Say hello to the 'Like' button!

[PorpoiseMuffins]

So I was doing some thinking and my thinking led me to think, "wouldn't it be cool if there was a way to let members know how much you appreciate their posts, especially for those awkward times when you have nothing to add to the conversation but still want to let them know that you care?"

Well, now you can, with the LIKE BUTTON!

But seriously, I did some digging around and discovered a really cool phpBB plug-in called "thanks for posts." After quite a good bit of tweaking, we now have a system which approximates the Facebook "like button" (Note that there is NO actual connection to Facebook). Along with the ability to like individual posts, every member can keep track of their total likes received and likes given inside of their profiles. You can also choose to be notified by PM or E-mail when one of your posts is liked (see the User Control Panel). There is also a Likes Statistics page which can be accessed from the main navigation, which gives further stats.

In other news, the front page of the site has been modified a bit to make room for some social networking buttons (twitter, facebook, and RSS) and many of the articles on the site now have a direct link to allow for "liking" them on Facebook.

[Hakuzo NightFox]

yeah for innovation, now all we need is a quick post button .

[Rozax]

As long as there's no connection to facebook. I don't like facebook and don't have an account. There are too many websites so integrated with facebook that you now need a facebook account to comment on the site, even if you were a member of the site long before the facebook integration.

[PorpoiseMuffins]

And yet there's still no muffin button? Come on porp, get it together XD

[Velvet D'Coolette]

As long as there's no connection to facebook. I don't like facebook and don't have an account. There are too many websites so integrated with facebook that you now need a facebook account to comment on the site, even if you were a member of the site long before the facebook integration.

This is my only reservation against the idea, but the concept of being able to comment without finding alternative words is a good one!

[PorpoiseMuffins]

Yes, again there is no connection to Facebook, aside from the fact that the feature works in a similar fashion.

[tross]

As someone who has been to multiple message boards over the years, I have seen this feature before, with a different name. In general, I think it's a great feature. In larger communities with a broader subject range, such a feature can get to the point where it's not meaningful, and shows a bias in favour of groups of individuals who share an interest in a select few topics. But in a message board like this, where we're really all interested in the same thing, I think it can have a positive impact on the community as a whole. In general, I'm sure the best posts will get recognized, and that's what's great about this feature.

Edit: I just tried out the feature on one of Elisto's posts from not too long ago, that I thought deserved some recognition. It even shows who liked the post, which is even better. That way it's more like a compliment, than a number. It's easy for something like this to simply turn into a score, with people competing to see who has the highest number. And since it's not anonymous, it allows for the person to thank whoever paid them the compliment. It's clear you put a lot of thought into this feature, and it shows.

[KommanderKasey]

Hey now this is pretty spiffy. Solid addition here Porp, can't wait to try it out.

[PorpoiseMuffins]

Edit: I just tried out the feature on one of Elisto's posts from not too long ago, that I thought deserved some recognition. It even shows who liked the post, which is even better. That way it's more like a compliment, than a number. It's easy for something like this to simply turn into a score, with people competing to see who has the highest number. And since it's not anonymous, it allows for the person to thank whoever paid them the compliment. It's clear you put a lot of thought into this feature, and it shows.

Thanks. I really didn't want it to be a scorekeeping/rating/karma kind of thing for the same reasons you so eloquently outlined. The original mod actually had a few more features like that in it (for ranking and scoring posts and that sort of thing), but I removed them because I didn't see anything good coming from it. The idea is to have it be personal and to keep the focus on writing good posts and getting feedback on them. And it's always exciting and rewarding to see that little thumbs up on the bottom of your post

A lot of times someone will post something intelligent or witty (see Spectre907's post above) that stands on its own and doesn't really require a reply, or where a full reply might even detract from it or seem spammy. I think that's where this feature really shines.

[Hakuzo NightFox]

This is my only reservation against the idea, but the concept of being able to comment without finding alternative words is a good one!

It's been a while velvet!

[DeborahHedgehog]

Yeah, this is teh awesomeness! I 'like' this! ;P

[Velvet D'Coolette]

This is my only reservation against the idea, but the concept of being able to comment without finding alternative words is a good one!

It's been a while velvet!

Aye, I didn't think I'd be back but here you go!

And, err... sorry Porp, looks like I might have missed you saying that this isn't a Facebook thing.

[supersonic7]

Could you like the like Button?