I want everything in life to have a 'like' button! I also want pause and replay on everything. :O)

I agree!

Here you go-

{{gwi:2136754}}

Refer back to the comment you liked: "Ditto what Foxes said."

See party_music50? I need a Like button for that!

I agree. Also would like the ability to quote another poster's comments.

Like

You can quote someone else by cutting and pasting what they said into your message and put an "i" at the beginning and a "/i" at the end, using pointy brackets where I put the quotes...it will italicize the text...

" I don't want to clog up the thread by writing the same exact agreements"

It seems we need to validate/be validated a lot in Home Decor and Kitchens too. You don't see people in Roses saying "I agree with So-and-So. That rose will look wonderful there. And while you're at it, have you ever considered adding a daylily? And I'd move the lavender a scootch over to the right."

So true May...LOL !!!

mayflowers - LOL

Like

agree.

The downsides of a like button:
a) It turns into popularity (Person A likes Person B, regardless of what B writes);
b) It encourages people to just hit the like button without reading carefully or thinking;
c) It works against contrarian opinions. Think about neutral colors versus assertive colors (and the whole commitment thread).

I'm not saying that all or any of these would necessarily happen here, just that they can happen. I'd prefer that people judge for themselves without such influences.

You can quote someone else by cutting and pasting what they said into your message and put an "i" at the beginning and a "/i" at the end, using pointy brackets where I put the quotes...it will italicize the text.

Thanks!

Thoughts? Okay, I'll cast a "dislike" vote to the idea. I'm thrilled that GW is not clogged up with a bunch of useless and annoying "likes". I have never understood the point of the whole "like" thing. If posters can't be bothered to reply and say, "I like that because ..." then do we really need to know how many people like something? And where is the button that lets everyone know how many people dislike it? If one isn't going to contribute to a thread, why bother replying at all? What purpose does it serve and what difference does it make? Can't facebook be facebook and Gardenweb be Gardenweb?

I'm with jellytoast on this, 100%.

I'm glad there isn't a like button. I think there would be more likes than actual comments to threads. I think fb and gw should continue to be their own thing.

Yes, not everything should become FaceBook.

I think a like button would not be as nice as an option to go to the last post of a thread rather than needing to scroll through the entire gig to see the "new" messages.

I see a lot of people use the post time and respond from this.

Sasafras. GW has that option. Just click on "Post a follow up" and it takes you to the last post. It's at the top, next to "Return to Home Decorating Forum."

I use another forum that is structured like this one . The main content is college info and there are many sub forums.

About a year ago the forum made updates and added a like button and a helpful button under posts. Many people were up in arms and like others here, I felt it would turn posting into a popularity contest. Thankfully that has not happened.

The buttons are very discreet and unless you have eagle eyes, it is not apparent while browsing which posts have the most likes. If people are helpful in a thread, I like that I can press their help buttons under their posts instead of making an additional thank you post that bumps the thread back up to the top.

The other thing that is well done is that you have to be logged in to like. You can hover over the likes and helpfuls to see who pressed the buttons. It seems to cut down on controversy.

But honestly, in Gardenweb's case, a web company that doesn't care to set up a decent search function probably doesn't care about any of this.

I still do not understand the point of "liking" a post or what purpose it serves, other than the OP of a post being able to say, "Ooh, look how many likes I have!"

I participated on another forum where they added a "thumbs up" button (how original) AND a "thumbs down" button. The more "ups" one collected, they would be awarded the equivalent of a gold star by their user name. Lots of likes would net you multiple "stars" by your name. Too many "downs" and you got a series of red x's by your name until you were eventually banned. The atmosphere quickly turned sour and it became a free-for-all with everyone pointing fingers at everyone else and the thumbs themselves became the focus of the discussions in many, many, many threads. Immediately people began competing for the "gold stars" to see who could get the most. And other posters were getting banned simply because others disagreed with them or they held an unpopular opinion.The forum went from one where every poster was on an equal footing, to one where posters were considered "better" or "worse" depending on their "status" of stars and x's. It was ridiculous, childish, and became unbearably tiresome.

This post was edited by jellytoast on Mon, Jan 19, 15 at 10:47

There's a thread in Kitchens right now with 50 posts assuring the OP she made the right choice in her backsplash. That thread could use a like button instead of 50 posts saying virtually the same thing.

