Well, a complete revamp has been needed for a long time, although some of the ideas seem a little too "facebooky" will have to see how it comes across before I can like or dislike the new features put across.

Excited though, must be honest.

But it's hardly conversational, like it is now.

If you disagree with somebody, say so, explain why and what your own opinion is. Clicking a dislike so that their post then goes to the bottom of a thread or whatever it is, it's a childish way of discussing. It should be linear, like it is now - whatever an opinion it's somebody's, and that's what we are here for, exchange of those very opinions - whether they are disagreeable or not.

ETA: It's not something that I would ever use, a like/dislike system on here. I'd just post with my thoughts or read and not post, as I do now.

But if you bother to post and nobody 'likes' your post, then your post goes down, down, down and it's pretty much excluded from the conversation - as far as I can tell from the description. Hardly encouraging to those who make the effort to bother joining in.

I know I wouldn't be spending my time 'liking' or 'disliking' posts all over the place, I'd just do what I do now, join in or not!

If there is a like and dislike button I think it should be required you quote the post you are liking/disliking before it's allowed

Maybe we should wait and see how it works before dismissing it completely

It doesn't really encourage discussion or widening of debate. There'll be threads all over the place with only like minded posters being heard.

I would prefer a like to somebody quoting a 20.000 word essay and just putting "This" as a reply

More power to the lurkers with up/down votes. As long as posts stay there in chronological order.

Reordering threads or boards by votes would be a step too far.

But that's not how ideas should be treated, many perfectly valid opinions are popular/unpopular - it becomes easy for the easily led to dismiss something because 50 random people dislike it. It brings a pitchfork mentality to debate.

That does annoy me especially in some of the longer running fast moving threads.

I'd prefer a link with perhaps the fist few lines of text.

Much cleaner for the flow of chat and huge posts can still be quoted if a user wants to make new points based on the original... Well carry out arguments anyway

THIS!

I'd be happy with a like type thing. Quite often someone has already said what I want to say and adding another post saying the same would be pointless.

This trend for non-linear "discussion" in social media is bizarre, it just doesn't work.

If it occurred here at DS forums I would certainly quit.

So much of the the problem with forum discussions is the huge egos and their agendas. There is remarkably little discussion compared with even 5 years ago. It's mostly disagreement for the sake of disagreeing. " I'm more articulate than you " syndrome is everywhere.
There is little or no actual discussion now. Tho it's fair to say it's all been rehashed over and over .

I haven't really read the detail; but as more of a lurker than poster (on GD, at least) I would ask the mods to please PLEASE keep the discussion linear. I absolutely cannot stand or follow social media where you have to scroll up and down and shake it all about to figure out what the hell anyone's talking about.

Haha, patsylimerick you and a few others were the reason I joined here, the discussion and cameraderie was great. Ido t feel that now.

Cross-posting again for reference as appreciate people will not be keeping up with both threads:

Please no likes and dislikes.........I have trouble upvoting on Mail Online as it is.

I quite like the idea of being able to 'like' a post. Sometimes a poster says everything that I would have said and I have nothing further to add but it would be nice to acknowledge their post. I can't see the point of disliking a post, if I disagree I would rather post and say why rather than a hit and run 'dislike' which doesn't seem particularly constructive.

There you go. Linear but de-emphasized.

Thumbs up and thumbs down are teh win. If you are like me, on the Daily Mail website you always go to the Worst Rated and then the Best Rated in search of your entertainment. But there's one thing they really really must bring back. The roll eyes smiley.

Awww. Thank you! I'm more of a reader than participant these days. My fingers are getting old and tired.



Here's the thing. What I hate about Facebook/Instagram and the teenage conversations I overhear about same is the emphasis on 'likes'. There are youngsters who measure their self-worth in 'likes'. Minimising disliked or un-liked posts? I don't know. Glad they're going to keep the chronology, though.

I've hated the 'like' and 'dislike' feature on every forum I've been on which uses it.

As has been mentioned, you get people liking or disliking simply based on who's posted something, rather than on the content, so it can get rather cliquey.

I also think that if someone can't even be bothered to write a few words to say what they agree or disagree with, their input has little value.

The 'dislike' in particular is the equivalent of someone countering a point by simply saying 'rubbish'. I'd suggest that doesn't even meet the current rules which actively discourage "unconstructive or pointless posts"!

Reddit is one of the biggest discussion websites in the world.

That's essentially what the "like/dislike" feature is designed to replicate/imitate.

I think this DS community is just too stuck in its ways to realise the past has been and gone. The user figures bare that out in stark reality if anyone needed a numerical representation of this.

Out-of-order posts do create a lack of cohesion.


Another thing that causes a lack of cohesion is when I have certain posters on ignore and I find I have to un-ignore them or click on [view post] in order to follow a thread.

So if this sort of "auto minimised" thing is going to happen on the basis of down-voting I don't think it's actually a good idea.

The forum or the whole site?

Well maybe if it means those cretins on the main site are banished back to the bowels of tumblr where they belong then that might not be such a bad thing...

OK I'm half kidding, they are poor quality "journalists" but I don't want the poor buggers to be out of work. Just in a particularly vile mood,