Like / Dislike buttons, Karma, etc

andys

Well-known member
Pegasus said:
mmilner said:
Again,  (y) and still so wish for a 'Like' button, sigh.

We're on it, promise  ;)

Excellent - but only if you also include a "Don't Like" button so that both viewpoints can be expressed. <Begin soapbox mode> I hate things - from forum posts, surveys etc right through to government e-Petitions - where the only option is to agree with the matter being canvassed. I don't like being given no voice simply because I don't agree with something - with my views made indistinct from those who have no view, can't be bothered or don't care. For every "Like" there should be a "Don't Like" and for every e-petition the opportunity to register an objection. <End soapbox mode.> 
 

Peter Burgess

New member
Facebook tells you who liked something. Let's have the means to see who likes and doesn't like something, if we really must have a like/don't like feature.
 

Hughie

Active member
andys said:
Pegasus said:
mmilner said:
Again,  (y) and still so wish for a 'Like' button, sigh.

We're on it, promise  ;)

Excellent - but only if you also include a "Don't Like" button so that both viewpoints can be expressed. <Begin soapbox mode> I hate things - from forum posts, surveys etc right through to government e-Petitions - where the only option is to agree with the matter being canvassed. I don't like being given no voice simply because I don't agree with something - with my views made indistinct from those who have no view, can't be bothered or don't care. For every "Like" there should be a "Don't Like" and for every e-petition the opportunity to register an objection. <End soapbox mode.>

+1
 

al

Member
I really don't like like buttons, or emoticons (is that a real word?) either  :confused: but I try not to dwell on the many things I find irritating about modern social media, and accept them as being simply part of life's rich dishcloth.

And, of course, the perfect antidote to any of this is to go caving.
 

bograt

Active member
What is the point of a 'like' button, surely a couple of 'thumbs up' says the same thing, the 'like' button on Faceache is there for comercial reasons.
 

Bottlebank

New member
If we can' agree over whether or not to have a like button perhaps we're not grown up enough yet to be campaigning for government bodies to change national policy?

I don't care if we have a like button or not but find the lack of a dislike button on Facebook very annoying, so if we have one let's have both!
 

cavermark

New member
bograt said:
What is the point of a 'like' button, surely a couple of 'thumbs up' says the same thing, the 'like' button on Faceache is there for comercial reasons.

off topic of course, but... if lots of people put "thumbs up" posts up the thread can extend to several pages and be harder to find actual comments in. A like would presumably be a counter in the corner of the relevent post.  I often resist posting with just emoticons for that reason.
I would use it also when "I agree" or "good point" or "that made me laugh" etc. 
 

kay

Well-known member
AR said:
I'm in the grumpy old git camp and would prefer not to have like/dislike/share/translate into Latin buttons on the forums, I don't see the point - it brings back bad memories of the "me too" posts that used to clutter up some usenet forums  back in the dim and distant past.

If you have a "like" button, it removes the need for "me too" posts (or the +1 posts you see on ukcaving).

Despite seeing the arguments in favour, I'd rather not have like/dislike buttons. 
 

martinm

New member
Pegasus said:
mmilner said:
Again,  (y) and still so wish for a 'Like' button, sigh.

We're on it, promise  ;)

Then it should be done by now then. Just fork SMF's code. One afternoon's work:-

1. New database table:- fields referencing  topic and comment. (20  mins work.)
2. new 'Like' button with a link to code to record the likes. (20 mins work.)
3. new display field to show the number of likes. (20 mins work.)
4. test it all. (20 mins work.)

This isn't rocket science, just simple programming. I am a web developer with 14 years experience. My CV is available if req'd...

Simple. Oh, and no 'Dislike' button as they would be open to abuse. There is a reason why Facebook have refused to add them.

I don't want to have to keep posting  (y) icons if I like someone's post. It's a PITA. Maybe I'll just stop using the forum instead.  There are reasons why a lot of people I know don't use this forum, many of them learned professionals. Maybe I'll become one of them...

See:-https://www.facebook.com/MelissaMilnerBOT

I'm out of here now, maybe permanently. Facebook is much better. Bysies.

Regards Mel. DCA Webmeister.

 

underground

Active member
Here's what I'd do. + - Karma was tried on this site a while back and demised due to abuse.. Simple likes are great for social fora and non specific chat.

If we take a subject such as dodgy bolts, or party in Bagshawe, IMO the point of those is to share info, if you feel strongly about it, type a response saying so - all is marginal so a few posts every now and then are a good thing from the site's perspective. Any likes their should be for Pete and co. who cleaned it up, not for the topic of (to extrapolate) party in Bagshawe Cavern....

Club fora - let them do what they want, their material will go into the canon and if SUSS for example want to have a social media type platform, why not. Again though, if a club had a post on 'got pissed, destroyed cave' then likes would be bad news.

