Remove the ability to 'like' content on the forums.

I for one agree with @Spoon, removing the like button on a temporary basis is the best way to gather the information we do need, and probably the best first step in solving possible community issues, because it's the easiest to do. In that time we could also try to develop some of these new buttons that have been suggested, in the case that the data shows we went in the wrong direction.

 

Funny thing is that my wife helped as a consultant for a Gambling Addict Help service. When she asked me about opinions I said, hit them where they are the softest.
So she did the homework and checked their users, and did the interviews etc, and yes. Adding gamification combined with peer pressure, to encourage the Gambling Addicts to help each other out of the behavior was the most successful project they had done to date. She got a lot of return business for that job.

 

That is total and complete rubbish. Don't even pretend that I said that when I said the opposite.

I said that one shouldn't implement change when the evidence of the wanted effect is uncertain or anecdotal and the negative effect on more important user groups is certain based on actual research.

Edit:
Here it is again for those with short attention spans

 

This topic has stretched 5 pages?

 

I like the way Reddit does their likes... when someone likes a post, it suggests that the content is relevant and keeps that particular content available on the front page for awhile while other content deemed not relevant by the community sinks.

Imgur has a fun way of promoting posts that the community feels is relevant as well... For SotA forums, I use the like button, but I also understand it's a novelty and serves no purpose beyond just liking something for reasons.

 

No it hasn't. Prove it.

Prove it. Prove it. Prove it.

You can't; I win.

 

(everyone loses)

 

There are so many suggestions to be made about aspects of the game and we are currently st 5 pages discussing if a "like" button causes community issues. (Start sarcasm here) I am sure @Berek ,when he decides how to police the forums, which is a paid part of his job,worries about if his actions will be "liked" by the majority of the community. (End sarcasm here)

Because I am my own person, I can express my views without a thought of who will like it or not. That includes the average player, a LoTM backer,the developers or Lord British. I don't need,as many people here don't need, affirmation of others to sway what I will express.

Let's say a guy has had a terrible week at work. He is single, he is in a relationship and it's on rocky ground at the moment. He gets on the forums reading and sees a topic that he relates to and adds a comment. He watches the thread and when he comes back to the forums, he sees he has 6 "likes". Could it be he feels slightly better about those "likes"? Is this really some community changing event that we should be worried about? A guy who might be down sees some folks agree with him,like what he had to say or just randomly hit a "like" button are going to change the fabric of the community? Please, really?

 

Yes. That's kinda the point. You'll see.

 

I disagree that we shouldn't try to influence Developer's decisions. Port made the decision to launch this game in an Alpha state, with significant development to be done before formal 'release'. You can make any argument you like about it still being 'Alpha', but at the end of the day we try to influence the Developers because we want a game that we enjoy playing. If we see things that we don't like and aren't fun, we try to explain why it isn't fun and influence them to change the game to make it more fun.

It was a very dangerous decision to go Persistent months before the actual release.

 

You and I are helping it on its way to a 6th.
Did you like that?

 

The like button serves two functions for myself. It marks something as I see as needing to be said, and it also provides a marker in things I have read before (like the standup notes)

 

Honestly, I don't really even look at the likes in my notification bar. I have noticed however that there are a handful of players that seem to make liking other people's posts their job for some reason. I don't really know why, but they go through and like pretty much everyone's posts.

 

A "Like" is for me to let you know that I appreciate what you said, that I've listened, and that I may even like to see more of that kind of topic or talk. It saves me hours per week, where otherwise I would have to respond with clumsy sentences that maybe said too much and took away meaning then.

 

As long as I can keep a personal Like/Posts ratio higher than 1, then I feel I am positively contributing.

 

From my cold dead hands

 

Nobody has been liking my bug reports! Our precious like ratios! Oh no!

 

Of course the first thing I do, being the smart-ass I am, is to start reading the original post, and go straight to the bottom to see how many Likes the post saying we should remove Likes get. I am surprised there are not more (5 pages of comments!?!?!!) Likes to agree with the original post, but then if they agree why would they Like it? And second, again returning to the smart-ass, I am surprised the original post wasn't flooded with Likes, to sort of reverse the Like intention, by flooding with Likes we are actually saying we DON'T Like the post.

Or maybe I have too much time on my hands this morning and wired differently than most.

 

try not to like this... I double dog dare you.

 

You keep saying stuff like this, like in your head this will now happen

But you're literally on your own here with this opinion. We are happy, stop with this.