I only use new to “refresh” my list of filtered content:
- AI generated images
- The bazillion of RSS bots that host no discussions and just post 5 threads in a row
- Non-English content that I can’t read anyway (not their problem obviously)
- Porn
- Thirsty anime models
- I probably forgot some more content I’m not interested in
Do you use “new” for anything specific?
edit: I listed “spam” in the title originally, I felt this was unfair
Yeah.
You get in early for discussions. You can catch stuff that needs reporting early enough that maybe someone else doesn’t have to deal with it. You catch lemmy trends sooner. You get any news that happens to show on lemmy earlier than you would otherwise with other sorting methods.
Plus, you also end up finding more new communities overall. You can still do that with other sorting methods, but it’s much more likely a new one will get buried. And you’ll never get that sticking to subscribed feed only.
Beyond that, the new sorting feels more organic, more alive because it’s flowing in the same time reference as you. It isn’t putting things in front of you because other people and some computer fuckery made it that way; it’s coming to you roughly the same as it gets posted.
It comes with drawbacks, but it’s still my preferred sort.