still select different instances. Maybe it could make sense to default sign ups to a list of popular instances

Quiblr web app updated 😇

I really should have read the headline. I thought this was a drawing of an antfarm

Hank Green makes me feel slightly better about the laundry/dish pods. I love that guy and he's wicked smart

It seems that some are made of PVA. It is disputed how damaging PVA is in the water system. New York is considering a ban on it

Your comment made me smile! I've worked hard to make Quiblr a platform for the fediverse to be clean, modern, and accessible. Basically - remove all the friction that generally comes with fediverse apps

I chatted with the lemmy.world folks about a month or so ago and they mentioned that 0.19 wasn't fully stable yet. The Lemmy instances being split is a real pain for app developers lol can't wait till this gets resolved tbh

The recommendation engine doesn’t require users to log in. You would still need to log in to vote, post, comment, etc

Both

That's amazing! Congratulations on the career success!

This is why I've never scanned a public QR code. I wouldn't trust this random qr code to open a link on my phone. Which is unfortunate because I can see how it makes things easier for restaurants

This is already possible in many Lemmy apps. I built the Quiblr web app and messages are more similar to a messaging app. Many Lemmy apps probably do similar as it's just a front-end change.

I love this idea! Thanks for posting and hope you’re having a good weekend!

It's so expensive that the NYC subway used to be multiple private railroad companies but the business just wasn't feasible (at a reasonable price) when the market had a downturn - which is why the city eventually took it over.

This is why the track geographies are so odd in NYC

My mind immediately went to the Fire Phone

Quiblr is a frontend, so you are not bogging down my system :) It is designed to run on whichever Instance you use

Love to see more foldable options!

I was about to reply the same thing lol API is pretty limiting with what can be done. Gotta get creative!

THANK YOU! Im glad you love the UX and recommendations feature.

Can you elaborate what you mean on the back button? Pressing back on your browser scrolls to the top of your feed?

I've also been building a lemmy web client (Quiblr) and I can tell ya that these types bugs often come up due to API issues. Honestly, it can be difficult at times to know if it is actually an API issue or if it is an app bug. So app bugs go unresolved because they get written off as API issues lol The alternative is that you invest a lot of time trying to fix something, only to realize that it is out of your control

I think Lemmy's API issues will be fixed, but the growing pains are definitely there!

Great watch! Never knew I wanted to know so much about dishwashers

I can chime in on your second question

Instance owners tend to focus on making a sound backend that scales effectively. Im guessing SEO is not high on the priorities for instance owners. It takes time and is a mix of an art and science and it isn't really a 1 size fits all.

With that being said, I think the SEO will largely be on the front-end devs who build 3rd part apps that run on the various instances. IMO this makes more sense since front-ends can connect to all the various instances available so it's higher up the funnel.

Source: Experience working in SEO + developer of the lemmy web app Quiblr