Preference Engines Side-Effects in Online Retail

jasonla writes "The Los Angeles Times ran a Column One article about the impact preference engines have on consumer buying habits. From the article: 'In the physical world, I bump into all kinds of people by chance. But online, if recommenders were perfect, I can have the option of talking to only people who are just like me. There's a danger that if we don't have some level of shared interaction, it can be destructive to our social cohesion.'"

Comments

Re:Moderation system

[moviepig.com]

...online, it seems that these isolated communities are ever more cohesive...

With (ahem) a little preference-engine background myself, let me note that, except for extreme instances, /.'s moderation seems not at all "cohesion"-prone. This is because its critique is primarily positive, and usually about eloquence as much as content. I.e., an upward mod demands merely that you say something engaging and coherent. If you do, chances are fair that you'll ring someone's chimes. And, in turn, you'll read comments thus chosen, if only to see what caught someone else's fancy. It's hardly the same as a selective, self-reinforcing community... and may even have the unintended side-effect of expanding perspectives...