+1 this idea!

The Idea and it's Perks:
I think a cool feature would be able to +1 comments that people make. Instead of necessarily having to quote something and respond, you can just +1 to signal your agreement with the comment. I also would only allow plusing comment just to keep the atmosphere cool and positive. Another reason I like implementing this feature, aside from a convenient way to agree, is a psychological one. Many people who don't feel comfortable posting, or are intimidating by the idea of posting their opinions, aka lurkers, can now have a very subtle way to share their voice. I'd have the +1 be anonymous. Secondarily once they start interacting in this way it will help them to realize it's okay to interact, and may increase the chance that they decide to leave a comment themselves.

Potential Con:
There are dangers that certain people will always get pluses and other people will never get pluses and it'll cause jealousy, and obviously some people will resonate with others more. Another concern is that some people may personally have liked a comment they posted a lot, and may be sad, or have a blow to their ego if it doesn't get a lot of up-votes. Overall though, I suspect everyone will leave comments that get up-voted, and everyone will leave comments that don't. So it should be fairly split up.

No...

If my system was in place people could just +1 that and keep moving along. In a serious note why do you say no? Do you think it's not a very useful feature, or do you think it's a harmful feature?

If you can get majority support in a poll, I'll add it, but I don't like the idea. It just encourages popularity contests and bandwagoning.

I am strongly opposed. It always devolves into popularity contests and spite. It creates and exacerbates forum hostility. It maybe has a place in venues which are geared more toward non-interactive remarks about central topics (e.g. a youtube comment thread) but it's not a good idea on a forum involving extended or repeated discussion, argument or similiar multi-party dialogue.

I vote nay.

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I am strongly opposed. It always devolves into popularity contests and spite. It creates and exacerbates forum hostility. It maybe has a place in venues which are geared more toward non-interactive remarks about central topics (e.g. a youtube comment thread) but it's not a good idea on a forum involving extended or repeated discussion, argument or similiar multi-party dialogue.

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That's interesting. I almost want to add this feature just to see if this is true. So many people +1 people, and other people are discouraged from responding/contesting the claim. Or people see something gets a lot of agreement so feel they have to agree (which also happens just by a lot of comments in a thread saying the same thing) (bandwagoning, as you say).

I wonder though if it'll generate new posters that weren't posters before, or simply increase site activity level.


Maybe you're right about the bandwagoning. I could see: let's say a comment gets like 25 upvotes or something. Then someone makes a reply contrary to the claim. A lot of people will come out and be bold in jumping on that person because they know the masses are on their side. Again this obviously happens without the +1 system, but I could see the +1 system exaggerating the problem. Of course people may not think for themselves and just add a +1 to a comment that already has a lot of +1's.


That all could happen, or maybe we're missing out on the innovation that will change how all discussion forums in the future operate.

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If you can get majority support in a poll, I'll add it, but I don't like the idea. It just encourages popularity contests and bandwagoning.

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I'll put up a poll, but I think you're probably right. People will just post comments that they think will get a lot of upvotes (like people do on FB now) just for that feeling of validity, even if it's not what they really think. (even though I know that already happens, it would increase that issue). and people will bandwagon and just feel inclined to +1 comments they see with a lot of +1s.

It's so weird that the feature itself is pure and potentially useful but human psychology can make it so hurtful.

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Originally Posted by Lebanese Dragon

That's interesting. I almost want to add this feature just to see if this is true. So many people +1 people, and other people are discouraged from responding/contesting the claim. Or people see something gets a lot of agreement so feel they have to agree (which also happens just by a lot of comments in a thread saying the same thing) (bandwagoning, as you say).

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You misunderstand. In a forum like this it won't be about what someone says. It'll be about who says it. + and - on a discussion forum with a regular community is about the posters and not the content. It might not start out that way but it will end like that. Popularity contests and petty retaliation.

The like button is a wonderful idea for a board that lives from content generation. Boards where people actually share work of them, photos, reports, etc.

But we don't have that (we had it for a short time). So I say no as well.

Alright sounds good enough, it looks like I'd have to make a new thread to add a poll anyway. Which brings me to my newest idea, why can't we add a poll to a thread that was initially made without one? It seems the author of the thread should be able to do it. Doing so should probably bump the thread as well.

Technical limitation in vBulletin.

In some larger more functional communities where many posters are afraid to participate actively in discussions but nevertheless have an interest in those discussions a +1 or "like" feature may serve a valuable function. In a small dysfunctional community populated entirely by angry aspergoid loudmouths it's less useful :o I like the fact that, on this forum, expressing unqualified agreement with someone else generally makes me feel queasy or otherwise uneasy. -1 to this :p

if you like something speak up and say why. +1ing it is laziness, and we have enough of that around here as is.

Any "larger more functional" community is just in an early stage of its life and is on its way to becoming dysfunctional and angry. In fact the larger it is, generally the faster it moves onto the next stage in its life. Functional self-policing communities online are a myth, keeping a discussion community on that high behavioral level is a function of strong and effective moderation which gets harder and harder the larger the community is.

+1 :o

Interesting idea. I don't think it would lead to any particularly interesting conversation, but I'm surprised people here would see it as a popularity contest.

I don't think it would be a popularity contest here, we hate each other too much. The closest we'd get to a popularity contest is a pile-on whenever a post was extra venomous :o