Get rid of the like button

OhLook wrote in post #18597641
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.

+1

Im surprised you know how to even navigate your log in credentials

it definitely seems to have reduced commenting on threads...i'm sure i'm guilty of it too...if people are worried about slogging through tons of 'nice pic' posts looking for the next shot, then bring back the 50 posts per page too while you're at it.

vipergts831 wrote in post #18603297
Im surprised you know how to even navigate your log in credentials

Ah, there's the upside of posting a reply without using REPLY or QUOTE. Since I can't tell whom the poster was talking to, I can rest easy in the belief that it was probably someone else.

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.

I'd press like, but I'm in that competition too...

OhLook wrote in post #18603376
Ah, there's the upside of posting a reply without using REPLY or QUOTE. Since I can't tell whom the poster was talking to, I can rest easy in the belief that it was probably someone else.

I liked your post...


fyi - it's a dig at the Doc

OhLook wrote in post #18603376
Ah, there's the upside of posting a reply without using REPLY or QUOTE. Since I can't tell whom the poster was talking to, I can rest easy in the belief that it was probably someone else.

Let me assure you that vipergts831’s comment was directed to me. You see, he’s a young whippersnapper whose reproductive organs are constantly in a state of strangulation via tight Lycra spandex panties.

MDJAK wrote in post #18597387
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.

I think there are two ways to look at it. There may be less comments now but there may also be increased participation overall because those who were not inclined to comment before can now just press a button. Either way I vote for the addition of a dislike button.

I agree that using the like button replaces a message, and quite a lot probably.

But what is wrong with this?

From my experience a "like" replaces a token "nice shot" message, when someone has something more to offer then a message is used. So I see the like button as improving the quality of reply messages.

I feel this is a good thing, I'm liking the like button!

I don't think that currently "likes" contribute to the posts position in the reading order like a message does. So a photo sharing post that only get likes slips off the front page faster than one that gets replies.

This seems to be the only downside, but one that could have a technical solution assuming Pekka feels it is worth it.

A dislike button however is not a good idea I feel.

For one thing it seems mean spirited and not in line with POTN values, if you don't like it just don't click like.

OhLook wrote in post #18603376
Ah, there's the upside of posting a reply without using REPLY or QUOTE. Since I can't tell whom the poster was talking to, I can rest easy in the belief that it was probably someone else.

MDJAK wrote in post #18603493
Let me assure you that vipergts831’s comment was directed to me. You see, he’s a young whippersnapper whose reproductive organs are constantly in a state of strangulation via tight Lycra spandex panties.

The beauty of it all is that the intended audience always knows when it is being hailed.