[snipenekkid]

Thanks for your input, Freddy.... while I appreciate your point that other forums are less mature and more abusive, I still detect and lament a growing trend here at PF towards repetitive and negative posts *just* short of flag-worthy abuse. Because it's "not as bad" here doesn't mean that we should not have a way to at least show disapproval of a semi-troll or someone who comes to PF to "kick the dog" after a bad day at work.

Just recently, I was personally attacked (called a Pentax "apologist") by a couple of members because I chose to disagree on their position on SDM motor failures. You know the type: lots of bold font and multiple exclamation points in their posts. I realized that we had a couple of guys who thrived on the passion of it all and enjoyed all the negative responses their posts created. I chose to leave the thread as continuing to spar with these two only added fuel to the fire. I would have personally liked to have been able to "dislike" their posts and viewpoints WITHOUT feeding their ego trips and giving them more reason to post more bile.

I agree totally .... ignore them, and they'll go away. But troll-like behavior, by it's nature, means people are tempted to respond to these sort of posts. A "dislike button" offers a quiet way to disagree without engaging these sort of members.

germar

Only problem there is quite often the clique mentality of a site takes over and a given non-populist opinion can be "shouted down" but a given clique of the membership. And yes it happens here as well as any other site. All sites develop subsets, or cliques, of users who somehow become or develop the sense they exist above the common good of the site so whatever they feel or believe must be how things will be. You see it all the time in several users here who constantly post contrarian comments whenever anyone posts even a thoughtful critical comment. If those users are so indifferent or even fed up with a topic they themselves need to be "mature" enough to simply "be a duck", let it roll off and move on to things where they can contribute in a meaningful fashion to a given topic and bring less animosity into their use of the site. but by constantly fighting against and posting constantly negative (contrarian) responses to a given topic they are being as destructive to the flow of ideas as the so-called trolls. That is not to say all posts need to be sunshine and rainbows, but that if a topic feels overdone to a users then simply move on from that topic and stop commenting. Because I am not intending to imply that true trolls don't come along, but by feeding the frenzy people actually are doing the harm they are trying to self-police. That is what the report this post button is all about. Report it, explain it a bit, then let the mods deal with it. Of course there is also favoritism in that respect as well, but hey, in life where is there no such animal. We just need to accept our opinion differs and move on...it really is that easy.

I do not favor the idea of a populist ability to post "dislike" votes. I see how they would be great if used wisely but I have followed this and other sites long enough to sense eventually an option like this will be abused. Consider the whole social groups thing where a clique can gather to complain about a given member then en masse decide to harass that member. I have see it happen here as well as other places.

So while I really like the efficiency of a "Like" button, not sure about the dislike button. But if used by the membership properly sure why not...but I simply do not trust that such an option would not be used impartially and could serve to actually drive members away.

[newarts]

I believe that only having various degrees of "like" is insufficient for objective evaluation.

Perhaps we need a system with only "likes" to all feel good about ourselves. But I also think we need a system to be candid about truth and fiction.

But how can we fairly identify statements that are simply wrong or misleading? Not checking the "like" box is insufficient as it does not flag the offense for the casual reader. It isn't that we "don't like" a posting; it is simply correct, questionable, or incorrect. Perhaps we agree or perhaps we disagree with a statement.

I'm not looking to hurt anybody's feelings and am as brittle as people come, however, while most statements posted here are relatively empty of meat, there are often technical proclamations that should at least be flagged as questionable or unsupported by evidence or theory.

Liking the clever way a point is made is not the same as accepting its truthfulness.

An system based on "like" & "dislike" is so loaded with social overtones as to be of little use in objective evaluation of truth or falsehood.

You may like or dislike what I just wrote, but that's not the same as saying whether it is true or false.

[fevbusch]

I don't see the problem with any of this. You either like or dislike something and have the right to explain why without being rude or nasty.
You also have the option not to use "like" if you don't want to.
The whole idea of this forum is to learn and to have fun doing it.
I have seen other forums that are nit-picking, petty and just plain not
friendly and nice .
If enough people like something there's a very good chance it is worthwhile
for us to check it out. That's my two cents. I refuse to get very serious about this because that would fall into the realm of being petty, which I would
never want to be accused of. Let's just all have fun and learn while doing it.
Learning in itself is fun and a great joy. Freddy