My opinion right now:
Overall, I think they do more harm than good. Especially on controversial topics.
Everywhere I’ve seen with likes has ended up with a lower diversity of opinion.
Cute but you don’t clutter a thread through likes. That takes senseless word posts. And I didn’t say replies were bad, I said that likes are not inherently bad, like some people are making them out to be. Likes shouldn’t replace a reply of substance but there is nothing wrong with them replacing pointless +1 comments or you go girl posts. And it is a more efficient way of expressing approval, if you have nothing else of substance to add to the conversation, that is undeniable. For the record, I dont have much use for the like system but others do and who am I to deny them that outlet? I just wont use them much and will ignore the “leaderboard” ( which I do think is a bad idea ) Frankly, likes only have the power to disrupt your experience here, if you let them. Ignore them and they have no power over you. I do not believe instituting a like system here is the precursor of forum doom, some are making it out to be. Unless of course you choose to make it some kind of self fulfilling prophecy but then again that’s all up to you.
Razgon
1713
I like your use of the word cute here! Anyways, I realize it was a flippant part of my post, but it was hard to resist.
If I was living in a vacuum, and the question was whether likes were on for me or not, sure - I’d be able to ignore them. Sadly, likes drive behaviour, something that we see all the time in the attention-grabbing facebook headlines and memes, and the mere fact that a leaderboard exists is more than proof of this.
Whether its a precursor to doom, I have no idea, but it most certainly will change the way people interact here, and I don’t mean that in a positive way.
But if LIKES don’t come back then You Go Girl will flood all topics on the forum.
Which is the lesser of two evils, I ask? :D
RichVR
1715
If we’re voting… the YGG has got to go. Sorry.
Dude, I am talking about my own experience and actions when I say it’s mostly laziness. If you don’t believe me about my own motivations I am curious who you think would have more knowledge of them.
I disagree. Even “useless” posts build a habit of posting and serve as a potential springboard for future interaction in a way likes don’t. Obviously it’s preferable that people take a little more effort to try and have something original or interesting to say, but there’s no incentive for them to do so if they can just click a button instead.
That’s simply not true, because they shape the behavior of others whether I ignore them or not. This is why, as much as I wish simply having an optional user theme that disables the display of likes were a solution that works for everyone, I don’t think it is.
Anyone hating on you go girl posts: that’s exactly how I feel about content-less “like” posts easily replaced by a button click. Welcome to my forum experience since day 1. :D
Likes or no likes, I love Qt3. :-)
RickH
1724
Some of us actually do just like handing out attaboys. I don’t need or want to give every trick-or-treater a detailed analysis of why their costume is pleasing to me, or the other way around. Giving out candy makes me feel good and I look forward to Halloween.
RickH
1725
Yeah, the good old “I can top this” spirit (or even the “hey I want in on this” spirit) is a grand and entertaining thing to watch.
I completely agree. If Tom decides to go with likes I will be making a like-less theme simply so I don’t have to see the likes, and making that theme public if he allows it, but that doesn’t address all the cons I listed earlier.
You have your opinion and that’s fine. But if you’re going to position your opinions as fact then any discourse is pointless. Frankly the only way I see likes causing issues here at QT3 is from that very attitude. So, you go girl! Ill leave you to your chicken little world.
Nesrie
1728
Yeah the insult flinging going on around here… nothing to worry about at all.
Yep, that’s totally what I’m doing. And what no one arguing for likes has been doing at all.
That’s a bit rich. It’s not an easy discussion to have, considering how a minority in the “No Likes” camp seems to identify the ‘Like’ function as the scourge that will destroy all QT3, and how they won’t except any evidence that might go against that belief.
We had 30 days of Likes, and the sky did not fall (sorry, but the Chicken Little reference is so apt, it’s hard not to use).
If, as @malkav11 says, 30 days isn’t enough, lets do 60 or 90. I assume even if @tomchick decides to allow the like function, he’ll be more than willing to turn it off if it starts to spiral out of control. It’s not like any decision is final.
