Virote_Considon
The Great Dictator
Neither was liking.
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Civilization 7 has been announced. For more info please check the forum here .
Like button (desperately needed!)
- Thread starter Ekolite
- Start date
Neither was liking.
NickyJ
Retired Narrator
What was 'liking' created by?
azzaman333
meh
A like button would actually be rather useful for certain threads. "What music are you listening to" being a prime example.
Boundless
Deity
Yeah that's a darn good point, sifting through pages and pages of those kind of threads can become a little tedious and frustrating.
I'm all for a like button, facebook is nothing like this website in so many other ways I don't feel like it'd be 'facebookifying' it by adding a small feature.
The only reason I'd read through the "what music" thread is to get ideas for songs to listen to.
Am I the only person who thinks that reducing opinions to a digital "like"/don't "like" is kind of demeaning? If the only expression of your opinion that you can think of is clicking a little button to say that you unqualifiedly "like" something someone else has written, then isn't that an opinion that's just too anaemic to bother expressing in the first place? If you have something worth saying at all, then say it. The "like" button is the McDonaldsisation of discourse.
Mise
isle of lucy
You're not reducing all opinions to binary agreement. But where there is binary agreement -- where I do unqualifiedly like something someone else has written (don't tell me you've never agreed with someone on something without reservation) -- then I want a way of expressing that in a way that caters to the anaemia of my agreement without cluttering the thread with "I agree" posts.
Of course, the word "like" doesn't necessarily imply agreement or disagreement; the user is given the freedom to decide how to interpret it himself.
Neither is The Economist.
The Economist hasn't turned into facebook, despite having a "like" button.
Mise
isle of lucy
Yeah, exactly.
Boundless
Deity
Maybe call it a 'recommend' button then like The Economist; it's not like facebook so won't feel like the whole world is being facebookified and it's far more 'intellectual' 
.
.Well, if "like" can carry such a wide range of meanings, isn't it rather confusing to use it at all? If "I like this post because I agree with the sentiment" or "I like this post because I am impressed by the argument although I disagree with the conclusion" or "I like this post because it's so insanely daft" or "I like this post because it contains long words" or whatever can all be equally expressed by ticking that same little "like" box, then what's to be gained by racking up a high number of "likes" when they could all mean different, and perhaps completely contradictory, things? What's to be gained from clicking on that button as opposed to making a post and saying why you like it?
It takes literally about 10 seconds to post a visitor message on someone's wall. (And hey look, walls! Just like FB!) If expressing your appreciation isn't worth the 10 seconds of your time it takes to post a VM or simply respond to the person in-thread and say "hey, great post," then clearly it's not too important to you to express it in the first place.
No, you're not the only one - that's what I said earlier in the thread. It's much more personal and meaningful to communicate your appreciation via your own words than simply a thumbs-up button.
Besides, most posts and threads here are very transient. They last for a couple days or a week, and then they're gone and buried. Recommending an article on The Economist is useful because that article is a resource that continues to be available for a longer period of time; "recommending" a post that'll be gone in 3 days doesn't really serve any purpose other than appreciation of the author, does it?
Mise
isle of lucy
All those possible reasons have something in common: they brought positive benefits to the forum, from the perspective of the person giving the "like". The user registers the fact that the post brought something "good" to the table, even if he doesn't say exactly why it's good or exactly how good it was. Iterate over the entire user body and you end up with a system that rewards posters for making posts that other posters like (obviously!). The point of racking up high numbers of "likes" thus becomes self-evident -- the more "good" you bring, the more "likes" you get. It's a way of giving feedback to users in an easy, quick, and anonymous way. The fact that I don't have to spell out exactly why I like your posts means I'm more likely to give you a like in the first place. It acts as an incentive to carry on bringing "good" to the table.
If I want to describe my "like" in detail, of course, I can still do that, either in the thread or via VM/PM. Nothing stops me from doing that as well as or instead of using the Like button.
Ekolite
Deity
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2007
- Messages
- 5,451
My point is that sometimes a VM is too much. Because it takes just that little bit more time and thought, it can sometimes be considered unneccessary by the poster themselves. For eg, if somebody made an amusing but otherwise minor comment and I 'liked' it they would appreciate it, whereas if they did the same and I ran off to post some congratulatory/fan boy message on their wall they'd just think I was weird.
There are posts where a VM is justified, but there are a huge array of posts which deserve to be liked, but for which a VM is over the top.
Mise
isle of lucy
There are recommendations for the Comments on the articles, not just for the articles themselves. Those are even more fleeting and transient than CFC posts!
Abaddon
Deity
Wow, that's completely asinine, then. I'm not in favor of CFC imitating bad social-networking features on other sites.
That said, your articulation of "adding more good to the community" in the response to Plotinus above does make some good points. That's a far more convincing argument than "well, Facebook has it!"
With so many gourmet dishes (even if they are just desserts) getting panned by the ever-growing number of authorized critical palates here, it seems that a drive-thru wouldn't be that bad of an idea.
In a way, yes but many times I refrain from posting because my opinion has already been voiced by one or more othe rposters and to just post a long page of quotes and add 'I agree' or 'well said' or whatever is spam.
