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Suggest FT add “Like” button [implemented 9 Aug 2017]

Old Aug 8, 2017, 9:37 am
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Last edit by: JDiver
The new "Like" "button"

When you click on the "Like" button, it registers the handle of the user liking the post in a horizontal box immediately below the "Like" button. "Liking" a post also optionally sends a notification to the post owner. "Like" notifications appear in Your Control Panel in My FlyerTalk.

To turn the notification function on or off, look in Your Control Panel and Settings & Options under Messaging & Notification:

Likes Notifications:
  • Enable Likes Notifications
  • Disable Likes Notifications

NOTE: Editing a post causes the "Likes" to disappear for a short period of time. They are restored after that pause.

To report issues, problems etc. please visit this thread in the Technical Support and Feedback forum: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/technical-support-feedback/1863159-new-like-button-information-issues-discussion.html

LIST OF SUGGESTIONS, PROS and CONS discussed in thread:

Please add all your suggestions since implementation, August 9 2017:
  1. Modify Like button to take up less real estate - ie, put the button w/ the other buttons & likes under signatures or list only if hover
  2. Allow members to completely turn off the ability to see likes
  3. Use Helpful instead of Like
  4. Completely eliminate Like button
  5. Do not display handles of those who Liked the post

"Some FTers are supportive of like/helpful button. Some are not. Some on both sides of the issue have questions, concerns and/or need more info. This wiki attempts to highlight them in bullet format/"cliff notes" version from the 566 posts made in prior Talkboard thread, which had 700 posts. More detailed information regarding the pros/cons/questions/concerns/info can be garnered by reading the entire thread, where FTers on both sides of the like/helpful button have been eloquent/provided valuable input. When TalkBoard last polled FT members, the result of the poll was in favour of introducing likes (by a considerable margin)

Pros:
* Make Flyertalk more modern/more like Facebook, LinkedIn and many other social media sites
* A like/helpful button would minimize unnecessary replies such as +1.
* Streamlines posts
* The value add of showing likes, helpful votes, etc. is that it can surface good content and get more views for it
* Positive feedback incentivizes quality content/FTers will post more
* Some people won’t take time to write a thank you but will post a like
* Those with more likes/helpfuls are considered knowledgable

Cons:
* Makes Flyertalk more like Facebook/dumbs it down
* FT had rating system here years ago and it did not go well
* System can be gamed/cliques develop
* Clutters up posts/takes up valuable screen space
* Will not eliminate +1s/+1s also provide positive feedback
* Posts that have inaccurate info can also get likes/doesn't mean poster is knowledgable
* If FTers post info & it doesn't get likes/helpfuls, less incentive to post more
* Some who might have posted info in the past will now just post like, so less information provided to other FTers.

Questions, concerns about how it will work, and/or information based on brief internal trial already done (trial done last time it came up for discussion)
* If implemented, can FTers who prefer not to utilize the like/helpful button turn it off so that they don't see it at all?
* Is there a software way to separate likes of posts from posters? (Limited trial indicates no; don't know if software can be changed to do so)
* Can a post/day count be implemented before implementing for FTers, similar Omni/CC? (Yes)
* Can certain forums have it turned off such as Omni? (No, current software is it's either all forums or none)
* If a sitewide trial is created, what are the metrics for success or failure?
* What is the goal of this/how will the data be used?
* If customization of current software is required, will this take away from development on other projects such as a better mobile app?
* Will or can there be a dislike/unhelpful button?
* What happens if a post that is "liked" gets its content edited and ends up having a different meaning than it initially had at the time the post was "liked"?
* Can threads or individual posts deemed helpful be bookmarked/saved?"

IBobi responded to theses comments and questions here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28664495-post59.html


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Suggest FT add “Like” button [implemented 9 Aug 2017]

Old Sep 13, 2017, 1:11 pm
  #286  
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Originally Posted by jackal
Moderators: absolutely not.

IB admins and Carol: maybe, but it depends how IBxAnders' team coded the tool, and being familiar with how they work, I would expect that no, they did not code anything like that in because it was never part of the spec for the job.
jackal is correct -- the tool is pretty "dumb." No such metrics are readily available.
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Old Sep 14, 2017, 10:55 am
  #287  
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A number of posts that had become little more than petty personalized bickering back and forth or continued repetition of points previously made have been deleted.

Such are not helpful to the Community Director, and this forum is designed for her to receive helpful feedback on ideas and possibilities. Off-topic back-and-forth that is better done via PM is not helpful to her or IB staff.

If there are further thoughts that would be on-topic, friendly, and which haven't been stated over and over and over and over again, please feel free to add. Otherwise....

cblaisd & jdiver
Co-Moderators, The Suggestion Box forum
tom911, JonNYC and IBobi like this.

Last edited by cblaisd; Sep 14, 2017 at 12:56 pm
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Old Sep 14, 2017, 3:54 pm
  #288  
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Originally Posted by IBobi
jackal is correct -- the tool is pretty "dumb." No such metrics are readily available.
If that's the case, I'm a bit perplexed by your comment that allowing an opt-out defeats the purpose of having like. Could you explain it? Truly interested/confused.

Cheers.
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Old Sep 14, 2017, 4:19 pm
  #289  
 
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After having thought about this for some time, here's my take on the like button:

Like buttons are usually used on "amateur" sites like Facebook, Instagram, etc where you usually communicate with people who are actual friends and family of yours. In that amateur setting, it feels good to get a "like" when you post a picture of your cat, grandchild, or home-made pizza.

