How important do you think likes are?

@Xoic , I love the fact your post points out your dislike for likes and gets the most likes on the thread. That warms my crusty little heart.

Me myself, I'm ambivalent. I don't mind them. I think they're a bit pointless, but if it helps positively reinforce someone slightly without them getting addicted to it like a crack addict, *looks at the post above, which of course I post and then ends up on the bottom of the previous page*, then more power to them.
It's just sad when people feel left out because of it, which is the strongest reason to not have it imo..
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Oh, and don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe!

 

How much Like could a Dislike like, if a Dislike could DisLike?

 

I try to use likes as a form of agreement without places the generic platitudes of "I agree" or "thanks." I find them handy in this respect. Kind of works two-fold. I don't have to type out a thousand likewise points of agreement, and the forum doesnt get bogged down by them as well. I'll also like things I find useful or interesting, or just plain well-done. Again, a single to those who posted what they did that I found it good in some way, hopefully so we can then benefit from them generating more useful stuff.

So in other words, I think they're useful if used as a tool, and not as a metric of importance or vanity.

 

I think they're the bestest, most importanty part of forum membership EVAH!

Actually, I've got no clue how so many of the damn things got stuck to me, but I will say that like money they have a certain gravity of their own. It can seem important to give likes to someone who has a lot of them already to demonstrate that you fit in with the groupthink community.

I like to try and make sure I "like" the first intelligent thing or so I catch a new member saying, just to get them started and feeling confident.

 

Worked for me!

 

Pay no attention to the like-addict, folks. He's posting from his rehab centre, battling Lyndsay Lohan for use of the one laptop in the entire building.

*can only imagine how many scratches Some Guy has from fighting her*

 

Jesus Christ SG, look at all your likes!!! Almost twice as many as your posts. Maybe it's time to cheer up and take your head out of your hands...

And tellingly, they both keep calling it the Liketop.

 

The scratches are all on the laptop. Holy Shixt!! Look at all those posts, and a squirrel!!

Nothing to see here folks! Carry on.
*sneaks out of room*

 

Yeah, that's a good point. A 'like' usually signifies that a person has read your critique and appreciates the effort you made. It does no harm, does it? It's what I mean about likes being important on certain threads.

The accumulation of a number of likes doesn't interest me at all, because it's more a reflection on the attitude of people on the forum than you, yourself. Not getting a 'like' doesn't necessarily mean folks don't like you or what you said. It just means they didn't hit the 'like' button.

 

I can say (from experience) that if you're banned from posting in a given thread, you're still permitted to Like the posts of others, allowing some sort of participation. That might be important.

 

Thing is, likes are easy to get. Find a lounge thread, post a witty comment, a funny picture or something involving kittens and viola, likes. They really don't mean a lot.

 

I don't think it's that important to receive them but I do like to use it. Facebook conditioned me and I refuse to uncondition myself.

 

I, too, find likes useful only in the sense I sometimes don't want to comment on everything I read. Likes are more acknowledgement of reading, and I don't "like" everything I read.

 

The mods all have insane amounts of likes. Is it that they're the closest thing we have to royalty, that everybody wants to curry their favor, or just because people appreciate it when they shut down threads that have gone over the edge?

 

What, is, up, guys! I don't think likes are important in the slightest.

Now, if you enjoyed this post, feel free to hit that like button and I'll see you all next time!

 

This comes with time and effort given towards working for the forum to answer questions and review work effectively. If you look at the posts to like ratios, it's mostly pretty even money to double. Not too insane really at all. Depends mostly on the amount of time they've spent on here contributing to the community. This isn't an effective metric to run by as a matter of importance. As I said earlier, I mostly just use it as a tool of agreement, without bogging down the forum with "I agree!" posts.

 

I topped the likes thing before I got promoted though. There may be a connection now, but when I was a regular member I think I got them due to using my "real" pen name. Every time I felt like calling someone a splattered pile of flaming fucktarded fecal matter I realized it could backfire onto my sales if I ever published. Made me want to be a better person, so to speak.

 

I use them for agreeing or if I have no words to express myself
but enjoyed what I read.

IDK know how I wound up with all of mine?
Though I suppose some would say I am the
'Class Clown', so to speak.
But I can be serious when the occasion calls for it.
(The meme police will never catch me.)

 

This thread is interesting. I think writers are very conscientious, so a new member could definitely see more importance in them than there actually is. Probably especially if his first or second post happens to be the only one in a thread that receives no likes/response.

I hope likes don't condition people. The last thing I would want is for a like I send to contribute to formation of an echo chamber. Articulate, expansive thinking is birthed from the gauntlet of rigorous (and impersonal, if possible) discourse. I love it when a concept is torn down and built back up. I'm not sure how to encourage that, though.

As with others here, I mainly use likes as a form of acknowledgement. I see received ones as such, too. I hate pretense, so I try to assume the minimum from a 'like.' I wonder if like is the wrong word. Something like a 'nod' or a 'hmm' would fit better.

 

I consider it a form of communication for encouragement or support. Sometimes unsaid is more powerful or meaningful. Sometimes you don't want to change the vibe of dialog. It triggers an alert, so it's 'I hear you' as well.

 

Likes can tell that a comment is important to someone. Or that someone agrees. Or that someone likes. Or that there is something important.

Likes are one way to tell "this matters to me". It can be emotional or intellectual importance - or both.

I think that's important.

Saying that likes don't mean anything is a bit like telling that "your emotions are irrelevant, your thoughts have no value or meaning".

Likes matter.

 

if we are only talking about this forum, then no. I don't choose a thread based on how many likes or comments. If I want to know something, I'll look for the people who have posted something similar to what I want to know, and read through their question and answer.
On the Lounge, I'll participate in the conversation that I find interesting, not because of the likes/comments.

On more technical forums (ones I go to if I am having some type of technology issue, for example), I will choose depending on the likes. High likes, to me, means that the information was helpful in some way to a wider range of people. Wider range of people means the directions were written in plain people speak (vs technical), so many people could actually follow the directions.

This is the only writing forum I've been active in, but in terms of this forum as my only experience, I don't pay attention to likes. If I agree with something or think its helpful to me, I will like it. It makes it easier to find later on

 

Their importance is probably proportionate to the weight that you give to them. If we all believed in them strongly enough, we could make Likes a currency.

On another forum, the system uses three categories: LOL, Like, and Thanks. This is interesting because on this forum, when somebody clicks "Like" they could mean any of those three things.

Also might be worth mentioning that people who are checking their phones while at work, or otherwise busy, or may not really have anything significant to say but want to express agreement, can simply click "Like". It's also a sneaky way to express agreement on posts that are in locked threads.

At the end of the day what makes me more sad is feeling like I'm talking to myself. Not that nobody clicked the like button. I'd rather have a poem or story with just one or two likes but a dozen+ comments from several people. I created a thread called "What new word did you learn today?" and I'm not upset that the opening post has I think one or two likes. I'm happy about the fact that it caught on and that lots of people post on it.

Likes are way more important on social media where they're factored into rankings and the search engine, which means they create tangible, meaningful results. The same can be said of Subscriber counts on YouTube.

In terms of WF, likes are important to my despicable ego and my ugly insecurities

So please, I'm begging you, give me another hit of that dopamine. Just one, come on. Ahhh, thanks. Say, you got a fiver I can borrow?