Originally Posted by
nkedel
6. Members should have the ability to disable all display of the new functionality.
IMO, also nice to have if it's easy to accommodate, although I think the way it was phrased up-thread ("opt out completely" -- e.g. to disable other people voting on your posts) is probably disruptive and confusing. If the main display is itself tasteful and not too obtrusive, I don't see an option to hide it as a necessity. If it's not tasteful, or it's huge, even those of us who like the feature are likely to be bothered by it.
I believe it was phrased as an wish for a absolutely mandatory feature of the system by those who raised it, not a nice to have.
And not only the display. The opt out that was asked for was both on views and on participation. Just like
nkedel says, opt out on participation could be disruptive, and that is why it has to be considered even more carefully at the early stages of the (possible) implementation of this feature.
Therefore, I'd feel a lot more comfortable if
nsx would move this to the mandatory list.
On views, the purpose of the opt out is to save screen space, to not clutter the view or draw attention to something the user has no interest in and to be presented the threads without any filtering, re-ordering or other manipulation of the discussion flow (should such functions be developed).
On participation, the purpose of the opt out is again to keep unnecessary screen objects out of sight, even though this might be a minor issue - a like button can be constructed without stealing much space. I could even be implemented as a "Post-tools drop-down", analogous to the thread-tools and the forum-tools drop-downs.
But more importantly, I think the opt out for participation includes the possibility to not have your posts voted on, not having your posts or username appearing in top-lists or automatically featured on the blogs, frontpage et.c. (should such functions be implemented).
Opt out of participation could be implemented with minimal disruption to the function - the like button could be greyed-out on posts made by opted-out poster, and if clicking/hoovering the message "poster have opted out of like system" displayed.