A category can be set to show up to a maximum of 12 articles, and as far as I understand only 12 are compiled in the first place. This suggestion is therefore only relevant when a category is set to fewer than 12 articles (e.g. 6). In that case, when a content filter removes some of those articles, it leaves gaps and the category simply shows fewer articles than configured.
My proposal: backfill those gaps automatically with the next available articles (drawn from the pool of up to 12), so each category still reaches its configured count whenever enough unfiltered articles exist. This keeps the reading experience consistent. Today, filters can leave a category nearly empty during major events (e.g. a big sports tournament), when many articles share the same filtered keyword. The change would be invisible for users without filters, and simply give filter users the full number of articles they asked for.
Example: I set a category to 6 articles and filter out topics I don't care about (e.g. "football", "World Cup"). Normally this works fine. But during a major event, several of those 6 slots get filled by filtered articles, leaving only 2 visible – even though plenty of other relevant articles exist further down the list.
With this feature, the system would keep pulling from the next available articles until it reaches my count of 6 – the same articles I'd already see if I had set the limit to the maximum of 12.
This extends the existing content filter rather than replacing it. Right now the filter and the per-category count work against each other: filtering pushes the count below what I chose. My suggestion makes them cooperate. Other apps already do this – email clients and feed readers fill the visible list to its normal length instead of leaving blank rows, and recommendation feeds skip "not interested" items while loading more to keep the feed full.
