Topic: Like button for forum? (Read 13034 times)

pwhodges · « **Reply #50 on:** 04 Feb 2015, 15:42 »

I'm enabling the button for people to see if they like it - only in the Comic forum for now.

I've made a poll for your views at the top of this thread.

The button is meant to be a dark gray matching the default theme - if you see black, that's a caching issue in the server, and should correct itself sometime.

The button does not show in the "Old" QC theme; I will try to correct that tomorrow.

You can see who the likes are from by clicking the count; you can't like your own post.

cesium133 · « **Reply #51 on:** 04 Feb 2015, 15:53 »

I think I may have just accidentally liked a post because it looked like a spoiler tag.

pwhodges · « **Reply #52 on:** 04 Feb 2015, 15:54 »

Hmm, it does, doesn't it! I'll try a different design tomorrow (I'm going to bed now, though).

You can unlike it again, of course!

explicit · « **Reply #53 on:** 04 Feb 2015, 16:01 »

It's better if you put it over to the right. But that's just more aesthetically pleasing (and maybe less confusing).

I'm also pretty excited I spelled aesthetically right on my first try.

Omega Entity · « **Reply #54 on:** 04 Feb 2015, 16:03 »

Quote from: explicit on 04 Feb 2015, 16:01

It's better if you put it over to the right. But that's just more aesthetically pleasing (and maybe less confusing).

I'm also pretty excited I spelled aesthetically right on my first try.

Yep, the forum I visit has it up by the Quote button, and is simply a little thumbs up. But I'll take what I can get!

bhtooefr · « **Reply #55 on:** 04 Feb 2015, 16:04 »

Quote from: cesium133 on 04 Feb 2015, 15:53

I think I may have just accidentally liked a post because it looked like a spoiler tag.

I did it, but it was on a post that I actually liked, so...

A couple comments on the current implementation... how do post edits affect likes? I may like an earlier version of a post, but not the current version, for instance.

And, also, should it be anonymous who liked a post, or not?

And now, to go off and like an older post that I've had reasons not to reply to (beyond cluttering the thread in question), but I definitely thought it was an excellent, insightful post.

cesium133 · « **Reply #56 on:** 04 Feb 2015, 16:16 »

Now to get the obvious pun out of the way...

ReindeerFlotilla · « **Reply #57 on:** 04 Feb 2015, 16:21 »

Quote from: explicit on 04 Feb 2015, 15:25

I don't want Jeph to beat me with a sign.

Anyways, have you noticed that a lot of what we're talking about is currently taking place in this thread? A lot of people replying in agreement? I don't know if that shifts the bar towards or away from likes, but it's certainly happening.

I would like this post, but I have to refuse on principle. Too late to break character.

I believe the world we experiences influences us more than we influence it. We have a whole science devoted to studying it. It's called "consumer marketing." If a person chooses to use a like button, their choice is inescapably influenced by the existence of said button. Indeed, this entire comment only exists because the button exists. Otherwise, it would be little more than a repeat of a and existing comment. But the button existing creates a new context, allowing different, but supporting meaning. Indeed, indeed! the previous statement is only exists because I had a choice and refused it. So too that statement, and this one. There's no logical reason to think the effect doesn't run both ways.

jwhouk · « **Reply #58 on:** 04 Feb 2015, 17:41 »

I voted "Meh" because I'm not a fan of how the button looks on the theme I'm on (which I've forgotten). It's a black box down at the bottom of the post, which kinda distracts from the post.

EDIT: QC-light. I forgot that I'm one of those weird ones.

downtowneddie · « **Reply #59 on:** 04 Feb 2015, 18:57 »

I think the "Like" button is working well. Nicely done!

lepetitfromage · « **Reply #60 on:** 04 Feb 2015, 21:59 »

Me too! I like QC light. The appearance of the button isn't enough to make me like it any less though.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #61 on:** 05 Feb 2015, 17:02 »

I feel I should go on record as saying I fucking hate this idea and wish it were never implemented

bhtooefr · « **Reply #62 on:** 05 Feb 2015, 17:08 »

I think the button's UI implementation is rather jarring, and I personally think anonymous likes might be better (although the moderators should absolutely be able to see who liked a post).

