This is a key reason behind my discomfort with social media. The algorithms that seem unresponsive to clear signals of intent was the last straw. Ended up leaving YouTube over the incessant push to new channels and ragebait shit.
Anyway, lemmy might be a cesspit at times, but its a cesspit I can choose/not choose, to engage with, and thats some nice anti-monopolisation of my online experience in the design.
Maybe it’s time for the return of curated lists. Back in the day (even before the web) there used to be people who organized lists of videos to rent, books to read, etc. why not bring it back in a lemmy channel or some other trusted service. Just curated lists of specific videos.
It’s not as easy to find good, living blogs/sites off major platforms but if you can a lot of them do this. Book Notification has a weekly list that you can opt into, for example. The Indie RPG Newsletter has tons of TTRPG recommendations.
I think we’re back to the point where things need to spread by word of mouth though, because discoverability is so difficult for little indie blogs.
You can have those in the fediverse on Pixelfed and Mastodon. The problem is that then the people you can follow are only middle-aged Linux/Star Trek nerds and the occasional organic farmer.
I’m only hearing upsides here.
Don’t forget middle aged bike activists and tankies
And, there’s also that monkey with infectious disease that scaped the crash site of the truck that was carrying them