[Suggestion] Remove the ability to "Like" posts

[Shurrikhan]

Version 1:

1. <Something well said, in touch with others wants, and/or appropriately reasoned>. 7 Likes.

Version 2:

1. "What s/he said."
2. "What s/he said."
3. "What s/he said."
4. "What s/he said."
5. "What s/he said."
6. "What s/he said."
7. "What s/he said."

There's a bit of an echo chamber, a bit of confirmation bias, and a bit of impatient misreading in anything we write. Taking away likes won't mitigate that. It just means that people are a little less likely to post on the parts their opinions disagree (despite mostly agreeing) because of it being swamped with posts focused solely on reiteration, agreement, up simple up-arrows.

[KokonoeAiyoko]

You actively point out that some thoughts/opinions are “of the minority”, but then complain when they don’t get the same amount of consensus (or “Likes”) as majority opinions. Doesn’t that... kind of make sense? There are unpopular opinions, and obviously they won’t get the same amount of traction as popular opinions.

People not liking unpopular opinions isn’t anyone “trying to shut down alternate viewpoints” nor is it “abuse of the system”—it’s simply people not agreeing with them.

If you only get one view, then there's no point in having a forum. The "Likes" feature what it promotes is keeping ideas and concepts locked to a circlejerking consensus instead of arguing points and perhaps leading somewhere new. It becomes a game to farm as much likes as possible to be "correct" with the masses, and feel confident in their view. On a psychological level, when people start getting upvoted, they feel they are "correct" so at that point it just ends up no longer being a debate.

Upvotes and downvotes has always been a terrible concept for discussion forums.

Someone's jealous their posts aren't getting as many likes as others I take it? You could just ignore them, they don't do anything really.

Nice assumption, you seem to not realize I have a lot of likes. Just look at the medals I have.

[HyoMinPark]

If you only get one view, then there's no point in having a forum. The "Likes" feature what it promotes is keeping ideas and concepts locked to a circlejerking consensus instead of arguing points and perhaps leading somewhere new. It becomes a game to farm as much likes as possible to be "correct" with the masses, and feel confident in their view. On a psychological level, when people start getting upvoted, they feel they are "correct" so at that point it just ends up no longer being a debate.

Upvotes and downvotes has always been a terrible concept for discussion forums.

Does it really though?

How many people continue to debate with raiders about parsers, despite “pro-parser” posts receiving more traction?
How many people debate with people who would like old PvP rewards to be purchasable with Wolf Collars?
How many people debate over BLU, despite both sides varying in the amount of “Likes” they get depending on the tone of the thread?

If people truly rely on the “Likes” to solidify stances on opinions, then that’s on them. Me, personally, I don’t care. I’ll say what I think and people are free to agree (“Like”) or disagree (don’t “Like” or argue with me). I don’t need Virtual Internet Points to stand behind my thoughts and opinions, and feel like my arguments are sound.

Nice assumption, you seem to not realize I have a lot of likes. Just look at the medals I have.

Medals are a combination of threads made, posts made, “Likes” given, and “Likes” received. Not “Likes” alone.

[KokonoeAiyoko]

Does it really though?

How many people continue to debate with raiders about parsers, despite “pro-parser” posts receiving more traction?
How many people debate with people who would like old PvP rewards to be purchasable with Wolf Collars?
How many people debate over BLU, despite both sides varying in the amount of “Likes” they get depending on the tone of the thread?

If people truly rely on the “Likes” to solidify stances on opinions, then that’s on them. Me, personally, I don’t care. I’ll say what I think and people are free to agree (“Like”) or disagree (don’t “Like” or argue with me). I don’t need Virtual Internet Points to feel like my opinions are sound.



Medals are a combination of threads made, posts makes, “Likes” given, and “Likes” received. Not “Likes” alone.

The point I'm making is that It's an ego stroke and it leads to nothing but toxicity because when it comes down to it, us humans as much as we like to think we aren't immature, we all are essentially. And on a forum the worst of us comes out and in turn this meter of "Likes" just ends up being the true way of being correct. That is the actual end-game in all the arguments when such a feature exists on a discussion forum.

