Enable "Reaction" feature on forums

[olympe]

On 22.12.2017 at 5:40 PM, TJ09 said:

Those are both separate, unrelated features of the software that have explicitly been turned off.

 

Recommended posts do have a possible use in the future as a way of "pinning" a post to the top of a large thread. This is useful for fast-moving threads where important information may get buried quickly (e.g. announcement threads).

^re "recommended posts" and "activity stream": As long as those are turned off, I'd like to see a test run with reactions. I think "support" (instead of like) for suggestions would be a good idea, as well as "no support" (NOT dislike!), and for people like me who like to think complicated thoughts and try to put them into words, a "confused" reaction might actually be helpful so we can clear things up if need be.

 

Personally, I feel that a "haha" reaction wouldn't contribute much to anything, only lead to trolling/goofing off - which has always been discouraged here.

[Terces]

I don't know how much I would use it but I would be okay with the Like and/or Thanks button, especially since it won't change the order posts are displayed. Not sure about the other more emotive reactions as I've never used a forum that had them.

[HeatherMarie]

I've never been on Discord so I have no experience with reactions or whatever on there. If TJ is convinced that reactions are so much different in a forum environment then on social media, well I guess we'll find out if that's true if/when this gets implemented. But I still have serious doubts. "Upvotes" are definitely not only important on social media sites because they lead to more visibility (in fact I'm almost positive many people don't realize that on some sites "upvoting" causes posts to be shown more). From what I have experienced on other sites (and not just social media!), "upvoting" can very very easily become a popularity contest. Even if the site itself places absolutely no special value on upvoted posts, the users themselves do. Humans in general tend to go with the crowd a lot, and often people can be persuaded to second-guess themselves or stay silent about their own views if their thoughts go against something that has been "upvoted" a lot. I know from experience that sometimes people feel like if they question or express dislike in an idea that has a lot of upvotes, that means other people won't like them or will "downvote" their own post. People will censor themselves in order to not get negative votes, or not be seen in a negative way for disliking a "popular" post. I would really, really, really hate for this forum to go that way.

[Ruby Eyes]

A few thoughts about these buttons ...

 

1. In forums where such buttons are available, signatures filled up with comments like "I'd love a "like" for my post!" - I'd prefer if any comments like that were ruled out for posts, sigs and other visible profile fields. (Exception may be posts in the games forum where such things could be used for whatever game people may think of.)

 

2. I feel that people who would love to hit such a "like" or "thanks" button mostly would do that just because other forums have this. Nobody needed a walkman before it was invented. I guess what I'm saying is that it's not really a necessary feature, in my eyes.

 

3. Could a button "My Dragon hugs you!" be added?

(I think I'm silly when I'm tired. Well, sillier than usual.)

[LibbyLishly]

1 hour ago, Ruby Eyes said:

 

3. Could a button "My Dragon hugs you!" be added?

(I think I'm silly when I'm tired. Well, sillier than usual.)

 

I am 110% on board with this idea.

[Fjord]

(Sort of skimmed so apologies)

 

I'm not particularly invested one or the other, but I am part of another forum (the Gearbox Official forums) that uses a simple 'like' feature that just alerts the poster that another person liked the post and shows which people liked that post. It has no affect on the order or give any sort of weight to the poster, its just to express agreement or appreciation. The forums there have rather constructive discussions, and typically most posts are adding to the discussion rather than simple 'agree' or '+1'.

 

I don't think adding just a like or thumbs up would cause any issues. Anything other than just a like button might be problematic, though.

[Guillotine]

I use Discord a lot, and the server I most often use has reactions used frequently (mostly for Jokes/"daymn gurl ur art is rad"), and I still think that it would ultimately add nothing in a forum environment. Forums and chatrooms are pretty different beasts, even if they're superficially similar, so you can't really say that something that works well in one would work well in another.
 

[Tigerkralle]

To get likes or not likes at all has an impact if we post at all or how popular or in other word loved we are.
I really hope there is no system that let users or moderators or even you TJ know who is receiving the most likes, but people can simple count them or have a general idea. I mean most people are acitive in only a certain few subforums and a handful of threads or so. Not everybody is using the whole forum.

It discourage users to post 'against' a popular member.

 

I like how we have only a forum here and not a social media thing. We are oldschool here i mean we still mourn about how we are not able to have the control over our post with BBcode.

 

Conclusion:

Please don't.

