A large part of my participation here - for better or for worse - is for exposure to people with different points of view. People like you! I will often come across a debate that I don’t want to heavily participate in, but find extremely interesting nonetheless. I’ll subscribe to the thread topic, or rather I won’t unsubscribe (these days Discourse will automatically watch topics I have read). Should I go that extra step and let you know I’m interested in the debate?
I used to think it would be more appropriate to just sit on the sidelines and watch. But all too often the conversation dies or moves in a different direction. I’ve toyed with picking up torches but let’s face it, it’s a lot of work (and introduces a lot of bias) to prep for a debate on someone else’s side, and I’ll never be as good as the real deal. Now I’m thinking, maybe I should just step in and say, “hey, that’s a really interesting point”. “I would love to read an argument against this”. Or pointing out little parts I agree with, or maybe parts I disagree with, without fully hijacking the thread with my own viewpoint. (Defending my personal viewpoint has the tendency to hijack the whole thread.)
I am not suggesting that anybody is under any kind of obligation to continue a debate for my viewing pleasure. Although I must admit that my motivation for piping in would in fact be to encourage people to continue a debate for my viewing pleasure… and I have mixed feelings about that.
It’s certainly culturally acceptable around here to pipe in. We don’t much care for just “I liked it” or “Go on …”, but a few sentences that show you actually read what’s been written is seen as a positive contribution.
Each thread has a natural lifetime that’s unpredictable. Trying to revitalize one that’s obviously flagging but hasn’t beaten the horse quit into burger yet is a good thing. But …
The later you are and the slower the thread has become, the bigger jolt of wake-up it’ll take to get it moving again. If you’re ill-disposed to put much effort into your quick-get-the-paddles! post, you’ll likely fail.
If you’re not willing to spend a few paragraphs pushing a particular POV you could at least Google up a couple useful cites or articles. We’d all gain from the fruits of your research.
Now that the board is on Discourse, I wish they would turn on the like button. A like is the perfect action to communicate “I appreciate your comment but have nothing further to add to this conversation”.
Now that’s a well-worn religious war around here. I’ll gladly take up the banner for the opposing view on that one.
“Likes” are pure clutter and encourage nothing but laziness.
I suppose I would not mind (much) if they didn’t appear as posts, but simply incremented some visible counter on the relevant post/thread. But a “like” button that results in a post, or worse yet a post with a full-body quote, are anathema. Og smash!
LSLGuy: “like” (grin!) (Seriously, I agree, “Like” buttons and counters are not really in the SDMB theme, which is more based on dialogue and content.)