[Karrot_Kream]

Is there a rigorous definition of "engagement cage" or is the term just HN-tuned engagement bait? (:

Fundamentally content discovery is always an explore-exploit loop. What you tune the loop with is what makes it useful for any given purpose.

[nottorp]

> Fundamentally content discovery is always an explore-exploit loop

Is it? Or only when you do it for profit?

[Karrot_Kream]

Huh? "Explore" means to show the user new content. "Exploit" is to show more of the same content. You can say the HN algorithm does both as well: the front page shows a variety of topics allowing you to explore but the upvotes "exploit" shared interest by bumping it higher in page rankings.