Strategies are described for generating recommendations. The strategies generate a set of original recommendations based on a source of information. The strategies then transform the set of original recommendations into a set of similarity-spaced recommendations based on "repulsion force" analysis applied to the set of original recommendations. In a first implementation, the set of spaced recommendations represent a diverse sampling of items in the set of original recommendations. In a second implementation, the set of spaced recommendations represent a sampling of items in the set of original recommendations which omits or excludes recommendations assessed as obvious. A third implementation can combine the first and second implementations.