Bitcoin Forum

Why are "Likes" turned off in this forum?

Just wondering. 

Because:   when likes are turned off I feel like I need to comment instead, which makes things even noisier in forum threads.

I like the "Thanks" option other forums have.

It's just how it's been. It's been like that for at least 6 years so I don't think it's going to change.

If a thread is already big, one additional comment won't make it too much bigger and if it isn't already big then there's nothing to worry about.

I'm assuming it's because the forum started off as a small community and the admins didn't think it'd get this big. Also you might be able to use PMs instead if you don't want to reply in some cases.

Is there a "Report Post" function?  I don't see one. 

You do not really need to comment, if you 'like' a post, you can drop a merit, if you do not have any smerits, you can suggest the post to other members or merit sources here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5093271.msg49051692#msg49051692). Any low substance reply, like; "thank you" or "good job" would likely be deleted.

Yes there is. At the bottom right corner of a post, there is a link 'report to moderator', after clicking on it, you'll be prompted to write a comment on your report.
P.S, scams are not moderated, so your report had to be directly forum related.

If you want to thank someone, you can pm the person. If you like a post, you can merit such post. If you do not have have merit, you can report the post here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5093271.0). Let me tell you one thing, the merit is working good on this forum, no need for likes or thanks or whatever you are suggesting, what matters most to us here are quality post, you can see many posts that are quality enough which makes your suggestion invalid.

To report post, just take a look at lower right part of each post including your post, you will see a report button, click on it and report what you want to report.

Sending Merits to a post is almost the same as liking it if you have loved the content someone has written but Unlike likes, you have to earn at least 2 merits in order to have one sMerit. So this means you will have to be active and contribute positively in the forum if you are to receive any Merits.

In my opinion this forum is perfect. It has all option what a forum site needs. It looks soo simple, user friendly best UI as a forum site. Because forum site Should be looks soo simple. Forum site don't need extra use less option. And i think bitcointalk forum has enough option it dosen't need any more options. Because of its simplicity when a new users comes into this site he can easily use this service. And its simplicity easily can attract any users.  I think i am the live example of its. Because when i comes i didn’t ask any one about its any option because it is soo simple guys. Its my opinion others can be different.

You are right, the merit system was introduced as a package to encourage quality post/helpful topics, which is almost the same as the like function on some other platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. etc

You can comment but make sure you are not gonna response a very common word/s it could mean a spam. This is a forum mate not a social media site where you can instant like or heart those post that you like or dislike.

In forum especially like this, moderators are strict and even users have a chance to report they think non substantial post or response. We understand that you are a newbie but you must study first the rules in order to faliliarize yourself with such query.

That's okay, OP. It isn't necessary in the first place.
At least with the merit system, you can truly see that one would really like your post as sMerit is limited unlike with the "Like" function.
I recall someone even suggesting "Haha" reaction here in the forum which was more meh of suggestion. This isn't Facebook.

We have 'merit' system which serves kinda same purpose, but there isn't abundance of it so you gotta be careful where you spend.

The problem I see with that is that sometimes merits are given to a post simply because you agree and I don't think that was the original intent of the system.

I understand that merits should be given for a thoughtful post or sometimes for being helpful or funny. Sometimes even a one-liner, if what it expresses is a key idea about what is being discussed is worthy of merit.

But giving merits simply as a like, as is sometimes done, I understand that it should not be done.

Anyway, the system is not perfect, but I understand that it is quite good.

Facebook culture. :D

If you like a comment just keep that it to yourself, no need to express whether you like it or not , can drop a merit if its worthy but I won't support to merit a post just because you like it but its okay since is subjective to the posts.

Privacy is important so move from facebook to the useful forums. :)

Umm No.

Merit should to be given to a post that you find informative. A post can be informative and likeable, both or none. That is as per what the admin wishes to imply. But you are free to do whatever you wish to do with merits, even send them to posts that you like but again that ends up being the social media method where only the top posts get the attention and rest of the posts that are worth reading or informative gets drowned in the endless chatter.

