October 17, 2012

Favorites or Likes for comments?: Hey there old friends. I'm back lurking here. I'm even logged in, so I can see the (# new) thingy after the comments number. I don't have much to contribute, but 5 years of Facebooking have endeared to the simple "Like" action below each comment and I'm instinctly looking to click it when I read a comment that makes me chuckle. MetaFilter has a similar feature with their Favorites. Is this at all a possibility for SpoFi?

posted by qbert72 to feature requests at 12:06 AM - 20 comments

I can't exactly say why, but I vote against this, at least in the form of a facebook-ish "like" action. I like the "+ 1" vibe around here when someone says something particularly insightful. Too many times in facebook "discussions," you see two camps arguing against each other, and each comment is followed by a handful of "likes" from everyone in the writer's camp. To me, it gets really annoying. That being said, I'm not a member of metafilter, and don't know how their "favorites" system works.

Please "like" this comment if you agree.

posted by tahoemoj at 11:34 AM on October 17, 2012

I think it'd be a helpful feature. At least it'd show that people are reading the thread/comments.

posted by jerseygirl at 02:05 PM on October 17, 2012

+1 both comments ^^^^

posted by Folkways at 03:39 PM on October 17, 2012

The problem I see would be for us to "like" the comments for their viewpoint, not for how well written, well researched, humorous, insightful, or appropriate they are. Thus, we would be reduced to a sort of popularity contest among ourselves, each of us bragging about how many "likes" he or she received. I don't really think we need to change or add a thing. Let's try to keep the comments we write about the item posted and not about those who also comment, and we'll be just fine.

posted by Howard_T at 04:25 PM on October 17, 2012

There are times where I have nothing meaningful to contribute, but I like a comment and I wish I had a way to show that appreciation.

There doesn't need to be a running total of "likes".

posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 04:35 PM on October 17, 2012

At least it'd show that people are reading the thread/comments.

True. Hadn't thought of that.

posted by justgary at 05:58 PM on October 17, 2012

There doesn't need to be a running total of "likes".

Oh, interesting idea. Only the comment author could see or be notified of the "likes" their stuff gets.

I really like Facebook's Like feature, because it is simple and doesn't mean anything specific. I have never seen "My comment got more likes than yours!" used as an argument. But that's just, like, my opinion, man.

posted by qbert72 at 07:24 PM on October 17, 2012

I really don't see a running count being a problem with our regular crowd

I too read SpoFi daily and at times throw out +1 on a comment I really enjoy.

Ofcourse to do so I have to post a new comment to the thread.

It would just make it easier (for me using this old iPad) to show there is interest in a topic without having to post a new comment every time.

posted by Folkways at 04:22 PM on October 18, 2012

+1

posted by rcade at 08:55 AM on October 19, 2012

HeHe

Your such a funny guy!!!!!

posted by Folkways at 11:21 AM on October 19, 2012

So is writing a '+1' comment is the recommendation? I guess it works and it's not a new feature, which is good. But if the comment I'm +1'ing is farther up thread, I'd need to correctly identify it in my '+1' comment. And I'm lazy. Plus (ha!), these comments are not interesting for readers.

posted by qbert72 at 01:02 PM on October 20, 2012

Hey, I'm doing my best here to help your cause Q!

Calling me boring is not so endearing my friend ;-)~

posted by Folkways at 01:12 PM on October 20, 2012

+1. Not saying what I am +1-ing. Let's keep it mysterious.

posted by jerseygirl at 03:37 PM on October 22, 2012

Yea the +1 really only if your the next to coment huh.

Geeeez all the +1's I've wasted over the years.

posted by Folkways at 04:45 PM on October 22, 2012

You see, I'd +1 jerseygirl's comment. But now it's too late.

Folkways, I never called you boring. Don't know where you read that, sorry for the confustion. I was saying that comments limited to '+1' are not that interesting themselves.

posted by qbert72 at 03:24 PM on October 23, 2012

Folkways, I never called you boring. Don't know where you read that, sorry for the confustion. I was saying that comments limited to '+1' are not that interesting themselves.

It was a poor attempt at humor I'm afraid. Not confusion.

posted by Folkways at 04:41 PM on October 23, 2012

Moreover, the +1 winds up being a bunch of noise (see Deadspin threads for examples) and leads to people trying to come up with all sorts of injokes or spins on it.

posted by yerfatma at 12:04 PM on October 24, 2012

I usually just lurk around the site, talking myself out of commenting in anger, so I'm in favor of a +1 or Like button. There are some great FPPs and comments here.

This is something that only 'logged in' users could use? That would keep it pretty clean, yes?

posted by BoKnows at 02:00 PM on October 24, 2012

How about instead of a +1, we use a thumbs-up for like and an extended middle finger for dislike? It would somehow better fit our personality.

posted by Howard_T at 04:14 PM on October 24, 2012

I'd prefer that people "vote up" posts, not comments. That way, on the front page, you can see that people might not have commented on the post, but showed an interest in the story/link that was posted.

So is writing a '+1' comment is the recommendation?

Oh, please don't do this. The last thing I want to do is scroll through 15 "+1" comments to get to the next REAL comment that discusses the post (or someone else's comment).

If there has to be a method of showing you like a comment, then a "+" beside the comment that people could click would be fine by me. Only positive reinforcement, if we have to do it.

The only problem I have is that it might limit people's interaction on the site. Instead of posting a comment like "I agree with Howard_T, and here's why...", people might simply click the "positive" button beside Howard_T's comment and be done with it. If that happens, we lose another potential talking point/interesting reason/story.

Finally, a running total of "+" suddenly becomes a scoring system that people will begin to use as a form of judgement on that person or their comments.

posted by grum@work at 12:24 PM on October 26, 2012

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