Just to voice my opinion for a like button and a flagging function

by nonjwspouse 8 Replies latest forum suggestions

• 

  nonjwspouse

  I love the idea of having a like button and then allowing an ability to find the threads according to the number of likes, which could get the popular threads in some order. The flagging function can help you out a good deal in my opinion. I think the craisglist uses the flag function by removing a post with a certian flag limit ( with a description also) that would automatically cause a post to be at least temporarily removed until a moderator could evaluate. It is a wonderful way to have the forum community help the, I am sure, overworked ( and obviously not monetairily (sp?) paid ) moderators police the forum with those who go against the TOS repeatedly, more efficiently.

  Even though this has been suggested before, and I think I read that you are working on it. I just wanted to reinforce ;-)

  Thank you for all the hard work! This forum is used by me as partly therapy, and greatly helpful.
• 

  the girl next door

  Just add blocking to the above and it will be like Facebook. A dislike button would be fantastic as well.
• 

  nonjwspouse

  Craiglsist has blocking too but it makes reading a thread completely confusing. I have never used it, just skip over or slightly skim specific posters posts. Like the annoying co worker that makes you crazy. ;-) Just tune them out but then go back and read if something is pertinent to other peoples posts afterwards.

  I wish Facebook had a dislike button too. I'm not sure how that would be though, since it can be used in a personal way, not just for the content of the post.

  Content is the most important.

  Flagging can be used in apersonal way too, with lots of people ganging up to flag a post. With the comments required, then the moderator is able to see the post and the thread, there is an ability to see if this is happening. Also an ability to warn people if they are indeeed ganging up personally on a person, not just flagging a post for the TOS content .
• 

  Simon

  Here's what I'm picturing:

  We'll have a flag button to report inappropriate content. Ideally, if enough respected posters (based on a reputation score) flag something then the system can remove it without a mod having to do anything. That way bad and unwelcome content is removed quickly without having to wait.

  That's separate to the like / dislike buttons. They will work by recording a vote for or against a post and based on the votes it will give a good indication of whether a topic is contentious, popular, unliked (different to violating the rules) and so on.

  I think the votes will decay over time otherwise the most popular topics ever would stay at the top of the list forever and it wouldn't be helpful for a working day-to-day view. I am picturing the highest rated content for the last week or two probably being most useful or promoted more and then things will gradually drop down. Of course it will be possible to have an absolute all-time view as well.

  The likes and dislikes will feed into reputation somewhat and the amount of kudos given will depend on who's giving it. Ideally, the system should reinforce good behaviour and content and help diminish the effects of poor behavior but I'm aware that there will always need to be human overrides to protect against people gaming a system and collaborating to manipulate the results. If people flag or downvote a post against the flow or contrary to high-reputation posters for instance then the system should be able to learn from that or at least report an anomaly for investigation.

  It may also be worth considering making heavily disliked posts automatically hidden or diminished (e.g. click to view) so they are not removed as such (like posting violations) but are not given the attention that they don't deserve.

  So, you won't rate people or topics directly but how posts are rated and the reputations of the people doing those ratings will ripple through to both.
• 

  Simon

  One other thing probably worth mentioning: I don't think it would be beneficial to display reputations or who has liked, disliked or flagged anyone elses posts.

  I'm sure that would simply cause some bad feeling, trading of likes or information to help people who want to abuse any system target specific people.

  Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming!
• 

  garyneal

  Simon, that sounds similar to what I see over on stack overflow.
• 

  Simon

  Yes, there's a lot os 'prior art' and things that work well and other things that don't. I'll use all these as inspiration but I think some are designed for gamification where the person get's achievements in order to keep them contributing / get higher on league boards etc...

  That works great for game type leaderboards but I think a community like thise succeeds through community, not individual successes.

  Although I think some type of recognition badges would be useful and could make things more fun.
• 

  nonjwspouse

  A history of a posters likes should be sufficient. The history of dislikes and flags could be abused and shouldn't be seen. Maybe a star system or something based on milestones of likes could be used under a name, but not a running count.

  I agree the flagging of a post is for moderator eyes only. The auto removal after the predetermined number of flags, or number of specific posters flags, would be helpful for the mods until they evaluate. Ex someone posting personal info could be flagged and removed quickly, which is a good thing.

  To have a tab to access the threads ranked by likes ( after a specific number of likes throws it into the category) , I think, could be useful, but wouldn't replace the "active topics" tab. ( I miss good threads that get lost in the pages when I am gone from the site for a few days or so) But I see how super old threads could remain on the top, but I can see myself searching from newest first sometimes?

  I have no idea how difficult this is to achieve, so I am just thankful for whatever you are able to do :-)
• 

  PhilJonesIII

  No!

  'Like' and 'Dislike' are far too conservative. I fear that the abandoning of religion has made us timid and afraid of rocking the boat.

  We need to speak the same language in order to reach the benighted brethren. The following buttons are suggestetions only:

  1) Consign to the fiery pits of Hell.

  2) Sponsor for a Sainthood.

  3) Purgatory: No posting for a week.