Why do you "Like" things?

[Sean Mirrsen]

5 hours ago, Red Iron Crown said:

Sure we do, liking posts adds to the user's reputation, it's by definition a reputation system. Full stop.

It's not a rep system. It's a like system. You had a unique and meaningful setup for users to personally express their appreciation of exceptional posts, and you've trashed it to bring in this worthless offspring of the Twitter generation.

[Hysterrics]

30 minutes ago, Sean Mirrsen said:

It's not a rep system. It's a like system. You had a unique and meaningful setup for users to personally express their appreciation of exceptional posts, and you've trashed it to bring in this worthless offspring of the Twitter generation.

Where the absolute hell did that come from? Could you seriously tell me how adding a like button is going to bring in avid twitter users to a damn game? The like system is directly connected to a user's reputation, meaning it's a fully functional reputation system. I like it more, to be honest.

Anyway, I like posts when I like what I see or a newcomer joins the forums so I give them some rep.

[Alshain]

1 hour ago, adsii1970 said:

@Alshain: While I do understand your desire to remain anonymous to all but those you give rep to, I would like to offer an opposing point of view. By not giving rep to those you feel have made a great post, there is no encouragement offered for them to continue to make contributions to the forum. What I mean by this is that yes, there are those that get rep for mundane things, and it encourages them to continue to do mundane things. Then there are those who truly deserve to stand out in the crowd because they are doing extraordinary things, or perhaps they are contributing in broad ways to the body of knowledge of this forum, or otherwise contributing in very meaningful ways to the game. If this latter group is not given the rep they rightfully deserve, then what's to separate them from the mundane who are often the benefactors of rep for making a joke?

I agree but the system is broken.  Unless Squad can mod the forum to make it anonymous or optionally anonymous like the "follow" button, I'm afraid the bad outweighs the good in my opinion.  I have no problems with others using it, even on my own posts if they so desire, that is their choice.  But I will choose not to support a broken system.

Edited January 15, 2016 by Alshain

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

16 hours ago, RizzoTheRat said:

I like the fact that several people have liked this post.

[...]

Silly, you like posts, not facts!

Ontopic:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/113640-reptuation/

[Rainbowtrout]

If I find something funny/amazing, I'll like it.

[maceemiller]

As @Fearless Son said, all the options. If I like something, I like it, simple

[Just Jim]

18 hours ago, adsii1970 said:

@Alshain: While I do understand your desire to remain anonymous to all but those you give rep to, I would like to offer an opposing point of view. By not giving rep to those you feel have made a great post, there is no encouragement offered for them to continue to make contributions to the forum. What I mean by this is that yes, there are those that get rep for mundane things, and it encourages them to continue to do mundane things. Then there are those who truly deserve to stand out in the crowd because they are doing extraordinary things, or perhaps they are contributing in broad ways to the body of knowledge of this forum, or otherwise contributing in very meaningful ways to the game. If this latter group is not given the rep they rightfully deserve, then what's to separate them from the mundane who are often the benefactors of rep for making a joke?

I have to say, your right.  I'm gonna pat myself on the ego a bit and use my own fan-fiction story as an example. 
I started it about a month ago, and I seriously had no idea if anyone would be interested.
Since then I've had nearly 4000 views, and I've lost count of how many likes it's gotten, enough to jack up my profile reputation up over 300 points.

My point is, if I hadn't gotten all the likes, and the nice comments from people, I wouldn't be starting chapter 23.
If I didn't know people were enjoying it, I most likely would have given up on it a while ago.
And I'm sure I speak for a lot of people on here, especially a couple other fan-fiction writers.

Likes let us know were doing OK with our stories....

[Van Disaster]

I hid the button with my ad-blocker. I used to give people rep when I thought they'd made a particularily positive contribution; I thought the old system was too coupled to particular post content as it was. Encouraging people to post things that might get likes is just encouraging soundbytes, not encouraging building a great overall reputation.

Man, this is just like modern politics.

[Just Jim]

1 hour ago, Van Disaster said:

 Encouraging people to post things that might get likes is just encouraging soundbytes, not encouraging building a great overall reputation.

Man, this is just like modern politics.

I'm not sure what you mean...... encouraging people to post things that may get likes.... how is that a bad thing? 
The opposite could be interpreted as post whatever crap you want.... who cares if anyone likes it or not???

Then again, I'm coming at this from a (wanna-be) authors POV, maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're trying to say. 
How would you recommend "building a great overall reputation"?

Edited January 16, 2016 by Just Jim

[Padishar]

On ‎15‎/‎01‎/‎2016 at 11:50 AM, Red Iron Crown said:

I do kinda miss being able to leave a little comment when liking a post, it was a nice way to let someone know exactly why I thought the post was a good one.

