Hi, I searched around for quite a while for a suggestions thread, but not having found one, here I go ...

I was wondering if it would be possible to add a "Like" feature ala Facebook and other social sites.
So many times I see a post I agree with or benefit from, and I would love to just click a "like" button.

Anyone else agree? Just click lik... oh wait a second ....

[ファブリス]

I'm always interested in what people want from the forum. You never know it's not impossible for me to spend the time needed to look into platforms and port over everything. Just at this time there's never been really a concensus as to what is really needed and as long as it works "good enough" I prefer to leave it as is (I don't know what the SEO impact will be as well if all the URLs change).

I think people generally want better PM features, and a better way to track what you have already read (this forum uses the cookie so once you login after 20 min or so it assumes you have see all unread topics).

Better mobile support would be a good improvement from moving to another platform.

Nothing else immediately comes to mind.

Likes : I'm not too fond of that feature, but I think it would be cool for users to be able to "pin" basically their favorite threads. I don't know if other forums have that feature.

Why are you not fond of likes? It gives a quick one-button press way to show appreciation for something, rather than having to click reply, wait for the web server, type a little message, resubmit, wait again, all just to agree with something or show your support.

They have likes on bigfooty.com (which I frequent). I think they run vbulletin there, though I couldn't say with 100% certainty. What are we using here?

I'm not fond of likes either, just because sites do it doesn't mean it's any good. Firstly I don't like how -- like you exemplify it yourself in the opening post -- liking implies a semantic shift between agreeing which is a reasoning response that can lead to an active conversation, and liking which is a passive affective response. For example that allows posts to be buried in Reddit by some vocal communities through their affective responses. So no, the internet doesn't need more likes system imho, especially when Facebook is mentioned as a reference.

EratiK Wrote:I'm not fond of likes either, just because sites do it doesn't mean it's any good. Firstly I don't like how -- like you exemplify it yourself in the opening post -- liking implies a semantic shift between agreeing which is a reasoning response that can lead to an active conversation, and liking which is a passive affective response. For example that allows posts to be buried in Reddit by some vocal communities through their affective responses. So no, the internet doesn't need more likes system imho, especially when Facebook is mentioned as a reference.

I can't agree with much of that at all. Firstly, on bigfooty, which has many thousands of users, the vast majority of users have really taken to the "like" addition, and now would not want it taken away. That is not supposed to change your mind, you are free not to like it.

Mentioning Reddit users and their affective (read overly-emotive and negative) responses is not a good comparison. yes, Reddit people often go overboard and bury posts, but then Reddit is not set up the same as vbulletin's likes. In vbulletin, liking a post only does two things:
1. increment a little counter below the post that shows how many times it has been liked
2. add the event of someone "liking" your post to an alerts area, in case you want to see who liked your posts.

It has zero effect on visibility of any posts, at all.

So... and apologies if I sound reactionary, but I fail to see how these two functions are useful at all. And why implement something that isn't needed? That would be like buying something that isn't needed. Which sadly happens everyday around us but you get my point.

Yeah ... not gonna try to explain the benefits of likes to you, if you can't see them, sorry

I think this is an interesting request. Stickys are a step towards flagging useful posts. But there are a few fantastic posts here that I stumble upon over time that are a bit buried. Like the recently unburied "Arcane Secrets! (or one man's language learning story)" by drdunlap.

After digging into the backend of facebook, it is clear the "like" function has "evolved" into an incredibly powerful commercial tool to monetize users. I am sure some sites try to avoid monetization, and that some people enjoy clicking likes. But, the whole "like" system leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I think Predulus is on the right track asking for a way to flag such useful posts - I'm just not sure the like button is the right tool.

Okay...this is not facebook. This site has 40,000 odd users AFAIK, FB has about 1.5 billion. It is difficult to see a "like" system here ever being monetized. It's just a very fast way of expressing yourself and interacting with other posters in a positive way. I really don't get the somewhat incalcitrant attitudes, but everyone is free to have a different one.

[ファブリス]

This forum has always been kind of sober. I prefer to encourage participation. If you find a topic particularly helpful, you can say so there.

The way you describe it it sounds like a good feature to make the forum feel less static,and more interactive. But functionally speaking it doesn't seem to do much.

What I take from this is that moving to another platform could also make the forum a bit more exciting to visit and browse. It certainly feels a little static since activity is only seen through new posts.

