Feature discussion - Reactions or Likes

[Melooon]

"like farming" - I really think that's exclusively a social media issue

I would be careful not be too sure about things like this. During the time that we used to have publicly displayed post counts on this forum, a number of people contacted me because they felt stressed and pressured to over post on the forum in order to build up their post counts. Its important not to underestimate the degree to which some people are influenced by metrics, even if those metrics have no actual affect!

someone else is putting something on my post.

That's a really interesting angle Iv not heard before.


An option that would be pretty easy to setup would be a stateless like system - e.g. you can like a post and it will send a notification to the poster to say x likes your post, but there would be no further record or log of that like.

[Marchy]

I would be careful not be too sure about things like this. During the time that we used to have publicly displayed post counts on this forum, a number of people contacted me because they felt stressed and pressured to over post on the forum in order to build up their post counts. Its important not to underestimate the degree to which some people are influenced by metrics, even if those metrics have no actual affect!

 

This is confusing to me and, quite frankly, disappointing. Post count metrics do have an effect; they unlock certain features like the ability to send gifts and affect your user level, don’t they? Like counts also matter, even if they aren’t directly tied to specific features. What I’m reading in this thread makes it sound like this community is filled with drama, pettiness, and bullying, but surely that can’t be true? It’s concerning to see so much anxiety and pushback over what I've always considered a very standard forum feature - one that I’ve used in every other community I’ve been in. Most of them even had badges and custom username effects that were unlocked as your post and like count grew.

I agree that metrics don’t define personal value, but they do have their own significance. If seeing those metrics is an issue for someone, the values could always be hidden behind a theme or an account-level setting. Even a post or topic-level setting could be useful.

Personally, I don’t mind whether these features are enabled or not (I’m new here after all!), but it would be nice to receive some feedback if my post was useful to someone. Even if they don’t have anything substantial to contribute to the thread, knowing that I’m on the right track is useful information. There's nothing better than getting a like on a super old post knowing that someone, somewhere, was still finding it useful years later. 

[Melooon]

This is confusing to me and, quite frankly, disappointing

Its called human nature When presented with some kind of reward metric, people are inevitably drawn to it, regardless of its affect, and some people are more able to manage that urge than others. I agree humans are confusing!

makes it sound like this community is filled with drama, pettiness, and bullying

I hope thats not the case here! However I think a lot of the internet is full of those things and that's exactly why people (myself included) are so resistant to allowing what they see as the tools of pettiness to be present here. How much those tools are to blame is up for debate, but they certainly do play some role in influencing the vibe of a place.

be nice to receive some feedback if my post was useful to someone

I think maybe part of whats important is that "nice to receive feedback" is actually a bit a creative loss. There's a huge power in creating things with no feedback; having no response and having to learn to trust your own inner voice to give your work value - eventually you will get some deeper feedback like and actual response or a thankyou email and that is so rewarding - that's something that I do think is worth exploring here, though I also don't wanna overly force it on others I just want this place to be different and offer something that is conceptually not like what the rest of the web believes is standard.

[dirtnap]

someone else is putting something on my post.

That's a really interesting angle Iv not heard before.

i'll be honest that it took me a few years to realise that's why i've always had such a visceral reaction to like features. i started blocking them so i wouldn't see them, and found myself wishing i could have a button on my account that turns them off so they don't display for anyone.

An option that would be pretty easy to setup would be a stateless like system - e.g. you can like a post and it will send a notification to the poster to say x likes your post, but there would be no further record or log of that like.

i don't have any objections to this approach! this effectively feels like an automation of the occasional "good post" pms i get on other forums. while i normally don't interact with like features, this system might even mean i'd use it occasionally.

in my opinion, things brings the benefit of a like feature (communicating approval without feeling pressured to write a detailed rply) without the worst downsides (a number going up; visible on the post itself).

i imagine some folk would still want to prevent themselves recieving likes, or at least to disable the notification (i may or may not become one of them in the future, depending on how much use the button gets) so i think a setting to do that might be a good idea.