Please welcome the new owners of Deskthority

[Muirium]

Thing is: if those ‘“likes”’ aren’t used to sort (or in any way even bold) the post in question, does it make a sound?

I liked your post in the woods, but no-one heard it.

No one but us shittin’ bears.

[Bjerrk]

DT is a forum, not another asocial media outlet.

(Anti)Social media is pervasive now. People are trained to “engage” with those buttons. And you’re seeing them make their natural request here.

If you like that post so much, then tell them so by pen!

Well put, both of ya.

The trouble with likes is not just (or even primarily) the lack of nuance.

It is that as soon as you starting quantifying ''popularity'', it homogenizes a community. People begin to alter their behaviour to fit in with the dominating narrative. It's a well-known effect. When you start quantifying 'success', people will seek to maximize that metric.

r/MechanicalKeyboards, for instance, seems very homogeneous. Keyboards are small form-factor, switches are MX-style, photographs conform to a certain style, and keyboards must be compared to candy or similar edibles. It's unbelievably predictable.

A post on r/MechanicalKeyboards about recreating the Symbolics LISP Keyboard (which should be genuinely interesting to keyboard aficionados) got 1 upvote and quickly faded to obscurity, whereas a post comparing a 60% keyboard to a waffle completely predictably gets thousands of upvotes.

[Muirium]

Entirely correct. The conformity thing, not the waffle thing. That really depends on the syrup.

Personally, my +1up is getting Mr. Choc to grump. Oh, brother, do I like me some of *that* feedback. Gimme!

[matt3o]

you can't remotely compare reddit to a forum community. On reddit you need instant gratification, you don't search for actual information just quick mindless entertainment. Also it's *their* community, they like waffles so be it, who are you to say that a symbolics is more important? Personally I don't follow reddit, problem solved. Saying that a "like/thanks" button would turn DT into reddit means having no respect in this community.

[Bjerrk]

Of course I can In fact, comparing things that are different is one of the most useful features of comparisons

r/MechanicalKeyboards, Deskthority and Geekhack are the three major (mechanical keyboard forums, like it or not. Might as well learn from each other

Saying that a "like/thanks" button would turn DT into reddit means having no respect this community.

First of all, I don't think anybody said that.
Second, take a chill pill dude

[Muirium]

I do agree it would change this community. All the more over time. People do respond to crowd feedback. Right now it comes in the form of bespoke, hand written complaints from us stalwarts. But give the plebs a button, and just you see!

What I can’t foretell is exactly what that change would look like, or if it would necessarily be worse. Just different.

[matt3o]

fortunately it's not up to me anymore. what a relief!

[Archie]

Ever less folk have that shared experience. Let alone the usernet stuff that was toast before my time. Or the dialup BBses, or that weird French version of Ceefax, or good old pen pals…

OMG, you remember Usenet, Netscape and BBS?!? Do you have a 2400 modem hiss as your smartphone ringtone?

[Muirium]

I remember Netscape, yes. And the smell of hot modems in the morning. But the others were just lore by my time. Passed down by grumpy elders, whose grumpiness just seemed to be a part of who they were. Buggered if I know what upset them.

Hmm!

[Archie]

I recalled how badly we've wanted the *.GIF files to be loaded starting from the bottom, not from the top. Of course, these were purely technical pictures, nothing more: I swear!

[Archie]

you can't remotely compare reddit to a forum community. On reddit you need instant gratification, you don't search for actual information just quick mindless entertainment.

While I myself dislike technical / organisational structure of Reddit, I have to disagree. As a member of /r/Trackballs/ I'd say it's pretty much "a forum" - and plenty of useful information is present there actually.

[matt3o]

While I myself dislike technical / organisational structure of Reddit, I have to disagree. As a member of /r/Trackballs/ I'd say it's pretty much "a forum" - and plenty of useful information is present there actually.

it's the exception not the norm

[Muirium]

I’m honestly surprised anything with “balls” in its name works well on Reddit of all places.

I recalled how badly we've wanted the *.GIF files to be loaded starting from the bottom, not from the top. Of course, these were purely technical pictures, nothing more: I swear!

And then someone wants to use the phone line and you’re *almost* there! Ugh! Killing me! No it won’t restart. Go use a friend’s phone, this is research!

[inmbolmie]

52ebkv.jpg (105.48 KiB) Viewed 31954 times

[Archie]

I’m honestly surprised anything with “balls” in its name works well on Reddit of all places.

Good balls are working anywhere regardless from external conditions.

Go use a friend’s phone, this is research!

I see you understand!

[Muirium]

Hey! IBM supremacist here who also wants (nonbinary!) dark theme and is fluid on likes.

Gonna need more monkeys.

