whenever i see someone go "but how do i know who to follow?" i feel like i need to sit down for a minute, because i have never in my life let a computer tell me who to follow. i still remember twitter adding that as a new thing, which was mostly annoying
the context i hear this in is usually "how do i find the people i was already following elsewhere?" which is, imo, a legitimate concern. but i can't think of a design solution to this problem that comes without a dealbreaking tradeoff.
i legitimately do hear concerns from people who try to come here who really don't have any existing contacts that it's really hard to get settled because most discoverability is organic, through mutual shares, and... that... doesn't happen if you don't already know at least a few people to follow (or your interests simply do not overlap at all)
and like, i can sympathize - a lot of the tags like the global feed are knowledge you kind of... have to be familiar with the site's culture a bit to even know they exist, blindly searching tags and hoping something will be active and full of people you vibe with is poor odds
i can't say i know for sure what it's like firsthand, i came here with a modest cohort of people i already knew, but i think i can understand where people are coming from with this experience
i don't actually know what the answer is! i really like a lot of what this site does to make social a slower, less overwhelming thing. but like, i have one old friend who i don't think really knows many people here, isn't really into programming, electronics, cursed web bullshit, furries, and i dunno what to really suggest!