[LadyLyzar]

I've read through both sides of this and I'm still very much on the fence.

 

I'm only in favor of it if:

• Reactions have absolutely no impact on reading the forum.
• There is an ability to disable reactions for those who don't want to see them, much like turning off signatures.
• No negative reactions (FB's angry emote tends to cause a LOT of drama, so not that one.  Sad -> sympathy is a great idea.)
• A limit of reactions per user per unit time to avoid people spamming reactions on every post.  Maybe 20 per day.
• There is no ranking system of any kind based on reactions you have received or given.

That being said, I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the recommended post idea.  That would make relevant information in busy topics easy to find, and hopefully cut down on the amount of times the same question is asked repeatedly.  It could also be used to make an active thread warning more visible if things are getting out of hand.

[Predat0rs]

I'd like to keep it as a simple "Like", and no other reactions. Similar to another forum I'm on that uses this technology.

[Fuzzbucket]

I can't tell you how I would hate to see that under posts. Especially if it named anyone. Smacks of popularity contests.

[olympe]

I'd like to not see who liked/disliked what. Can we have anonymity, please?

[LibbyLishly]

Also highly in favor of anonymity if there is a reaction button at all. Though I will say it's hilarious when you see someone industriously liking their own posts...

[HeatherMarie]

32 minutes ago, LibbyLishly said:

Also highly in favor of anonymity if there is a reaction button at all. Though I will say it's hilarious when you see someone industriously liking their own posts...

 

I deliberately won't 'like' a post if the poster has liked it themselves. 

 

Yes, if we *must* have reactions (please no?) I really really don't want names to be shown. That *definitely* makes it a popularity contest, and I can totally seeing that being abused (people PMing others, "why didn't you like my post?" or even "why on earth did you like THAT post?"). 

[Whirlaway]

I still don't like this idea. I don't see why this would be needed here.

[Ariento]

On 1/2/2018 at 5:53 PM, Marie19R said:

 

I deliberately won't 'like' a post if the poster has liked it themselves. 

 

Yes, if we *must* have reactions (please no?) I really really don't want names to be shown. That *definitely* makes it a popularity contest, and I can totally seeing that being abused (people PMing others, "why didn't you like my post?" or even "why on earth did you like THAT post?"). 

 

I agree, or maybe just have the poster (and mods?) be able to see who reacted what. Letting any random user see who rated it what is not needed at all.

[Rekha]

I like this idea but would have to say I'm not a fan of making it so that it only favors the positive responses because things can become one sided very fast that way

[RealWilliamShakespeare]

I'm really in favour of this idea. Those who don't want to obviously don't have to use the feature, but it could be useful for those who want to show support for an idea but don't feel they want to type their opinion. Plus I think it'd just be a really cute way of showing support

[Fuzzbucket]

On 1/2/2018 at 10:59 PM, Dorchet said:

I still don't like this idea. I don't see why this would be needed here.

 

Still with Dorchet. What is the POINT ? You don't care enough to comment, just don't do anything. I might eve go so far as not to support anything at all, if it were implemented. Because it would in my view cheapen reactions from those who made the effort.

[RealWilliamShakespeare]

9 minutes ago, Fuzzbucket said:

 

Still with Dorchet. What is the POINT ? You don't care enough to comment, just don't do anything. I might eve go so far as not to support anything at all, if it were implemented. Because it would in my view cheapen reactions from those who made the effort.

A lot of people care enough, but don't feel like they have enough of a presence that their opinion is needed, or they want to comment but have issues speaking socially. I know someone on this very site who follows many threads and expresses their opinions to me, but they don't feel confident enough to voice their opinion. They vote in polls when polls are proposed, and would have much use of a reaction feature for aforementioned reasons. Also there are plenty of times where I have an opinion but it's already been stated to I don't want to reiterate something that's already been said - in those cases, I would upvote/like/react the comments that I agree on. I find there is a lot of a point to this feature. I'd use it just like I do in the Discord - and lemme tell you, the feature is very much used and appreciated in the Discord.

[Moonwick]

I want this very badly. 

 

First of all, I have a personal reason: I can be supportive of a topic/reply or enjoy looking at a post, but since I have anxiety,  I have trouble letting my opinion be known. Either that, or I simply can't think of a reply other than "Yeah, I like that.", but I don't want to have to type out that tiny little, pathetic response on a post. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who feels this way. There are many topics that I wish I could have shown my support in, but decided to abstain because I was too worried I was not going to be able to type a good enough response.