[kbdfr]

52ebkv.jpg

Why are Cherry fanboys missing in the pic?
The post obviously deserves a downvote. But then how do I explain why exactly I give a "dislike"?

[depletedvespene]

52ebkv.jpg

Why are Cherry fanboys missing in the pic?
The post obviously deserves a downvote. But then how do I explain why exactly I give a "dislike"?

It's a "mistype".

[inmbolmie]

They are in whichever “ETC” you like more

52ebkv.jpg

Why are Cherry fanboys missing in the pic?
The post obviously deserves a downvote. But then how do I explain why exactly I give a "dislike"?

[Muirium]

I can has Cheery Emmecs. +1 like and subscribe yes

[depletedvespene]

you can't remotely compare reddit to a forum community. On reddit you need instant gratification, you don't search for actual information just quick mindless entertainment.

... and it was NOT like that, long ago (but not far away). The incentives-path established by the like/dislike system, plus its growth beyond a tight-knit community are what made reddit into what it is now.

[Bjerrk]

you can't remotely compare reddit to a forum community. On reddit you need instant gratification, you don't search for actual information just quick mindless entertainment.

... and it was NOT like that, long ago (but not far away). The incentives-path established by the like/dislike system, plus its growth beyond a tight-knit community are what made reddit into what it is now.

Solid point.

+1 Insightful, as they would say on slashdot.

[depletedvespene]

you can't remotely compare reddit to a forum community. On reddit you need instant gratification, you don't search for actual information just quick mindless entertainment.

... and it was NOT like that, long ago (but not far away). The incentives-path established by the like/dislike system, plus its growth beyond a tight-knit community are what made reddit into what it is now.

Solid point.

+1 Insightful, as they would say on slashdot.

Yeah. Note how slashdot had a hard-cap of five points, too.

[Muirium]

And how people talk of Slashdot in the past tense, much like they do the Simpsons. Not generally a good sign.

[zrrion]

No likes/dislikes, only discord style reacts but none of the useful smilies are present as options, just and . Are users more engaged? Probably, they're clicking on buttons after all, but what do the hieroglyphs mean? Who knows.

[webwit]

No likes/dislikes, only discord style reacts but none of the useful smilies are present as options, just and . Are users more engaged? Probably, they're clicking on buttons after all, but what do the hieroglyphs mean? W ho knows.

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web_fyn-kynd_flickr-creative-common-by-2.0_americanblackduck_flickr-3-adult-male.jpg (540.42 KiB) Viewed 31748 times

[NeK]

't see why we would want to bring a like-driven culture to deskthority. It usually doesn't bring any good.

I concur. At my own forum (not to brag about it but it is 20 years old now and still going strong) we have made this decision a long time ago, and after a big debate and careful thinking, we decided that any form of like/reputation/vote systems or even a simple "thank you" will invariably end up ruining a good forum and community.

The reason, in very simple terms, is that it adds an extra motivating factor that users will find interesting at first but in the long run, slowly but surely, it will become the focus of the users, instead of the post contents, their quality and what they are actually talking about. This will degrade and alter in a bad way the quality of the content and which will drive off people and will eventually be burried away and eaten by oblivion.

If a thread, a post or a wiki page is interesting and/or popular, there is no need to add any extra markings. It will stand out, will get replies and it will stand the test of time by solely its real substance, which in the case of forums, is the polite, clear discussion and collaboration between members, leaving and building valuable information. That information, despite what marketers or BS artists say, is not missed by google nor any other good search engines. It somehow, against all the SEO of the world trying to compete against it, constantly for years and years, it still always comes on top of the results. And in general, people interested in that topic, will find it.

The thing is, that when they do find it, they should find a great quality discussion, that is on topic, polite, not ruined by kids and swearings and is focused on the topic at hand with on to the point valuable information.

That is what makes people that are interesting in the topic - and most importantly - knowlegable of it, engage in that topic too.

My 2 cents.

[matt3o]

I'm on a technical forum (3d printing) that has this system since years and absolutely nothing bad happened because of it. When I first registered and posted something informative I got a "like" (I didn't even notice there was a "like" button), I thought it was a kind gesture to a new user. People mostly ignore the system but I think it's more of a way of saying "go ahead, you are doing good" and can be actually motivating.

[ifohancroft]

Thing is: if those ‘“likes”’ aren’t used to sort (or in any way even bold) the post in question, does it make a sound?

I liked your post in the woods, but no-one heard it.

I have both liked and not liked your comment, but there's no way for you to know which is true until we get a like button

[Bjerrk]

Thing is: if those ‘“likes”’ aren’t used to sort (or in any way even bold) the post in question, does it make a sound?

I liked your post in the woods, but no-one heard it.

I have both liked and not liked your comment, but there's no way for you to know which is true until we get a like button

Yes, and I see no reason to collapse that particular wave function!