Afronary: Black People Stuff
Afronary.Com
A crowd sourced collection of web pages where the intended crowd is African Americans.
Registered members
- Submit links
- Decide what kind of hash tags go with the link
- The crowd decides if it likes or dislikes the link.
A straight forward algorithm determines what comes to the top
The algorithm for what you see is the same for all users and entries.
The math that positions the articles is as follows:
(likes - dislikes) - (TIMESTAMPDIFF(MINUTE, s.date_added, NOW()) / 60) + number_of_distinct_comment_users
1. Popularity Signal
(likes - dislikes)
This captures how positively the community feels about the story:
- More likes → higher score
- More dislikes → lower score
- Equivalent to a “net likes” value
This is the baseline of how users rate the content.
2. Time Decay (Freshness)
- (TIMESTAMPDIFF(MINUTE, s.date_added, NOW()) / 60)
This portion subtracts points as the story gets older:
- TIMESTAMPDIFF(MINUTE, s.date_added, NOW()) gives the total minutes since the story was posted.
- Dividing by 60 converts minutes → hours.
- Subtracting it applies a time decay.
Purpose: This keeps newer stories competitive. Older stories gradually drop unless they are constantly receiving likes, dislikes, or comments.
3. Conversation Activity Bonus
+ number_of_distinct_comment_users
This adds points based on how many unique people have commented on the story:
- If 7 different users comment → +7
- If 1 user comments 20 times → still +1
It rewards breadth of engagement, not spam or one person talking a lot.
Purpose: This helps surface stories that spark real discussion.
Afronary aims to reflect the pulse of the community and not the bias of its developers.
A system of hash tags can be used to categorize and find local resources. eg Search hashtags for #soulfood #southchicago
This is a personal project. My name is Phil Davis and a little more about me can be found if you click here.
A great deal of work remains to be done. But I think this is a pretty good start.
If you can help me with all the stuff I don't know about making a project like this big time that generates significant revenue -
contact me by clicking here.
Afronary.Com
is a community-driven content platform curated by and for African Americans.
By allowing members to submit web links, assign relevant hashtags, and vote on content quality,
Afronary empowers users to spotlight the stories, resources, and voices that matter most.
Hashtag system makes it
easy to explore everything from cultural insights to local services — like #soulfood in #southchicago.