[mikehollinger]

I've had the same thing happen with book recommendations. While I was traveling for work more frequently, I picked my next books from the Hugo and Nebula award winning websites. I happen to enjoy space operas more than alternate history or fantasy books. After reading and rating a couple, Amazon / GoodReads' recommendations started recommending only stories that involve humanity venturing out into the void and (eventually) saving the galaxy. I happened to like the first recommendations. It saved me the trouble of looking up the next book to be devoured!

However, after six months of this, I noticed that I was stuck in a literary (can I say "literal?") reading rut that became increasingly obvious. Humanity discovers X. X becomes increasingly useful, but there's a hidden price. Y reveals the cost, and that humanity is now an underdog. Human Z, with side kicks, ventures out, and little did he know, plays an important role on the galactic stage.

Customization is nice in software. However - recommendation engines (today) seem particularly dim-witted, and result in the creation of a single-person echo chamber that becomes increasingly lonely the longer you spend interacting with it.