what i'm learning from Mastodon is that there's a reason the algorithms exist:

most people will post interesting things some of the time, but only the occasional golden nugget.

the algorithm picks out stuff it thinks you'll like, plus the occasional random new post, to see if it sticks.

to get a feed that doesn't bore me on Mastodon, i have to curate my follows very strictly, since i don't even bother to check it if there's too much noise.

my home timeline is up against the algorithmic timelines of other social media that i lurk on, and it's tough competition, basically. it's much more work for me
to keep it interesting since i have to do it myself. living like the Amish with no technology...