New Feature -- Gratitude

[CarlJung]

None of the posts in the Best version of linux thread can be liked. There is no like button. I want to like.

[Joaz Banbeck]

None of the posts in the Best version of linux thread can be liked. There is no like button. I want to like.

I see a button in every post of that thread.

[CarlJung]

Strange, I only get one button. The one for "Report this post" but not the like button. Tested in both IE and FF. I see the like button in other threads.

[kirkmc]

Same here.

[Joaz Banbeck]

... implement the reputation system that stackoverflow uses? ...

That works very well for a programming advice site, where you don't know if the other guy really knows what he is talking about until you see his rep. But we already have a reputation system. It is called rank. ( True, people can lie about that, but they would get called out rather soon if they started offering lots of bad advice )

[topazg]

I also get a few buttons with moderator things on, but no "like" button for that thread. They appear disabled for all "Off Topic" threads.

[CarlJung]

I also get a few buttons with moderator things on, but no "like" button for that thread. They appear disabled for all "Off Topic" threads.

Spot on!
Please enable the like feature for the off topic section too.

[Darrell]

I totally agree with the decision to not have 'like' on off-topic. Right now someone can make the off-hand political, religious, or operating system statement and it will pass by.

But if 12 similarly-minded people 'like' it, it will call for a response from the opposition who will then get 15 'likes' and the battle will be on.

[wms]

I totally agree with the decision to not have 'like' on off-topic. Right now someone can make the off-hand political, religious, or operating system statement and it will pass by.

But if 12 similarly-minded people 'like' it, it will call for a response from the opposition who will then get 15 'likes' and the battle will be on.

Sounds like a fun time to me for those involved. Why not let it happen?

[deja]

But if 12 similarly-minded people 'like' it, it will call for a response from the opposition who will then get 15 'likes' and the battle will be on.

Echoing wms, what's wrong with that? Do we always have to tiptoe around controversial issues?

[CarlJung]

I totally agree with the decision to not have 'like' on off-topic. Right now someone can make the off-hand political, religious, or operating system statement and it will pass by.

But if 12 similarly-minded people 'like' it, it will call for a response from the opposition who will then get 15 'likes' and the battle will be on.

Following that logic, I count 2 posts. 1 expressing A, 1 expressing B, and 30 likes. As it is now for off-topics we will have to make 32 posts in total since we lack the "like" feature. Let me demonstrate.

[Joaz Banbeck]

I favor reserving liking for posts that actually contibute to the purpose of this forum, which, off-topic posts, by definition, do not.
Liking off-topic posts can give an observer a skewed version of this site. He can see that a poster has been liked a lot, and might easily assume that the poster has much knowledge about go to contibute. Whereas actually the poster may have attained his likability status by writing a particularly controversial post about Emacs or Arizona's immigration laws.

BTW, even as an admin, I shouldn't be able to like off-topic posts.

[CarlJung]

I favor reserving liking for posts that actually contibute to the purpose of this forum, which, off-topic posts, by definition, do not.
Liking off-topic posts can give an observer a skewed version of this site. He can see that a poster has been liked a lot, and might easily assume that the poster has much knowledge about go to contibute. Whereas actually the poster may have attained his likability status by writing a particularly controversial post about Emacs or Arizona's immigration laws.

BTW, even as an admin, I shouldn't be able to like off-topic posts.

FWIW I don't equal a high like count with great go knowledge or even helpful on go topics. Just compare yours truly with yourself and it's evident that the feature is not used that way.

Edit: I have 7 times higher like count than Bill Spight. But pretty much all of them was earned from witty remarks, not being genuinely helpful like Bill. It's just not used to indicate authority on go. Pretty please enable likes in off topics

[Joaz Banbeck]

... I have 7 times higher like count than Bill Spight. But pretty much all of them was earned from witty remarks, not being genuinely helpful like Bill.

Then the obvious solution is to ban all the people who like you.


Seriously, what is the proper function of liking on this foum? What do we want it to be? How can we use it to make the forum a better place?
Do we want it to be simply a popularity tool? Let's leave that to the junior high and facebook crowd. I'd like to see it be a measure of how much a person has contributed. ( Hmm...I'm going to go back and like a couple of Bill's posts. )

[CarlJung]

I see where you're coming from but at the same time I see how it's used in practice. If we are going to have the feature (I don't really think it adds anything other than being a fun gimmick*) we might as well have it everywhere, especially considering how it's used. To the polls!

* I know a grumpy old man when I see one and I do not fall for the derogatory allusion. I say let the users use the feature as they wish. If they wish for it to be a fun but ultimately meaningless gimmick, so be it.