Originally Posted by OverThereTooMuch

This is a bad idea.

Sometimes, there's bad content

If you have a way to like a post, you need to have an equivalent way to "unlike" a post. That's the only way the community can truly have input on whether or not content is valuable. People post bad info here all the time. Many times, it's based off personal opinion and not facts. Which is fine, as long as the post is clear that it's an opinion.

Not clear how it will be used

I think there are many ways that having a like/dislike option associated with a post can be valuable. But today, there's no plan mentioned for how this will be used.
Will there be some sort of "award" for the most valuable content in a forum?
Will this be used as criteria for selecting forum mods/ambassadors?
Will there be a way to filter to only see content of a certain level?

Instead, I think it'll be used by people who think these things matter on the internet (the same ones that feel their post count actually matters), and they will be recruiting all of their friends to form a "mutual admiration society" where they all just "Like" each others posts, no matter what the content. I would consider that an abuse of the system. FT would need to have clear policies in place for abuses like this. It will require additional mod time to perform these sorts of investigations.

If you don't have a clear plan in place for how it will be used/abused, then you shouldn't implement it.

There's no clear benefit to FT

There's no mention in this proposal of why FT thinks it is needed, or what value they believe it brings to FT.

Potential for abuse
In addition to the abuse described above, an admin for another forum has posted real-life experience of how it can be abused:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23873665-post111.html

Other options

If you're going to implement some variant of it, I would be in favor of the solution proposed here - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23873665-post111.html. I think there should be additional discussion on what the categories for the voting options would be, but otherwise I agree with all of the advantages/disadvantages described here.

It also NEEDS to be anonymous, or you will have drama.

Every forum that has added/changed this sort of functionality after going without it for years has experienced pain. I encourage you to look at the history of some big boards that have done this, and see what you can learn from their growing pains.

I also "dislike" the idea of having a link to every thread I've "liked" http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/talkb...-profiles.html.

Originally Posted by joshwex90

1. True, but there's no requirement of a dislike button. More often than not, when someone disagrees with a post, they post WHY they disagree. Contrast that with the myriad of posts that have nothing more than "+1" or "+100000" (plus the quoted OP since a post must have at least 5 characters)

2. I don't think there's a need for awards, just as there's no awards today for actually helpful post and/or frequent posters. The award or reward is knowing that you've helped people. Perhaps you can add something (akin to the "FlyerTalk Evangelist") such as "Super Helpful Poster" after he/she gets numerous thanks or likes to their posts. That does give value, and I would argue that that gives significantly more value to other posters than a FT posting title. (Who do you trust more, inherently? A "FlyerTalk Posting Legend" with nothing else, or a measly "FlyerTalk Evangelist" that's also a "Super Helpful Poster?")

3. Sure there is - it helps significantly cut down clutter AND can in the long-term, if rolled out right, give more value to others by knowing that said poster is really helpful. For example, I know that WineCountryUA is one of the most helpful posters out there on the UA forum. Not only does he/she answer tons of posts, but does so quickly, continues to provide information, and that information is invariably correct. But I am active on said forum.

For someone coming over from a different forum, or a newbie on FT, knowing that WineCountryUA was a "Super Helpful Poster" would help give more weight to said posts.

Originally Posted by Oaxaca

I'm ambivalent about this, as there are definetely downsides (on other forums, you see people posting contoversial opinions or pointless attempts at humour just to get "likes").

However, to me the most useful aspect of having a "helpful" (far better term for FT than "like" IMO) button is so that I can later track the posts that I have found helpful. Sometimes you see a very useful piece of advice, which you don't need now but may need later. By flagging it as "helpful", you can then easily search it later from your own profile. This exists on moneysavingexpert.com, which appears to use the same technology as FT. There are a lot of pointless "thanks" on there though.

For me it would be enough if I was the only one who could see which posts I had found helpful

Originally Posted by kipper

I cut your post to address just a few things...

1. Adding a title like "Super Helpful Poster" will only serve to drive the misuse of a button. Then, you'll have people with that title who don't give correct information.

2. The "like" button is currently not visible to anyone but TB members, admins, and moderators.