Enola Gay likes this post 
I’ve got to agree with the OP. Likes - if anonymous - would actually help fight bullying, particularly when it comes to politics and the open hatred of Republicans and the political not-Left expressed by many on the board, especially when the poster is a moderator. I think people see the reactions to some posts and can be too frightened to express their opinions. Likes would be a safe way of expressing support.
As do I.
By all means, turn this place into even more of an echo chamber than it is now. And wonder where all of the old posters went.
Quartz, I think likes would just get drowned out. Or are you suggesting a system that merely tallies likes, and doesn’t allow for thumbs down?
Just likes, not ‘dislikes’.
If we have a “like” button I want a “totally despise” button so I can honestly express my reaction to “like” buttons.
Post #29 people! Believe it or not, it was a serious response to the OP.
We have 13 smileys available to us. If all someone wants to do is post a “like” or “dislike” with no other comment, all someone has to do is click on a damn smiley!
someone hadda known I was going to do it
Generally speaking, “like”=“I agree”, “dislike”=“I do not agree”. Now fot the most part, if you agree with everything that’s just been said (or posted), you don’t really need to explain why. You are signalling that you are of a similar mindset to the OP re the subject of the post. You dont have anything more to add.
Compare that to a “dislike” option; simply saying you disagree with the contents of a particular post doesnt really inform anyone of what your position or thought process is on the particular issue. All that a “dislike” button does is communicate negativity without substance.
This is why I make a distinction between likes and dislikes. Dislikes literally serve no valuable purpose whatsoever. They just serve to further ostracize unpopular posters and delegitimize unpopular positions without even fully challenging them head-on. And posters’ unpopularity can be a result of unrelated issues completely irrelevant to the discussion at hand (for example). Being able to “dislike” these posters’ posts without even engaging with them just makes ostracizing that much easier.
I’m on other boards with like buttons. This doesn’t happen there.
But it doesn’t add any more to the discussion than a like button does. And it’s more intrusive. I think it actually detracts from discussions. A way to show appreciation for a post without “+1” or “me too” to “I laughed” is far preferrable.
[hate button] hate [/hate button**] **:mad:
Having a likes system doesn’t mean sorting by likes. It doesn’t actually in any way impact who reads what. (Especially not on vBulletin, where the likes appear after the post, in a tiny font.)
What it does is reduce the friction towards voicing agreement. Thus you get more feedback on your posts. Yes, sometimes that’s irrelevant. But sometimes you want to know. You may want to know who agrees with you. If you offer advice, you may want to know if people find it helpful. If you make a joke, you may want to know if people found it funny. If you make an argument, you may want to know if people find it well argued. It can help with figuring out the right tone.
Sure, that information can be given just by posting, but it’s less likely to be done. People naturally will feel hesitance to post such a simple post, and take up so much room in the discussion. For example, I’ve laughed at many jokes people make here, but only the best get a post simply acknowledging that I found it funny.
Of course, sometimes you don’t care, and that’s fine, too. But it is useful when you do. It does not in any way create echo chambers or anything like that. It just makes people feel more appreciated when they post.
Even I notice I’m just nicer on forums with the ability to react positively to a post. They create are more friendly atmosphere.
I’ve thought about this since the last thread. I think it would make posts more stilted or maybe more crafted to ensure likes (or maybe to troll dislikes). I don’t think it would be a horrible thing, or ruin the board, I just don’t think we ‘need’ it. It would be interesting, in an intellectual way, to see what the lurkers and other 'dopers actually think of what’s being posted sometimes. It’s hard to gauge sometimes, as someone will post something I find interesting but basically agree with and just posting “I agree” always seems a bit weak to me, but if I have nothing to add I just won’t post it. But then I’ll notice that no one else commented either…does that mean others agreed or disagreed or just didn’t care?
How about an “I’m indifference” button.?
One problem with that is most posts have more than a single piece of information in them. If somebody “likes” my post, which part of it did they like? A mere click on a Like button doesn’t tell anyone what or why or how much you “liked”. IMO, most folks here prefer finer data rather than coarser.
Amazing how many people didn’t read the plain language in my OP (I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt and assuming they aren’t purposefully strawmanning). I said just “likes”, no downvotes. Just like Twitter, or really more like Facebook before they added new options. It wouldn’t change the order of posts or comments. It would just, as some here like BigT have described, simply let people register “me too” or “that was funny” or “my sympathies” without having to fill up people’s screens with posts that say that (which most people, as many noted here, are reluctant to do anyway).
If something is that worthy of merit, I post to that effect. I’ve done so on a handful of occasions. If it isn’t worth a special mention, then it really isn’t that noteworthy to begin with.
Facebook has taught me that a “like” button tends to be overused for politeness sake if for no other reason. I’ve developed a callous from pressing it so much. A lot of people do that, and that tends to make it trite with little real meaning.
A like button would be the worst of the 3 alternatives of the status quo, like buttons, and post/posting reputation. The like button would have all the problems with the post reputation with none of the benefits. “Like/+1” posts are not a big deal so their removal would not be a huge benefit.
If you had a way to dislike a post but then it still shows up in the same place in the thread, then the unpopular trolls would still complain about being bullied but you’d still have to read their unhelpful posts unless you hit ignore.
As an aside, many people who use the term “hive mind” are unable to parse nuance and divide people up into US and THEM, FOR or AGAINST. When if they actually engaged other posters in an honest discussion, they’d see people with much more complex minds.
That’s what I was thinking too- sometimes I suspect that people will kind of make the mic-drop post in a thread, and it’ll just sort of trail off, but it’s not always clear when that person has essentially torpedoed and sank everyone else’s arguments.
Having a “thumbs up” or “Like” or something like that button would serve that purpose as well.
That said, I wouldn’t be opposed to a negative equivalent- I think that just an indication of positive or negative sentiment for a post could be useful feedback for a lot of our posters- especially some of the more one-note and strident ones.
I’m new here but if a poster really wants to know how many people agree with them what about creating a poll? Polls convey more information than the Hobson’s choice of giving a post your “like”; at least they do when well designed.
If a poster doesn’t convey the want for such feedback at the time of posting, what value do mere tokens of appreciation add to the discussion?
I can understand being annoyed by notifications for replies that add no substance to the topic, such as “I laughed” or “me too” or “+1” or “like”. If the community thinks such posts are inappropriate for a forum they should say so; see for example rule 6 from General Questions Rules & FAQs: