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Several of you have mentioned the lack of a “like” button. When building this new site, it quickly became apparent that the old plugin was causing speed issues with the site (and I didn’t like the text-link approach), so it had to go.
I’ve found a different plugin with a quite different approach. It’s installed, so let me know what you think.
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That’s interesting. I think I have liked that twice, because it works when not logged in, then again after I logged in?
Actually, I don’t think it’s counting votes when not logged in, but can we see who voted or liked the post?
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If you’re not logged in, you can’t vote.
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It’s interesting to see how this works. Clicking like adds a like, clicking again removes the like.
Clicking negative after doing a like takes it straight to -1 rather than back to zero, but clicking the negative again gets it to zero effect.
It’s useful, but anonymous. -
It’s interesting to see how this works. Clicking like adds a like, clicking again removes the like.
Clicking negative after doing a like takes it straight to -1 rather than back to zero, but clicking the negative again gets it to zero effect.
It’s useful, but anonymous.Is the poster notified of what votes the post receives?
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- 49
- Experienced Poster
And disliking one that has 2 likes puts it down to zero, but then liking it again puts it back to 2. Doubtless all will become clear as we get used to it.
@Jesss, I’ve liked yours so, if it does notifications you should get one. (Or maybe several for you and @Ed as I’ve been playing with the arrows!)
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No, they have to read it on the post.
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If you click “Like” it gains an up vote. If you then click down, it undoes the up vote (ie removes one point) then gives it a down vote (ie removes one point)
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I like the like.
I don’t really like the dislike, because on forums that allow dislikes, there’s generally somebody who will abuse it (by systematically disliking each and every post by a particular person) even if there’s not anything controversial in the post, and therefore doesn’t justify a dislike.
Worst place is the microsoft feedback forum. At all times there seems to be at least three dedicated microsoft disciples (who may or may not be staff) online, poised to post downvotes within minutes of anybody making the slightest criticism about an unwanted change. That’s made worse by the default option (that most readers don’t know about) to demote posts with more than 3 downvotes. So it becomes a race for at least 3 disciples who are online at the time to quickly downvote anything that criticises an unwanted change before anybody else can see the post and upvote it. Result — it’s a total waste of time posting any criticism there, because any negative comments are semi-automatically hidden from anybody that might agree and upvote the comment.
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I don’t really like the dislike, because on forums that allow dislikes, there’s generally somebody who will abuse it.
I understand that, but we are a small group. I think we can behave.
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This doesn’t hide or negatively affect posts. The votes are just cosmetic for us.
I can remove the down vote button if most people prefer that?
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If you can remove the dislike option, then I think I would agree that is a good move.
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Reporting on the notifications — it doesn’t.
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What does everyone else think about the “Dislike” button?
Would “Up Vote”/”Down Vote” be a better combo?
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- 49
- Experienced Poster
I dislike the dislike button, for the reasons others have said.
“Up vote”/“Down vote” can work if someone is looking for a correct answer to something. People can upvote answers they think are correct and downvote answers they think are wrong, which helps everyone see what’s most likely to be correct, but that’s a very specific application which I’m not sure we would ever need here. I suppose it could also work to judge the feeling of the community about something. “Can this box on the site be coloured dayglo hivis purple?” “Can I get quickly changed on a public beach without covering up?”
Overall, I dislike the downvote button, except for when we’re literally voting about something.
(I hope the bold text isn’t as bold as it looks!!!!) (Edit (by copy/bin/paste) – No, it’s fine 🙂)
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The upvote button is all that is needed.
The upvote is useful, because it’s a very concise way of expressing support or thanks without needing to post about it.
The downvote isn’t useful on its own, because it would be very rude to give somebody a downvote without also posting a polite explanation about their differing opinion. But having the downvote button makes it too easy for somebody to rudely post a downvote without saying why.
We’ve survived for many years without having a downvote button and not had any problems due to it. Best keep it that way 🙂
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Okay, the down button is gone. I should say I do like the down vote button. It avoids that forced positivity issue. With just the up button, if 10 people like a suggestion and 50 don’t like it, those 50 are forced to either say something negative (not likely if they all have the same/similar objections) or keep quiet, probably giving a false impression. I suppose the only way it can still work is if someone explains why it’s a bad idea and then the other 49 like the objection instead.
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Thanks Ed. That was quick.
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Since it was anonymous, you could have 5 positives and 3 negatives and all you get is the impression that only 2 people voted?
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True, but I suppose it was aiming to show the balance of votes, not a total. The pro version includes the option to show what percentage is positive and what percentage negative. Now we’ll never know how many people disagree.
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Liking, with or without unlikes, isn’t appropriate for a proper vote.
In a properly vote there should always be an absolute minimum of three answers, for example:
- Yes
- No
- I’m not bothered either way (or don’t konw, or similar, depending on the context).
In other cases there might be more, and might need multiple selection from the available answers:
- Red
- Blue
- Green
- Don’t care
- Other (please state):
None of this can satisfactorily be done in up/down voting.
If I remember correctly, there’s a way to post a “proper” votes with plural options in the opening post of a thread. That’s the best place to have a vote.
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Most social media sites have removed dislikes in the last couple of years for a few reasons.
Found this list of reasons why on another website
1. Preventing Negativity and Harassment
2. Mental Health Concerns
3. Focus on Constructive Feedback
4. Engagement Metrics
5. Alternative Features
6. Algorithmic Impact
7. Brand Image and Responsibility
You can see more info about each on the website itself.
https://www.renewconnect.com/2025/02/why-dislike-button-is-removed-in-all.html?m=1
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From a site operations point of view, it makes it harder to establish what isn’t liked.
Is it just me who thinks it feels a little cultish? I feel alone on this one.
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- 49
- Experienced Poster
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.
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I’d be interested to hear why Youtube still has a prominent dislike button. Why did they choose not to follow most other major media sites?
I do find it hilarious when you see a video with many more dislikes than likes.
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I think we’re quite able to speak up if we don’t like something.
If you think about it, we have just proved the point by objecting to the dislike button!
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In the age restricted threads with videos, the Like button hides behind the video unless there are at least two or three lines of text preceding the video.
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I need to go through and add some lines of text but with the deadline for closing the old site looming, I’m concentrating on moving stuff across.
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Sorry I’ve not been about much, Ed knows why.
I thought that although the dislike button is on YouTube, it no longer works?
I think there’s a case for a like button, but if we dislike a post it would be rude not to say why, so just add a polite comment.
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Works for me:
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My $0.02.
I like the new more prominent “like” button as I think it’ll encourage people to express their opinion. On the old site, the “like” option was very small, so it was very discouraging to spend time adding updates/stories/encounters to the forums and yet seemingly no-one liked them. So I gave up.
As for a “dislike” option, I thought it was useful as there are some recent forum updates which I definitely would have “disliked”. But it’s your site so do what you want to do.
A further $0.02….it’s looking good so far 👍
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