Lack of interest Add "like" comments for shout outs

[Jake Bunce]

Rationale:
I personally don't like it when threads have lots of brief "shout out" replies for the purpose of acknowledgment or expressing approval. Short replies like:

cool
lol
woot
etc...

I prefer replies to be more substantial.

It occurred to me that the "like" system in XF serves a similar purpose as these kinds of posts. But "liking" a post is not expressive enough for most people so they still post a shout out.

Suggestion:
Add a very brief comment field for "likes" (maybe 20 characters). Then display the likes and their comments inline with the liked post. The likes would have to be fully expanded and immediately viewable in the post in order to be expressive enough to serve their purpose.

edit - Enigma has a very good similar suggestion in this post:
http://xenforo.com/community/thread...omments-for-shout-outs.1657/page-2#post-23080

Intended result:
Hopefully that would result in threads like this:

post 1 - substantial content

liked by user a - cool
liked by user b - lol
liked by user c - woot​

post 2 - substantial content
post 3 - substantial content​

As opposed to this:

post 1 - substantial content
post 2 - cool
post 3 - lol
post 4 - woot
post 5 - substantial content
post 6 - substantial content​

Basically you would be channeling these brief shout outs into the like system where they would be better organized under the target post. They would also detract less from the entire thread because they wouldn't be presented as full replies.

 

[Enigma]

So, I don't feel this is a bad idea, at all. I've seen it work on sites like stackoverflow.com (example: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/...uage-to-learn-closed) and I don't feel it takes away from the flow of the conversation. I also feel it will help quality posts stick out over the garbage that no one cares to read.

Yup, that's exactly what I was going to point out. So I am quite open to the idea of having "mini comments" underneath posts.

 

[Paul B]

So, I don't feel this is a bad idea, at all. I've seen it work on sites like stackoverflow.com (example: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/...uage-to-learn-closed) and I don't feel it takes away from the flow of the conversation. I also feel it will help quality posts stick out over the garbage that no one cares to read.

Personally I think that looks like a mess.

I spent about 30 seconds trying to work out what was what and just gave up.

That kind of view would turn me right off a forum.

 

[James]

... When was the last time you smiled at a "great job"? ...

When you put it that way... my girlfriend is pretty good

I do feel this could be beneficial... if it isn't implemented by default I'm sure someone'll create a modification

 

[Jake Bunce]

It can still be simple. You click 'like', a comment box appends to the bottom of the post "Any additional comments?" and it displays. The only problem that could occur is people using the 'like' comments to have a conversation.

I imagine that conversations would only start as a result of disagreement within the like comments.

I feel that users wishing to disagree would prefer to start a new post, as 20 characters isn't long enough to express most disagreements. Disagreements tend to be substantial posts that desire the attention of a full reply. And the fact that any comments would be labeled as a "like" would indicate to the user that it is for very brief supportive comments. In fact, you could label the comment field to indicate the kind of comments. For example, in each post there would be a "like" section like this:

Like

Message of support (optional): _______________

You are right... there is potential for this suggestion to be misused. But with the proper implementation I think it could work very well.

 

[jmurrayhead]

Personally I think that looks like a mess.

I spent about 30 seconds trying to work out what was what and just gave up.

That kind of view would turn me right off a forum.

If designed better, it could be pretty effective. I admit that isn't the best example, but I can clearly tell the difference between a post and a comment. This is an area where "View previous x comments" should be used.

 

[Paul B]

I just can't see the point in allowing sub-comments on posts.

If it's worthy of a comment then post it in the thread as normal.
That's what threads are for.

For someone who doesn't use or like Facebook, I love the simplicity of the Like system here and hope it stays exactly as it is.
Or if it is changed, I hope there are options in the ACP to limit it to its most simple functionality as it is now.

 

[Tigratrus]

:: ponder ::
I think the idea has some merit. Obviously, whether or not to use it should be at the discretion of the admin, as would specific styling etc via templates/CSS. I think I'd like to see the small avatar thumbs next to the Like "note"/"postit"/"postette"/"shout out" or whatever we call them, having the avatar there would help provide some validation for the liker.

You gonna code it for us Jake?

 

[jmurrayhead]

If it's worthy of a comment then post it in the thread as normal.
That's what threads are for.

That's the whole point though. In reality, they are not worthy of comments...but people like to leave them, anyway.

For someone who doesn't use or like Facebook, I love the simplicity of the Like system here and hope it stays exactly as it is.
Or if it is changed, I hope there are options in the ACP to limit it to its most simple functionality as it is now.

