Introducing "like and dislike" to the forum

[The Cryptovator]

This has been on my mind for some time now, I really think it's a good idea, the "like and dislike" won't really count for anything its just a kind of check as to how reasonable people find your opinions.

Almost ten years ago someone created this thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1866078.0

Before creating a new thread that possibly already created, you may use the forum search button. So it will not necessarily create another; rather, you may contribute to the existing thread, and that will help reduce spam on the forum. So that idea hasn’t only come to your mind the first time.

For me, I don’t really want to consider that forum as a social media app. The forum was created to discuss Bitcoin and related things, although we have a lot of sections here now. It doesn’t matter if you like or dislike the post, it will not change the fact. The merit system is working fine, and we may think about how the merit system would improve and increase the circulation. The like and dislike button doesn’t make sense to me at all. It will look more spammy to me.

[[btc]]

I've personally always preffered giving a post on the internet emoji reactions, over boring like/dislike buttons. There's a whole catalog of emojis that exist which convey and endless amount of emotion, signal, and opinion on what's being reacted to - isn't that what a like/dislike is, anyway? It's just a reaction.

I feel like some people use +merit on posts they "like"/"agree" with, but don't have any other substance to add to a post they appreciate, outside of the fact they "like" it, without fully weighing quality - I've definitely done it. If we had reactions, perhaps merit would be saved like bullets in the chamber, properly used to really signal quality. Reactions could supplement that "hey this is how I feel" itch, without much effort in terms of writing out a whole post - especially if someone doesn't feel like typing it, but wants to engage somehow.

Would look something like this:
...Loading AI slop image...





Emoji reactions have their own laundry list of problems, however - especially when trying to combine them with a place such as this here forum. I think the current sentiment might closely resemble something like this:

I'm 99.9999% certain this will never be a forum feature. However, you could use ShadowPulse? Seems to be more or less what you want: Click +Pulse on any post you like.
I mean, it is no emojis, but it is something?

Just to be clear, this is not an endorsement. Use at your own risk.

R.I.P. Shadowpulse

I think need an adult to read this, sorry.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

I've personally always preffered giving a post on the internet emoji reactions, over boring like/dislike buttons. There's a whole catalog of emojis that exist which convey and endless amount of emotion, signal, and opinion on what's being reacted to - isn't that what a like/dislike is, anyway? It's just a reaction.

I can distract users, who make the post and who reply to it.

For serious discussions, pure discussions in text will be better but it can be argued here because in this forum, there are many spam posts. I can not deny this fact, spam is still a big problem in this forum but it does not change a forum moderation on keeping it for as best exchange of ideas as possible.

A welcome message.

[Doan9269]

I really think it's a good idea, the "like and dislike" won't really count for anything its just a kind of check as to how reasonable people find your opinions.

This will undermine the relevance of the merit system, it will also give room to spammers to thrive through the forum and progress to rank up when they do less to get enough like on their post than when they have to work hard to earn for merit.

I also don't see any reason why we should have something different than what the merit system has set in place, this forum must not necessarily operate the same way other platforms do, the merit system is one of the key ways it got well moderated.

[SeriouslyGiveaway]

I really think it's a good idea, the "like and dislike" won't really count for anything its just a kind of check as to how reasonable people find your opinions.

This will undermine the relevance of the merit system, it will also give room to spammers to thrive through the forum and progress to rank up when they do less to get enough like on their post than when they have to work hard to earn for merit.

I also don't see any reason why we should have something different than what the merit system has set in place, this forum must not necessarily operate the same way other platforms do, the merit system is one of the key ways it got well moderated.

Like and dislike can be compared with merit and demerit but demerit is only in idea mode, and theymos has yet created demerit for the forum software. Without demerit, spammers already are able to rank up with spam posts and merits from their friends.

Without demerit, you can not prevent spammers ranking up when merit has become more easily accepted or ignored when they were sent to spam posts or posts that liked by the others.

There is currently no such thing as a "demerit". I'm hoping that the positive merits alone will be fine. I could add demerits pretty easily later on if necessary, though.

I'm hoping that this system will increase post quality by:
 - Forcing people to post high-quality stuff in order to rank up. If you just post garbage, you will never get even 1 merit point, and you will therefore never be able to put links in your signature, etc.
 - Highlighting good posts with the "Merited by" line.

[Comeacross]

Can I start by not liking your idea?

Of course, you can   and you just did, by the way.

Really nothing good can come of this idea, implementing it would not help the forum at all. Go play on Facebook if you are looking to like something.

Even Facebook has no dislike button  

Perhaps, some people think it's okay for Forum to imitate other social media forgetting that the purpose is not the same. If every idea presented here should be implemented, this forum will look complicated.