Tackle, trips, etc. - IMO 'likes' etc. are not useful per se - e.g. if someone says 'my Speleotechnics light was dodgy' and 300 people agree and thus 'like' it, that wont help anyone. If someone posts a way of fixing said light and gets 100 likes, maybe 100 people fixed their light, 200 bought another (lets say a Duo) and it was bombproof and got 200 likes, which post is best? etc. etc.

This forum has been relatively 'quiet' for as long as I remember (i.e. from its inception) and I compare it with ukbouldering which took flight at the same time, and I guess there are a: fewer cavers than boulderers and b: cavers are less inclined to talk about the extraneous stuff (all this excepting the general ukcaving forum where we've seen allsorts). All this is to the good as I see it. It isn't a facebook analogue and nor should it be. It's become a place for solid information based on folk going underground and doing it, and if it stays slow as a result I'd prefer it that way. I also understand that cavers are people who also want to chat, make friends, cut loose and talk bollocks to each other, so likes and dislikes would be nice - but as I've seen on another forum I frequent where it's almost the norm to be an utter c*nt unless it's in the serious bit, it's just a free-for-all...

So, I'd either consider it carefully on the 'proper' fora (i.e let those results appear organically due to useful content which they do already), just do it all over and f**k it and let the users self-police it(hence let likes appear on BS threads) or not bother - or just keep it to the chat.

Alternatively create a facebook group for the chat.... if SMF can link into it it could be perfect...

However harking back to mmilner's strop... don't waste 3 hours and do nothing, and stick up 2 fingers to the countless 'professional cavers' who avoid the site.....
Can I use a  (y) now?
 

ah147

New member
I think that was a wholly unnecessarily hostile and derogatory response to the providers of a free service simply saying they are trying to implement something site members have asked for.

I would like to see a like button to show my gratitude to the multitude of helpful posts, good advice and good deeds done by many.

I would like to see a dislike button for posts like that one.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Facebook? I don't have enough free time to keep up with what's on this forum properly, let alone complicate life with yet another reason to stare at screens slavishly all day. I see it's even crept into BCRA's method of "communicating" recently.

However, to stay on topic, congratulations and thank you to the team which has dealt with this problem very effectively and very quickly. You sometimes see "experts" commenting on cavers generally being a cause of SSSI's being damaged. This recent example suggests that, in modern times, the reverse is the case.

 

ah147

New member
The way I see a like button its a way for users to record:
A) how useful people think a particular post is
B) how helpful people are overall. Especially helpful to new users.

For example if someone has 100 likes in 200 posts they're probably a more helpful and reliable source than someone with 20 likes in 200 posts.

If a poster knows the answer to a question, then goes off and researches it, provides links to sources then the person deserves a thank you post off the original question asker, as well as likes off anyone else who found that post helpful.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Peter Burgess

New member
It seems to me that we need the option to allow or not allow a like facility on our own posts as part of our profile preferences. It would be great if that was possible.
 

kay

Well-known member
ah147 said:
For example if someone has 100 likes in 200 posts they're probably a more helpful and reliable source than someone with 20 likes in 200 posts.

Or that their sense of humour is shared by the majority on the forum, or that their political views chime with the majority ..
 

Bottlebank

New member
For what it's worth.

I don't really care whether we get a like button or not.

A like button is fine, but one thing I dislike about Facebook is seeing a racist or unpleasant comment with several hundred likes attached. Placing a dislike button next to it, as many comments sections on news sites do for example, makes you realise that at least you're not alone.

I'm not sure what abuse can come from this, but if you are adding one please have a good think about adding both.

 

Antwan

Member
I'm impressed if Mel can smash out a like button in less than an hour and half from scratch including testing.
 

Peter Burgess

New member
I do think those who would be put off by a like facility should have the means to opt out. There is a good chance some highly valuable contributors will post infrequently or even walk away. Please cater for ALL preferences if you can. I am not sure if I would opt in or out, but I would like to have the choice.
 

pwhole

Well-known member
For a while, at the end of BBC Look North, the presenters happily recommended that the viewers 'liked' them on Facebook, and to 'follow' them on Twitter, even though they have their own BBC Look North website. I was baffled by this, and was almost expecting them to recommend we watch ITV's Calendar too! It seemed very odd to me that a publicly-funded organisation would recommend that its users switch to a rival, private company in preference to its own service.

I was also baffled by what a fan of Look North could expect to find on Facebook or Twitter that they couldn't have provided by the BBC itself. I could only assume that the management of the unit were so bamboozled by the plethora of options available, and so taken in by the 'fragrant whiff of mass appeal' that they forgot which side they were working for.

I only point this out as evidence of willing social behavioural change, in order to satisfy software-driven criteria, as created by marketing-driven executives - 'or trendmongers', if you prefer. That term was originally coined in the 1970's as part-satire, but it is now undeniably true. Or am I just being overly cynical? But I'm mostly on this site because I'm passionate about underground work, not in keeping stats on how popular an opinion is at the moment.
 
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