~~valkygrrl~~ · « **Reply #63 on:** 05 Feb 2015, 17:41 »

Likes are a wonderful idea. Friends will start liking all of each other's posts, cliques will be obvious, new people _will_ know who it it not permissible to disagree with and exactly how many people will dogpile on them for expressing a contrary view.

PLus a like button is all like social and stuff! Everyone loves facebook right? Making something more social networkish will uh, popular with the kids and... Nope I've got nothing.

But I'll press the like button like a good little monkey since that is The Way Things Are now.

MooskiNet · « **Reply #64 on:** 05 Feb 2015, 17:52 »

I'd argue a forum becoming an insular campground for the 'old guard' is just as likely with or without 'likes,' though I agree there's a tendency to cliquishness when who's liking who is obvious.

Like any other online community, the key's moderation. That's covered well, in my opinion, and if they think the like button is causing more problems than it solves, they'll probably make it go away.

Aimless · « **Reply #65 on:** 05 Feb 2015, 17:58 »

I like this. I think many people will enjoy knowing that someone liked something they posted and it will lower the threshold for expressing appreciation. Both getting and showing appreciation are things that make many people feel a tiny little bit better, which I feel is a good thing.

Some of the other forums I frequent have similar features and I haven't seen any problems with them on those forums along the lines of Vgrrl's dystopian scenario. On the contrary, I've seen positive things, esp. on those forums where it's been implemented as a "thanks" button. I've made peace with my childhood experiences and so there is currently nothing that tarnishes this idea for me atm. I also like the appearance of the button as well as the animation. So, all in all, I give this a thumbs up and if we get a thumbs up emoticon I'd give two thumbs up. cheers

hedgie · « **Reply #66 on:** 05 Feb 2015, 18:12 »

Quote from: MooskiNet on 05 Feb 2015, 17:52

I'd argue a forum becoming an insular campground for the 'old guard' is just as likely with or without 'likes,' though I agree there's a tendency to cliquishness when who's liking who is obvious.

Like any other online community, the key's moderation. That's covered well, in my opinion, and if they think the like button is causing more problems than it solves, they'll probably make it go away.

Well, *good* moderation, and I think that this place has it (IMO), which is one of the reasons why I stick around. It's funny, though, in how in the last 20+ years online, I've never been a mod, at my own insistence. I tend (and was worse in the past) to have a short-fuse, and used to let the power go to my head. Closest I ever came was when I nicked ops privileges on an IRC channel is when I kept them for just long enough to let the administrators get themselves a channel-protection bot (of course, for fun, I kick-banned them to show them what is possible, and then explained things).

Omega Entity · « **Reply #67 on:** 05 Feb 2015, 19:39 »

Quote from: valkygrrl on 05 Feb 2015, 17:41

Likes are a wonderful idea. Friends will start liking all of each other's posts, cliques will be obvious, new people _will_ know who it it not permissible to disagree with and exactly how many people will dogpile on them for expressing a contrary view.

PLus a like button is all like social and stuff! Everyone loves facebook right? Making something more social networkish will uh, popular with the kids and... Nope I've got nothing.

But I'll press the like button like a good little monkey since that is The Way Things Are now.

I don't even look at who's posting when I click the Like button, nor do I seek out specific people's posts. If I agree with a post, I agree with a post, regardless of who posted it.

I imagine that most people here -aren't- 5-year-olds, and aren't likely overly prone to behavior better suited to a gradeschool playground. I never fit into any cliques growing up, but I'm not going to let that color my perception of a forum function that, as has been exhaustively discussed in this thread, a shortcut to simply agreed with posts without cluttering up the treads with quotes followed by 'I agree'.

TRVA123 · « **Reply #68 on:** 05 Feb 2015, 19:48 »

To those of you making dire predictions about the Forums future, why not just let this play out?

At worst, the mods will step in before the "like induced cliques ruin the forum", and those of us who "like" the "like" button idea will shut up.

At best the forum will be exactly the same, but with a like button.

hedgie · « **Reply #69 on:** 05 Feb 2015, 19:49 »

Many groups form cliques. Sometimes being excluded is actually better, in terms of one's mental health. It is kinda strange, though, going from a total outsider to being considered as a member of one or two. I think that it actually raises one's anxiety levels, officially be a member of one, but having half one's friends in another, and others were hurling accusations, and having to navigate between them to avoid hurting people, especially those who genuinely care about.

explicit · « **Reply #70 on:** 05 Feb 2015, 20:35 »

Quote from: TRVA123 on 05 Feb 2015, 19:48

To those of you making dire predictions about the Forums future, why not just let this play out?

