- Duck duck DEATH
- |
- Exalted Mythic Member
When I grow up I want to be bitter and spiteful.
"i liked the reality where everything was on fire better"
-legato on remedial chaos theory
Posted by: colbyrules8
Please be logical.
NO U
Posted by: Duck duck DEATH
Despite the status quo bias most users of this site hold to anything they can perceive as "social-networking" or, much to the disdain of their trademark, "Facebook", there are in fact a wealth of perfectly logical reasons for opposing the implementation of a like/dislike system in the forums.
The primary issue concerning a like/dislike system is that it ultimately contributes nothing to discussion. What a like/dislike system does do is alter one's perception of a post. Fundamentally, it does not change the content of the post, but rather creates a bias in the reader for or against it. Rather than assessing the post yourself, you are already lead to believe that a post is good or bad, valid or otherwise. If one were truly to desire to improve discussion, they would seek to remove preconceived biases, not propagate more of them.
The second most bothering fault in a like/dislike system is it's usability. All a user has to do to back or fully discredit is click a button. In a real discussion, opinions must be backed with reasoning and argument. There must be an explanation to why something is true or false. If a person agrees with someone, it contributes nothing to a discussion, and thus has no place in it. A like/dislike system requires no argument and no reasoning. Helpful posts with developed points and argument can be completely invalidated by several dumb people clicking a button. Likewise, misconceptions can be promoted by countless masses even, and even if they are false, the majority rules.
This addresses the first of many fallacies inherent in a like/dislike system: the completely fallacious belief that the majority is correct. I can bore you to death with all the common fallacies and cognitive biases that will be promoted with such a system, but to be honest it's 6:30am and I'm rather tired. Anyone who is capable of reading knows that users of the Community Forum widely succumb to bandwagons, group mindsets, faulty axioms, and a variety of other 'circle-jerk' faults in reason. Popularity should not dictate the truth of a matter. To take these problems, and legitimize and promote them in a shiny new forum feature would simply make these problems worse.
Nothing brings me greater joy than reading what people have to say on a matter. While not everyone enjoys reading, there is always something to be gained from taking all users opinions on a matter into account, be it knowledge or simply perspective of a user. With a like/dislike system, users would be predisposed to read liked posts, and likely disregard unliked posts. In this matter, posts will not be read, information could be overlooked, and potential insight could be lost. It is nice to trust a system that could promote helpful ideas, but if everyone is focused on the promoted ideas, users will likely not double-check that an unliked post is invalid or holding potentially useful information. If a user does not wish to read every post, I would not like to install a feature that would facilitate their laziness.
The craziest thing is that a like/dislike system is not dictated by rules such as "is this point valid?" or "is this worth reading?". It is only restricted to whether you like or dislike it. While some may aspire to have a system that can find and emphasize valid posts, ultimately it will only show which posts users enjoy reading. This may deter completely valid posts for insulting users, just as it may promote useless posts because they are 'cool'. From this, an even larger problem can be seen, not just for those opposed, but also for those who would like this system. The issue is that not everyone shares the same opinion. People like different things. What the majority of users like, you may not, and the system be utterly useless. This system only works if your interests are aligned with the majority. If there is not a majority, there will only be contrasting opinions to which posts will be in a constant struggle of equilibrium between those who like and dislike a certain post. Clearly people who like a like/dislike system would not find my opinions and logic appealing, and would not enjoy them promoted.
Finally, I wish to address a viewpoint that is opposed to my own; that is to say, those who wish to see this system in place. I am disappointed in the lack of well-reasoned logic in favor of such a system. Most arguments I have seen are, at their roots, dependent on promoting self-serving laziness, or are ultimately built upon fallacy. What is even more upsetting is users who argue "it would be nice for me to like this post", or simply want something without providing adequate reasoning aside from "+1".
There is an opinion that instituting a like/dislike system would help to resolve spam posts that simply quote and agree with a post. This opinion is wrong. Better said, opinions cannot be valid or invalid; however, the logic behind this belief is in fact completely invalid. While such useless agreement posts would disappear as posts, they would not in fact be removed, but rather take a new form. Those that argue for progress should damned well know that hiding a problem does not solve it.
But taking useless agreement posts and forming them into likes/dislikes does not hide them. Such an act would empower and promote this spam, giving it an appealing form and legitimizing it as a valid and non-spam part of the forums. What is even worse is that such spamy agreement posts are now indistinguishable from "likes" that have been clicked for completely valid and logical reasons.