Remove the 'Dislike' Button?

[drinkerofkoolaid]

DrinkerOfKoolAid, it's so interesting that you participate in this thread now that the shoe is on the other foot. For those following this thread, the user who Troy graciously opted not to name in his above post (#68) about someone blanketing him with dislikes was Drinker himself.

So what do you think Drinker should you be banned along with me? Or is etiquette something that only applies when it serves your own personal wants?

Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

It's funny you mention that. Troy and I have already discussed and resolved the matter in private.

You've been a member for months, but have only made 8 posts. You chose to harass me because of a post made by someone else, without any context about the matter.

I've been a member since 2012, have contributed a lot to the community, am a very active member, and have never harassed a person on here. I'm not perfect, and do occasionally make a mistake when posting something, or responding to someone (I am human), and usually admit when it happens either in a private or public message, depending on the situation.

You basically just made an argument for why you should be banned, by admitting you were intentionally harassing me. Did you ever think to message me to ask about the matter that you felt justified your action? This would have been the respectful and polite way of communicating a message, and I would have responded.

 

[Neohippy]

Yes it really hurts my feelings when someone I will never meet or speak to dislikes my opinion. People shouldn't be able to hurt my feelings over the internet so easily.

 

[M0DEL³]

AmishEV, that was clever. (I'm assuming you would actually support removing the Dislike functionality?) This feels like a metaphor of the elephant trap in chess. If you play, PM me - always in search of a stimulating opponent.

 

[davewill]

If you go to a user's profile page, there's a link to report the user. It should be immediately obvious to any mod whether someone is abusing the "dislike" button by disliking a person's posts across the entire forum simply to harass that person.

Unless the person hides their profile page so you can't go there to report them.

 

[ohmman]

Unless the person hides their profile page so you can't go there to report them.

If you PM one of the mods with the name of the member and the problem, we can report the conversation and it will go into the same bucket of "to-dos". That should provide a workaround if the member's profile is private.

 

[McRat]

Sadly, I cannot hit dislike when an ICE car ads pops up on the site.

But having Ignore, Dislike, and Report on a forum is interesting. "I don't like what you post, but I insist on reading them!"

However, in today's diversity-driven communication monitoring, it is actually important to include Dislike so the masochists don't feel excluded from the conversations. But that causes a paradox. As a famous musician once said, "it hurts so good". If you remove Dislike, it would hurt the masochists, which is what they like, but if you leave it in, it hurts also.

EDIT - WAIT! I'm a masochist, and I finally realized that I'm being left out. I cannot dislike my own posts. WTF???? Unfair.

Can somebody please dislike this for me? TIA.

 

[Max*]

eh, many people here dislike in retaliation. I hit dislike because I don't agree with you/you didn't read my post/you're trying to spin what I said, I call you out on it, you hit dislike on my post.

Big woop. I can't cash in my likes/dislikes, who cares?

 

[ohmman]

Big woop. I can't cash in my likes/dislikes, who cares?

Maybe, maybe not. I've heard the pony reward program (PRP) is in the process of being reinstated, and your like:dislike ratio will be the metric.

 

[Max*]

Maybe, maybe not. I've heard the pony reward program (PRP) is in the process of being reinstated, and your like:dislike ratio will be the metric.

I get to get a free pony?!?!?!?!?!?!??!!? WOOOHOOO!!!

 

[McRat]

HURRAY!! I have a groupie now!

6 dislikes in 1 minute from a member because I made fun of the Prius. Not sure if that's because he likes Priuses, or I'm being a jerk by picking on the handicapped of the car world.

The Dislike is a wonderful feature! But can they change the icon for it to that of a caged monkey flinging feces? That would be a better representation of what the Dislike button actually means.

 

[Garlan Garner]

I still don't understand the purpose of the dislike button, however they won't remove it. I suppose we will just have to live with it.

 

[Troy]

Hi. I noticed a strange problem.

@Driver Dave has 27 positive ratings and only 1 dislike so far for this message.
@fillerup has 4 positive ratings and only 1 dislike so far for this message.
@bafreer has 10 positive ratings and only 1 dislike so far for this message.
@wesley888 has 13 positive ratings and only 1 dislike so far for this message.
@Dr Doom has 17 positive ratings and only 2 dislikes so far for this and this message.

