|
|
Post by sumgai on Jan 18, 2018 17:58:20 GMT -5
My Fellow Nutz,
During the latter part of 2017, the Staff discussed ways to bring about public recognition for helpful or otherwise appreciated postings. We thought about various methods, none of which were comparable to the old (and much lamented) Karma points. Well, you may have recently noticed a LIKE button (looks like a thumbs up) on postings, in the upper-right corner. newey enabled this feature awhile ago to see how the members would react to it, and so far, it seems to be a hit.
However, there seemed to be no way to learn what a member's total count of LIKEs was. Thanks to the efforts of reTrEaD, you see it now in the mini-profile to the left of each post, just below the total post count. He dug into the inner workings of how the Forum works and dredged up the necessary coding to add to our pages. As they say, Voila!  I say, three cheers beers for reTrEaD! 
A feature that wasn't found in Karma points is that there is a small-print note at the top of each posting telling you who LIKEd it. This is because LIKE applies to posts, whereas Karma points applied to a member, independent of any particular postings. Additionally, you could remove Karma points (Exalt issued the point, Smite removed it), but a LIKE can never be removed - once issued, it's there forever.
sumgai
|
|
|
|
Post by reTrEaD on Jan 18, 2018 19:05:58 GMT -5
What's the difference between Likes and Karma? First of all neither will change your ration from the standard three meals of gruel a day, an onion twice a week, and half a bread roll on a Sunday.  With LIKE you can't take away, only add. A LIKE will raise a flag on the recipient's display, indicating he has a new notification. He (or she) can check their notifications and see which post was liked and who liked it. Also, since the post has an indicator above it (showing all who liked it) that makes it easy for all to spot a post that might be useful. Or considered gracious. Or witty. I won't take any of the credit for bringing the LIKE system to GN2. Newey enabled it. And ux4484 was liking posts before I did a thing. What I did with some help from ProBoards was make it possible for everyone to see more than just the LIKE on the post. Now we can see which users who are regularly adding great content or being extremely courteous. By the LIKE tally shown on their mini-profile as well as on the member list. Do you  it? The Member List can't be sorted by the Likes column. Not yet, anyway . . .  |
|
|
|
Post by newey on Jan 18, 2018 23:21:58 GMT -5
The key difference between the "like" button and the old exalt/smite karma points system is that you "like" a specific post. You "exalted" a particular member (as I said earlier, we would not tolerate smiting anyone except the infamous Kyle), not any particular post by that member. The running total of "karma points" appeared about where the "likes" are now shown, on the member's "mini-profile".
The member thus "exalted" had no way of knowing exactly for what he or she was being exalted, so the Rule was that the exalter would indicate a "+1" in the reply to the post for which exaltation was given, thus showing why the member received the karma point.
Karma points were calculated as K = Exalts - Smites. A member could only exalt or smite once per hour, although staff could re-jigger the totals, as sg and I did with Kyle, who ended up like minus 20K.
|
|
|
|
Post by sumgai on Jan 20, 2018 0:35:11 GMT -5
^^^^ and ChrisK ended up with about 10,000,000 Karma points. Only a few of them posthumously of course.  |
|
|
|
Post by b4nj0 on Jan 20, 2018 4:20:44 GMT -5
Hmmm.
'Fess up time; on my "smart" 'phone, the Android app collapses threads before my eyes before I can read them. Not always- but at least 60-odd % of the time.
I can select the option to view in a browser, but I found a quick and dirty work around was to "like" a post (and frequently to have to "unlike" it again).
It happens that once engrossed in the thread I forget to "unlike" the post.
Other Proboards forums have had the "like" facility available for several years and no one takes it that seriously, but if'n y'all are gonna place some kudos on such a tally then there goes my kludge fix. No biggie, but it may help to explain the occasional "like" that I've committed that didn't seem to make any sense?
Proboards have no intention of fixing the app (that I paid for) because they want to load advertisements via bandwidth paid for by me.
Their alternative is "Tapatalk" and that just hacks me off by placing ads to look like legit posts, so it's a no-no here at Hippie Towers. After a short while you get fed up with accidentally tapping on adverts.
e&oe...
|
|
|
|
Post by newey on Jan 20, 2018 7:47:40 GMT -5
You can't have been doing it for very long here since I just "unlocked" the Like button a few weeks ago.
|
|
|
|
Post by b4nj0 on Jan 20, 2018 9:03:22 GMT -5
This was the only forum I read that did not have the facility enabled and yes, you are correct it was only recently changed. I thought I recalled this being discussed several years ago in the context of Karma points? The "like" facility arrived with one of the Proboards "upgrades" but I concluded that the "powers that be" derided it as being too much like Facepage?
e&oe...
|
|
|
|
Post by reTrEaD on Jan 20, 2018 9:55:27 GMT -5
That was my first impression. But after examining the benefits, I rather LIKE it. I'm not sure if the patch I applied to display LIKEs on the miniprofiles is a good thing or a bad thing. If it turns into a competition for accruing the highest like tally, would that become a problem? idk. But the basic LIKE system is inherently good.
The most important benefit of the LIKE system (imho) is that it's an easy way to apply instant feedback from member to member.