[DYING_S0UL]

Emoji reactions have their own laundry list of problems, however - especially when trying to combine them with a place such as this here forum. I think the current sentiment might closely resemble something like this:

Imho, merit is more than enough fullfil all the needs! It acts as the like button. As for dislike it isn't necessary! Many times we can just guess whether a topic is liked or not. For instance look at OP, this is probably the most disliked topic created by him, you can literally see it through others comments. People are forgetting this is a forum, not some social media sites like facebook or twitter, so we shouldn't demand/request things related to them.

As the proverb goes, "If it ain't broken, don't touch it".

[Ambatman]

When I saw your post title I thought you might have written a script to enforce it
Since that's what's common on meta now.
Not surprising that I didn't come across any that really approves of it.
Adding to what was said before it would lead to a worse abuse and war than what we facing.
We should be reducing the problem the forum facing not creating new one.
You can tell a person agrees or not to a post from their response.

[macson]

Since the majority of people don't like what you're propose, it already shows you that most people here are really fed up with that social media feature. Wouldn't it be better to just make it simpler? The 'merit' is already enough to show appreciation or liking for a post. If you don't like a post, you can just skip it or "ignore" that user. It's that simple, no need to add a feature that's actually unnecessary.

[Mia Chloe]

This has been on my mind for some time now, I really think it's a good idea, the "like and dislike" won't really count for anything its just a kind of check as to how reasonable people find your opinions.

Lol this is not the first proposal for something like this and related to this. The whole idea seems to be coming from this social media vibes and atmosphere most people are actually used to. Anyways we don't need a like button since the merit system already handles that.

If you don't like a post you can either choose to ignore it or go ahead making a reply to criticise it. Similarly if you like a post simply commend and merit according to your own assessment.

[PrivacyG]

We already have something of that nature in this forum, if you see a post that you like, to show that you like that post you merit the post.

I do not really like the idea of considering Merits a 'Like' button.  If that is it then there should also be a 'deMerit' button, and the Merit system should work in the same way voting works on Reddit.  Other wise, if Merits are equal to the 'Like' button, it would be as stupid as YouTube.

Merits should be sent for quality contributions.  Not for agreeing with some body.  Should..

[yahoo62278]

Can I start by not liking your idea?

Of course, you can   and you just did, by the way.

Really nothing good can come of this idea, implementing it would not help the forum at all. Go play on Facebook if you are looking to like something.

Even Facebook has no dislike button  

Perhaps, some people think it's okay for Forum to imitate other social media forgetting that the purpose is not the same. If every idea presented here should be implemented, this forum will look complicated.

They don't, just a like emoji and a few others. Maybe I should have said mess around with the other social medias as they all offer something different. We would just see manipulated likes/dislikes and start a whole new issue for the forum folks to deal with. Keep it simple IMO.

[nullius]

👎

For all its flaws, one of the good things about this forum is that theymos values (a) freedom expression, and (b) quality discussion.  Likes and dislikes would transform the discourse into a cheap popularity contest more than it already is, and would open posts expressing unpopular opinions (and worse, personally unpopular authors) to brigading with dislikes by haters who don’t want to engage with the substance.

This has been on my mind for some time now, I really think it's a good idea, the "like and dislike" won't really count for anything its just a kind of check as to how reasonable people find your opinions.

If it “won’t really count for anything”, why have it at all?  But of course, it would indeed count for something:  It would warp the discourse, and encourage groupthink.

People can already express how reasonable they find your opinions, by writing replies that do not violate Forum Rule #1 (“no zero or low value, pointless or uninteresting posts”).

[SuperBitMan]

We already have something of that nature in this forum, if you see a post that you like, to show that you like that post you merit the post.

I do not really like the idea of considering Merits a 'Like' button.  If that is it then there should also be a 'deMerit' button, and the Merit system should work in the same way voting works on Reddit.  Other wise, if Merits are equal to the 'Like' button, it would be as stupid as YouTube.

Merits should be sent for quality contributions.  Not for agreeing with some body.  Should..

Do you know that what you see as quality, educative, informative or outstanding post may not be to another person.
I have seen a situation where someone created a thread that some saw as an informative post and they merited it, but others saw it as merit fishing post and didn’t merit it.

The fact that you see a post as quality, educative, informative or outstanding means you like the post and when someone else don’t see it that way it means he or she don’t like the post.

What you see as quality posts is what you like and when you merit it you did it because you like the post.

[SamReomo]

This has been on my mind for some time now, I really think it's a good idea, the "like and dislike" won't really count for anything its just a kind of check as to how reasonable people find your opinions.

This isn't a bad idea but the merit system on this forum is much better than like and dislike or - and + karma so I think there's no need of a new system. Those who make good and useful posts get merits for their posts and contribution and that is more than enough, there's no need to add like and dislike function to the forum or follow function to the forum because it's a forum not a social media platform and that's why it's good the way it is right now.

