The Great Like Experiment of 2017

The main things Discourse changes, aside from likes, are utility, presentation and under the hood functionality. I still don’t love some of the changes (and others were actively turned off or downplayed) but none of it was ever likely to make much difference to the actual community, apart from a couple people bailing because they just didn’t want to deal. Well, maybe wumpus’ weird insistence on not including a real ignore function might lead to a bit more drama now and then. But other than that. Likes, on the other hand, have that potential.

Oh yeah, I came around on the infinite scroll. I like discourse now. It is fine, embedded vids are really nice.

But, Likes is more than technological improvement, it is a change in the way that we interact.

I mean, infinite scroll still sucks (especially if you try and scroll up) but that’s a done deal. Not much to be added by continuing to complain about it.

I mean we did lose some more long time users explicitly due to the features and changes in Discourse. Turning on Likes permanently could theoretically push away more.

Tom’s call if that factors into the decision at all, but I for one kinda miss that loony bastard Zak Gordon, and Aleck, and the others who’ve diminished their participation since the switch.

I’m all for avatars and spoiler tags. They’re a huge improvement. I’m still firmly against likes.

Regarding discourse versus vBulletin, the primary advantage for me is the truly excellent mobile view. I’m at a computer with multiple 27" monitors most of the time so it’s not a big deal for me personally, but Discourse is just incredibly pleasant to use on my phone, much more so than that janky-ass app we had to use in the vB days.

I read Discourse differently, too. Rather than browsing to the various categories, I use the latest view. Threads I’ve posted in are surfaced clearly, and since I can mute threads I don’t care about it isn’t overwhelming. Definitely an improvement.

Speaking of which, we had this poll when we first moved to discourse and the vBulletin-style categories view won by a landslide. Curious if people changed their minds.

What do you prefer for the default forum view? This is what you see when you click the little house button in the top left.

  • Categories View
  • Latest View
  • Shit/bonerz

0 voters

The Unread view is where it’s at.

The Discourse mute button is life-changing. I’ve literally saved tens of hours of time since the switch. I only hope that wumpus doesn’t wake up one day and write a blog treatise against it.

Yeah, I exhaust the Unread view then switch to Latest to brush up. I never use Categories. Mute I should probably use more.

With regards to Likes: I know this sounds insecure or even narcissistic of me but plenty of my posts don’t get responded to or acknowledged (as I’m sure many users’ don’t) so I sometimes wonder how much value I’m adding to discussions and whether I should bother at all. It would be very easy to just say ‘fuck it’ on that basis and go play a game or watch a film instead of joining in.

Since Likes were enabled I’ve had a sprinkling of them and it’s felt… good; good to know someone got something from a post of mine and that I’m not just typing into the void. I don’t necessarily need validation but it’s certainly a concern when I’m typing a hefty post when my time’s so limited!

Edit: I’m not saying they should stay or go, but I wanted to offer a contrasting opinion to the idea that they erode discussion.

I only value Telefrog’s posts.

Whereas I, on the other hand, exclusively use the categories and never use the unread option. Just too jumbled for my tastes.

I do use unread, but like categories better. That’s because some categories I give reading preference to. Looking at you GIF thread.

Oh yeah, that’s what I use. I voted for Latest View but I don’t use that, unless Latest is the same as Unread? I look at Unread and New and call it a day! I still look at Qt3 as often as I did with the old software, but I believe I spend less time reading it.

He is going to nest your comment so it’s hard to find!

If we have likes we need to have an opposite vote. A sports forum I belong to has …

Likes
Dislikes
Funny
Bullshit
Rainbows
Birthday Cakes

I have never figured out what the birthday cake is for.

For implying anyone that would post such a thing was literally just born, of course.

It’s the same as calling someone a liar.

I just want to be able to like my own posts. As it is I feel like I’m constantly swimming in a sea of self-loathing.

This is a point of view that I endorse 100%! This does not seem to have the basic features of an experiment.

This does seem more like an observational study, but if that is the case, then the title of this thread should be "The Great Like Observational Study of 2017".

I’m starting to believe that this thread is not just an ‘experiment’ but a smoke screen to mask the dirty under belly of the Quarter to Three Forum! That the names of threads don’t match the topics!

You see it all the time here. A thread on French Elections turns into a thread on Antisemitism. Threads that should be about movies shifting to Anime and drawing styles. Threads about experiments that aren’t actually experiments! It’s all part of a giant conspiracy, and none of us see it! WAKE UP SHEEPLE! The Forum is a LIE!

edited for sentence structure and clarity…

What you’re saying is that our dear leader put on this sham social experiment to redirect our actual frustration with the inability to change thread titles!!