Nesrie
1651
If I actually type I like Pepsi. Two things happen that don’t happen with likes.
- I am consciously telling the world I like Pepsi. I know I’ve provided that information because I wrote it.
- In order to grab that information, you’d actually have the scrub the text for the brand Pepsi and then implement a secondary scrub for words like like, love, enjoy… something that might tell the data collector that I am in fact creating a post that is positive for Pepsi. You might even need a few more to try and determine if it’s sarcastic or a negative post with positive words in it.
If I hit like, suddenly I’m on a leaderboard and the data collection is almost instantaneous. I might not even realize that I’ve liked 10 Pepsi posts this week and that’s why Pepsi ads are following me wherever I go. It’s subtle but the ability to predict private information based on likes is hugely more efficient since liking is easy. I mean I might like 100 posts a day as opposed to actually posting maybe ten times. What advertisers wouldn’t prefer basing their ad dollars on a 100 data points instead of 10? This is Big Data we’re talking about, how some of these free applications and websites exist.
We can certainly talk about the the pros and cons here but let’s not pretend this system was designed to improve communication… that’s PR bullshit. This is data collection. Whether QT3 uses it that way or not, that’s what it was designed for.
I mean you think Facebook has 6 different likes now and isn’t tracking them all differently with specific purposes in mind?
Uhhh… but you just mapped out the algorithm for scrubbing the text. You think they don’t do that already?
The only way to avoid targeted advertising/being a part of big data is just not to play. Cut the wires and never go online. We’re not going to win that fight unfortunately, and have you seen who’s running the FCC these days? It’s only getting worse. You’re an ant trying to stop a boulder.
Nesrie
1653
Again 100 likes vs 10 posts. FB can predict whether or not someone had their parents split before they were 21 at something around a 60% accuracy rate back in 2013. It had nothing to do with what you posted or whether or not your parents were on FB and all about what posts you liked. As in you didn’t have to post a thing for them to do that and they’ve only improved their system since then.
You’re still arguing my point for me. It doesn’t matter. The algorithms get better regardless of Likes or not. I’m guessing they’re not basing all their advertising on likes alone. Systems get better. Likes make it easier but if someone wants the info, they can get it regardless.
Nesrie
1655
What I am arguing against is the idea that Likes, a system designed to get advertiser dollars, is going to improve communication here.
I am not anti FB or anti FCC or necessarily anti Likes in general. What i am is saying I don’t think Likes improve QT3, and I haven’t seen them improve communities like this one in the past. It’s all about what your goal is, or I guess Tom’s. There are minority voices here you don’t often see on other sites. Those sites are not a very pleasant places to voice something that isn’t shared by most of the participants. Likes only made those sites worse over time.
Yes, that’s my stance as well. Likes and voting and such are necessary to helpful to manage very large communities, so they don’t go completely out of control. They don’t improve the quality of the conversation, they’re just a moderation crutch. And Qt3 is not a very large community. Moderation isn’t unmanageable at all.
RichVR
1658
Wait. You like Pepsi? Hmmm…
Nesrie
1659
Costco’s feud with Coca Cola made me a happy camper ;-)
I love that so much. It reminds me of my favorite sketch of theirs:
Which may be where we end up.
-xtien
For the record I like likes, but don’t need them.
Hopefully this gif posts from my phone.
This post is really just an excuse to post a Community gif.
Soma
1663
Social media (as it is right now) are enabler of narcissism. Not the cause. Those people who post nude photos of themselves on top of a mountain would have found some other ways to express their narcissism anyway. Like buttons are symptoms of social malaise, even if you wipe out the symptoms the cause is still there. It is there, inside everyone. Some people are better at controlling it than others. Facebook et. al. only encourages narcissism for some people. But it is also a tool for someone to communicate. How many times have you reconnected with a long lost old friend via Facebook? I bet plenty of times for most people.
As to suppression of discussion, it has been said before. The option to reply by words is still there. You only have to type enough to satisfy that anal word count minimum in order to reply (there I said it). If you decide to be lazy and give just a like, it is an option as well. It is about choice. Laziness is a choice, not a action thrust upon you.
Sure, nowadays we know a lot more about human psychology, and we know that people do things is not necessarily of their own free will, e.g. default bias in human will led many people to pick the first option presented to them, no matter what that option really is. So the like button, by simply being here, as the first option to respond, you can argue that it curtails conversation, and encourages like farming. Therefore you can argue that taking away option to like is similar to taking away the drug from addicts, it is to help. In this case, to help us foster conversation.
But then 1) who is anyone, no better and no worse than others, to decide FOR THEM? Only God can decide for humans. And 2) If the lack of like button “cured” the narcissism of some people, then is it really a cure? Or mere suppression of symptoms?
OK – Haven’t followed the whole thread, but I will weigh in anyway.
I think it is very strange that someone who’s fortune is essentially founded on people’s compulsive need to receive Like’s thinks that adding them to this forum won’t change anything.
HELL YES. This forum needs a “You Win the Internet” button.
Sure. I am arguing that we are better off without that choice being offered, because if it’s there some people will make it.
I’ve got to agree with @Timex, the alternative to clicking Like isn’t typing a full reply, it’s not engaging at all. It’s people deciding to go somewhere.
People aren’t required to post on Quarter to Three. It’s not a chore or job. It’s something fun. And if people want to be a little lazy then that should be okay too.
Bert is one cold motherfucker.
Actually, those are both alternatives.
Nor are they required to interact, period. Lurking is a perfectly valid option. But if you want to participate, you should need to actually participate. And that means posting.
