Maybe it is time for the "like" feature to go?

An interesting thing occurs in any social ecosystem, whether virtual or "real", where people learn and adapt to the parameters of said ecosystem to gain a footing and presence, oftentimes expressing themselves (only) by whatever channels the ecosystem affords.

This can be all sorts of good and/ or bad, all sorts of free and/ or manipulative. As creatures of habit who respond to positive and negative stimuli, we are ripe for the pickings and most modern internet sites and social media are designed, with our vulnerabilities in mind, to keep us on their pages.

At the end of the day, it is a lesson to learn and one more thing to be aware about. Here is a link to a podcast hosted by Sam Harris w/ guest Zeynep Tufekci; the episode is titled, Persuasion and Control. It's an hour long and takes a little bit to get to the details re social media, but it is worth the listen... it goes in depth and lays bare a) the nature of the beast, and b) its prevalence in our world.

 

You don't need any Doctor to tell you that !'

 

I really don't understand the logic here; no offense meant, but I don't understand why everyone should have a useful feature taken away because a few people have difficulties controlling their expectations. We should all cultivate reasonable expectations for ourselves, such as understanding that likes are nice, but not necessary, and also being honest with ourselves when we are unable to do that and seeking help for that issue (in your example it is an addiction), but asking for the removal useful feature they cannot effectively deal with because of our own personal issues is a bit of an overreach, taking it from our problem to everyone else's problem.

I'm not without some level of sympathy, I find myself wanting "likes" and looking to see if I have any alerts I see as positive, I'll admit it, but in the end I have to mitigate that desire and realize that my posts have more to offer than the garnering of a like and post in spite of them if I want to be a productive member of the community. I feel bad for those who cannot move past it (I hope in earnest that they get the help they need to help with whatever addiction they are struggling with), but it shouldn't ruin it for the rest of us who can deal with it fine, especially when the feature is actually useful.

 

I'm not sold on the like feature actually being 'useful' persay. I do realize it as an addiction when people are clicking refresh 700 times in a day, when they could be doing something more healthy, and I think this goes for not only a lot more people than we might realize, but worse, it could be that many players who used to be big on the forum were forced to stop and become inactive due to their addiction. Losing active fans is bad, mkay?

BUT at this point I would be happy to settle for having like alerts disabled by default for new users! Although I doubt it will happen. Maybe even a stickied guide thread on how to disable like alerts or alternatively a guide for how to adjust settings in Xenforo. Even I had no idea that we could disable them.

 

Keep likes, or do away with them, it matters little. But, please don't get rid of Quote alerts Those are my guides...

 

Yes, Agreed. An internet forum is supposed to be a place to get information and answers. Xenforo seems to have taken a page out of the Facebook with the like button. What we need is a "I think this is the best and most relevant answer" button. This way people can sort the replies by relevance to quickly find what they need.

 

Wow, i have never viewed the "like" button feature on a forum so seriously before!

I personally have no issues with the like button, it feels like a positive and encouraging feature to me, but I realize now others may react to it differently.

I have, however, seen abuse of the "thumbs down" button, and am very glad that is not enabled on this forum.

 

I'm sorry @Tahru, I did like some of your posts just to troll you. I didn't realize that you didn't notice the disable feature and just thought you were being bossy. I regret not telling you when you said that.

 

Thanks, but I am not in least offended. I deserve it much of the time.