This is probably the thing I miss most.  Both when giving a like and when getting one.  I tend to make quite long posts that make several different points and having no idea why they like the post (unless they also reply) is a bit annoying...

22 hours ago, Alshain said:

This system says "Look at me I LIKE this."

No, the system doesn't say that.  That is the interpretation you put on it.  This probably says more about you than about anyone giving a like.  I suspect that most people that give likes simply don't care that their name appears on the post.

 

20 hours ago, monstah said:

However, as I see it, a message is just a message. You can write a subsequent message telling the person why you liked the post; it's just more work.

Yes, you can reply saying why you like the post but that would (in most threads) probably be against a strict interpretation of the forum rules about off-topic posting.

[Alshain]

25 minutes ago, Padishar said:

No, the system doesn't say that.  That is the interpretation you put on it.  This probably says more about you than about anyone giving a like.  I suspect that most people that give likes simply don't care that their name appears on the post.

Thanks for clearing that up.  Because nobody else realized that was a personification lol.

[Padishar]

10 minutes ago, Alshain said:

Thanks for clearing that up.  Because nobody else realized that was a personification lol.

You're welcome.  The fact it was a personification is irrelevant, the statement was false.  Your post could quite easily be (and was) interpreted as meaning that you think that people who give likes do so to get their names up there.

Personally, I don't care either way if names are shown but it could probably be changed quite easily (there may even be an option in the forum config) to just say how many have liked it (e.g. some sort of "max like names shown" value that is currently set to 3 but could be set to 0).

[Evanitis]

I like to like things.

I kinda' never do it on social media, as the actual 'me' has too many different faces to show towards different groups of people. I like that here I can just like stuff that I enjoy seeing, find interesting, makes me smile or that I completely agree with as a noname KSP player.

[Alshain]

1 hour ago, Padishar said:

You're welcome.  The fact it was a personification is irrelevant, the statement was false.  Your post could quite easily be (and was) interpreted as meaning that you think that people who give likes do so to get their names up there.

Personally, I don't care either way if names are shown but it could probably be changed quite easily (there may even be an option in the forum config) to just say how many have liked it (e.g. some sort of "max like names shown" value that is currently set to 3 but could be set to 0).

No, it wasn't false.  Opinions can not be true or false by definition.  With a stretch one could say opinions are always true because they are always the correct opinion for the person how posses it.  However there is simply no way to interpret an opinion as being false.  Therefore, your statement is false.

You also didn't seem to catch sarcasm.  It is understandable, and I don't fault you for that.  English is a very tough language and in text it gets worse.

Edited January 16, 2016 by Alshain

[monstah]

4 hours ago, Padishar said:

Yes, you can reply saying why you like the post but that would (in most threads) probably be against a strict interpretation of the forum rules about off-topic posting.

No, I actually meant send the user a message, not reply to the thread. 

[Slam_Jones]

Likes are cool.  I'll use them as an easy way to say "I agree with this post" or something along those lines.  Or perhaps "dude, awesome ship!"  Basically along this lines.

[Van Disaster]

On 16/01/2016 at 2:51 PM, Just Jim said:

I'm not sure what you mean...... encouraging people to post things that may get likes.... how is that a bad thing? 
The opposite could be interpreted as post whatever crap you want.... who cares if anyone likes it or not???

Then again, I'm coming at this from a (wanna-be) authors POV, maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're trying to say. 
How would you recommend "building a great overall reputation"?

Is this a popularity contest or a place to share experience about a game? who's the better forum member, the self-promoter who's seemingly in every thread & a forum "character", or the guy quietly providing a quiet stream of little helpful comments only relevant to a few people at a time? I know who I respect more & who I used to occasionally +rep in an arbitrary fashion, and it's unlikely to be the one who'll have the most post likes. There were a number of people who after a while of reading around all over the forums I'd notice would pop up when someone had a little trouble, and then disappear off back into the noise. I have to admit I didn't pay all that much attention to the rep system either, I just used good old words to thank people.

I'll never understand fiction writers who write for likes or unconstructive ( "yey! great chapter!" ) reviews rather than the joy of writing; modifying your fiction as it's being written based on rather narrow feedback from random strangers seems likely to end up with you writing a random stranger's fiction, instead of your own carefully crafted piece. +1 won't tell you what's bad, what's mediocre, what's ok but could be better, what was particularily good - that's the job of an editor, and constructive reviewing takes a lot more work than clicking a button. How much more awesome is a post saying "Wow, I really enjoyed that, especially when xxx yyy'd the z! can't wait to find out what they do with it next, maybe they'll stick it in the bbb. Thanks, really looking forward to more!" than a little notification? Someone who can trigger and nurture enthusiastic discussions, that's someone on the way to what I feel is a great reputation.