The like system will become sentient and somehow - Through wacky governmental incompetence - take over the world. It won't be all bad though, I hear the gruel they'll feed us only has a little bit of arsenic.

lepetitfromage · « **Reply #71 on:** 06 Feb 2015, 06:11 »

I think the formation of cliques based solely on the existence of a "like" button is a bit of a stretch. I think there are certainly people who fall into social groups but I find that is generally based on common ground, shared experiences and empathy- not "that person is cool". I also find the notion that it will suppress intelligent conversation in favor of conformity and peer pressure to be a smidge insulting and I think the forumites deserve to be given more credit. This has evolved into a safe space for intelligent and informed discourse, so long as the parties involved don't become belligerent. I don't see a small button changing any of that. I think any other means to show our forum family that we support them is a good idea.

If any button would allow members to dogpile on people for their ideas, I think it would be a "dislike" button and I'm definitely glad we don't have one of those.

swapna · « **Reply #72 on:** 06 Feb 2015, 11:37 »

I don't like the like button, and I ignore them as much as i can. If it weren't used like an 'I agree' button, but more like an 'oh, this post was thoughtful even though I might not agree with it', I'd probably like it more, but at the moment it's stuff like 'SQUEE CLAIRE DID THAT THING!'

that gets 'liked', so it doesn't even serve as a good method of identifying the good posts out of a long thread. I also think that very few people just post 'I agree', but add their own thoughts - this makes a discussion way more interesting than just clicking 'I LIKE'

Thrudd · « **Reply #73 on:** 06 Feb 2015, 12:49 »

Button menu on the right edge of the posts with the other buttons instead of inserted at the footer - right now it is awkward and uncomfortable, like a stainless steel Halls
icons that are recognizable at a glance - hover text could not hurt either but I am not sure if coding such is all that easy or simple to do - my code skills are of the op code variety
More than one category - like / appreciate / applause - agree - thoughtful / thought provoking - the pun jar [for the ones we appreciate - think of it as a tip jar - yes I am encouraging puns] - butts [why does it have to be butts - because drawing a cloaca that small would confuse people]

Penquin47 · « **Reply #74 on:** 07 Feb 2015, 11:30 »

My main problem with the like button is that, on my theme at least (forum default), I keep thinking it's a spoiler button. A couple times now I've clicked on it to read the spoiler only to find I just liked a post that I didn't mean to (not that there was anything wrong with the post necessarily).

Pilchard123 · « **Reply #75 on:** 07 Feb 2015, 11:31 »

Could the display be optional?

Omega Entity · « **Reply #76 on:** 07 Feb 2015, 11:33 »

I think an alternate visual arrangement is in the works. Not positive on that though.

jwhouk · « **Reply #77 on:** 07 Feb 2015, 17:52 »

On the other skins, it's a black box surrounded by black.

On another forum that I frequent*, it is included on a bar below each post, with a more traditional "thumbs up" (ala Facebook).

* - Hi, CeltZ, wherever you're lurking.

Near Lurker · « **Reply #78 on:** 07 Feb 2015, 18:08 »

I keep thinking it's a friggin' spoiler tag.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #79 on:** 07 Feb 2015, 18:24 »

It looks absolutely nothing like a spoiler tag to me.

ReindeerFlotilla · « **Reply #80 on:** 07 Feb 2015, 19:42 »

It looks exactly like a spoiler tag, except for the part where it says "Like" instead of "Spoiler."

Method of Madness · « **Reply #81 on:** 07 Feb 2015, 19:45 »

It's a completely different color for me. But then again I use QC Light (because how could I not?)

Orkboy · « **Reply #82 on:** 07 Feb 2015, 19:50 »

I like that it doesn't, by default, list who liked a comment. It makes it feel like a more general community Like rather than "these specific people agreed with you." Sure, you can click the thing and see the names, but it doesn't list them automatically.

pwhodges · « **Reply #83 on:** 07 Feb 2015, 23:55 »

I'm away and forgot my laptop charger, so attempting to improve the button has been delayed. It's not forgotten.

rschill · « **Reply #84 on:** 08 Feb 2015, 00:24 »

Quote from: ReindeerFlotilla on 07 Feb 2015, 19:42

It looks exactly like a spoiler tag, except for the part where it says "Like" instead of "Spoiler."