See Jake's example above. It doesn't really make it less simple.

 

[Biker]

The only way I can see this working is to expand the like into a true reputation system with like/dislike, and the ability to leave a reason. This would appear in the user's profile, similar to how vB does it. Otherwise, all it will do is clutter the postbit with garbage. Especially with multiple comments.

 

[jmurrayhead]

The only way I can see this working is to expand the like into a true reputation system with like/dislike, and the ability to leave a reason. This would appear in the user's profile, similar to how vB does it. Otherwise, all it will do is clutter the postbit with garbage. Especially with multiple comments.

Problem with that is no one else can see them. I had to use an add-on to get it to display in the post-bit. Like I said above, the comments list would need a "View previous x comments" link to display more than the first (or last) x comments...just like on Facebook and in other areas of XenForo. This prevents it from becoming too cluttered.

And, of course, an option to turn this feature completely off.

 

[Jake Bunce]

The only way I can see this working is to expand the like into a true reputation system with like/dislike, and the ability to leave a reason. This would appear in the user's profile, similar to how vB does it. Otherwise, all it will do is clutter the postbit with garbage. Especially with multiple comments.

I wouldn't recommend expanding the system for "like" and "dislike" comments. Ignoring my suggestion, I think the like-only system is preferable to like-dislike. I think my suggestion for "like" comments would definitely be misused for bite-sized arguments if both likes and dislikes were allowed.

 

[Dean]

The 'Likes' are far more persistent than threads/posts. They are viewable in peoples accounts for a long time whereas the posts that were Liked could be buried deep under new pages of new threads.

Allowing comments, would allow those messages to be viewable for a long time, even if people had disabled PMs/PCs. I've done that myself over at vb.com to staff knowing full well that every time they viewed watch threads in their usercp they would see their rep for a long time. That makes it a powerful messaging system.

One option might be to keep the "Like" the way it is because it is really simple, and simple is good. Then possibly a "Like+" modification which would have a drop down box to type comments in, which could be right next to the stock "Like", and integrate that into the standard 'Like' notifications.

?

 

[Enigma]

Why not keep 'em separate?

Keep the current "like" system which allows the user to like or dislike posts (with the admin option to enable/disable liking and disliking, of course).

Add a separate system where people can add "mini comments" underneath posts. Mini comments would be tiny, one-line comments similar to StackOverflow—max 80 chars, no smilies, no bbcode, no avatar, just the comment, who posted it, and what time it was posted. Mandatory mockup:

 

[Jake Bunce]

Why not keep 'em separate?

Keep the current "like" system which allows the user to like or dislike posts (with the admin option to enable/disable liking and disliking, of course).

Add a separate system where people can add "mini comments" underneath posts. Mini comments would be tiny, one-line comments similar to StackOverflow—max 80 chars, no smilies, no bbcode, no avatar, just the comment, who posted it, and what time it was posted. Mandatory mockup:

View attachment 695

Nice mockup. That is exactly what I had in mind.


I like your idea of having a separate system for these comments. That might be a cleaner implementation. Though I think 80 characters is too much.

If I may borrow one of Tigratrus's ideas... you could call it the postit system. You would basically be sticking a small note to an existing post, just like a postit note.

Also, on second thought I don't think there is need to be concerned about conversations in these little postit comments because there would be no unread markers for postits.

 

[jmurrayhead]

I think that is a great solution, Enigma.

 

[Dean]

Why not keep 'em separate?

Keep the current "like" system which allows the user to like or dislike posts (with the admin option to enable/disable liking and disliking, of course).

Add a separate system where people can add "mini comments" underneath posts. Mini comments would be tiny, one-line comments similar to StackOverflow—max 80 chars, no smilies, no bbcode, no avatar, just the comment, who posted it, and what time it was posted. Mandatory mockup:

View attachment 695

That looks almost like Threaded Mode (think that is the term), or micoblogs.

 

[Kier]

Why not keep 'em separate?

Keep the current "like" system which allows the user to like or dislike posts (with the admin option to enable/disable liking and disliking, of course).

Add a separate system where people can add "mini comments" underneath posts. Mini comments would be tiny, one-line comments similar to StackOverflow—max 80 chars, no smilies, no bbcode, no avatar, just the comment, who posted it, and what time it was posted. Mandatory mockup:

View attachment 695

I actually suggested something like that to Mike a few months ago. We agreed at that point that while it might have some benefits in the future, it would be a low priority item.

 

[James]

Even if it doesn't make it into v1 someone can create a satisfactory modification (just append to the post) until that time I'm sure