Likes button

[Kev]

Hi i noticed that the forum doesn't seem to have a likes button or icon so members can press to different posts. I know you can comment but sometimes a thumbs up in the post can be nice also.

[Grant Lamontagne]

We have had things like that in the past but they really didn't help much.  What ended up happening was people would just Like a comment and then someone else would and someone else... and there was no discussion.  Some folks put a lot of effort into making a post and it's quite disheartening to see that no one has responded to it. 

By not having simple likes we encourage people to respond, even if it is just a smiley or a "That's really cool" type post.

We may consider Likes again in the future as times change, but that was the result the last two times we tried it.

I agree that a Like is a great feature, it just unfortunately discourages discussion, which is the opposite of what a forum is all about.

Def

[Kev]

We have had things like that in the past but they really didn't help much.  What ended up happening was people would just Like a comment and then someone else would and someone else... and there was no discussion.  Some folks put a lot of effort into making a post and it's quite disheartening to see that no one has responded to it. 

By not having simple likes we encourage people to respond, even if it is just a smiley or a "That's really cool" type post.

We may consider Likes again in the future as times change, but that was the result the last two times we tried it.

I agree that a Like is a great feature, it just unfortunately discourages discussion, which is the opposite of what a forum is all about.

Def

That is perfectly understandable with me being new i thought I would ask the question. Like they say it's always good to talk and comment. 👍

[Grant Lamontagne]

We encourage people to ask about things- I do not now, nor have I ever claimed to have all the answers.  I get proven wrong all the time, and we won't know for sure until we try.

I am open to looking into it again though- it's been a while since our last experiment and many things have changed since then.   

Def

[Kev]

We encourage people to ask about things- I do not now, nor have I ever claimed to have all the answers.  I get proven wrong all the time, and we won't know for sure until we try.

I am open to looking into it again though- it's been a while since our last experiment and many things have changed since then.   

Def

It was just a thought. I'm perfectly happy to comment as you can learn more that way.👍

[pfrsantos]

 

[AzteCypher]

(Image removed from quote.)

 

 

[rodia77]

I've found this thread because, guess what, I'm missing a Like button and wanted to check if there have been any requests for it already.

While I understand the reasons for not having it, as laid out by Def, I still want to throw in my word in favour of having it. On other forums I use it extensively not only for 'liking' posts, but also for acknowledging them or thanking when there's no need to be verbose about it.

I also have some doubts about likes 'discouraging discussion'. Are they a shortcut? Yes. Are they less meaningful than a reply with a 'like' smiley or comment? Not really. As for the 'high-effort post' example -- personally, if I make an effort to write a long and, let's assume, insightful post, I'd rather see a lot of likes under it than just courtesy comments that may sometimes be difficult to meaningfully respond to. In my experience, if people have something meaningful to say, be it a praise, argument or further discussion, they'll say it whether the likes feature is available or not.

In language, we have this tendency to 'save effort', or to maximise communication with minimum effort (part of the economy principle), and to me likes are a great device to illustrate and enable that tendency. Or look at it this way: why are we not paraphrasing what others have said in a thread every single time we refer to it? Because we have the 'quote' button, that's why! Or why we don't say 'wink-wink'? Because we have the wink smiley!

I also noticed that mentions didn't get traction on MTO (I won't be resurrecting that old thread by replying there), and, to be honest, I can't see why, it's also a very useful feature in my book.

I won't be in any way pushing towards implementing these features, but it would be great if the admins reconsidered adding them if that's not too much trouble. Cheers.

[SteveC]