I think if we’re going to have only one button to like/love/empathise/endorse/agree/support/recommend/say ‘that’s interesting’, then +1 fits the bill; it’s the most ambiguous.
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Remarkable that BoingBoing hasn’t spontaneously developed its own word of approval. Although I suppose you could have a “just look at it” button. You can guess what the icon would be.
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In the spirit of really violating the “don’t make me think” rule, how about a series of increasingly inscrutable flags based on the worst excesses of existentialist navel-gazing and stereotypical german agglutative rumination?
If an affective state can only be translated into English by means of a paragraph(and only truly experienced untranslated) or if some obscurantist diciple of Camus ever claimed to have experienced it, surely it deserves a little clickable button in case somebody’s post invokes it in me?
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“Meh” is postmodern ennui staking its claim upon the soul it no longer believes in, in the name of a state whose claims to legitimacy it regards as absurd, for reasons no better than those that would dictate precisely the opposite course of action.
“Meh” does much; but means nothing(and takes that very seriously, not that it would admit to it).
As opposed to “mu”, which does nothing and means much?
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I say only add more if there have a logical meaning distinct from agreement, not just more gradations. To me, Like is a conflation of “This was worth reading” and “I agree with the sentiment” which are two very different things. I think two options “recommended read” and “I agree” would be the two meaningful categories that one could still quickly decide to click. I think the BB crowd has expressed this reaction to posts on many occasions “well written, well argued, but I disagree with your conclusion.” If there were ever to be some kind of visual indication of which comments are popular, such as their being highlighted, or floating to the top, it would have to be based on readability, not popularity, in order to be truly interesting or additive in a climate like BB.
I do think that “don’t make me think” can be fairly applied, even in a system of thoughtful people making thoughtful comments. Liking is very different from posting and reply, in both form and function. It serves a commenting system to make liking simple, as the likes are just dressing on the comments,
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Take that back!
Me? My…
… Mu.
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ennui is the new meh
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I’d like (hah!) an “I agree” and an “I disagree” button.
But no upvoting/downvoting, I can get that elsewhere.
We need a “do not like” button for posts like this.
I’ve been thinking about the apparent abscence of a “Dislike” button on these forums. Overall I think it’s a good thing, despite all the WTF? posts which I’d like to downvote. This way, the universe is basically inflationary with good karma, instead of being zero-sum-ish when ups cancelling downs. I figure that facile posts with no responses and/or no likes are silent yet damning condemnation enough, without the need to introduce any overt bad karma.
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I’m not fond of comment systems that feature downvoting. Too easy for an entrenched population to act as de facto vote brigades, stifling alternate points of view. At least in the positive only system you have to communicate in order to express your conflicting opinion.
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My main complaint is that “like” is often the wrong word. I’d be happier with “well said”, which can be given to things you disagree with but respect, and which doesn’t cause conflicts when you like that the poster said it but dislike that it had to be said at all.
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What I do is interpret the word “like” in whatever way I prefer.
That said, there are some things people say that, however well said they may be, I will not be comfortable having my name publicly associated with their statements.
That to me is a stronger disincentive than the relatively minor issue of semantics over the meaning of like.
We essentially agree. For me, applying that caution makes “like” useful only for those cases where it can be used unambiguously… ie, it’s useful only as a way of avoiding wasting space on a “me too” or “you said it”.
Which does have value. And may be sufficient. This is far from the only system which uses “like” with all its ambiguities. But if the question is on the table, I’d rather lose the fuzziness. Like, y’know?
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Me too.
So, when do we get the “agree” / “disagree” buttons then?
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How about a “vote this person into the cornfield” button?
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