Closed Do you like the LIKE system on PC

I think we've already had this conversation in earlier threads back when PropertyChat was first launched, MTR.

The kudos system on Somersoft was part of the core software (modified slightly so that you couldn't give people negative kudos like you could in the original ).

Similarly, the likes system on PropertyChat is part of the core software. It's not something that can trivially be changed, nor am I likely to do so.

It is what it is - a way of simply saying "I like this post", which helps cut down on the meaningless "me too" type posts you otherwise get.

The kudos system on Somersoft was nice in that it did allow you to give a personal message - which could be used for uplifting purposes. But similarly, the private nature of it meant that nobody else got to share in the appreciation.

Conversely the likes system on PropertyChat isn't as personal since you don't get to include a message, but it is also public allowing you to share the love and help other people identify what everyone thinks are great posts.

I've said over and over again that likes shouldn't mean anything more than what they were intended - "I like this post".

If you don't like likes, don't use likes. Likes are part of the system - the vast majority of people use them in the way they were intended, and they won't be removed or changed.

 

I hate those

I get what they are trying to do - and I get why they introduced them (sometimes "like" isn't an appropriate response), but I do think it clutters things too much in Facebook posts. That's just my personal opinion anyway.

I've been experimenting with using Slack as a chat system (to replace IRC) and they do have the ability to add any emoji as a "reaction" to a post. I've thought it might be interesting to allow smileys as a response to a post more than just a like - but I think that could too easily be abused. Simple is better I think.

 

People can see that you liked a post. The person whose post you liked gets notified that you liked it.

That's about it. It certainly isn't anonymous, but there's nothing more to it than what you see.

 

As I alluded to in my original reply, I guess there are two issues here:

1. kudos allowed you to leave a positive message "thanks for all your hard work", which means arguably more than "like" does
2. kudos were private, whereas likes are public

While I think that a kudos type system worked well on Somersoft, I think you can also achieve largely the same result by sending private messages with the same message.

Is the issue that it's actually too cumbersome to send a private message for such a short "love your work" type thing?

Maybe I could look at a very simple "kudos" mechanism associated with each post which pops up a simple form (like in the old system on Somersoft) and lets you type a simple message which actually gets sent as a private conversation - meaning you can actually respond to it! Now that I think about it - that could work quite well.

The second issue about likes being public - I think there are pros and cons both ways. If people use it the way it was intended, then I think it works well - and like I said, I think the vast majority of people do use it just like it was intended and get the simple nature of it.

So I think there is certainly scope for improving things by implementing some kind of hybrid kudos system - but I think it is better as a complement to the likes system rather than a replacement of it. Does that make sense?