Look at reddit for example, if your post isn't upvoted it's well ignored regardless if the content of your post may have been more "correct" than some of the others. Or let's look at it from a different angle, what if someone argued and only received a like or two, mentally most people are going to think at first that their view is incorrect based on that alone.

The psychological game is very real with this and it's been like this always. Which is why I feel "Likes" should be used by the developers when they create posts for pure feedback or contests or something, not in basic debating. It's a primitive concept and has no place here.

[HyoMinPark]

The point I'm making is that It's an ego stroke and it leads to nothing but toxicity because when it comes down to it, us humans as much as we like to think we aren't immature, we all are essentially. And on a forum the worst of us comes out and in turn this meter of "Likes" just ends up being the true way of being correct. That is the actual end-game in all the arguments when such a feature exists on a discussion forum.

Look at reddit for example, if your post isn't upvoted it's well ignored regardless if the content of your post may have been more "correct" than some of the others. Or let's look at it from a different angle, what if someone argued and only received a like or two, mentally most people are going to think at first that their view is incorrect based on that alone.

The psychological game is very real with this and it's been like this always. Which is why I feel "Likes" should be used by the developers when they create posts for pure feedback or contests or something, not in basic debating. It's a primitive concept and has no place here.

You’re welcome to your opinion, but I see no need for the removal of them. I don’t see specifically how the number of “Likes” leads to toxicity—I think that what generally leads to toxicity is the tone present in posts: I’m less inclined to be polite to someone who replies to me in an unnecessarily hostile or condescending manner, for example.

People who get mad that others have more Virtual Internet Points than them are certainly immature though, because really, what does it matter at the end of the day what’s said on the Internet?

[Lambdafish]

I just wish they added a dislike so I can express my opinion of this post without making a comment

[Dualgunner]

The point I'm making is that It's an ego stroke and it leads to nothing but toxicity because when it comes down to it, us humans as much as we like to think we aren't immature, we all are essentially. And on a forum the worst of us comes out and in turn this meter of "Likes" just ends up being the true way of being correct. That is the actual end-game in all the arguments when such a feature exists on a discussion forum.

Look at reddit for example, if your post isn't upvoted it's well ignored regardless if the content of your post may have been more "correct" than some of the others. Or let's look at it from a different angle, what if someone argued and only received a like or two, mentally most people are going to think at first that their view is incorrect based on that alone.

Which is why the like count is at the bottom of the post. You need to read--or at least skim--the post itself before you can see the like counter. Besides which you've yet to substantiate your claims, so I'm going to dismiss them with likewise no evidence.

[Kurando]

I remember when the Blizzard Overwatch forums used to have a vote up and down option, and pretty much when arguments went wild or someone didn't agree with something, you'd see a sudden string of dislikes even if the poster made a valid respectable opinion. Blizz since updated those forums (probably other ones too) and dropped the down vote button, but people soon turned to reporting the posts instead stating they were trolling or intent to cause problems etc. The like button is pretty fair though so don't think that causes as many issues as the OP thinks.

So long are the days when you could just post something and not have to worry about upsetting an oversensitive viewer...

[Zephera]

Nice assumption, you seem to not realize I have a lot of likes. Just look at the medals I have.

I don't care about medals and stuff. You probably shouldn't either.

EDIT: I can see why some people might care though, it's like the people who get excited over commendations in game except with even less reward as likes are no guarantee a CM will even notice your post. The only tangible benefit is the more you've gained, the more you're allowed to post, the post limit hardly stops those looking to kick up a fuss though.

[HyoMinPark]

I remember when the Blizzard Overwatch forums used to have a vote up and down option, and pretty much when arguments went wild or someone didn't agree with something, you'd see a sudden string of dislikes even if the poster made a valid respectable opinion. Blizz since updated those forums (probably other ones too) and dropped the down vote button, but people soon turned to reporting the posts instead stating they were trolling or intent to cause problems etc. The like button is pretty fair though so don't think that causes as many issues as the OP thinks.

So long are the days when you could just post something and not have to worry about upsetting an oversensitive viewer...

Yeah, I’m fairly certain the reason why we don’t have a “Disagree” or “Dislike” button is because you’d get people that would hit it just to be vindictive against a specific poster due to past disagreements without actually reading the argument they gave.