Zulip Chat Archive

Stream: Zulip meta

Topic: is it expensive to start new streams?

Jalex Stark (May 13 2020 at 20:46):

my impression is that the problem of "stream bloat" is not bad except insofar as "streams that users are automatically subscribed to"-bloat is bad. anyone else have thoughts?

Mario Carneiro (May 13 2020 at 20:47):

Everyone gets notified about new streams, which is a bit more than the average ping level

Kevin Buzzard (May 13 2020 at 20:48):

I think this is an important question and am pleased you raise it, but I am not sure I know the answer. It's different for the "regulars" -- we know what we're doing and can subscribe and unsubscribe to the public streams at will.

Patrick Massot (May 13 2020 at 21:08):

I'd like my subscribed stream list to continue fitting on my screen height.

Patrick Massot (May 13 2020 at 21:09):

But you can create as many HoTT or program verification streams as you want.

Jalex Stark (May 13 2020 at 21:15):

okay, it seems like knowing the answer to this question requires knowing what the new user experience is like and knowing how "too many streams" changes it

Jalex Stark (May 13 2020 at 21:16):

I'll try to gather data and/or introspect on this and return results in this thread

Mario Carneiro (May 13 2020 at 21:23):

I would also like that, but unlike patrick I'm subscribed to everything

Jalex Stark (May 13 2020 at 21:24):

I think i am subscribed to everything and just want my pinned streams to fit on my screen height

Mario Carneiro (May 13 2020 at 21:25):

pinned streams?

Jalex Stark (May 13 2020 at 21:26):

in the browser version of zulip, when you hover over the name of a stream, there's a little arrow for an options menu

Mario Carneiro (May 13 2020 at 21:26):

oh, there is yet another kind of attention you can give to streams

Jalex Stark (May 13 2020 at 21:26):

which includes "Pin stream <stream name> to the top"

Jalex Stark (May 13 2020 at 21:27):

real life attention is divisible (not infinitely, only up to machine precision of neurons), so attention systems should be too :)

Jalex Stark (May 17 2020 at 14:15):

:light_bulb: from @Scott Morrison: in order to create a new stream, you should have evidence that a large fraction of active users would prefer not to subscribe to it after learning about its existence

Scott Morrison (May 17 2020 at 14:16):

Ha! Here's another stream which I would have liked to know about, but didn't notice until @Jalex Stark just subscribed me. I wondered how everyone suddenly knew about hashtags. :-)

Jalex Stark (May 17 2020 at 14:17):

is it worth your time, right now, to browse the list of all streams for 2 minutes?

Scott Morrison (May 17 2020 at 14:18):

Not right now, because I need to sleep. :-)

Jalex Stark (May 17 2020 at 14:19):

Good night!

Last updated: Dec 20 2023 at 11:08 UTC