The Sample
Productivity
newsletter discovery
SHOW HN2021
How HN took it
6 positive, 5 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 4 critical, out of 15 comments about the project. Thread score +0.12.
Idea: 3 for, 2 againstDesign: 0 for, 1 againstPerformance: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Novel use of recommender systems for newsletter discovery
From 3 comments
Very interesting use of reco engines! I always thought that the current state of newsletter discovery is very poor. At the same time, I would not be ok with a product owning the…
giansegato on HNThe sample newsletter looked interesting, so I signed up. Thanks for providing a sneak-peek.
beders on HNInteresting, thanks! Have signed up.
dmje on HN
Human curation combined with ML is a good approach
From 1 comment
I like that, so it's helping humans find the news but deferring the final selection.
visarga on HN
Objections
Recommendations feel poor for some users; many low-rated newsletters
From 1 comment
I've been signed up to The Sample for a few months now, getting one newsletter a day. Each newsletter includes a link to rate it from 1 star to 5 stars. I consistently rate the…
CallMeJim on HN
Risk of echo chambers from ML filtering
From 2 comments
Is there any mechanism to prevent you from forming your own super-echo-chamber? ML filtering only what you and your similar profiles like seems possibly have problematic…
desine on HNThank you for sharing your approach, I find it very interesting. I've worked in some systems that also optimize for "serendipity"[1], which is just optimizing not only for…
thegginthesky on HN
Categories are too broad
From 1 comment
I'm definitely interested! But.... NOTE: These are not criticisms so much as release 1.1 (or even 2.0) use cases.... The categories are too broad (and, for some use cases, the 21…
PeterWhittaker on HN
Requests
Diversity of viewpoints, not just topics
From 1 comment
Instead of 20% being completely random, could you instead present some newsletters that are completely opposite to what they prefer? For example, if someone actively reads…
atlgator on HN
Write-up or open-source of how the recommender works
From 1 comment
Thanks. I'll try that. > a surprisingly difficult problem for people not familiar with recommender systems Do you feel like open-sourcing and/or writing a post on how it works? I…
qwerty456127 on HN
Ability to set priorities across subscribed newsletters
From 1 comment
> Moreover investment of time on user side for newsletter delivering news increases with each newsletter vs One newsletter delivering what I want. You might be interested in this…
jacobobryant on HN
Questions
Can the system avoid forming an echo chamber?
From 1 comment
Is there any mechanism to prevent you from forming your own super-echo-chamber? ML filtering only what you and your similar profiles like seems possibly have problematic…
desine on HN
Why newsletters instead of news articles directly?
From 1 comment
Hey Jacob, Why Newsletters instead of News directly? (I read [2]) i.e. Personal curated news as that would apply to everyone who consumes news and just not those who consume…
Abishek_Muthian on HN
Alternatives named
The Factual
From 1 comment
> Moreover investment of time on user side for newsletter delivering news increases with each newsletter vs One newsletter delivering what I want. You might be interested in this…
jacobobryant on HN