>That thread could use a like button instead of 50 posts saying virtually the same thing.

If I were that unsure about what I'd done, I certainly wouldn't be reassured by a bunch of clicks only.

"If I were that unsure about what I'd done, I certainly wouldn't be reassured by a bunch of clicks only."

I agree with this. A lot of times people will add in additional info that's helpful. I really think the like button would eliminate people taking the time to 'talk'.

Forums depend on actual conversations ... WHY one likes something (or not) is the information that is helpful in encouraging someone to go ahead with their choice or make a change. Pressing a "like" button is not contributing anything of value, as we can't even be sure what it is one likes ... is it the poster? is it the entire post? a portion of the post? what exactly ... ?

" I like that I can press their help buttons under their posts instead of making an additional thank you post that bumps the thread back up to the top." - I don't get this. Won't the post then just sink like a stone???
For a lot of reasons, I'm with garyfix, jellytoast, writersblock, sheesharee and dbarron please, NO "LIKE"
button! Don't break what is working already.

peegee,

The comment of mine that you quoted was about acknowledging helpful posts via a helpful button, not the like button. As you note, sometimes when threads bump up to the top they sink. Sometimes sending the post to the top reopens the conversation, often with people that don't bother to read the whole thread.

So, for me, if I am satisfied with the info I received from helpful posters it is nice to acknowledge them without continuing to draw attention to the thread by posting a thank you.

deee

Here's the OP's reply to all the "repetitive posts" in the kitchen backsplash thread ...

"Wow, thanks so much for the additional input! I appreciate that some of you weren't afraid to say that the backsplash is too busy for your tastes. Hearing a variety of perspectives is helpful. I also now have some terrific ideas for pulling everything together: painting that blue wall white (although a wooden bench will go there, along with a kitchen table), bringing in white accessories to mellow the blue, adding plants, etc."

I thought that most people posting replies there made a comment or two to contribute to the conversation. Obviously the OP felt much better about her backsplash after reading everyone's comments. Maybe we should do away with the entire "Reveal" portion of the forum if repetetiveness is an issue. After all, everyone replies saying basically the same thing ... a unanimous "We like it!" ... why not just hit the "like" button and do away with all of the repetetive comments?

deee, when I'm scanning to select threads to peruse, seeing an increase in the number of responses to a thread I've read often prompts me have a look at the new responses. Sometimes I can only tell that by seeing that a post has risen. If it hasn't moved, why would I bother to read? And if new responses were only "likes/dislikes" there would - at least for me - be no purpose anyway. At all. Except maybe for an OP- but even then, probably not. My concern is that such a fundamental change may impact the dynamics of this community, which to me would be too much of a risk; for me it's the discourse that exists here that creates the community and makes this place special and worth returning. I think I understand what you mean by the utility of a "helpful" button, and can imagine how quick and convenient that might be, but even so, I think the danger of opportunities for stripped down communication could be damaging in the long run, for ex. I can see how receiving a whole bunch of likes rather than actual thoughtful responses might over time turn a lot of people off. Even though this forum is robust, by nature it is a fragile system.

Such diverse opinions - this was good reading/ scanning!

I actually made the suggestion sort of tongue in cheek and not as an actual 'Dear GW - please add a like button'.

It sort of troubles me that a fair amount of posts noted that it would be like a popularity contest. 'Popularity' comes up so often in the this forum. And I have to agree. I've noted it before that 'the popularity' aspect or whatever you want to call it has certainly curtailed how often I post but it is what it is and I can't help but pop in for the advice, to show a project, to see how other's are making out, if I might actually be able to suggest etc.....
I have a hard time imagining how a 'like' button would turn into a popularity contest I guess because my mind isn't focused on that.
It's focused on:
"Hey I agree - that looks great - sorry - popped in while waiting of my ki - oops here he comes"
"You did a great job"
"Yeah - that comment says it all for me - I couldn't add or contribute anything else different'
"I have 2 seconds here but wanted to let you know that I thought about your project but don't have time to write now and will surely forget in 5 minutes anyway because I can barely remember my name most days."
Etc......

This post was edited by TheFoxesPad on Tue, Jan 20, 15 at 8:46