Edited January 17, 2016 by Van Disaster

[Just Jim]

3 minutes ago, Van Disaster said:

Is this a popularity contest or a place to share experience about a game? who's the better forum member, the self-promoter who's seemingly in every thread & a forum "character", or the guy quietly providing a quiet stream of little helpful comments only relevant to a few people at a time? I know who I respect more & who I used to occasionally +rep in an arbitrary fashion, and it's unlikely to be the one who'll have the most post likes. There were a number of people who after a while of reading around all over the forums I'd notice would pop up when someone had a little trouble, and then disappear off back into the noise. I have to admit I didn't pay all that much attention to the rep system either, I just used good old words to thank people.

I'll never understand fiction writers who write for likes or unconstructive ( "yey! great chapter!" ) reviews rather than the joy of writing; modifying your fiction as it's being written based on rather narrow feedback from random strangers seems likely to end up with you writing a random stranger's fiction, instead of your own carefully crafted piece. +1 won't tell you what's bad, what's mediocre, what's ok but could be better, what was particularily good - that's the job of an editor, and constructive reviewing takes a lot more work than clicking a button. How much more awesome is a post saying "Wow, I really enjoyed that, especially when xxx yyy'd the z! can't wait to find out what they do with it next, maybe they'll stick it in the bbb. Thanks, really looking forward to more!" than a little notification? Someone who can trigger enthusiastic discussions, that's someone on the way to what I feel is a great reputation.

I understand the first part, but have to take some issue with the second.

While it's true writers should write for the love it, not for the fame, so to speak, I see no problem with writing to entertain people, and if that means listening to their feedback, then fantastic! Not pander to a select few, but truly listen and try to give your audience what they want.  I see no problem with this at all. 

Question, have you read my fan-fiction project?  I'm not in it for the likes, but they're piling on like mad crazy... no pun intended,... so I know I must be doing something right.  And I couldn't be more happy people are responding so positively.

Here's the link... feel free to not like it all you want!!! 

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/127785-the-tale-of-emiko-station-chapter-22-added-and-some-answers-at-last/&page=1

[Mister Dilsby]

Well, I liked Jim's post above because he took the time to think about something and respond to it, and because I agree with him  I also tend to like posts that help me, or look helpful to others, or are entertaining, or sometimes just to acknowledge a post in lieu of responding with a comment.

As a fiction writer who has accumulated... a fair amount of likes and reps, I'll echo Jim's comment: "I know i must be doing something right". Reputation is a direct way for me to measure how good a particular set of comic pages is, along with readers' posted comments. If I post something and it gets 20+ likes and two pages of comments, I know I'm doing my job right. If I post pages and all I hear are the equivalent of crickets in a vacuum...then I know I need to work harder.  

One thing that I think is missing from both the old reputation comment system and the current 'replike' system is a count of how much a user has given in addition to how much they've received. Users who take the time to show their support for content are as important for a good & positive forum experience as the content creators themselves.

Edited January 18, 2016 by Kuzzter

[Sean Mirrsen]

On 14.01.2016 at 11:49 PM, Sequinox said:

Where the absolute hell did that come from? Could you seriously tell me how adding a like button is going to bring in avid twitter users to a damn game?

The like system is the offspring of the Twitter generation. I know the phrasing was a bit... ornate, but still. I'm complaining that the old reputation system, which was in practice a lot more like a weighted personal message system (and thus a lot more, well, personal), was replaced by the pointless +1 counter you have anywhere else, be it Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, etc.

[Hysterrics]

1 hour ago, Sean Mirrsen said:

The like system is the offspring of the Twitter generation. I know the phrasing was a bit... ornate, but still. I'm complaining that the old reputation system, which was in practice a lot more like a weighted personal message system (and thus a lot more, well, personal), was replaced by the pointless +1 counter you have anywhere else, be it Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, etc.

Regardless, there is nothing wrong with it. You like a post --> User get's rep. That's the end of the transaction. With this like system you can see who liked it and how popular a post was to the community.

It's the same thing as before, only with more pluses.

[Sean Mirrsen]

20 hours ago, Sequinox said:

It's the same thing as before, only with more pluses.

Please recall how the old system worked. Now look at how the "like system" works. Can you please identify for me the ways in which the "like system" is "the same thing as before", besides the fact that you need to click a button to use it?

Hint: there is only one, which is that it also results in a user having their rep count increased.

The user gets no message to go with the reputation, and everyone can see not only when a post was liked, but also who it was liked by, creating bandwagons.

I already proposed how it could be improved at one point - by keeping the 'like system' in the one function it deserves to have (a counter for people who agree with the post, for impromptu polls, suggestions, and valid answers in the support sections), and reinstating the old reputation system in full.

