Nobody minds (or I assume nobody minds) if you “like” what someone says without giving a reason. There’s a risk that people might get addicted to having their comments liked, which could be an argument for not having a like button in the first place, but liking a comment doesn’t feel like an act of destruction. Disliking feels far more loaded. If I dislike your comment, do I dislike you? Does dislike represent
- a friendly, smiling, gentle shake of the head, while saying “that’s bollocks” and everyone – including the Sayer of the Bollocks – laughs and debates the issue
- a grumpy demand that someone shuts their face
- a threat of expulsion from the group
The answer is to replace “dislike” with an expectation that anybody who is bothered about a comment will explain the issue. That also has the benefit that it could get more discussion going.
I think I muddied the waters when I mentioned using like/dislike for voting. A vote should be presented as a vote.