To answer the OP, Merit system is not a "Like, share, subscribe" thing. It came here after low quality post spam helped even spammers rank up and to curb that. It was never intended to to work as a "Thumbs up". So we dont have one like that and I hope theymos does not start one.

SMF forum software doesn't have support for like buttons, especially the older version that's used on this forum (not sure about the newer SMF version, I believe those have reactions).

I don't think this is the right advice. Sending unsolicited private messages is prohibited on the forum. Moreover, many have a ban on receiving letters from newbies. And in general, how will it look like if you write a personal thank you for each post?
In general, about the religion of likes ... Why should everything today look like Facebook and everything should be rated in likes? Many people live for likes, they shoot videos, and so on.
The merit system is more sophisticated and more interesting. Before evaluating someone in terms of likes or dislikes, the user must have his own merits to further evaluate someone. I know that for many newbies it becomes a challenge to get merits, thereby motivating them to create good posts. And also understand how useful the message should be to give credit for it.

But that's why a like button would be helpful. It's common courtesy to thank someone for help and a like button would at least curb people just littering threads with pleasantries. Sometimes a thanks is all some people require but it's a bit of a stretch for people to go suggesting people merit a post because they don't have any. A simple like button would do the job there.


Well it didn't have support for merit either but theymos implemented it  :D.

Not the likes but there definitely should be a feature to mark some posts as favourites. This would make finding the posts you like so much easier. I often get lost in coming across a post and then navigating back to it again. I can watch the threads but still would prefer a one-click solution. Some of these posts are pure gem (for instance earlier stuff from DannyH) and I wanted to sort of adding them to my collection. I'm doing the manual copy-pasta to my text editor now but it would be great to see some forum feature for it.

Yup, the newer SMF versions support the Like/ Unlike posts function as shown through a plugin below:

https://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=3708


It's akin to earning brownie points, but I can see a use case for such. For those that can't always afford to donate Merits could like. :)

Or just do nothing.  It's not like you have to make your opinion heard on every post you happen to like.  But yeah, if you've got some sMerits, that's the way to go and the merit system is basically what this forum has for a "like" feature.

By the way, this topic of having/not having a "like" feature has been brought up numerous times before, and the community response to the suggestion has generally been negative.  For one thing, it's unnecessary because we have the merit system, and for another it could and most likely would be abused by members with grudges against people.  And personally I just think it's a stupid feature on a forum like this.  On Youtube it makes sense, because it lets content creators know how well their videos are being received (and on Reddit I don't think it's needed).  On bitcointalk it would be just a redundant feature since merits are used to "like" posts.

It is an option, but I have my reservations about it.
What real purpose would a 'like feature' serve, to show how many people appreciated your contribution who may not have any smerits to give at the time?

If there's no means to earn the likes would it not turn out to be an unnecessary metric that would be giving at the slightest whim without careful consideration? Users earn merits and by extension smerits, so they would try to be very careful in giving them out, likes on the other hand would be easily overused.
Creating a system where likes are earned (sort of like the bump system) is an alternative, but not sure if it's worth the stress for the admin.

The thing to consider is would a like button decrease the amount of spam in threads where people only post to thank the OP or to agree with him?
I think it wouldn't. If someone wants to spam, he/she will do it even if there is a like button. He will write that he liked the post and give reasons why he liked it. On the other hand, if you are not a spammer, you are not going to post a simple 'thank you' or 'I agree' anyways.

Introducing likes would make me question if a post is just like-worthy or merit-worthy. It's good enough for a like, but should I also merit it...

A funny reaction button also would be something to make the forum more fun and nice to use. A little bit of positivity would not hurt anyone, would it?

Well, it's pretty self explanatory really. A thanks button is just that - a way to show appreciation. Not much different than merit really but that is in very limited supply and newbies have little to none of it. It's obviously not essential but would help in situations like the OP and implementation of it should be easy given it'd be like the merit system. 'Overusing' the likes shouldn't matter either because what are the consequences of doing that?

Your suggestion is fine but let me make you understand this. On other platforms some people gives you like on what ever you post whether good or bad, some gives you likes out of sympathy but my questions is how much earn have made through that? Secondly there no moderator to guide your post but here we have.... Do you know when you get merit here is like you won America lottery? I don't think we need likes button because is not everybody that likes your post really do.