[aoluain]

Sorry but it’s a shitty idea,  we already have the best way to appreciate a post and it’s the merits which to me is still a better idea.

The merit is very well better than just the like you see on social media, the fact that the merit is also a factor to grow in rank is actually a great idea although there have many cases of it not be perfect but still it doesn’t makes it less better than a like

As for dislike they have been discussions around Demerit button too but admin doesn’t seems to like the idea right now and would only add it when this doesn’t works anymore

There is currently no such thing as a "demerit". I'm hoping that the positive merits alone will be fine. I could add demerits pretty easily later on if necessary, though.

Nah I wouldnt say its a shitty idea at all.

The merit system is there but not everyone has them to spend at all times whereas a simple
like or dislike could be used by everyone.

I actually like the idea and it would be nice to be able to toggle a button to view the list of replies
based on popularity, dont know if that would be possible but I think it would be interesting.

It would also act as a bookmark for all the posts (and therefore threads) you liked!

OP, if we could evaluate the usefulness of creating your theme now, you would see many dislikes.

So there you are, there is a perfect example of a use case for the OP's suggestion!

[EL MOHA]

Sorry but it’s a shitty idea,  we already have the best way to appreciate a post and it’s the merits which to me is still a better idea.

Are you sure it's a shitty idea or you just have a shitty view and response to it?

Merit system has never been perfect. And let me tell you for free, many people would like and appreciate a user's post, but would be reluctant to hand a merit. Do you know why? Merit is "too" precious the way it's structure. Handling a "like" would still show appreciation, even though it may not support account growth. That doesn't look shitty to me.

The merit system has never been perfect would the like button make it more perfect? I don’t think so, nothing can be perfect.

I don’t see the need for a like button when we have the merit button already there because if you wish to appreciate a post then do that with something that will help the account grow in the forum and the merit is already there.

If you’re a member that likes a post and feel reluctant to actually send merit I am sorry but you don’t like that post because merit shouldn’t be too precious for you to appreciate a great work. Reluctancy mean’t you’re skeptical about rewarding the person and the like button doesn’t do anything better. With merit you can appreciate with your number of merit sent representing how high you rate the posts which is far better than likes

With your idea many members will end up with many likes without merits and what’s good about that or is there any point a certain number of likes can be made to make a merit?

[EarnOnVictor]

Sorry but it’s a shitty idea,  we already have the best way to appreciate a post and it’s the merits which to me is still a better idea.

Are you sure it's a shitty idea or you just have a shitty view and response to it?

Merit system has never been perfect. And let me tell you for free, many people would like and appreciate a user's post, but would be reluctant to hand a merit. Do you know why? Merit is "too" precious the way it's structure. Handling a "like" would still show appreciation, even though it may not support account growth. That doesn't look shitty to me.

The merit system has never been perfect would the like button make it more perfect? I don’t think so, nothing can be perfect.
-snip-

That's it, you continue to get it wrong.

No one is advocating perfection here, but talking about an extra measures to show appreciation aside from the merit system that's structured too heavy and precious to users. Leave it or take it, hundreds of posts are being admired daily, but giving them merit has been issues of many users since they view merits as too previous for them, and by virtue, hold them. A simple "like" would always leave a mark of a sincere appreciation that cost no one to have their smerits depleted (which has been the headache of many users).

[Alonso_]

This has been on my mind for some time now, I really think it's a good idea, the "like and dislike" won't really count for anything its just a kind of check as to how reasonable people find your opinions.

This isn't a bad idea but the merit system on this forum is much better than like and dislike or - and + karma so I think there's no need of a new system. Those who make good and useful posts get merits for their posts and contribution and that is more than enough, there's no need to add like and dislike function to the forum or follow function to the forum because it's a forum not a social media platform and that's why it's good the way it is right now.

I think the idea is bad, he is obviously late to his idea which I think it’s a social media idea, because merit system have replaced this idea, just like you have mentioned as well if he likes someone post the best thing is to merit the post, but I feel their are post people should merit but they’re limited to merit that post probably because they don’t have merit, there are more likelihood of merit source to be the once to constantly merit post they like, however if I come across a post I like is just to merit the post, but if I don’t have a merit I would personally move.

[Betwrong]

This has been on my mind for some time now, I really think it's a good idea, the "like and dislike" won't really count for anything its just a kind of check as to how reasonable people find your opinions.

On Bitcointalk, if someone likes your comment, they can give you merit. They can't take it back afterwards, and they can't give you a dislike to balance that out, so they think twice before actually giving you merit. This system is different from what we have on other platforms, and that's the beauty of it. To me, if "like and dislike" buttons were implemented on Bitcointalk, it would make the forum a bit less cool.