I've been on the site for -- god, 8 years now? (I deleted my first account or I would know for sure..) I used to be happy with a lot of the default content, but the site has naturally changed a lot in that time. I personally find all the AdviceAnimals/meme stuff to be mind-numbing and it is the default now.
The trending subreddits were a good idea and I think are along the right lines but usually only serve to expose some poor hobbyist subreddit to the drooling masses. There's been a ton of work on recommendation engines over the last decade or so, I think that personalizing the trending sr concept would not be so difficult and would be a fun project, possibly even a side project, based on your comment and submission history against some hand-picked baseline.
I just recently discovered /r/buddhism, and it's a pretty good and active sr, but I had seen and quickly dismissed /r/zen years ago and never thought to look further. Another case is that I develop an interest in something and just never think to check for an active subreddit, kind of like the Browns fan you mentioned. So even if you know what you're looking for you may not find it, even though it's right there, even though there may be a link for it right in front of you (the right sidebar is where information goes to die).
> I used to be happy with a lot of the default content, but the site has naturally changed a lot in that time
I'd like to filter out most of "easy consumption" content such as imgur images, and boost long-form, interesting reading articles, especially when they come with in-depth discussions. I am sure the reading level of a comment or article can be judged with machine learning, a way of scoring the "fluff-ness" can be devised and the feed cleaned up.
The trending subreddits were a good idea and I think are along the right lines but usually only serve to expose some poor hobbyist subreddit to the drooling masses. There's been a ton of work on recommendation engines over the last decade or so, I think that personalizing the trending sr concept would not be so difficult and would be a fun project, possibly even a side project, based on your comment and submission history against some hand-picked baseline.
I just recently discovered /r/buddhism, and it's a pretty good and active sr, but I had seen and quickly dismissed /r/zen years ago and never thought to look further. Another case is that I develop an interest in something and just never think to check for an active subreddit, kind of like the Browns fan you mentioned. So even if you know what you're looking for you may not find it, even though it's right there, even though there may be a link for it right in front of you (the right sidebar is where information goes to die).