Like Dislike buttons

[Manc33]

I'm the other way, I don't bother with sites like Facebook because they don't have a dislike button, only a like button.

Facebook might think everyone is wearing rose tinted glasses but that's OK, I just won't use it.

Not very realistic is it?

[661-Pete]

NO no no! A thousand times NO!!!

One of the things that sets this forum a cut above the 'competition' is the absence of upvotes or downvotes. Why do we have to join the masses? Hasn't anyone looked at the Daily Fail comments columns lately? Ok I'm not suggesting it could get as bad as that, but upvotes simply pick out those who 'go with the flow', those who represent the clique. We should be welcoming to all contributors, upvoted or not.

As for downvotes ... well I've seen what that does to 'other places'. People gang up on unpopular members; to me it can only amount to bullying. Do we want that?

I'll make no secret of the fact that I profoundly disagree with almost all the comments of contributor 'Freddie'. Indeed I think that it would be well for much of what he posts here to be ignored. But would I wish him bullied off the forum? Most emphatically, NO!

So think again folks! This forum is great! It ain't broken: don't 'fix' it!

[Vantage]

So think again folks! This forum is great! It ain't broken: don't 'fix' it!

Technically the Penny Farthing was never broken. People did world tours on it even. But some chap decided not to hold back on progress and now there is almost literally, a bike for every type of person.
Cyclechat seems a friendly enough place with them. I even recently won a trophy cuz so many folk liked one of my posts
What harm could it possibly do?

[Psamathe]

NO no no! :evil: A thousand times NO!!!

One of the things that sets this forum a cut above the 'competition' is the absence of upvotes or downvotes. Why do we have to join the masses? Hasn't anyone looked at the Daily Fail comments columns lately? Ok I'm not suggesting it could get as bad as that, but upvotes simply pick out those who 'go with the flow', those who represent the clique. We should be welcoming to all contributors, upvoted or not.

As for downvotes ... well I've seen what that does to 'other places'. People gang up on unpopular members; to me it can only amount to bullying. Do we want that?

I'll make no secret of the fact that I profoundly disagree with almost all the comments of contributor 'Freddie'. Indeed I think that it would be well for much of what he posts here to be ignored. But would I wish him bullied off the forum? Most emphatically, NO!

So think again folks! This forum is great! It ain't broken: don't 'fix' it!

I would agree (notice I haven't even just done the +1).

When I agree with post it is rarely that simple. In a discussion people often raise a number of points in a single post. I often find my own response might be that I agree with some points but not with others, or elaborate and broaden other aspects raised. Same with political party policy where I suspect I could find at least one policy from each party that I'd agree with (and many I disagree with). In many discussions it is not a question of numbers of people supporting an idea but the reasons they give. Take disc vs rim brakes, somebody explains why disc brakes are better and they get several +1's - does that make their reasons any stronger. Take helmets use - where if the nation's cyclists voted according to their own habits and we'd all be wearing them (as I am told more cyclists wear helmets than don't).

I also think they are often a lazy way to avoid having to think about what was written and consider points raised. It becomes more of a "I disagree with that stance so I 'dislike'". I often find myself doing that (effectively) on the Guardian comments. e.g. article about Hunt and the NHS Junior doctors and I'l spend a brief time scanning the comments "liking" anything that is anti-Hunt. And I just scan the comment to see if it is anti-Hunt/pro-Doctors and then like without really stopping to consider the points raised - lazy means I am not really considering different aspects and points people are raising. So somebody who loves disc brakes will quickly "like"the posts saying how great they are and "dislike" the posts saying how bad they are and maybe not stop to read and consider the reasons given and maybe learn and adjust their own thoughts.

I can see a few cases where it might be applicable, but for the majority of cases not really.

Or, maybe make it a bit like a "poll" thread where the originating poster can decide if the thread/discussion is suited to like/dislike voting and so to enable/disable those buttons.

Ian

[al_yrpal]

I dont approve of like/dislike buttons they are too simple, but a single 'recommend' button would be good. Then, highly recommended posts can be highlighted and listed in order of recommendation together. If you dislike something in someones post you thus have to explain why and if lots of people agree with you they recommend your post. That way disliked points get highlighted with the reasons explained, which covers the points made above.
This has been used very effectively on http://boards.fool.co.uk/bestof.asp , a financial website. It leads to intelligent discussion and highlights both interesting, good and bad points very effectively indeed.

Al

[honesty]

Surely the point of a forum is to have discussion. A like/dislike button would in my mind limit discussion as people will not put their views down.

[Spinners]

'Like' buttons....fair enough. 'Dislike' buttons....not keen....can make someone feel victimised just because they don't follow the herd, and if disliked it gives no indication why, unlike a reply stating why, and if you have a reply stating why then you don't need the dislike button.

Like

[Mick F]

What about a "Thank You" button?

[661-Pete]

What about a "Thank You" button?

