Facebook 'considering' a dislike button. Is it time for forums to add more post feedback buttons?

RobinHood

Well-known member
http://venturebeat.com/2014/12/11/z...ok-is-thinking-about-adding-a-dislike-button/

I think this would me an absolute mess, I don't think they'll do it.

Companies wouldn't want the ability for customers to dislike them. Unmoderated, it could definitely facilitate cyber bullying, particularly with the younger generation.

Personally I think there's only room for negative post feedback on well moderated and managed discussion platforms such as independent forums where user behaviour can be influenced by mods and admins. The culture of the forum will then help to ensure negative post feedback will generally be used in a constructive way that contributes to the progression of the conversation and not used in a purely flippant or malicious manner.

@Kier's stance 4 years ago was that there will never be a dislike button as part of the XF core.

If you agree that there shouldn't be a dislike button, what about other post feedback buttons?

Luke Forman's post ratings add on is one of the most popular resources here. Users like being able to provide feedback to a user about just their post purely for the benefit of that user, without having to clutter the thread and have their view seen by everyone else following the thread in real time.

Do you think the prevalence of online discussion platforms and their use by every single person in their daily life, including the less tech savvy public, means it's time for progression on this front for all web based discussion software?

With web based discussion threads appearing in so many aspects of peoples lives now, work software, school software, social Facebook interaction, hobby forums we're all reading more threads than ever. Is this kind of feedback going to be necessary to enable us to digest all these threads quicker and more efficiently, as it would result in fewer, but better quality posts raising the quality and reducing the length of the threads?

Or is a simple 'like' still the best core post feedback mechanism?
 
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If it is included into facebook, it'll be just like the like button on the actual site, not offsite sharing.

And.... To answer your question: NO. It's obvious why, and you even state it yourself: Cyberbullying will be taken to a whole new level.
 
Some of the stuff I have seen on my facebook feed as of late deserves a lot worse than a dislike button. I think cyberbullying is at a all time high and I don't believe that having a dislike button will effect this more. If they do it I think it will be a great idea. Having the ability to dislike will will show what people don't want to see in their feed even more then they already do.
 
i would LOVE to dislike all the jesus stuff my mums family sends to my feed!
and no, i dont care if anyone would take offense or not.
 
I have read various articles on the same topic now and some mention that Zuckerberg explicitly states that Facebook will not add a dislike button so it seems a matter of bad journalism. But Facebook is likely to add other ratings that will allow a wider spectrum of feelings including neutral and subtle negatives.

I think it's good that Facebook finally recognizes that likes are too one dimensional and even problematic.

it's fine that likes focus on positive aspects, but it does mean that obituaries and flame wars are liked and that bad content can not be rated in any way but liked. it's quite a handicap especially if you want to increase post quality.

As xenforo is receiving thousands of vbulletin refugees and vbulletin does have a reputation system it would increase conversions if Xenforo would offer more rating functions.
 
But Facebook is likely to add other ratings that will allow a wider spectrum of feelings including neutral and subtle negatives.

Yeah, I think this would help. I hate when I come across threads on facebook and they have 50, 100 or more replies. The majority of which are 'lol', 'hahaha', or other basic expressions of emotion or post feedback, often in response to a single post, or directed as a specific user.

I can't be bothered to browse through all that so I just scroll on. Unfortunately it may mean I miss some quality posts hidden among the mash of nonsense.

The larger the site (social network/forum/any discussion platform) and the more users contributing a thread the worse this problem gets. It can make it very difficult to digest the thread and make a meaningful contribution to it yourself depending on how late in the day you arrive to the discussion. There's a good chance the quality posts will get drowned out in the noise. This can discourage some people from bothering to contribute at all.
 
The thumbs up and down work ok on YouTube. Generally, if it's "good" the thumbs up will out way the trolling thumbs down. As we all know, the thumbs down is anonymous obviously to stop retribution and fights but it can make it easier for a person to give a thumbs down without much thought. Still, the overall weight of nice people in the community levels out unfair criticism.

For large forums, I could only guess having a like/dislike shouldn't be a problem; however, for smaller communities it could be dangerous as just one member troll could have the ability to discourage content creation through bullying and thus hamper member growth.

That's my thoughts anyway...
 
And we all know how great the quality of the discussion on YouTube is.

*Proceeds to open incognito mode, click on the first video I see you the youtube home page, browse comments*

F*** off you jealous prick

Yep, some quality content right there coming out of those comments :p
 
LOL, yeah I really wouldn't know I hang around the gardening section on YT mostly and there's not much abuse there! Mind you I've been called some horrible things on my channel, but 21 years in the army has hardened me and thankfully those comments are easily moderated :D Hats off to some peoples imagination though... I mean, the above comment must have taken some time to think up!
 
Hahaha, yeah, I imagine the gardening vid comments are a bit more civilised.

But then again, after discovering what a mean, crazy old woman my previous neighbour could be when it came to making suggestion to improve our communal garden where I used to live, I'm guessing some pretty heated discussions could still arise :D
 
FB? Wasn't that the platform where you once used to reach 100% of your page followers and nowadays need to be happy with a 5% reach unless you give in and start paying to reach your own fans :)

I'll be switching to Google+ per the end of the year and i'll do my best to try and convince our FB crowd to do the same.
 
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I think that posts to likes ratio is pretty telling of a members reputation. I have been considering apost a Ratings add-on for some time. I think it too many options, and the icons not fitting to Xenforo design. Im not worried about bullying, as there is plenty of that without a dislike option. I think these potential reputation systems need to be tailored to a specific site. It's effective if a reputation helps describe how a member is seen by the community. Often times this could be more a definition if their place in the community as opposed to their agreeableness.
 
I'll be switching to Google+ per the end of the year and i'll do my best to try and convince our FB crowd to do the same.
where you and your members risk being banned from gmail, wmt, analytics, docs, and every other google service simply because your g+ name isnt whitebread enough?
 
Google hasn't required real names for several months.
they finally pulled their heads out?
even if that is the case, google have still demonstrated that they will act against all your services if you violate (or dont, as the reality may be) the fineprint of their sm platform. people are still putting all their google services as risk for the sake of a sm platform that is essentially dead. i suggest people question whether it is worth it.
 
they finally pulled their heads out?
even if that is the case, google have still demonstrated that they will act against all your services if you violate (or dont, as the reality may be) the fineprint of their sm platform. people are still putting all their google services as risk for the sake of a sm platform that is essentially dead. i suggest people question whether it is worth it.
Not everybody likes nor wants to use FB. I'd rather be on a "dead" site G+ before FB.
 
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