Get rid of the like button

So for those old enough to remember, before cell phones there were things called pagers. They were used mostly by business people, doctors, etc, to get short messages and then they’d seek a phone to actually talk to someone. Remember those days, when people talked?

Then the cell phone came to the fore, and people talked and talked.

Then they added the ability to cell phones to text, kinda like the one way text on pagers that died a quick death with the advent of the cell phone.

So what wound up happening? You know very well. No one had to be concerned with going over their allotted minutes any longer. Nope, now all one had to worry about was going over their data.

Then unlimited text. Then unlimited data.

So, admit it, you text probably ten times more than you talk on that cell phone. I do too.

Now circle back to the relatively recent like button.

In the photo sharing section, I’d like to know the actual statistics of how many fewer replies posters get in favor of a very lazy press of the like button. Yes, I too am guilty of it. Who wants to take the time to comment and say nice pic when they can press a button?

Is that progress? Or is it the slow but sure death knell to commenting on people’s hard work?

Time to get rid of the like button, or to think out of the box and gray it out unless one also posts a comment.

where is this button?

It's become a competition for me. I don't give out as many as I'm trying to receive. Once you are in the top 500, it's go time.

Doesn't seem to likely be that big of an issue. Hitting like is low effort, but if that's all someone was going to do, forcing them to write a comment will probably just result in an equally mindless "great shot" or similar. If someone is actually moved by an image such that they'll comment, they're going to do it either way. If they weren't, it's just not going to happen.

Even on sites without a like button, I've reserved comments only for when I really have something to say.

I could very well be wrong about how much of an impact it'll have someplace like this, but I don't think it's quite the same as a like on Facebook or equivalent.

I liked your post.

Though I would like to get the like button down to an individual photo. If a person posts 8 pictures and 7 suck, I would love to be able to give props to 1 photo. This would also give the opportunity for a community best of.

Chet wrote in post #18597403
It's become a competition for me. I don't give out as many as I'm trying to receive. Once you are in the top 500, it's go time.

woa... I just saw how many likes I have. You bet your sweet arse it's go time. I'm ranked 125

and my daddy said I'd never amount to anything!!!

MDJAK wrote in post #18597387
So, admit it, you text probably ten times more than you talk on that cell phone. I do too.

Assumptions, assumptions! I text exactly as much as I talk on a cellphone. Know why? Because zero equals zero. Now, back to your main point . . .

Who wants to read through 15 copies of "Nice pic" before finding the next photo?

I say keep the button. Comments are valuable if they say more than a Like would, but in the old days, before the button, most comments didn't. They also, I'm guessing, take more server space. The numbers of Likes on my images (and who gave them), whether 0 or more, act as a rough guide to what to do and not do in making images in the future. In this way, Likes aid learning even without comments. This kind of feedback is easy for people to give who'd do nothing without it. Some are too busy to post a comment on everything they like. Some may not be analytical enough to say why they like something; one doesn't always know exactly why.

Chet wrote in post #18597408
Though I would like to get the like button down to an individual photo. If a person posts 8 pictures and 7 suck, I would love to be able to give props to 1 photo.

I've sometimes wanted to do that. A comment is the only way to single out a photo in a set. You can say "That Like was for Image #8," but then you worry that you've implied the other seven suck.

Chet wrote in post #18597408
Though I would like to get the like button down to an individual photo.

You can if you Quote & then edit that Quote. It takes less time than it took to post this.

I agree with the Doc (MDJAK) completely.

If the like button is to persist then should there not be a hate button (or maybe something nicer like blah....)

PhotosGuy wrote in post #18597538
You can if you Quote & then edit that Quote. It takes less time than it took to post this.

That's not a like though, that's actually approaching real communication, boo.

And how would that let me easily quantify my e-self worth?

#teamTop200

MDJAK wrote in post #18597387
Is that progress?

It is sign of times. While the oldish generation may not like or understand it, the youngish generation certainly does and is accustomed to it in the cyber space. I find it a useful tool for studying images and trying to understand what makes a certain image receive a lot of likes.

You, and others, seem to have this idea that people click the LIKE button instead of writing a reply. . I do not believe this is so.