Acknowledge
Appreciate
and
Approve
Someone sees a notification flag indicating he should look at his profile.
He clicks the flag, looks at his notifications
and sees which threads in which he was Quoted, LIKEd, or Tagged.
There links in those notifications he can follow to the thread where the LIKE was given.
Looks for his post in the thread.
Maybe he chooses to do more of the same in the future.
Why was the post LIKEd?
Did he add to our collective knowledge?
Was he being helpful to someone?
Was the post humorous and witty?
I think those are some valid reasons to LIKE a post.
One click to encourage a user to do more of that?
Priceless.
---------------
Since the post itself shows a LIKE or LIKEs above it, people reading might take special notice of that post. Maybe something in the style or content is something they'll want to emulate in their own posts.
Priceless.
|
|
|
|
Post by sumgai on Jan 20, 2018 12:14:32 GMT -5
I can select the option to view in a browser, but I found a quick and dirty work around was to "like" a post (and frequently to have to "unlike" it again). It happens that once engrossed in the thread I forget to "unlike" the post.Wait! Stop!! Do you mean to say that ProBoards has an UNLIKE feature?  Fer Gawd's sake, do tell us where we can find such a creature, please. All we need to see is an example Forum that you can share without being embarassed. Pretty please?
Yes, the feature was introduced with Ver. 5, some years ago. (Hold on to your hats boys and girls, Ver. 6 is coming!). Equally yes, I immediately determined that this was "Facebook-creep". Not on my watch!
But time goes by, as my aging and decrepit body will attest. I am now in my 70s, and the tenor of this place is not getting older with me, it's getting younger. For that reason alone, I must accede to the wishes of the body electorate, and permit the LIKE system to enter into the room. But keep in mind, this is, and always was, and always will be, nothing more than code-monkey job assurance. The Karma system was fine, it was working, but the script-kiddies couldn't understand the reasoning behind it - to them it was arcane*. Whereas the Z company was doing land-office business over something from his kindergarten days, and that was easily understood, so the rest is history. Can't change that.
Please stand by as I squinch up in an extraordinary effort to keep a civil tongue in my mouth.....
sumgai
* Meaning that it was hand-coded from scratch, not cut-and-pasted from an example book of 31 ways to say "Hello World!".
|
|
|
|
Post by reTrEaD on Jan 20, 2018 12:49:49 GMT -5
Wait! Stop!! Do you mean to say that ProBoards has an UNLIKE feature? I think b4nj0 meant that you can LIKE a post, then click the LIKE button for that post again, and remove the LIKE you gave. But let's hear from b4nj0, what he actually meant. |
|
|
|
Post by b4nj0 on Jan 20, 2018 12:56:52 GMT -5
reTrEaD is spot-on, I do occasionally forget to "unlike" my temporarily "liked" posts. Anyway, if this is to be a new feature, I will as promised "cease and desist".
e&oe...
|
|
|
|
Post by reTrEaD on Jan 20, 2018 13:52:16 GMT -5
Cooperation for the greater good is always a sign of a Community minded user but it would appear you can Continue using the feature in your present manner.LIKE adds one to the count, unLIKE removes the one you gave. Net result = no change. LIKE initiates a notification, unLIKE erases the notification. Net result = no change. If you forget to unlike on rare occasions, that shouldn't be a major issue. Besides, finding a way for using something in a way it wasn't originally intended is SO in the spirit of Guitarnutz2 that I have no choice but to that post! |
|
|
|
Post by b4nj0 on Jan 20, 2018 14:10:43 GMT -5
The thing that puzzles me is that you can "like" your own posts. I frequently do this on another forum where they have a Breast Cancer charity thread. I "like" my own previous day's (collapsed) post to copy the external link for the new one. I don't think Proboards thought that one through properly?
e&oe...
|
|
|
|
Post by reTrEaD on Jan 20, 2018 14:42:37 GMT -5
The thing that puzzles me is that you can "like" your own posts. I frequently do this on another forum where they have a Breast Cancer charity thread. I "like" my own previous day's (collapsed) post to copy the external link for the new one. I don't think Proboards thought that one through properly?e&oe... I can't begin to tell you how much I LIKE the fact they didn't suppress that. If someone accidentally likes one of their own posts, not a big deal. And they can look at their notifications to see where it was and unLIKE it. But for those who think they might be sneaky and try to pad their LIKE total for personal glory . . . They'll be leaving a paper trail all over the forum. Eventually someone will call them out on it. How embarrassing! |
|
|
|
Post by reTrEaD on Jan 20, 2018 15:22:11 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by sumgai on Jan 20, 2018 18:43:53 GMT -5
LIKE (thumbs up) is a toggle switch. Har har, who'da thunk it?  This is what you get when you turn the script-kiddies loose, and don't ride close herd on them. Or more likely, the programmers did their own testing... and we all know what comes out of that particular scenario, yes?
In any event, this is a good kludge for those folks who go mobile, although I'd bet like Jimmy The Greek that PB didn't plan on it that way at the outset.
|
|
I say, three 
it?
This is what you get when you turn the script-kiddies loose, and don't ride close herd on them. Or more likely, the programmers did their own testing... and we all know what comes out of that particular scenario, yes?