The debate on social media algorithms seems to be hotting up -- algorithms vs no algorithms? I use, fairly regularly, two plaforms that use algorithms -- Facebook and exTwitter -- and two that don't -- the Fediverse and BlueSky. And I am firmly on the fence. I think some algorithms are OK, and others not. Ones I don't like are those that suppress certain kinds of posts, not because of user preferences, but for perceived financial gain. Example: algorithms that show posts with links to fewer people. Microblogging platforms, like exTwitter and BlueSky, limit the number of characters in a post because one of their main purposes was to show links. A blog is, by definition, a weB LOG, showing web sites visited. Links are their raison d'etre. Penalising posts with links is counterproductive. Some algorithm;s can be mildly annoying. Recently I responded to a post on Facebook about an air crash that took place 50 years earlier, in which some relatives of my wife were killed. For the next few days, every second post on my Facebook feed was about an air crash, in which none of my or my wife's relatives had been killed. Does anyone else have some views about good and bad algorithms regulating display of social media posts, rather than saying they are all good, or dismissing them as all bad? #socialmedia #algorithms