Okay, fair point re. The Phrase That Shall Not Be Named. Move to replace it with equally meaningless word combo that gets same point across. Respectfully submit "value-affirmative feedback loop" for consideration.

I hear what you're saying in terms of granularity. Personally I like using follow more holistically- can't filter out one aspect of my friends/acquaintances in real life, so it's nice to take the same approach here. On the other hand, I can appreciate that Hubski doesn't have to follow the same mechanics of real life, and just because I view my interactions here through that filter doesn't mean that Hubski has any obligation to conform to those standards. On top of that, implementation of the above doesn't really preclude me from continuing to use the site as I like, so cool beans.

And I don't really have a problem with the "content discovery" part of it, goddamn cause you know how to sell something.

Pretty much any time I push back in the update threads, it's more or less against further filtration. Part of Hubski's charm, I think, stems from how many positive interactions it encourages through the absence of negative filter. Following a user is a big "yes" to said user. Sharing is a big "yes" to a post. Following tags, "yes" to the subject. And there's a lot of service paid to the obvious lack of a thumbs-down function. If a post or a user or a tag doesn't click, instead of actively nullifying discourse with the sad old downvote, you can just choose not to say "yes." And this new feature builds upon that, which I'm pretty sure you're getting at. It's the obvious potential for active filtering-out that harshes my buzz. No, I don't want to interact with this user. No, I don't want her comments coming up in my chatter. No, I don't want to consider this content. Nullifying action has a clear purpose- esp when it comes to spam or the rare troll- but it's also a pretty over-powerful tool. We already have so many ways to now actively filter voices out, I just see potential for this to become that.

Maybe it won't. Probably it won't. But I don't mind being the shrill voice in these threads piping in about unintended consequences re tools that allow for nullification. Whatever though, mountains out of molehills? Site's still sex no matter what.