Why do I not believe this? . Because I myself do not use it that way, and I believe that most other people do not differ so much from me when it comes to such things.

When I click the LIKE button, and do not comment, the truth is that if the LIKE button was not there, I would still not comment.

I still comment to posts just as much as I ever did before the LIKE button was there. . But the cool thing is that now, not only do I still comment just as much as I did before, but I also LIKE a lot of posts, as well.

The LIKE button is used in addition to commenting, not instead of it. . If the LIKE button disappeared, I would not be any more inclined to write a reply than I am now. . And I don't think anybody else would be, either.

_______________ _______________ _______________ _______________


It works the same way that texting does. Before texting, I would probably talk for a total of 4 hours a week on a cell phone. Now that I have texting, I still talk for a total of about 4 hours a week on the phone, but I also spend about 6 hours a week texting. Texting has not replaced real conversations in the least - rather, texting is done in addition to conversing.

In fact, I think that texting may have actually led to more actual talking, because often times when I text something interesting to someone, they call me right away to talk about it. . Or, conversely, when someone texts something interesting to me, I sometimes call them right after getting the text, in order to discuss it further. . So it is likely that I now talk 6 hours a week on the phone instead of the previous 4, because the texting has initiated so many more phone calls.

But of course, something has to give; just because I text 6 hours a week doesn't mean that my weeks somehow have 6 extra hours in them. So the texting displaces something, and I know what it is that is displaced by the texting. . It is pondering. . I don't have as much time to daydream and ponder over things as I used to, because I spend so darn much time communicating with people. When I come across something that is really interesting or exciting, I now text people about it, whereas before I had texting I would just keep it to myself and think about it a lot.

And thus the technology has turned me into someone who spends a great deal of his time communicating with people, whereas before the technology I was someone who spent the vast majority of his time thinking and pondering and daydreaming over things.


.

OhLook wrote in post #18597420
Assumptions, assumptions! I text exactly as much as I talk on a cellphone. Know why? Because zero equals zero. Now, back to your main point . . .
Who wants to read through 15 copies of "Nice pic" before finding the next photo?

I say keep the button. Comments are valuable if they say more than a Like would, but in the old days, before the button, most comments didn't. They also, I'm guessing, take more server space. The numbers of Likes on my images (and who gave them), whether 0 or more, act as a rough guide to what to do and not do in making images in the future. In this way, Likes aid learning even without comments. This kind of feedback is easy for people to give who'd do nothing without it. Some are too busy to post a comment on everything they like. Some may not be analytical enough to say why they like something; one doesn't always know exactly why.

I've sometimes wanted to do that. A comment is the only way to single out a photo in a set. You can say "That Like was for Image #8," but then you worry that you've implied the other seven suck.

I agree with the comments above. Also, I feel the "like" button is a way of acknowledging a post without clogging a thread. If someone tells me "You're welcome", a like lets them know I noticed their comment but I don't feel that a further reply is needed.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18597598
The LIKE button is used in addition to commenting, not instead of it. . If the LIKE button disappeared, I would not be any more inclined to write a reply than I am now. . And I don't think anybody else would be, either.

People differ. I do think the button often replaces a comment. Before AMASS!, the best images in some popular forums, notably G&N, Wildlife, and Birds, attracted strings of minimally informative "Awesome shot" posts, like the tail on a kite. (This may also have happened in forums that I didn't look at. I wouldn't know about them.) "Awesome shot" still appears, but the kite's tail is shorter. Instead, the best images in certain forums draw great numbers of Likes. Why certain forums? Well, it seems to be a matter of local custom. Many great images are posted in Macro, too, but I don't see massive Likefests there.

In the Bird Portrait thread, it isn't unusual for a post to get 20 or more Likes. I don't remember any post getting 20 comments before Likes were available. A truly exceptional image might get 40 or 50 Likes, revealing an advantage of the button. If an image already has, say, 15 comments before you come along, you'll be less inclined to add a comment. At least I believe so. But if it has 15 Likes, nothing discourages you from giving it one more. So the button allows a distinction between images that are much liked and images that are much loved.