Simple Machines Community Forum

I think if we'd released 2.1 in 2014 or so, likes would have been the thing of the day - but the world has moved on.

I think the next version should do reactions rather than just likes. (Fun fact, I originally wanted to do reactions back in 2013 but apparently it was thought to be too out there. Facebook didn't have reactions at that point in time.)

I'd also allow for assigning points to reactions to give a score. This way people could add negative reactions if they wanted; certain types of community certainly would benefit even if I wouldn't configure a negative reaction by default in install/upgrade.

FWIW,  we had a "facepunch reactions" mod that one of the awesome members here wrote but evidently didn't release back in 2.0.x ... which used the KARMA system to assign points, etc...

...we loved it!

Our current reactions mod is pretty decent, but of course doesn't include any kind of scoring system since the karma system has been removed...

It's still quite popular (the current reactions mod we are using).

There are currently 3 "reactions" mods out there that I am aware of.  Two are paid (of which I am using one) and the one free one that is here looks like it would be a pretty darned good starting point,  but alas,  it doesn't seem to want to register "clicks" in 2.1.1...

I do highly recommend a reactions mod for your forums though.  It improves engagement bigtime.

Quote from: Arantor on April 09, 2022, 09:25:05 AMI think if we'd released 2.1 in 2014 or so, likes would have been the thing of the day - but the world has moved on.

I think the next version should do reactions rather than just likes. (Fun fact, I originally wanted to do reactions back in 2013 but apparently it was thought to be too out there. Facebook didn't have reactions at that point in time.)

I'd also allow for assigning points to reactions to give a score. This way people could add negative reactions if they wanted; certain types of community certainly would benefit even if I wouldn't configure a negative reaction by default in install/upgrade.

  +1500  it would be great

I agree, but we should also make the points thing optional so people can just react like usual

Quote from: Arantor on April 09, 2022, 09:25:05 AMI think if we'd released 2.1 in 2014 or so, likes would have been the thing of the day - but the world has moved on.

I think the next version should do reactions rather than just likes. (Fun fact, I originally wanted to do reactions back in 2013 but apparently it was thought to be too out there. Facebook didn't have reactions at that point in time.)

I'd also allow for assigning points to reactions to give a score. This way people could add negative reactions if they wanted; certain types of community certainly would benefit even if I wouldn't configure a negative reaction by default in install/upgrade.

I like this idea.

Quote from: Oldiesmann on April 10, 2022, 11:20:25 AMI agree, but we should also make the points thing optional so people can just react like usual

Eh. The people who already want to gamify likes by showing counts on profiles etc. are already trying to imply a score of 1 on them before they start.

As ever, those who care won't care, those who do care will want to care very deeply.

Would rather make it not optional by design but give all the default reactions a positive score of 1 (with no negative-implied reaction configured by default)

We're the type of forum that would love to gamify such things!   Heck,  if it was possible to assign "Slogans" of sorts to point totals (that maybe reset after x time) that would even make things more entertaining...but then we're likely talking about a whole other mod...

;)

I'd definitely want to make some kind of points ladder into a mod at first. I'm not personally thrilled by the idea - but I know other platforms do integrate it.

I'm strongly of the view that we shouldn't try to get everything into the next version but get a working version, and see how people interact - and adjust accordingly. I'm also of the view of releasing *more* frequently.

As long as reactions are optional and don't replace likes.

Because I think not having such emoti(c)on-based interactions is sometimes desirable and it promotes more in-depth discussions.
Not every forum has to be optimized according to certain (ad-driven) engagement metrics.
Even likes aren't always desirable, but I think the distinction between mere likes and reactions is a meaningful one. So whatever you decide, allow us to keep using plain likes.

Maintaining two full systems together in the core platform is a non starter. I'd rather skip reactions than do that.

The envisioned outcome in that case is that you'd just have one reaction - like - and turn off the rest.

Reactions, functionally, are just another dimension of like.

Exactly.  "LIKE" is a reaction.  If you simply wanted "LIKE" only... just have the one reaction active.  You could then do LIKE / DISLIKE if you want... or any combination... or any number (up to a reasonable amount of course) of reactions.