But in more "professional" forums where you go to get advice from "experts" from all around the world -- people that you mostly have never met in the flesh -- a like button is superflous and may even cheapen the experience. I cannot remember having seen any such button in any other "professional" forum.

If Flyertalk had adopted a "helpful" button with the possibility of e.g. sorting posts according to "the top 10 most helpful posts of Trans American Airline forum during September 2017," that would be another story. That could actually be a really good addition to the site. But type of "dumb" like button serves no practical purpose at all, so it feels kind of misplaced. You're left wondering what this elephant is doing in this tiny room?
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Old Sep 15, 2017, 3:50 am
  #290  
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At least for other sites, the Like feature is a key component to understanding and marketing the product: site users. Is that going to be a purpose of it on FT too? A "dumb" tool doesn't work as well for that purpose as a "smart" tool -- whether the smart tool is built upon manual batch processing to mine the data or it is set up otherwise to mine the data.

On some sites where a Like feature is set up to allow publicly-visible rating of users and/or of content and where users and/or content are searchable/sortable based on such publicly-visible ranking, a purpose of the feature seems to be try to get helpful or popular content to the forefront or to further engage/retain/acquire the product/users. Is that going to be the purpose of this feature on FT?

Post 59 in this thread was useful, but there seems to be some questions still open about FT's current and future purpose for Like.
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Old Sep 15, 2017, 8:25 pm
  #291  
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only thing i saw mentioned >

Originally Posted by IBobi
We have proposed adding a user-clickable "sort thread by likes" feature that would allow anyone to easily see the most-liked posts in a thread topic; as far as I know this is the only "use" for this that has been proposed.
thinking about it, would be kind of interesting if that was somehow combined with wiki concept, as in >

wiki
Liked posts
thread

vs current >

wiki
thread
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Old Oct 12, 2017, 8:35 pm
  #292  
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So IBobi, ante up on what's been done since your last post. Folk on both sides would like to know. Legit question.

Cheers.
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Old Oct 13, 2017, 7:17 am
  #293  
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Originally Posted by SkiAdcock
So IBobi, ante up on what's been done since your last post. Folk on both sides would like to know. Legit question.

Cheers.
As someone who was in favor of and uses the feature and sees zero evidence of the anticipated "abuse" or "gaming" of the feature thus far, this person on "this side" requires no update.
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Old Oct 13, 2017, 7:23 am
  #294  
 
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Originally Posted by SkiAdcock
So IBobi, ante up on what's been done since your last post. Folk on both sides would like to know. Legit question.

Cheers.
The train has left the station. No going back.
Silver Fox likes this.
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Old Oct 14, 2017, 7:13 am
  #295  
 
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Originally Posted by RedChili
If Flyertalk had adopted a "helpful" button with the possibility of e.g. sorting posts according to "the top 10 most helpful posts of Trans American Airline forum during September 2017," that would be another story. That could actually be a really good addition to the site. But type of "dumb" like button serves no practical purpose at all, so it feels kind of misplaced.
This is somewhat similar to my suggestions, which was twofold: a way to mark a post as containing useful information (versus opinion or redundant data points) coupled with a way to view a thread that hid posts without such indication. The idea is to make it much easier for someone to approach a massive thread and actually read the useful content, rather than giving up.
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Old Oct 15, 2017, 5:35 am
  #296  
 
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Originally Posted by SkiAdcock
So IBobi, ante up on what's been done since your last post. Folk on both sides would like to know. Legit question.

Cheers.
Don't hold your breath.
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Old Oct 16, 2017, 2:30 am
  #297  
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Originally Posted by JonNYC
As someone who was in favor of and uses the feature and sees zero evidence of the anticipated "abuse" or "gaming" of the feature thus far, this person on "this side" requires no update.
In the forums I follow, I have seen little usage of the Like to mark helpful / useful posts. The usage I have seen is most "I agree", especially when two or more opinions are being debated. Little usefulness for noting useful posts. And an occasional, thank you.
JDiver, JonNYC, GUWonder and 2 others like this.
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Old Oct 19, 2017, 6:25 am
  #298  
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
In the forums I follow, I have seen little usage of the Like to mark helpful / useful posts. The usage I have seen is most "I agree", especially when two or more opinions are being debated. Little usefulness for noting useful posts. And an occasional, thank you.
Indeed.

Originally Posted by JonNYC
As someone who was in favor of and uses the feature and sees zero evidence of the anticipated "abuse" or "gaming" of the feature thus far, this person on "this side" requires no update.
Evidence was provided showing the feature being used for that kind of “abuse”. But that has not been the primary use of “Like”, and it was never anticipated to be the primary use of such. And it was anticipated that at least some such “abuse” would appear and even sometimes disappear (perhaps repeatedly) after launch and that such possibility for abuse would not change much of anything with regard to this feature being launched and maintained on FT.

I’m not a huge fan of the feature, but I do use it. Even as I don’t really gain much of anything out of its use (other than to save perhaps a bit of time), I’m also not a huge opponent of the feature.

Last edited by GUWonder; Oct 19, 2017 at 8:19 am
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Old Oct 19, 2017, 8:39 am
  #299  
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Liking an opposing post is an efficient way to concede an argument without wasting readers' time. @:-)
JonNYC, oliver2002 and jackal like this.
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Old Oct 19, 2017, 3:39 pm
  #300  
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Originally Posted by nsx
Liking an opposing post is an efficient way to concede an argument without wasting readers' time. @:-)
Not really, as the above assumes the following: that the audience at large viewing the "like" counter/display would generally know that a "like" was done for the purpose of conceding an argument opposed by the "Liker". Generally that assumption won't hold up.
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