A helpful button is different from a like button. There are at least two fundamental problems with a like button ("fundamental" meaning with the concept as opposed to the specific implementation, position, appearance, etc.):

• What does it mean to like a post? Saying a post is helpful seems somewhat more clear.
• What is the effect on a post of being liked? Is there a way to view a thread that only displays liked posts? If not, why have it?

Years back, in the long thread about like, I suggested that what would be helpful would be a way to indicate (by the poster or moderator, or maybe by voting) that a post contained factual information rather than options, with a corresponding way to view a thread that only showed such "factual" posts, as a way to make reading massive threads feasible.

To extract from that suggestion, such features as "like," "factual," and "news" need two things to be useful: (1) it needs to be clear what the designation means, and (2) having the designation should affect the post/thread in a useful way.

Exactly. Unless they serve a useful purpose, and have a clear meaning, they don't belong here.

Yes, exactly.


Indeed.

Exactly. The feature needs to have a clear meaning, and be useful in some way.

"News" could be a useful feature if (1) it had a clear meaning, and (2) it affected the post/thread in some way. For example, since "news" implies "new," there might be a way to view threads that hid posts marked as "news" that were older than some threshold.

Yes; it's annoying and useless.

Please share! :D

Found this thread trying to figure out a way to disable this. Hopefully it gets dropped or there is a way to opt out.

Yet another "something isn't broken but let's fix it" change, it's not something that's ever seemed to have overwhelming support, and will probably lead to less useful content being posted. Making something "more like Facebook" is not a good thing given each successive redesign of Facebook has made it less and less usable/useful and not a reason to change something. This is a message board, not a social media outlet, they're two entirely different things. If you're not going to reverse this decision (which, when it was tried to be implemented in the main forum I visit, basically the Flyertalk of its subject, was so vehemently opposed it got reversed already), at least allow the option to turn it off. I want to read the content, not have extra buttons and clutter for no reason.

I strongly dislike the new like button and would like to see it disabled.

FlyerTalk stands out among internet forums for its depth and complexity of discussion and enabling a binary popularity measure of posts dilutes this exceptional quality. As others have pointed out, the distinction between a message board and social media is very important. FlyerTalk is about sharing advice and helping each other, not creating the most popular posts.

Beyond the like button's potential to reduce the quality of discussion and interaction on FlyerTalk, I also find its insertions into posts to be a massive eyesore.

Agree w/ both.

So basically you're saying that this is here to stay, if IB is going to fix the (currently) lousy display of likes in a future update. If that's the case, is there any reason FTers should provide input here? It seems like it doesn't matter what we say. :confused:

How is it determined if the feature benefits FT? What measure specifically will be used? Complaints die down? Some might not bother providing input if they don't think it will really matter. Others might not complain, but just won't bother frequenting FT as much or provide content when they do, which would be a loss to FT (and a bit of irony that in trying to make FT more friendly it drives FTers away). I & other FTers truly are interested in what the measure of 'success' will be.

Also, we're still waiting for an explanation for why the Omnis have been excluded. It's been said likes can't be gamed, so there's no rational reason to exclude the Omnis. If there is a valid reason we would be interested in knowing what it is. Presumably including the Omnis would also help determine if likes is a success site wide.

While I don't think likes needs to be on FT (for reasons others have stated above), if likes were to continue the best solution - and a 'win-win' for all FTers is to do both a & b.

a) fix the horrible display of likes sooner rather than later
b) provide an opt-out. those who like likes can see them; those who don't want to have their viewing disrupted can read FT as they always have

Cheers.

I agree, due to the subject manner of this forum, "helpful", "not helpful" & "very helpful" on trip reports is warranted.

People send a lot of time to gather thoughts/notes as well as pictures to write a trip report, There should be a range of responses.

Yes, please. ^

What's interesting about the like button & the poll that was done a couple of years ago...

From post #255 in the 700+ post thread (posted by JDiver in his mod capacity):

"TalkBoard has requested a thirty day poll, and as Internet Brands prefers "Helpful" to "Like", that is the term used in the poll."

If IB preferred Helpful to Like, why is the current implementation Like instead of Helpful? :confused:

My own opinion on why IB preferred H to L is a) IB thought the poll would have a better chance of yes votes w/ H vs. L; b) H has a bit more clarification/meaning than a generic Like.

It should also be noted that wrt to the poll that was done (again from the 700 post thread & quoting my own post), "The poll was actually much against until a week ago, when in a 48 hr period it switched, and then since then the poll has basically stayed the same. It's not the norm for polls to move one way or another that fast & that much (true re: whichever direction it goes, yes or no), especially during a time when FTers are not on FT as much (Xmas holidays). Prior & post that 48-hour blip, the voting has been pretty stable/not that many votes." So it would have been interesting to see if the poll had actually been 60/40 if not for the 48-hr blip, or if it would have been flipped as it was was before the blip. This is in addition to the posts in the 700 post thread being 50/50.

I do think, if like is going to stay as has been implied, that the like button should be switched to a helpful button & not like (I've added this to the wiki)

Cheers.

Flyertalk and Facebook
 

I wanted to point out that Facebook has become massively popular as a platform for discussions on a large variety of topics, including those that directly compete with Flyertalk. As FB becomes more a "go to" source for information on specific airline programs, aircraft configuration, ticketing, and so forth, the deficiencies of FB's platform as host of serious discussions are plentiful and glaring, yet people persist, presumably because FB is there and they spend a lot of time on it anyway. Given this, why would IB want to make FT a less useful platform, one more like FB? It seems to me that IB should be working to make FT more distinct and more useful, as a differentiator.

FT can't compete with FB by out-FBing FB. FT can only compete by being different, and better-suited for the task.

Well-said.

Cheers.

I like this idea as well-- "helpful" rather than "like"

SanDiego1K will make all these decisions, subject to IB's ability to implement. I'm sure she reads and considers everything you write on the subject.

I believe that positive feedback will encourage members to make more posts that other members value. Any improvement in the tone of forums would be subtle. SanDiego1K is in the best position to sense that. I am intrigued by the possibility of trying this in OMNI/PR where any changes in posting behavior would be more readily apparent.

Another vote for an opt out option.