[Just Jim]

13 minutes ago, Sean Mirrsen said:

Please recall how the old system worked. Now look at how the "like system" works. Can you please identify for me the ways in which the "like system" is "the same thing as before", besides the fact that you need to click a button to use it?

Hint: there is only one, which is that it also results in a user having their rep count increased.

The user gets no message to go with the reputation, and everyone can see not only when a post was liked, but also who it was liked by, creating bandwagons.

I already proposed how it could be improved at one point - by keeping the 'like system' in the one function it deserves to have (a counter for people who agree with the post, for impromptu polls, suggestions, and valid answers in the support sections), and reinstating the old reputation system in full.

I honestly don't understand how this got so heated and complicated!  Push a button if you like something, leave it if you don't.... so what if people know or don't know who pushed it.... why does that matter???  If you end up with.... what did you say... bandwagons, so what?  I have a fan club.  Judging by how people responded to my fiction piece, I had one anyway.  So again, what's the big deal, other than now I know people liked what I wrote.  Which is what I wanted... people to enjoy reading it.... maybe get a laugh or two.
Are you upset my reputation gained a few hundred points because of it?   Then write a fiction piece of your own!   I put a lot of work into that, and I know some of the other fan-fiction authors are putting a lot of work into their stuff.  They deserve all the likes and rep they get!!!

In the end, it's just KSP.... it's just a game....not facebook, or twitter... or some matter of national security.... just us bunch of KSP-O-Holics having fun.

What does it really matter??? 

[Noname117]

I like because Kuzzter exists!

[KSK]

On 17 January 2016 at 9:13 PM, Van Disaster said:

I'll never understand fiction writers who write for likes or unconstructive ( "yey! great chapter!" ) reviews rather than the joy of writing; modifying your fiction as it's being written based on rather narrow feedback from random strangers seems likely to end up with you writing a random stranger's fiction, instead of your own carefully crafted piece. +1 won't tell you what's bad, what's mediocre, what's ok but could be better, what was particularily good - that's the job of an editor, and constructive reviewing takes a lot more work than clicking a button. How much more awesome is a post saying "Wow, I really enjoyed that, especially when xxx yyy'd the z! can't wait to find out what they do with it next, maybe they'll stick it in the bbb. Thanks, really looking forward to more!" than a little notification? Someone who can trigger and nurture enthusiastic discussions, that's someone on the way to what I feel is a great reputation.

Comments like this wind me up. 

If you're speaking as a writer (or any other kind of artist for that matter) then I disagree with your opinion but I can respect it. Otherwise, speaking as a writer (for want of a better word), I'll thank you kindly to stop patronising me by telling me why I should write or what I should think about my writing.

I can't speak for anyone else on this forum but I write my KSP fan-fiction for many reasons. Yes, there is the joy of writing. There's also the desire to share my version of the kerbals and their world with other KSP fans. Then there's the joy of interacting with my readers and seeing them entertained by my work and getting enough out of it to want to talk about it with other readers. Last but not least, there is a desire to see the story through to the end, for my personal satisfaction but also because (after all this time), I do think I owe it to those readers to see them through to the end as well.

Sharing my work on this forum has been an enormous privilege. I've had side discussions about parts of my fictional world that I haven't been able to work into the story. Along the way I've had readers get so immersed in the story that they've filled in some of the blanks in my world-building in the most wonderful ways. I've had readers posting drawings or screenshots of spacecraft, other vehicles and scenarios from my story. I've had readers respond to some chapters by posting links to pieces of music rather than try and answer in words. Last but not least, there's a sequel to my story and if its not quite set in my 'verse, it's for sure set in the 'verse next door.

And you'd better believe that it's that kind of stuff that keeps me writing at least as much (if not more) than some airy-fairy, arts-for-arts-sake, 'doing it for the joy of writing' kind of reason. Like I said, it's a great privilege. It's certainly not a right - I can't force people to read my work, let alone like it, let alone give me rep, likes or feedback on it. And because of that, any and all comments, likes or whatever are all gratefully received.

On the other hand - I work at my writing. I have a full time job. I have other commitments and a limited supply of free time. I choose - for all the reasons I've set out - to use a lot of that time for writing. Sometimes that writing goes really well - I've reached a part in the story that I've been itching to write for ages. Sometimes it takes more effort and sometimes, frankly, it's a slog. So you'd also better believe that I like to log onto the forum and find a couple of likes or a friendly comment waiting for me. That's a privilege too - it's not something I can expect but for darn sure I appreciate the encouragement and the fact that people have taken the time to offer that encouragement.

If that makes me shallow then so be it.

Edited January 20, 2016 by KSK