Add a "like" option!

I've seen this kind of option on other forums, so why not add it here?

 

no

 

(USER HAS LIKED NOXID'S POST)

 

Well, we've heard our fearless leader's decree.

 

We still need Fab to have the most likes with or without the like button.

 

no

+1 yes

 

Like the others have implied, I don't think this is necessary. We've always shot down all the suggestions of karma systems because we don't think it's necessary given how small this community is compared to forums where it works well.

 

This is a feature that has never been accepted by the admins. We actually did ask (again) for this feature to be kept when the forums migrated to Xenforo (which had a liking system by default).
@DoubleThink (notably) rejects the idea, for reasons that I can understand, though I disagree that they outweigh the good points.
I personally think that being able to notify that you approve of the message contained in a post without having to post an entire comment with only a variation of "Agreed." is a good thing.
I also think that the forums having had this stupid system where your posts get assignated an obscure quote + fanart for seemingly unexceptional posting count milestones (which is dumb, reaching, useless, takes space, further separates new from old users, and encourages shitposting), absolutely unchanging, through migrations, for years, is a complete joke when compared to some vague arguments for the refusal of a "like" system that encourages brevity and prevents page space pollution.

Anyway. No like system for you. Sorry.

However we haven't actually discussed the implementation of a dislike system. Let's do that instead it'll be great

 

iirc you used to be able to rate threads on the old forum site but nobody really used it

(USER LIKED THEIR OWN POST)

 

no

upboated

In all seriousness, though, it doesn't really sound too necessary. You could simply take part in the conversation if you wanted to show that you agreed with them, potentially adding something else to discuss or consider.

 

I also think that the forums having had this stupid system where your posts get assignated an obscure quote + fanart for seemingly unexceptional posting count milestones (which is dumb, reaching, useless, takes space, further separates new from old users, and encourages shitposting), absolutely unchanging, through migrations, for years, is a complete joke when compared to some vague arguments for the refusal of a "like" system that encourages brevity and prevents page space pollution.

If you can convince everyone else of your views then we will certainly turn it off. However while it sometimes may encourage shitposting, it also rewards long term participation. Shitposting has its own reward.

 

Why not make it an optional part of quoting a post?

 

Why not make it an optional part of quoting a post?

Likes this

 

I mean when you quote a post, you can like it or dislike it or something, and the like/ dislike will appear on their post, but not on yours.

 

I mean when you quote a post, you can like it or dislike it or something, and the like/ dislike will appear on their post, but not on yours.

That just sounds like more work than just liking posts on their own

 

while it sometimes may encourage shitposting, it also rewards long term participation. Shitposting has its own reward.

Long term participation is usually something that happens because people have things to say. I believe that encouraging the idea of "posting more" regardless of the content can only lead in a degradation of the average content quality, because:
- Users might force themselves to make threads/answer posts even though they have nothing useful to add (more bad posts),
- Users who are writing an answer, and then see that they aren't going anywhere with it, might feel compelled to post an incomplete, nonsensical, wrong, or irrelevant answer anyway (lower average quality of posts),
- Most of all, rewarding high post counts is definitely something that affects immature people more, and they are the people most susceptible to be affected by the first two points).

As to your last point: I'm pretty sure avoiding shitposts altogether is a better outcome than deleting and punishing a huge number of shitposts. "Prevention is better than cure", yadda yadda... Bad posts could be seen by other people (including guests) before they are moderated away (which is unsightly, no matter how fun we think some of them may be), mods could miss some of them, they could (and actually do) lead to more bad posts and backseat moderating (mostly from the immature people who want to increase their post count and think making posts like those is okay), it gives more work to the mods (whether they mind or not, it's still additional work)...

All those effects are arguably not very important and could be ignored, but so would be the benefits. This system seems to be, at the very best, useless.

 

but it's a forum institution, and also I have never really seen anyone *actively* trying to abuse it. If anything, they want to get custom member titles more than anything else.

 

I mean when you quote a post, you can like it or dislike it or something, and the like/ dislike will appear on their post, but not on yours.

"Oh yes I want to like this post but I have totally nothing to say about it" I think the result of that is clear.

Also, I think it would be better if we could just like threads instead of the posts.

 

If I recall, there was the ability to rate threads (edit: as Xemous said before that, oops apparently I didn't see that post O_O) before the migration to XenForo. I mean it was there and all, but a rating can't really stand well without justification.