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Thumbs Up (Like / Dislike) for Posts?

Started by Jim Stone, May 02, 2012, 04:10:19 PM

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climber

thanks for the link. that does look interesting. I'll check it out when I get some time.

the Karma feature just sux so bad, I can't even say how much. it really causes hassles when someone abuses it and some folks just do. a simple LIKE for individual posts is really something that I'll bet a lot of folks would like. I don't understand all the negativity about it. oh well...

[sigh]

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FrizzleFried

Quote from: climber on February 05, 2013, 08:59:44 PM
thanks for the link. that does look interesting. I'll check it out when I get some time.

the Karma feature just sux so bad, I can't even say how much. it really causes hassles when someone abuses it and some folks just do. a simple LIKE for individual posts is really something that I'll bet a lot of folks would like. I don't understand all the negativity about it. oh well...

[sigh]

FWIW... any user that gets bent out of shape over "karma" isn't a user I want on my forum...

It's the internetz people... why so serious?

;)


Irisado

Like/karma are both as bad as each other in my opinion.  They can be easily abused, and I don't think that either should ever become default features.  Like, in particular, is the domain of awful social networking sites, and blogs, and fora are supposed to be different to these.  Let's not try to mimic them is my advice.
Soñando con una playa donde brilla el sol, un arco iris ilumina el cielo, y el mar espejea iridescentemente

Arantor

QuoteThey can be easily abused, and I don't think that either should ever become default features

Well, karma has been a default feature of SMF for most of a decade if not a full decade.

Likes can be abused but it's far harder to actually abuse them from experience.

Irisado

Quote from: Arantor on April 04, 2013, 12:42:19 PM
Well, karma has been a default feature of SMF for most of a decade if not a full decade.

Yes, you're right.  It's just that most SMF fora I visit never had it, or turned it off, so I forgot that it was default.  I'd bin it as a default feature if it were up to me.

QuoteLikes can be abused but it's far harder to actually abuse them from experience.

Maybe, but I think that they discourage people from posting.  People are naturally lazy, so if you have a like button, instead of posting a substantive comment when they agree, they may just click a button instead.  This goes against the philosophy of a forum in my opinion, since the whole point is to actually post, not to click like buttons.
Soñando con una playa donde brilla el sol, un arco iris ilumina el cielo, y el mar espejea iridescentemente

Arantor

QuoteYes, you're right.  It's just that most SMF fora I visit never had it, or turned it off, so I forgot that it was default.  I'd bin it as a default feature if it were up to me.

I think it's actually off by default too. Certainly is in 2.0. And yes, one of the first things I actually binned in Wedge.

QuoteMaybe, but I think that they discourage people from posting.  People are naturally lazy, so if you have a like button, instead of posting a substantive comment when they agree,

History shows that it hoovers up the '+1' and 'I agree' posts and that those who write a substantive comment would still naturally have written a substantive comment. Certainly that's what we've found on wedge.org.

Also note that there's no dislike button which means if you want to disagree, another round of posts ensues.

Irisado

Quote from: Arantor on April 04, 2013, 01:01:20 PM
History shows that it hoovers up the '+1' and 'I agree' posts and that those who write a substantive comment would still naturally have written a substantive comment. Certainly that's what we've found on wedge.org.

It may well do, but I just view that as another form of spamming.  I'd rather just delete said posts as spam, and explain to members that they need to post more substantive comments to comply with the rules of the forum in question.

QuoteAlso note that there's no dislike button which means if you want to disagree, another round of posts ensues.

A good point, although most debates seem to centre on disagreement, so I think that most people would post if they held a different view in any case.
Soñando con una playa donde brilla el sol, un arco iris ilumina el cielo, y el mar espejea iridescentemente

Arantor

QuoteI'd rather just delete said posts as spam, and explain to members that they need to post more substantive comments to comply with the rules of the forum in question.

Experience suggests that tends to discourage people from posting at all if they feel their comments may be deleted if they're not 'meaty enough'.

QuoteA good point, although most debates seem to centre on disagreement, so I think that most people would post if they held a different view in any case.

Bingo.

Irisado

Quote from: Arantor on April 04, 2013, 01:09:50 PM
Experience suggests that tends to discourage people from posting at all if they feel their comments may be deleted if they're not 'meaty enough'.

