Go Home, Algorithm, You're Drunk

Also: a new Broads HQ, and what are your personal Halloween carols?

As with most people, my personal Facebook usage has dwindled to what it was when I first joined: I like to see people’s photos, I check in with the few groups I belong to, and then I close it because they finally called my name at the doctor’s office. I mean, maybe if we were all still playing Scrabulous with each other… but Facebook became such a weird cesspool that I curtailed my time there considerably. However, I’ve dipped back in more frequently of late because my algorithm right now is — charitably — ON ONE. Or more accurately, the A.I. bots making up content for Facebook are terrabyting off waaaay more than they can chew¹.

Currently, when I visit the Book of Face, I see maybe one post from someone I know, and one from, say, the local teachers union group or the one I’m in that spawned Evil Witches Newsletter, and then three or four in a row from various fake entertainment groups with vague names — like Movie 3, or Netflix Movie Lovers — all of which make shit up left and right p…