# Thumbs up and laughing reactions **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 27, 2026, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thumbs-up-and-laughing-reactions/1034202 "2026-10-27T22:48:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thumbs-up-and-laughing-reactions/1034202/21 "2026-10-28T20:52:22Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > It looks like most users here have never seen a Discourse site with this > feature enabled. Here’s an example, for anyone curious, from Discourse’s own Discourse site: [Anyone else seeing a drastic drop in community activity for Support forums? - Community Building - Discourse Meta](https://meta.discourse.org/t/anyone-else-seeing-a-drastic-drop-in-community-activity-for-support-forums/405401) [![](https://fightingignorance.org/86d0937e-2de8-4857-9531-2376f212e37a-2026-10-28-1-51-52-pm-homuvqre.png) ](https://fightingignorance.org/86d0937e-2de8-4857-9531-2376f212e37a-2026-10-28-1-51-52-pm-homuvqre.png) ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thumbs-up-and-laughing-reactions/1034202/22 "2026-10-28T20:55:33Z")
One thought: I would hate to see the SDMB become reddit-like with upvotes/downvotes and all that jazz. But I don’t think, realistically, we’re at much risk of that. Our demographics are too old and have been here too long, I think, for a simple emoji reaction to drastically change the overall culture here. And the emoji alone would not likely cause an influx of newcomers either. Shrug. Seems like a nice-to-have, but not a hill to die on. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2026, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thumbs-up-and-laughing-reactions/1034202/23 "2026-10-29T00:09:10Z")
Thanks for the visual. That looks a lot like Facebook responses, and not a bad as I was picturing. I’m still happy without it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2026, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thumbs-up-and-laughing-reactions/1034202/24 "2026-10-29T01:27:47Z")
Given the Board’s general vibe, I think the first emoji we need to add is, “I’m being sarcastic here in case that’s not clear!” ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2026, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thumbs-up-and-laughing-reactions/1034202/25 "2026-10-30T21:36:48Z")
Another board I used to frequent (for an MMORPG in development that was cancelled), it had thumbs up and laughing emoji options. Just those two, and they were intended to only be positive reinforcement of posts, But the real result was that people used the LOL button to mean “mockery” and they effectively became the equivalent of a thumbs down button. It did not work at all how it was intended. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2026, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thumbs-up-and-laughing-reactions/1034202/26 "2026-10-30T22:10:57Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > So don’t create useless underbrush for the rest of us to have to hack through to get to the actual, you know, _content_ of the thread. You mean like the useless one-liners that exist _now_ which the OP was specifically trying to avoid? His suggestion would create _less_ “underbrush to wade through.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thumbs-up-and-laughing-reactions/1034202.md?page=1)