I'm old school on this, in that my belief is that if you don't have anything meaningful to say, don't say it at all, and that if you (impersonal) can be bothered to do is click a like button, then a forum isn't for you (impersonal).  I recognise that not everyone is going to agree with that, but it doesn't take much to make a decent forum post.  'I agree because...' doesn't take long, and is far more beneficial to forum users as a whole.

If I started a discussion, and lots of people just clicked a like button, I'd be really irritated, because I want to know why they agree.  Quality trumps quantity in my book.
Soñando con una playa donde brilla el sol, un arco iris ilumina el cielo, y el mar espejea iridescentemente

Arantor

That's the thing, if you agree with something, what's to say about it? There have been plenty of times on wedge.org where I've suggested something, maybe with screenshots, and there's not really a lot to say on the side of 'I agree with that because...' unless it's really strongly felt. Which isn't often.

QuoteIf I started a discussion, and lots of people just clicked a like button, I'd be really irritated, because I want to know why they agree.  Quality trumps quantity in my book.

Depending on the subject matter the reply could very quickly become 'I agree because everything you say makes sense' which is no more meaningful a reply in the scheme of things than a like.

Irisado

I can find plenty to say when I agree with something, but then I tend to be strongly in favour of things that I agree with.

There's also the case of partial agreement, where you agree with a lot of what's being said, but want to expand on certain points with more detail.  I used to see this a lot, but I think that people are just becoming too lazy, because of Facebook, blogs, and Twitter, and want to do everything via clicking a button.  I just don't like it, and I fear (perhaps unreasonably) that the whole concept of a discussion forum would be killed off if such a feature became default.
Soñando con una playa donde brilla el sol, un arco iris ilumina el cielo, y el mar espejea iridescentemente

Arantor

Again, experience suggests that people who have something substantive to say - partial agreement is also partial disagreement - will say it whether or not a like button is present. This has certainly been our experience on wedge.org where I added a like feature months and months ago.

We're still getting far more posts than likes ;)

I'd also note that XenForo actually added a facility to track the ratio of likes to posts for a given member and perhaps give them a trophy based on it.

Irisado

Quote from: Arantor on April 04, 2013, 01:39:38 PM
We're still getting far more posts than likes ;)

This is important.  As long as this remains the case, then I can't counter your points.  I'm worried that this wouldn't be the case elsewhere, but I am a great believer in qualitative cases, so I might take a look and see for myself :).
Soñando con una playa donde brilla el sol, un arco iris ilumina el cielo, y el mar espejea iridescentemente

FrizzleFried

Funny thing...

I run a facepunch rating mod tied in to the advanced reputation mod...

... and it's one of the more popular features of my forum.... of course I also have a badge system running that awards people for participating in posting, rating, and other such "fun" things.  It all depends on the type of forum you run.  My forum is a private "fun" forum designed to entertain and for the users to have a good time.  I have an arcade,  I run online chess,  I have the quiz mod running...

I have only 250 users or so thus far... but I'm averaging 312 posts a day.  Not bad for all private... no guests...

I'm happy... they're happy... we're all having fun.


Arantor

QuoteIt all depends on the type of forum you run.

This, in spades.

Kindred

honestly, I can see the point ot the like (call it thumbs up, or whatever)
Personally, I don't think I'd ever use it on a forum that I run...

There is some support for having it...  I'm just not sure it belongs in the core....   I mean, how many people actually use the existing mods?   We know that very few actulaly use karma, as it stands ...
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Quote from: Kindred on April 04, 2013, 02:09:34 PM
honestly, I can see the point ot the like (call it thumbs up, or whatever)
Personally, I don't think I'd ever use it on a forum that I run...

There is some support for having it...  I'm just not sure it belongs in the core....   I mean, how many people actually use the existing mods?   We know that very few actulaly use karma, as it stands ...

but its so much easier for me to click like than say I agree with you..

Arantor

Why do few people use karma? Because it's abusable. It's not based on posts, it's based on people and it has no accountability in the core (after a short period of time, the entry of who did what is gone, though there are mods for that)

Why do people prefer likes? Because they're tied to posts (and each person can only like a post once) and they're accountable (you can see *who* liked a post)

As for usage, partly it's down to presentation, partly it's down to support and partly because one of the actually-good not-crippled *free* mods is not even *on* this site.

xrunner

Quote from: Arantor on April 27, 2013, 08:22:27 PM
Why do few people use karma? Because it's abusable. It's not based on posts, it's based on people and it has no accountability in the core (after a short period of time, the entry of who did what is gone, though there are mods for that)

If it weren't for the mods that create accountability, I wouldn't use Karma.

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