No need. If a contributor is particularly helpful - for example in the Bikes & Bits section - what's wrong with simply putting up a "Thank you" post?

[661-Pete]

Technically the Penny Farthing was never broken. People did world tours on it even. But some chap decided not to hold back on progress and now there is almost literally, a bike for every type of person.
Cyclechat seems a friendly enough place with them. I even recently won a trophy cuz so many folk liked one of my posts
What harm could it possibly do?

The 'Ordinary' or 'Penny-farthing' bicycle was largely superseded by what was then referred to as the 'safety' bicycle because it was found to be safer. No big deal in that! Many riders had suffered serious accidents on the Ordinary. And this was before the days of motorised traffic. Moreover, it was difficult to mount, especially for someone small of stature. And don't forget - this was in the days when women, largely excluded from cycling before then, came to take it up. Even with the advent of bloomers, it would probably have been unseemly for a woman to ride an Ordinary. Though I've no doubt, some did!

As for C****chat, well what can I say? I was effectively booted out. For those who are in the clique over there - bully for you!

[661-Pete]

Or, maybe make it a bit like a "poll" thread where the originating poster can decide if the thread/discussion is suited to like/dislike voting and so to enable/disable those buttons.

I'm all in favour of 'polls' where appropriate. If the options in the poll are simply 'agree' and 'disagree', fine. Although we have to remember that voting is optional (as it is in British political elections), so your result is never going to be representative of the whole forum.

[Mick F]

What about a "Thank You" button?

No need. If a contributor is particularly helpful - for example in the Bikes & Bits section - what's wrong with simply putting up a "Thank you" post?

I think that it would keep the post-count down.

I know (before anyone says it) I have a huge post-count, but I reckon there are hundreds of one word - or very few words - posts.

If we could hit a "Thank You" or a "Agree With" or even a "Thumbs Up" button, it would keep the more interesting and involved posts to the fore.

[mjr]

What about a "Thank You" button?

No need. If a contributor is particularly helpful - for example in the Bikes & Bits section - what's wrong with simply putting up a "Thank you" post?

It's make-work. I'd like some way of saying like/agree/thanks so that I spend less time typing and more time riding my bike without feeling that the views of people like me are being dismissed as lone voices. What's wrong with a button for this common action?

I agree with the aforementioned reservations about dislikes/downvotes.

[661-Pete]

It's make-work. I'd like some way of saying like/agree/thanks so that I spend less time typing and more time riding my bike without feeling that the views of people like me are being dismissed as lone voices. What's wrong with a button for this common action?

It encourages laziness. And what's worse, it allows people to hide behind anonymity (I believe that on CC, 'like' votes are identified by username, but that's not how it goes on most forums). OK, like most others on this forum, I don't give out my full name, but within the setting of this forum, everything I post is immediately linked to my username on here, so I'm not really 'anonymous' as an individual on here.

All right, a bit of my 'history' by way of explanation (please stop here if I'm boring you! ). I've been a bit of a 'bad boy' elsewhere: maybe it was my own doing, but I was effectively barred from three forums over the past ten years. Two of them were cycling forums: I've already mentioned them and I won't say any more about them here.

The third was an astronomy forum, so it's less likely that others on here will also be members of that one. Anyway, the Admins of that forum, in their wisdom, decided that the 'Help and Suggestions' section of the forum - the exact equivalent of this section on this forum - was to become 'private'. This meant that members, apart from the Mods, could only see threads that they had started, in that section. The Admins said, that this was to ensure that answering enquiries or dealing with problems was more 'focussed' or something - they became in effect a dialogue between the individual member and the Mods, and no-one else.

I protested, in that section of the forum: I said that this amounted to censorship: to stifling perfectly civilised discussion between members about problems and features on the forum. Moreover: it would lead to a lot of duplication, and a lot of extra work for the Mods - since one couldn't search that section to see if your question had already been put by someone else. Well - a lot of the Mods (and there was no shortage - fifty-seven Mods on that forum last time I counted ) took it upon themselves to disparage and ridicule my protest.

I then saw the 'like' votes mounting up on these 'pooh-pooh' posts of the Mods. None on my post, of course. Where had these 'like's come from? Not from me of course, and not from other ordinary members since they couldn't see the thread. No, all these upvotes came from the Mods ganging up on me. So I made another post, in which I said - at length - something on the lines of "now you're taking the ****". Except that I posted the swear-word in full, using a dodge to get past the swear-word filter. My reasoning was, only I and the Mods could read the post, hence it wasn't going to be seen by children who might be corrupted. Anyway, it's a very minor swear-word as they go (the substitution on here is 'micturate' I believe).

This didn't please the Mods one little bit. The rest is history - except that I never went back to consummate my 'banning'. Which is sad: until then I'd liked that place.

Anyway, this is a lengthy accounting for why I'd prefer not to have upvotes. I accept that others will take a different view....

[mjr]

So if the likes are not anonymous, would that deal with the major objection?

On the other aspect: you say laziness, I say ease-of-participation.