Boost expansions!

Hey Minds,

Yesterday we launched a few significant upgrades to Boost in direct response to your requests. The changes will give you more control over the content in your feed, as well as allow for more types of content to be boosted.

With these upgrades, not only will you have more freedom to say what you want, but you will have more freedom to see what you want as well.

Boost has been one of the driving forces behind the success of Minds, providing our growing community a way to promote their content, allowing countless voices to be heard that may have otherwise been lost to algorithms they have no control over. In case you are unfamiliar with how to Boost your content, visit https://minds.com/boost.

Your feedback on the Boost system has been very important and we are grateful for all the suggestions on ways to improve it. With your input, we are pleased to offer you even more control of your Minds experience.

NEW BOOST SETTINGS

The way that we have been able to amplify everyone’s voice is by placing a “Boosted’ post every 12 spots in the newsfeed. Some users love being presented with content they haven’t subscribed to, while other users, well, don’t. Both are valid viewpoints.

Because we are a small (but growing!) team, building the software to give users more control of the boosted content has taken some time, but we are happy to offer the following new Boost options which can be found by tapping the dropdown arrow above the boost at the top of your newsfeed:

1. Minds Plus -  Because we understand that some people only want to see content from channels they have subscribed to, we have launched the ability to opt-out of boosts by subscribing to Minds Plus.

2. Default - This is a moderated feed that is family friendly and will be the default setting for all new users going forward. 

3. Open - New users must opt-in to this feed and acknowledge that they are willing to see content that may be controversial. Please take note that all current users will already be opted-in to this setting because that’s how it was when you signed up. Boosts in this option will include both the family friendly and more ‘open’ material. Users may then additionally opt-in to receive content tagged “explicit” without any filter.

And finally, we have made it easier to send/receive boosts to and from preferred Categories to increase engagement across the spectrum.

BOOSTED CONTENT GUIDELINES

Until this point we have had a policy that NSFW (Not Safe For Work) content cannot be boosted because of our lack of configurable settings. Because this differs from site content policy, which allows any content legal in the US, this distinction was confusing to some users. Now, with the new tools, we are able to allow NSFW and explicit content to users who choose to opt-in.

If, however, your boost is rejected, it will be for one of the following reasons:

1. Illegal under US law

2. Encourages or incites violence

3. Threatens, harasses, bullies, or encourages others to do so

4. Contains personal and/or confidential information

5. Maliciously targets users (@name, links, images, or videos)

6. Impersonates someone in a misleading or deceptive manner

7. Spam

Appeals on Boost decisions will not be boosted, but will be redirected to the appeals system.

Please note that this is also our Site Content Policy, so any violation of these terms may also result in the banning of your channel from Minds.

If your account has been banned from Minds, you will receive an email informing you of this, which you can respond to directly if you wish to appeal. If your Boost has been rejected, or your content has been removed or reported for violating our Terms of Service, you will receive a detailed notification and will have the option to appeal. This is located in your settings under Reported Content.

Finally, we have also made a few changes to Boost notifications and you will now only receive notifications for the following:

1. Your Boost has been fulfilled (applies once all of your requested views have been met)

2. Your Boost has been rejected (includes the reason for rejection).

If you wish to check on the status of your Boost, simply go to the Boost section of your wallet.

To bring it back to a human level, you know that our goals lie in both user control and freedom of speech. These two elements need to be balanced in order for Minds to remain open and accessible to people from all across the spectrum.

It’s our opinion that allowing a free and open exchange of ideas is the best way for good ideas to win. Censorship causes the worst ideas to move to more isolated echo-chambers, fester and grow. Despite possibly causing a temporary sense of feeling better in the short-term, banning people and ideas (legal ones) is simply not getting at the root. It’s pushing dust under the rug causing “The Streisand Effect” to take effect, which is when censorship unintentionally causes MORE attention to be drawn to the ‘objectionable’ content.

We encourage people to utilize our extensive blocking and reporting tools (which can be found in the drop-down menu on posts and channels) if they see people or content that they don’t want to interact with again.

Boost will continue to evolve and we are making changes directly in connection with the feedback we are receiving. Patience is critical. Constructive criticism is also essential. If you have an idea or problem, propose a solution in the Support Group. Better yet, write the code or get your developer friend to help in our free and open source repository. We do not restrict your access to our code or development process like nearly all other major social networks. We want to do this together to co-create a manifestation of all of our minds.

Thank you!