The problem is, all five people have received their first and only dislikes from the same person. This is just last week. The forum software doesn't allow looking back more than a week. There might be dozens of other people. Why did the same person give out dislikes to multiple people who didn't have any dislikes before? Is it just coincidence? I don't know but it shows that a single person can create a bad experience for many people if they want to. It must be upsetting to receive your first dislike for an ordinary message that doesn't deserve a dislike. Because this feature creates a poor user experience for too many people, I recommend removing it. I have now changed my vote in the poll.

 

[MP3Mike]

It must be upsetting to receive your first dislike for an ordinary message that doesn't deserve a dislike.

Are you the dislike police now, in that you decide what post does, or does not, "deserve a dislike"?

 

[CuriousG]

Are you the dislike police now, in that you decide what post does, or does not, "deserve a dislike"?

I think his point was what's your mindset when those messages seem rather innocuous.

 

[SageBrush]

I'm not so sure that the choices have to be symmetric.

Few people get upset if someone gives them generic positive feedback by clicking a 'like' or 'agree' button on their post but if someone 'dislikes' or 'disagrees' they might be offended -- especially if the feedback is ambiguous and they are left to guess or make worst-case assumptions about what the feedback really means.

Therefore, I think innocuous "thumbs up" is fine and maybe purely emotional feedback like 'sad' are fine but someone who wants to express 'dislike' or 'disagree' as an opinion should be encouraged to explain what their feedback is in more detail by having to write a real forum reply.

I agree with your sentiments, although I'm less sure what a good implementation would be. Suggestions:

• A 'dislike' requires a comment that can be read via a pop-up
• 'agree' and 'disagree' buttons are added to the choices

As an aside, these buttons have a lot in common with poor writing. While I tend to be on the side that thinks that people who cannot be bothered to write clearly should not post, I understand the POV that emphasizes participation over quality. Buttons suffer from the same malaise: they say something, but not much and they are ambiguous. One can only hope to find a compromise that probably annoys everybody, but hopefully only a little bit ;-)

 

[Jeff N]

I agree with your sentiments, although I'm less sure what a good implementation would be. Suggestions:

• A 'dislike' requires a comment that can be read via a pop-up
• 'agree' and 'disagree' buttons are added to the choices

As an aside, these buttons have a lot in common with poor writing. While I tend to be on the side that thinks that people who cannot be bothered to write clearly should not post, I understand the POV that emphasizes participation over quality. Buttons suffer from the same malaise: they say something, but not much and they are ambiguous. One can only hope to find a compromise that probably annoys everybody, but hopefully only a little bit ;-)

Newsflash!

I like my original suggestion: get rid of the dislike button and force people who disagree to write a normal reply where they can attempt to describe what they disagree with and why.

 

[Garlan Garner]

I still cant figure out how the dislike button helps anyone.

It does not help the forum. It does not help the person getting disliked. To those who use it - Man Up and type what you dislike.

What in the world is it for?

Neither the moderator nor anyone has answered that question. What is the dislike button for?

 

[Garlan Garner]

I still cant figure out how the dislike button helps anyone.

It does not help the forum. It does not help the person getting disliked. To those who use it - Man Up and type what you dislike.

What in the world is it for?

Neither the moderator nor anyone has answered that question. What is the dislike button for?

Man up KJD.

Put some words on it.

 

[GoTslaGo]

Man up KJD.

Put some words on it.

If you want to address him/her, you will need to add @ before his/her "name." That's the thing about the "dislike" button, there's really no way to reply to it unless you address the disliker.

 

[ohmman]

I still cant figure out how the dislike button helps anyone.

It does not help the forum. It does not help the person getting disliked. To those who use it - Man Up and type what you dislike.

What in the world is it for?

Neither the moderator nor anyone has answered that question. What is the dislike button for?

Garlan, why did you use it the 16 times you disliked a post? Maybe others use it for the same reason(s)?

Also, for clarity, it's the site admins who (mostly) make decisions about site functionality. The moderators are just volunteer users who try to assist in keeping conversation order.