July: fewer repeats, better dates, shorter sign-up

Not every improvement comes with a new button. In July we spent time on the things that make the product feel more trustworthy.

Fewer duplicate events

FactsLane groups articles about the same happening into one event. Sometimes two groups described the same thing and stayed apart. We tightened the matching so that stories about the same event are far more likely to land together, and a slow drift in how groups were compared no longer pulls them apart. You see one event where there used to be two.

Podcasts and digests that don't repeat themselves

An episode of a podcast should not retell what the last one already covered. Episodes now take recent coverage into account: a story that already had its moment is skipped unless there is something new. When a story does come back, the episode picks it up as a continuation. The digest also gives repeats a lower rank.

More accurate event dates

We now track where an event's date comes from instead of guessing it. Wrong dates became noticeably rarer. That is still not where we want it, and we will keep working on it.

Shorter sign-up, less upsell

Creating an account on the web takes fewer steps, and the feed shows fewer prompts to upgrade.

Where you will notice it

Everywhere you read events: the feed, event pages, the digest and the audio shows.