Like System?

[Perpetual Burn]

I've been a fan of forums for decades...

When the ability to "like" a post first came out, I was like "this is whack"...

But it allows for people to promote or agree with a post without being redundant... which will also cut down on data rates...

Then of course there's the reputation system which is a different can of worms... but still approved in my Book of Insanity...

And yeah, this forum OS has glitches...

[trilobyte]

We have looked into a number of like/love systems, and while there are some potential merits, there are also some potentially negative aspects. The inherent nature of like/love systems lends itself to gaming the system and popularity contests, and none of the solutions available (as of yet, anyway) has an implementation that looks like it could help solve those problems or be of great benefit to the community. Up/down voting systems are different, but have their own similar challenges (gaming, popularity contests, harassment, etc).

Most of the sites and networks that do those things have their own sometimes significant issues (FB and Instagram routinely have ppl posting extreme and even committing crimes in efforts to attract attention, and while places like reddit can be great, there is also have a well-earned reputation for bullying and harassment), and they have had their like/love/vote systems in place since their inception. Even if we had a good solution that we wanted to implement (which we do not), adding something at this stage would create additional challenges related to bias. Posts and threads that were created prior to such a rollout would garner fewer votes/likes, regardless of whether it contains better information (and the whole point of any of it would be to try and help people find better info).

In the meantime, the existing system (even with its flaws) continues to provide users with good information that they can use. Sorting by most recently active, along with providing info about # of views and replies in a discussion gives users some indication on what's current, hot, or has the most participation.

[forty_eight]

i've always looked at likes/reps as a separate way to acknowledge a post and interact with that poster

i never attributed anything more to them

who knew it could be so controversial?

[JohnEBGud]

I added LIKE and REPUTATION options to my VBulletin based forum about a decade ago. Both components have logic that discourages gaming the system, and both have been successful in doing so.

There was some push-back from users at first. Initially you could either mark a post as "useful" or "not useful". Too many people got butt-hurt when someone marked their post as not useful, so now only the "mark as useful" option remains. The system simply displays a count of votes, and all participation is anonymous. Having this option has cut way down on the annoying "me too" responses. It also provides users some useful guidance when there are conflicting answers to their questions.

Just as importantly, I've found that these options incentivize participation in discussion, help encourage civility, and have improved the quality of answers and posts in general.

All online communities are unique, so I'm not saying that these systems would be useful or accepted here. I can only speak from my own perspective and experience, where implementing these options has been beneficial.

[Meat Hunter]

I have always been under the impression that E-Playa was an information based blog to assist burners and potential burners regarding all the different aspects of the Burning Man Project and not a back and forth dialog based run-of-the-mill chatty social media site.

In my opinion, not having 'Like' & 'Not Like' buttons is just fine with me. If I want 'Chatty Cathy' social media, there are plenty of places to hang my hat.

But, there is only one place to obtain personal burner advice seasoned with solid experience & recommendations -- most of the time.

I vote for keeping what we have and in the manner in which we have it.

[JohnEBGud]

I have always been under the impression that E-Playa was an information based blog to assist burners and potential burners regarding all the different aspects of the Burning Man Project and not a back and forth dialog based run-of-the-mill chatty social media site.

In my opinion, not having 'Like' & 'Not Like' buttons is just fine with me. If I want 'Chatty Cathy' social media, there are plenty of places to hang my hat.

It's not about scoring social points, it's about giving the community a means to evaluate and rate the information posted and those posting it. If, as you say, this an information based blog, that's the best argument for providing these options.

[Popeye]

Having to post means you have to put in some thought and effort. You take some responsibility for you your post and will have a higher quality product.
Clicking a "like" is the overly easy/lazy way to participate.

[forty_eight]

I have always been under the impression that E-Playa was an information based blog to assist burners and potential burners regarding all the different aspects of the Burning Man Project

the bar is pretty social

politics threads have a social aspect - they're certainly rarely if ever germane to BM or the project

plenty of threads like that

snark is a cultural trait of eplaya which gives it a social feel

these are all primarily social interactions, imo

[Token]

Having to post means you have to put in some thought and effort. You take some responsibility for you your post and will have a higher quality product.
Clicking a "like" is the overly easy/lazy way to participate.

I really wanted to "like" this post. But I can't.

Now I have to type and say something instead of being anonymously lazy.

Well placed snark is much better than any kind of post rating system anywayz.