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'Like' buttons

lsinclair said:
But why bother anyway, unless you have something you want to add to the argument? What does it achieve? Solidarity? Ego massage?
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It’s the online equivalent of nodding your head in agreement, or saying thanks for something you didn’t understand before. It allows discussion to flow, as you may have missed two or three pages and you don’t need to drag the thread back.

It adds nuance to things, it replaces the unspoken communication that face to face conversation supplies.

You weren’t joking about curmudgeonly were you? :)
 
Joe Hutch said:
Nope, sorry, can't be doing with it. Old dogs, new tricks and so forth.
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Even older dog here and the dearth of free but complicated pic. downloading from the dreaded Photobucket probably means that a coffin will be my avatar by the time I work it all out. Dearie me, but do I hate change ! (Patience, dear boy, my inner self cries).
 
Joe Hutch said:
Nope, sorry, can't be doing with it. Old dogs, new tricks and so forth.
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Absolutely. Multi-quote is good though, look!

Still said:
...the lil' fish rarely use a smilie. But one of them would remove most serious/funny ambiguity.
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I’ve never used those either. I think the introduction of smilies signalled the start of the world going to hell in a handcart.

lordsummit said:
You weren’t joking about curmudgeonly were you? :)
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Of course not. A few things are far too important to joke about.
 
Mind you pfm needs Jonathan Ribee like Theresa May needs a scientifically verifiable miracle.
Is there an easy way to make the 'like' function invisible for the nays in personal settings?

lsinclair said:
I’ve never used those either. I think the introduction of smilies signalled the start of the world going to hell in a handcart.
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Why?
 
Still said:
Is there an easy way to make the 'like' function invisible for the nays in personal settings?
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Not invisible, that requires a ridiculous amount of template modification which to be honest I’m not prepared to do as it makes maintaining the site so much harder long-term. I’ve also been an IT Manager/ex-IT Manager long enough to know that user opinion changes with time! I’ll see where we are in a couple of months and make a decision then...
 
You didn't get where you are today ...

Yes, and a very, very good point re: changeable opinions!
 
lsinclair said:
I’ve never used those either. I think the introduction of smilies signalled the start of the world going to hell in a handcart.
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Still said:
Why?
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Because I asked myself why, if every writer in history up to that point had managed to communicate his thoughts accurately without using them, were they suddenly necessary? And my conclusions were that it came down to trivialisation, short attention spans and dumbing down. Everything we (or at least I) blame Facebook for these days. So naturally, even though I was only a trainee curmudgeon in those days, I took against them.

Hey, multi-quote isn't too tricky on a phone, either!
 
lsinclair said:
Because I asked myself why, if every writer in history up to that point had managed to communicate his thoughts accurately without using them, were they suddenly necessary? And my conclusions were that it came down to trivialisation, short attention spans and dumbing down. Everything we (or at least I) blame Facebook for these days. So naturally, even though I was only a trainee curmudgeon in those days, I took against them.
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But discussion forums aren't designed for such things.
They are for virtual chatting, hence the need to fill in the 90% we're missing out on here.
 
Still said:
But discussion forums aren't designed for such things.
They are for virtual chatting, hence the need to fill in the 90% we're missing out on here.
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So because I refuse to use emoticons people reading my posts only get 10% of what I am trying to communicate? Probably no bad thing if I'm honest.

Seeing the little balloon saying 'Brian likes this' makes me think of a toddler pointing at his friend and saying 'I like you...' - it seems to me to be at that level of character development and language use. And the more I look at the column of pictures of favourite pets on the left hand side of the page, the more they seem to add to the air of juvenilia. So it looks like I don't like avatars either. The shiny new forum, beautifully made though it is, isn't for me. I'll be off, at least until I change my mind or the pods get me.
 
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lsinclair said:
So because I refuse to use emoticons people reading my posts only get 10% of what I am trying to communicate? Probably no bad thing if I'm honest.
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If you think it's no bad thing than you are NOT trying to communicate nonverbally. A choice you have online, but not in person.

Of course, all our communication instincts are geared to in-person. We notice and react to all sorts of cues that don't rise to conscious awareness. An emoticon is the crudest of substitutes. :cool:
 
Patrick Dixon said:
Except it should be relabeled as 'Agree' ... and 'Friend' should be 'Connection' ... otherwise we'll all end up writing 'gotten' and 'math' and 'color' and other horrid stuff.
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I think that in the context of a discussion forum such as pfm, most people take like to indicate agreement with the point being made.
Nothing wrong with that IMO. No need to overthink this stuff.
 
The other thing to point out is the like button occupies a tiny, tiny amount of screen acreage and is in a very subtle colour, those who don’t like it should easily be able to ignore it. I certainly won’t be putting any scores or tallies in the area below the avatar, that much I guarantee (I’ve only turned on what is there as it helps folk identify long-established members for the classified area security).
 
Some sites show likes just as an anonymous total under each comment. It reduces clutter, but I have no idea if this is possible in Xenforo.
 
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martin clark said:
Quite; 'likes' = ghasty weird tribal bs, in short form.


ETA: let me qualify my intense dislike of 'like' buttons and similar crap:

  • I've never posted to pfm, because I wanted to be liked.
  • I post to pfm, because the quality of discourse matters, judged by each contributor on the content of the post s/he choses to place or respond to. That is a hallmark of this place.
  • 'likes' and sim. user upvoting therefore subverts the quality of conversation - because it is for some involved, and for some only watching each 'transaction', essentially a derivative: less than engaging, it becomes a weird poster quality-default -swap: say, on my ludicrous audioweenie position vs A.N.Others. like ranking by post-count, but considerably more vapid. Feel comfy by who you see agree with you on 'your' side.
  • As such it does nothing but build factions, rather than encourage diversity in discussion.
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I quite like likes, for reasons mentioned upthread (brevity, mostly) but I do recognise at least some of the objections here, and it could get competitive or cliquey, if misused.

One possible balance could be if likes could be removed so, for example, for every reported post you lose a like, if a reported post is deleted you lose two likes. A short ban loses half your likes and a 1 month or longer ban wipes out all your likes to-date.

If you haven't got any likes, you should be able to accrue a negative balance. Every year the top five likees get to take the bottom five negative likees out and shoot them.
 
My theory is that part of the more positive vibe here since the migration is to do with likes. They are a nudge that makes it easier to be nicer, for when you’ve nothing really to add. Equivalent to a nod of the head, a slight chuckle, or a smile.

If you hate like buttons, that’s fine, and my theory still works provided you redirect at least some of your hatred to the like buttons instead of other posters.
 
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