The like system on this forum is a good idea on paper:
People who contribute get noticed.
The like system empowers the ‘Summarize This Topic’ feature.
It’s a simple way to back up someone’s response without writing another reply.
The system can be seen as a simple polling feature.
Users are incentivized to make helpful and constructive posts
The system in its current state is way too general however, making likes useless and/or misleading. Users generally don’t just use it for the points mentioned above, they also use it when…
Someone makes an off-topic joke.
Someone shares the same opinion.
Someone shows something cool, sometimes even when it isn’t his or her own creation.
These kind of uses are - in my opinion - harmful to the system. Right now if I see someone who has more likes than posts, I have no clue if that user is really helpful or if that user only posts puns in the hope that he/she gets likes for it in return. There is no way to know if someone’s total number of likes received is due to that person being really helpful or if that person just happens to post funny pictures or puns in the lounge to inhale likes as if its oxygen. This renders the like system is its current state close to useless, because likes don’t mean anything anymore.
This topic is to shine light on this unnoticed issue. I say unnoticed issue because with the addition of badges like these it appears that the flaws in the system haven’t been noticed yet. In order to get that badge, this is literally all you have to do:
Be a popular person who hasn’t been part of the forum for over a month.
Make an introduction topic and farm all the likes.
Wait until you get the badge.
If you’re not popular or you’ve already been part of the forum for over a month, then you’re not going to get that badge ever, which is silly. The badge doesn’t display helpfulness at all, it instead displays popularity. If I personally were in charge of this forum, I would either disable the likes system, only keep it enabled in the ‘Development Discussion’ section or remove the like statistics on every user’s summary page.
I know my opinion isn’t more important than anyone else’s opinion and I don’t expect anything to change anytime soon, but I would still like to ask everyone to be more thoughtful when it comes to giving someone else a like. I would also like to ask anyone in charge of this forum to think about the like system and if changes are needed going forward into the future.
Likes also don’t contribute much when you actually use them correctly imo. So what if you like something you agree with? it doesn’t bump the thread it just gives a small grey number.
@Nightgaladeld was looking into the pun issue. When one pun gets posted, ten more are guaranteed to follow, further derailing the thread, so there are more problems than mentioned :(
Roblox is a pun place where we make games. I feel like puns add to the environment in a non-harming way. I’ve never seen a thread completely die because someone posted 10 puns in a row.
Right now if I see someone who has more likes than posts, I have no clue if that user is really helpful or if that user only posts puns in the hope that he/she gets likes for it in return.
When a thread starts to get derailed too far a leader will step in and try to get it back on track, that’s in their job description.
I’ve only seen leaders step in once or twice, which is actually pretty good for any forum. Usually threads here, like the “What have you been working on” one, tend to bring themselves back on topic after minor bursts of puns/digressions and I think that’s just fine.
“Too far” is subjective. What one person may think is reasonable may be considered unreasonable by everyone else. If there was a ten post chain discussing which dreams users had last night on What are You Working on Currently, I imagine most users would want that removed because nobody wants to hear what dreams people had. It’s the same story with puns – not everyone thinks puns are witty. What’s acceptable to you may be a “here we go again…” situation for others.
Very true, and that how tolerant that subjectivity is has a lot to do with the overall feel of a forum. I honestly don’t know what the guidelines for our leaders are, but I rarely find myself too annoyed with the OT wanderings on these threads.
Usually, when someone flags something we try to get our entire team to give their two cents on the flag. This can range from people flagging off-topic posts, inappropriate posts, etc. This way, subjectivity isn’t a major issue as our whole team almost always works together to resolve things so we’re all of the same mindset.
From what I understand there’s no guideline set in stone, but I know @Lilly_S has moved puns out of the threads they were in into the dedicated pun thread in the past.
That being said, I’m not sure why puns even need to be posted on threads where they’re off-topic and users may not want to see them. We have a dedicated thread where puns can be posted all day without bothering anyone.
Thank you for voicing your concerns. We have read the feedback provided and we have communicated this information to our team. From now on we are going to centralize all puns into one thread to avoid the derailing of important threads such as cool creations. Please feel free to privately message me if you have any questions or concerns regarding this topic. Please continue flagging posts and our team will review them.
I find myself using the Like system in the following circumstances:
I find a post agreeable
I disagree with somebody but they provide very insightful arguments that give a good perspective of their opinion on the topic and want to convey my respect for their post without continuing the discussion
When someone calls me to a thread to perform moderation action (please use the Flag system to do this now)
When someone says exactly what I’m thinking about a topic before I get the chance to post my thoughts and I have nothing further to add
I find that the Like system is a good indicator of the culture of the developer forums, which is generally lighthearted and, at times, goofy - yet still professional. In my perspective, Likes are not meant to be a powerful tool that guides discussion, provide any kind of useful information, or even display agreement. They’re meant to be used for when you actually like a post and want to let the poster (and everyone else) know.
I find them very useful in argumentative situations as well, as they provide (me, at least) a way of conveying that I respect the other person’s opinions, because when I disagree with someone responding to me in a conversation yet Like their post it means that I took the time to read it, found their points intriguing, thought-provoking, or insightful and that I wish to convey this information.
I don’t reall see badges as an important element in the devforum at all. I would have never known about that badge at all if you had not brough it to my attention. Although, I think a thumbs up, thumbs down system or one used in iMessage might be better so that notifications/feedback on your posts might be interpreted in a more accurate way.
We already had a thread like this, and we didn’t need another one. Likes are a fast, simple, and universally recognized system of agreeing with people or otherwise saying ‘great job’ or ‘thank you’. Upvote systems aren’t “intended to bring harm”, seriously, not unless a post saying ‘you’re stupid’ gets any Likes at all. It’s sociology: just because other people like another thing more than your thing doesn’t mean they dislike yours.
If you honestly want to argue about a misleading, harmful system, debate about Dislikes and other downvote symbols.
I appreciate your input, but you’re completely misunderstanding the purpose of this topic and the message I’m trying to convey; It isn’t the same as the one you linked. The topic you linked is about a hypothetical situation in which likes are disabled and what would change if they were, with a small shift towards how likes can be abused.
This topic is about how likes are used for way more things than - I assume - they were intended to be used, meaning they hold no value. People use likes in different situations for different purposes, meaning they do not represent anything and only bring confusion. What does it mean if you see on someone’s profile that he has gotten many likes? You can’t conclude anything from just the number itself, so it might as well not be there in the first place.