 

While the whole concept of "It will be a popularity contest" can be a very valid argument, I'm not sure I can see that happening on this forum. If it does, it would be an individual problem, and if someone feels sore after not receiving enough "likes", then they will. You could even argue that currently... not getting enough replies or views on a topic does exactly that to people, and there have been potential complainers in the past but it hasn't gotten to the point of chaos it seems. As long as there is not a severe "I HATE THIS" reaction, people will probably remain cool about it. 

 

There is a point to adding some of these features that other forums and websites use. It gives flexibility to all different sorts of people who use this website. Some people do like to put effort into everything that they post, and that's great. Yet unsurprisingly, there are people who would like to show their appreciation or reaction to a post, without having to write a response. That should not cheapen their reaction to it, but as it stands... they simply can't have a reaction at the moment even if they'd like to. 

 

If you feel that this will not be something of use to YOU, then you don't need to use it. This feature would be for people who are more silent on the site, but still want to give a reaction. I'm pretty sure if nearly every other website and forum has a feature similar to this, then it should be absolutely fine on Dragon Cave. There might be the occasional person who gets upset over no one "liking" their thread, but really... who cares? This is the internet. That is going to happen with any website about anything... be it views, replies, PMs, likes, etc.

 

Honestly... in my eyes, this is a simple feature that would allow all types of people to communicate in ways that they wish to. It's not going to cause mass chaos. It's not going to be anything obnoxious at the bottom of a post. It's a very simple way for people to show their reaction to something without having to type up a response, for whatever their reason.

 

In fact, I'm actually surprised that this wasn't implemented a while ago, with cute dragons instead of smiley faces for the reactions...

 

Lastly, what RealWilliamShakespeare said is incredibly right...

 

Quote

Also there are plenty of times where I have an opinion but it's already been stated to I don't want to reiterate something that's already been said.

 

This has my full support.

Edited February 19, 2018 by Valtrois

[SkyWolf25]

On 12/24/2017 at 10:58 AM, HeatherMarie said:

I've never been on Discord so I have no experience with reactions or whatever on there. If TJ is convinced that reactions are so much different in a forum environment then on social media, well I guess we'll find out if that's true if/when this gets implemented. But I still have serious doubts. "Upvotes" are definitely not only important on social media sites because they lead to more visibility (in fact I'm almost positive many people don't realize that on some sites "upvoting" causes posts to be shown more). From what I have experienced on other sites (and not just social media!), "upvoting" can very very easily become a popularity contest. Even if the site itself places absolutely no special value on upvoted posts, the users themselves do. Humans in general tend to go with the crowd a lot, and often people can be persuaded to second-guess themselves or stay silent about their own views if their thoughts go against something that has been "upvoted" a lot. I know from experience that sometimes people feel like if they question or express dislike in an idea that has a lot of upvotes, that means other people won't like them or will "downvote" their own post. People will censor themselves in order to not get negative votes, or not be seen in a negative way for disliking a "popular" post. I would really, really, really hate for this forum to go that way.

This. Please no to likes or reactions. If it must be implemented, make it hideable so I don't have to see those ugly things in every post, please.

[HeatherMarie]

1 hour ago, Valtrois said:

 

If you feel that this will not be something of use to YOU, then you don't need to use it. This feature would be for people who are more silent on the site, but still want to give a reaction. I'm pretty sure if nearly every other website and forum has a feature similar to this, then it should be absolutely fine on Dragon Cave. There might be the occasional person who gets upset over no one "liking" their thread, but really... who cares? This is the internet. That is going to happen with any website about anything... be it views, replies, PMs, likes, etc.

 

Honestly... in my eyes, this is a simple feature that would allow all types of people to communicate in ways that they wish to. It's not going to cause mass chaos. It's not going to be anything obnoxious at the bottom of a post. It's a very simple way for people to show their reaction to something without having to type up a response, for whatever their reason.

 

 

Honestly, I'm glad that it seems like you haven't witnessed how horrible these kinds of 'reactions' can make a site. But I have. I have seen entire forums become glorified popularity contests with people scrambling to 'like' their friend's posts no matter what the post actually says, people 'disliking' every single post from someone they personally don't like for whatever reason, I have seen people *cry* because their post didn't get any likes, or because their post about something extremely bad got multiple 'likes' (it really does mess with the mind a bit when a post about a pet dying is 'liked' by multiple people, is that really something that should be 'liked'??). 