Heh, It fooled me upthread, but that's OK I liked the post that I liked.

I think a button such as this would be a good thing. '

To present options without really endorsing them: Perhaps the likes can be made visible only to the author of the liked post, or maybe the liking could be anonymous, or maybe both.

People who are here more often would probably be better judgments on those ideas, but I felt I should bring them up because I like options.

cesium133 · « **Reply #85 on:** 08 Feb 2015, 08:04 »

Quote from: Method of Madness on 07 Feb 2015, 19:45

It's a completely different color for me. But then again I use QC Light (because how could I not?)

QC Light: All the Flavor and Half the Calories of QC.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #86 on:** 08 Feb 2015, 20:20 »

I don't really mind it anymore.

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #87 on:** 09 Feb 2015, 00:40 »

I have too many browser tabs open and the text in each is truncated to fit. The tab for this thread therefore reads "Like Butt".

Zebediah · « **Reply #88 on:** 09 Feb 2015, 05:25 »

I formally propose that the text on the "Like" button be changed to "Like Butt".

bhtooefr · « **Reply #89 on:** 09 Feb 2015, 05:29 »

Hell, I thought it was good that I could actually read "Like" in the tab, on my Mac running Firefox with 50 px maximum tab width and about a 1600 px wide Firefox window. That means I'm running a lot less tabs than normal.

jwhouk · « **Reply #90 on:** 09 Feb 2015, 05:44 »

I noticed that the Like button is not available on Tapatalk.

pwhodges · « **Reply #91 on:** 09 Feb 2015, 06:35 »

Extensions to the standard forum software (which include even the spoiler tags) are in general not handled by Tapatalk, because it is effectively an alternate rendering engine that the extensions don't patch because they don't know about it. In any case, having one extension patching another is an inherently unstable situation, requiring a canonical order for installation of otherwise unrelated patches, and making individual updates near impossible.

I've changed the colour of the border of the button to make it obviously different from the spoiler button (caching may delay the change in your browser).

FunkyTuba · « **Reply #92 on:** 09 Feb 2015, 11:42 »

I created a separate thread for this... could it possibly be related to the changes for the like button?

https://forums.questionablecontent.net/index.php/topic,30463.0.html

(fwiw, I don't see the like button in firefox rn)

pwhodges · « **Reply #93 on:** 10 Feb 2015, 01:18 »

The Like button is now visible in all themes, and is less like the spoiler button.

The intermittent behaviour was because I uninstalled and reinstalled a couple of times, culminating in breaking the forum

jwhouk · « **Reply #94 on:** 10 Feb 2015, 06:19 »

Bravo, dear sir, bravo.

pwhodges · « **Reply #95 on:** 12 Mar 2015, 05:38 »

I've changed the poll here so that people can give a view on the future of the Like button. If you would like it added to certain other forums, but not all, then please indicate which in a post.

Note that I have no intention of further changing its appearance or how it works.

explicit · « **Reply #96 on:** 12 Mar 2015, 05:44 »

Anything but discuss or relate would be fine with me. Though keeping it as it is, plus maybe adding it to certain threads (e.g. the spam thread(s)), would also be okay. I highly doubt adding it there would cause issues.

pwhodges · « **Reply #97 on:** 12 Mar 2015, 05:49 »

Can only be enabled by forum, not thread.

Welu · « **Reply #98 on:** 12 Mar 2015, 08:09 »

I think it could be good in Discuss, like in Comic people could like a post instead of posting, "I agree". I don't think it's needed in the more personal ones like Chatter and Relate but I'm not really against it either.

jwhouk · « **Reply #99 on:** 12 Mar 2015, 08:34 »

Quote from: Welu on 12 Mar 2015, 08:09

I think it could be good in Discuss, like in Comic people could like a post instead of posting, "I agree". I don't think it's needed in the more personal ones like Chatter and Relate but I'm not really against it either.

I'll post that I agree with this one rather than just "Like" it... wait.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Poll

What should be the future of the Like button?

Author Topic: Like button for forum? (Read 13034 times)