Well, I guess it's that way because the creator(s) or managers of this forum want to make it look different from the park. It's called breaking away from the crowd mentality. In a way, it's ok but I for one will advocate for something of that nature that will enable us show appreciation to posts freely without involving merits. Sometimes, I see posts I like to merit but can't do so because I don't have merit. In a situation like that, clicking the like button should be sufficient.


So, in excess both aren't the same. Liking is freely given while meriting a post will cost the giver something.

I think OP is referring to the reactions like the social media I think it's quite different if this kind of feature will adopt to this forum we have a different set of features here in our forum we have the merit system serve as a like it defines your number of good contents and contributions so if you think you like the content why not give merit still your option.

There's no one pushing you around to comment on a "thank you", " okay "etc that acts as one-liner content just to end the argument.

That brings me back to the good ol' days of the Facepunch forum.
https://www.wikipunch.com/images/thumb/0/06/Oldratings.png/300px-Oldratings.png

In bitcointalk you can consider  Likes = Merit, as the more you like the post you can give merits to the post. Unlike likes which are usually unlimited in number, you won't have unlimited merits to send. 
Also with likes, you should also have dislikes but here there is no alternative of dislike as you can't show your expression if you disliked a post.

No, not really. In fact, we might encounter spamming issues for the "like" function just like what happened to the merit system when it started (I ain't sure if it still happening today tho).

Maybe if we set upvoting function rules like only allowing upvotes to those people who got more than 10 merits or something might lessen the spamming activity but not guaranteed. upvotes can then be considered as one good criterion if the post is worth merit points.

That is still an unnecessary complication that we really can do without on this forum. I think we have bigger problems to solve than introducing likes and upvotes.

That 10 merit requirement is unfair towards newbies and jr. members and might be considered as a newbie jail. theymos has stated he is against introducing a newbie jail and I support such a decision. If there were upvotes and likes on Bitcointalk, newbies should have the option to upvote and have their posts liked and upvoted as well.   

So are you suggesting that we should stop using these merit requirement to rank up ?
I don't know how upvotes or likes can help prevent the spam. Merit system is being tested for few years now and has proved to be efficient.

No, that's not what I said. You have to read the part of darklus123's post that I quoted and I am responding to. He suggested that only users with a minimum of 10 merits should be allowed to upvote posts. That's what I am against, not against the current merit system.   

Yes, now i understand your point of view as it was not clear to me before  :)
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By the way shouldn't we stop assuming and wasting our energies thinking  about features like Upvote , likes , dislikes which are not present in the forum yet.  ::)

This idea is coming from StackOverflow and it is somehow effective.  I completely understand your and theymos's stands about it. However, upvotes or likes shouldn't be really a big deal if the new accounts don't have it. We have to understand also that the forum system is different from social media. We have ranks here and certain ranks have to follow certain restrictions or given specific benefits. If your idea is to break this "That 10 merit requirement is unfair towards newbies and jr. members and might be considered as a newbie jail." then we should start removing merit systems and ranks because it is not also fair for newbies  ???. I hope I have said my point clear because my English is quite bad.

The merit system is equally fair on everyone. If I (a legendary) like your post, I merit you. If a Jr. member likes my post, he merits me. Both those merits are the same, and my legendary merit or status doesn't have any greater importance than that of a Jr. member when it comes to the ability of meriting and being merited. Any member on the forum can get merited and can merit others if sMerits are at hand.

A proposal to not allow users who have less than 10 merits to upvote or get upvoted is the opposite to how the merit system works. That would mean that if I like a post made by a newbie, I wouldn't be able to upvote it. If he likes a post made by me, he would also not be able to upvote my post. That's newbie jail.

I'm sorry I might discuss it the wrong way. What I really mean to say is that the user who has less than 10 merits can't upvote ( or to put them in a better situation their upvote count will be separated to other colors, for example, upvotes from a user who has more than 10 merits is green while for < 10 will be yellow) but their post can still be upvoted.  I am not sure tho if this is an important thing to discuss lol