 

You are of course entitled to your own opinion, but you really have no way of knowing that it's not going to 'cause mass chaos', and what exactly are you envisioning this looking like where it won't be 'anything obnoxious at the bottom of a post'? Because that's usually what likes are, they are usually annoying icons at the bottom of posts. 

 

edit: Just for full disclosure, I have anxiety myself, and it can be fairly debilitating at times. Personally my anxiety goes through the *roof* when interacting on websites that have 'likes' and such, it makes me even more timid and careful about what I post because I don't want anyone making a negative reaction on my post.

Edited February 19, 2018 by HeatherMarie

[Aleoleo]

5 hours ago, HeatherMarie said:

Just for full disclosure, I have anxiety myself, and it can be fairly debilitating at times. Personally my anxiety goes through the *roof* when interacting on websites that have 'likes' and such, it makes me even more timid and careful about what I post because I don't want anyone making a negative reaction on my post.

 

This. I have severe anxiety, too. I rarely post as is because I always worry that my post won't be well written/interesting/sensible enough. If likes/reactions were implemented here I'd never post *anything* anymore for fear I wouldn't get any "likes" (which is essentially the same as getting "dislikes"...).

[Fuzzbucket]

21 hours ago, RealWilliamShakespeare said:

A lot of people care enough, but don't feel like they have enough of a presence that their opinion is needed, or they want to comment but have issues speaking socially. I know someone on this very site who follows many threads and expresses their opinions to me, but they don't feel confident enough to voice their opinion. They vote in polls when polls are proposed, and would have much use of a reaction feature for aforementioned reasons. Also there are plenty of times where I have an opinion but it's already been stated to I don't want to reiterate something that's already been said - in those cases, I would upvote/like/react the comments that I agree on. I find there is a lot of a point to this feature. I'd use it just like I do in the Discord - and lemme tell you, the feature is very much used and appreciated in the Discord.

 

Then "quote" the post you think is great enough to "like" and type "support" or "I agree" under the quote. That will actually serve to re-post what it is you want people to notice. And if you (generic) now say well, what if it's a lot of posts - that would just indicate how useless "like" buttons are. If every post garners a shedload of"likes" that means - nothing.

 

9 hours ago, Valtrois said:

If you feel that this will not be something of use to YOU, then you don't need to use it. This feature would be for people who are more silent on the site, but still want to give a reaction. I'm pretty sure if nearly every other website and forum has a feature similar to this, then it should be absolutely fine on Dragon Cave. There might be the occasional person who gets upset over no one "liking" their thread, but really... who cares? This is the internet. That is going to happen with any website about anything... be it views, replies, PMs, likes, etc.

 

Honestly... in my eyes, this is a simple feature that would allow all types of people to communicate in ways that they wish to. It's not going to cause mass chaos. It's not going to be anything obnoxious at the bottom of a post. It's a very simple way for people to show their reaction to something without having to type up a response, for whatever their reason.

 

In fact, I'm actually surprised that this wasn't implemented a while ago, with cute dragons instead of smiley faces for the reactions...

 

If it happens - we will all have to see it. And we will all be well aware of who likes and dislikes whom. Because that is what will happen. A popularity thing. I haven't' forgotten those trees.

 

You can react by quoting - as I said above - which does more to highlight what it is you like.

 

7 hours ago, HeatherMarie said:

 

Honestly, I'm glad that it seems like you haven't witnessed how horrible these kinds of 'reactions' can make a site. But I have. I have seen entire forums become glorified popularity contests with people scrambling to 'like' their friend's posts no matter what the post actually says, people 'disliking' every single post from someone they personally don't like for whatever reason, I have seen people *cry* because their post didn't get any likes, or because their post about something extremely bad got multiple 'likes' (it really does mess with the mind a bit when a post about a pet dying is 'liked' by multiple people, is that really something that should be 'liked'??). 

 

You are of course entitled to your own opinion, but you really have no way of knowing that it's not going to 'cause mass chaos', and what exactly are you envisioning this looking like where it won't be 'anything obnoxious at the bottom of a post'? Because that's usually what likes are, they are usually annoying icons at the bottom of posts.

 

Exactly this. Not least the clutter on the page (even if it is done in the way I gather it is on Discord.)

Edited February 19, 2018 by Fuzzbucket
I swear my PC has developed predictive text and got it wrong.