I don't think algorithms have to be bad, there's still room for experimentation with algorithms that don't just "maximize for engagement". I'd love a platform where I could customize my own discovery algorithm.

For example, I'd like to try out algorithms that:

+ Prioritize people who post less often

+ Prioritize people with less followers

+ Prioritize posts with less engagement

+ Let me manually choose people to prioritize/deprioritize

I'm not sure any of these algorithms would actually be any good, but the point is I want the freedom to experiment. I suppose this might be theoretically possible with ActivityPub/Mastodon, but I haven't seen any implementations.