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13:02, 28th March 2024 (GMT+0)

Thumbs up?

Posted by ionathas
ionathas
member, 3 posts
Mon 30 Jul 2018
at 17:33
  • msg #1

Thumbs up?

I have trouble believing nobody has posted this request before, but I searched and couldn't find it...
So. There are a lot of times when I'd like to thumbs-up a fellow player's post. Am I the only one?

It seems to me this would even be a system-useful feature for systems like FATE or Savage Worlds, where you get Fate Points or Bennies based on table reactions. But even without that consideration, it'd be nice to be able to show appreciation for a cool post (even anonymously) without wasting everybody's time with a separate post. In forums it may be totally appropriate to agree in a new post, but in PbP it just kind of clutters up the thread.

Just a thumbs-up button with a simple player tally next to it. That's all I'd like! Pretty please?
bigbadron
moderator, 15620 posts
He's big, he's bad,
but mostly he's Ron.
Mon 30 Jul 2018
at 17:54

Thumbs up?

You're right, it has been requested before, but probably before this particular forum existed.  The fact that the button doesn't exist gives a clue to the result of that request.

quote:
but in PbP it just kind of clutters up the thread.
Which is exactly what an OOC thread is for.
This message was last edited by the user at 18:03, Mon 30 July 2018.
Utsukushi
member, 1454 posts
I should really stay out
of this, I know...but...
Mon 30 Jul 2018
at 18:17
  • msg #3

Thumbs up?

link to a message in this forum

I think that was the last time.  There are just so many ways people phrase it, and "applaud" was an unusual choice, which makes it harder to Search for.

(I only found it because someone sent me an rMail liking my post, which I kept because... well, because it gives my ego lovely scritches behind the ears, but also because that was hilarious, which I think is the real effect they were going for.)
ionathas
member, 4 posts
Mon 30 Jul 2018
at 20:42
  • msg #4

Thumbs up?

In reply to Utsukushi (msg # 3):

Thanks to YouTube, I'm pretty sure nobody in the world would call this an 'applaud' feature...

But meh. Again with the 'waste of time' thing from my perspective: I feel like sending a PM just because I like somebody's verbology is a tremendous waste of both my time and theirs, when I could just hit a button and show my approval in a way that takes less than two seconds for me to express and even less time than that for them to read.
And cluttering up an OOC thread--or even worse, wasting an entire OOC thread for ego-stroking--over something as silly as liking a single post? Geeze, man. Now I'm wasting my time, the receiver's time, and everybody else's time at the same time?
No thanks.

...
But, hey. It's just a suggestion. Obviously, new features should be decided by majority up-vote and programmer's veto.
matthewfenn
member, 487 posts
Magic the Gathering
Spreadsheet Developer
Mon 30 Jul 2018
at 21:47
  • msg #5

Thumbs up?

Personally, I'm somewhat abivilent.  "like" buttons cam have a detrimental effect too - especially for those who are perhaps less thick skinned than others...

   "Everyone in the group but Joey liked my post!  Joey must hate me!"

   "OMG! Sam likes every post I do - I think he might be obsessed with me!"


On the other hand, I would sometimes like the opportunity to genuinely show my appreciation for someone's writing, or getting the acknowledgement from others for a well crafted post...  In one of the games I used to run, I ran a system where people could give Kudos to others for good writing, which would in turn give in-game benefits - a kind of carrot to a) encourage good writing, and b) encourage mutual back-patting...

To be honest, it never really worked - I think over a 5 year period I had about 4 people actually congratulate others on the quality of their posts... and there were a bunch of good posts that were worth it, but rarely was anyone bothered / remembered to actually post in the Kudos thread...  A like button on the other hand would, as ionathas has suggested, be a much easier way of giving credit where credit is due...   I suspect my "con" argument is probably out-weighed by the "pro" of having an easy way of showing appreciation for others work...   I'm sure if someone started "liking" everything everyone posted, it would devalue their opinion, but that would probably be far and few between...
This message was last edited by the user at 21:54, Mon 30 July 2018.
TookyG
member, 89 posts
Mon 30 Jul 2018
at 22:52
  • msg #6

Thumbs up?

I like the concept.  This could help in recognizing positive members of the community.

First, any such system has to apply to the account level, not the character level, because games are far too transient.

Second, there shouldn't be one like/kudo/thumbs-up button.  There should be categories to which such kudos apply.  For example, "Helpful," "Good writer," "Team player."

Third, these should be visible on the author sidebar.

Taken together, I think those things go a long way to spot lighting positive members.
DarkLightHitomi
member, 1397 posts
Mon 30 Jul 2018
at 23:16
  • msg #7

Thumbs up?

Paizo has a thumbs up mechanic, and it works out quite well.

Of course, in addition to a post showing it's likes, you see a list of all posts you liked and see a list of all who liked a particular post. Not sure how much that has affected use.
bigbadron
moderator, 15621 posts
He's big, he's bad,
but mostly he's Ron.
Tue 31 Jul 2018
at 02:56

Re: Thumbs up?

ionathas:
Again with the 'waste of time' thing from my perspective: I feel like sending a PM just because I like somebody's verbology is a tremendous waste of both my time and theirs, when I could just hit a button and show my approval in a way that takes less than two seconds for me to express and even less time than that for them to read.

The whole purpose of RPoL is communication via text.  If you feel that communicating via text is a waste of time, then why are you here?

Similarly, if you consider that writing something to tell somebody that a specific post was awesome would be a waste of time, then it just may be that the post wasn't really THAT awesome...
This message was last edited by the user at 03:02, Tue 31 July 2018.
steelsmiter
member, 1904 posts
BESM, Fate, Indies, PBTA
NO FREEFORM! NO d20!
Tue 31 Jul 2018
at 03:19
  • msg #9

Re: Thumbs up?

ionathas:
But meh. Again with the 'waste of time' thing from my perspective: I feel like sending a PM just because I like somebody's verbology is a tremendous waste of both my time and theirs,

I don't know, I've found it useful to publically reward posts of a length and type of content that matches my preferences in OOC.
LordXenophon
member, 18 posts
Tue 31 Jul 2018
at 03:25
  • msg #10

Re: Thumbs up?

Compared to everything else currently used in RPoL, a Likes system would be rather script-heavy.
DarkLightHitomi
member, 1399 posts
Tue 31 Jul 2018
at 04:00
  • msg #11

Re: Thumbs up?

In reply to bigbadron (msg # 8):

I don't think it is a matter of "waste of time" but rather of effort.

As my mother is always saying, "Always organize things to be quick and easy to use/do, or you won't ever use/do them."

A likes system is quite in line with that. People see a post, they think "Oh cool!" A likes button is a just as easy to press, but a new post, takes more effort, enough so that by the time you are typing, the feeling of "Oh cool!" has usually worn off leaving much less motivation to post.
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