To answer directly however I don't plan on adding a "likes" system to the current forum. If it was a plugin in a new forum, or when I finally upgrade this, honestly I don't care that much I would have trialed it for a bit.

There are SO many forum platforms out there and that's probably the main reason it hasn't been upgraded yet. Choice paralysis

I hate the idea of likes for the same reason I had a problem with the dislikes in the story section. Interesting to see Fabrice is on my side this time...

Likes might improve the Q&A type threads a little (where people ask for small, specific info like a translation or how to do something in Anki), but as far as the main content of the forums: theories about language learning, good learning strategies, debate threads etc... if someone has something of value to post, they're gonna post it. They don't need a "like" as encouragement.

Other than that tiny benefit, all likes will achieve is encourage frivolous and repetitive posts (people will keep posting the same opinions they received likes for, in the past, to get more likes), it won't help add more substance to the forums. I believe the term for people who do that is called a "like whore". And they're everywhere. Forums turn into closed minded circle jerks when likes are introduced.

Yes, likes are, in theory, supposed to just reward valuable posts, and do nothing else. Just as reporting posts/dislikes are supposed to just help administrators more easily remove unwanted (blatantly offensive or trolling) content. But, in practice, just as dislikes/down-votes/reporting posts are invariably hijacked as a means of punishing non-conformists, likes are mostly just a way to promote conformity. They do far more harm than good.

I can tell you why, too: they both replace judgement based on (somewhat) objective, rational standards with subjective, whimsical button pressing. If you like a post on this forum and wish to reward it with positive feedback, you have to actually reply, say what you like about it, and tell everyone else your reasons: you, the judge, then also become subject to judgement. You can't just have a moronic, mindless reason, and get away with it. When you just press a button, you don't have to explain yourself. You don't have to live up to any kind of standard, you can just pass judgement without any thought or consequence. So people act mindlessly, and communities devolve into mobs.

I like "likes" because it tells me which comments are popular among forum users.

My pet peeve in general about forums is when I spend time writing a post and it gets deleted with no warning or explanation.

For me, "like"s are just too vague and random to be of any value.

If someone "likes" a post, does that mean they agree with what was written, that they don't necessarily agree with what was written but approve of the style/substance of the post, that they think the post was funny or amusing even though it adds nothing to the discussion, or simply because it was posted by a popular forum member who is in a discussion with a forum member they (the "like"er) doesn't care much for and so just clicked "like" irrespective of what was posted or the manner it was phrased.

The same goes for dislikes, or down votes.

On other forums I frequent, the like system just quickly descends into little more than a popularity contest rather than being something of actual use.

ファブリス Wrote:I'm always interested in what people want from the forum. You never know it's not impossible for me to spend the time needed to look into platforms and port over everything. Just at this time there's never been really a concensus as to what is really needed and as long as it works "good enough" I prefer to leave it as is (I don't know what the SEO impact will be as well if all the URLs change).

I think people generally want better PM features, and a better way to track what you have already read (this forum uses the cookie so once you login after 20 min or so it assumes you have see all unread topics).

Better mobile support would be a good improvement from moving to another platform.

Nothing else immediately comes to mind.

Likes : I'm not too fond of that feature, but I think it would be cool for users to be able to "pin" basically their favorite threads. I don't know if other forums have that feature.

A bug I've noticed is that when I click on the "recent topics" link on my phone it takes me to the first post in that thread (i.e. page 1). I assume that this is a bug, because when I click the "recent topics" link on my desktop computer it goes to the last page of the the thread.

I think that a vote up / down button on posts would be great. It would be useful to express negative feedback when posts themselves become negative or otherwise detract.

I would also like to see the ability to comment on posts. For example, if someone says "The best book I found for that is xyz", then you could comment by following up with a link to that book.

If we go with some kind of 'like' system, please don't use 'like'. I think a term such as 'useful' is more...well..useful. 'Like' encourages people 'liking' things like 'have a nice weekend', or 'I just finished watching one piece" instead of "Here's the exact method I used to pass N_ in _ months"

I was just re-reading DrDunlop's excellent post on how he studied and passed N1 in 2 years. I always thought if would be good to have a section where each person could have a personal journal like this where people could write about their process. Not only is it good for beginners to see other people's struggles in chronological order, but people can rationalize their motivations and get constructive criticism. Here's an example.

Is anyone else interested in writing or reading study journals?