Who would you vote for?

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by GGG

The thanks button is clearly a social media dopamine hit. It leads to a lot of the one liner attacks and people trying to blow people up instead of reasonably disagree.

It can be multiple things. I agree with what you are saying but I also think it serves a purpose of not piling on. If someone else makes the point you also want to make then throwing a thanks is useful. It can keep people out of arguments as they have the ability to state their feeling by thanking the poster who is making the argument they support.


Outside of the election thread I steer clear of the off topic forums for the lost part and spend 99% of my time talking hockey in the Flames forum so outside of some threads like the Mitchell Miller one it is just good sports chat and shouldn’t be taken too seriously

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Anyone who says thanks/upvotes don’t affect behaviour on social media forums is being deliberately obtuse. Those tools are the foundation of the whole social media business model. Which is why most companies have resisted calls by mental health advocates to remove them.

Pepsi being deliberately obtuse? Say it isn't so.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Pepsi being deliberately obtuse? Say it isn't so.

Well that was kind of uncalled for and I will leave it at that. (This is way too easy!)

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Anyone who says thanks/upvotes don’t affect behaviour on social media forums is being deliberately obtuse. Those tools are the foundation of the whole social media business model. Which is why most companies have resisted calls by mental health advocates to remove them.

Who has said that?

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Don't kid yourself that's a big reason why the thanks feature ruins forums. It's also a means to gang up on posters and make the place unfriendly to people that want to share an alternative opinion or idea.

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Pepsi being deliberately obtuse? Say it isn't so.

This aged well. Quit ruining the forum, Erick.

[Looch City]

Just adopt the Instagram model of only the individual poster being able to see the number of thanks. Everyone else just sees the thumbs-up/thanks with no number.


Win/win
Dopamine hit + no crying because of dissenting opinion.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Who has said that?





This aged well. Quit ruining the forum, Erick.

Ha ha come on man. You know that's not a personal attack as it's part of your schtick and you fully know that. Actually I like you regardless of your disdain for me. You have a lot of good things to say and while I could do without the odd mean spirited posts and sidetracking of threads with your deliberate contrarian posts it's all good as the internet isn't serious business to me. Obviously being a member since 2006 with one of the highest post counts here I have developed thick skin but not everyone does and I just feel this place to be a little more accommodating to newer posters which is why I've never been a fan of the thanks thing as it can be intimidating and discouraging to some people.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Ha ha come on man. You know that's not a personal attack as it's part of your schtick and you fully know that. Actually I like you regardless of your disdain for me. You have a lot of good things to say and while I could do without the odd mean spirited posts and sidetracking of threads with your deliberate contrarian posts it's all good as the internet isn't serious business to me. Obviously being a member since 2006 with one of the highest post counts here I have developed thick skin but not everyone does and I just feel this place to be a little more accommodating to newer posters which is why I've never been a fan of the thanks thing as it can be intimidating and discouraging to some people.

It’s rare to see someone patting themselves on the back while simultaneously delivering backhanded compliments. Be honest EE, you would have thanked your own post if you could have.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

It’s rare to see someone patting themselves on the back while simultaneously delivering backhanded compliments. Be honest EE, you would have thanked your own post if you could have.

Hey man nobody can accuse me of being a spiteful poster. I see you have been dogging me recently but have I done the same with you? Nope as I have nothing against you and the fact we have differing opinions on certain topic in no way defines the type of person you are in my eyes as I've seen nothing here to indicate you aren't a good dude. I'm just not a mean spirited person which is why I have survived here over the years despite being a lightning rod at times. I honestly do not like to see people belittled or bullied on internet forums regardless of who they are. That's not me patting myself on the back as it is who I am as I would gladly sit and have a beer with anyone here even New Era.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Ha ha come on man. You know that's not a personal attack as it's part of your schtick and you fully know that. Actually I like you regardless of your disdain for me. You have a lot of good things to say and while I could do without the odd mean spirited posts and sidetracking of threads with your deliberate contrarian posts it's all good as the internet isn't serious business to me. Obviously being a member since 2006 with one of the highest post counts here I have developed thick skin but not everyone does and I just feel this place to be a little more accommodating to newer posters which is why I've never been a fan of the thanks thing as it can be intimidating and discouraging to some people.

No disdain from me, man. Sorry if I've made you feel that way. We're all good! (and I enjoy the back and forth)

I do think the effect of thanks on group behaviour here is probably overrated or misrepresented. The only downside to removing them would be the potential that you have more people adding the same type of post instead of just thanking one, maybe, but that also happens anyway. Otherwise, thanks seems irrelevant to the point that I can't find any other reason why it might be bad to remove them. And for the rare posters who are actually thanks fishing, I guess it would be good to take away that encouragement.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

No disdain from me, man. Sorry if I've made you feel that way. We're all good! (and I enjoy the back and forth)

I do think the effect of thanks on group behaviour here is probably overrated or misrepresented. The only downside to removing them would be the potential that you have more people adding the same type of post instead of just thanking one, maybe, but that also happens anyway. Otherwise, thanks seems irrelevant to the point that I can't find any other reason why it might be bad to remove them. And for the rare posters who are actually thanks fishing, I guess it would be good to take away that encouragement.

I thank a lot of posts so on one hand it can appear hypocritical that I'm not a fan of the feature but I typically thank good posts, posts I agree with, to support a poster that's laying personal stuff on the line, etc. In another thread someone posted a picture of their black cat and I thanked it because it was a gorgeous cat and I like cats. I don't care to thank the posts that are on the spiteful side or belittling other posters. At the end of the day the forums were fine before the thanks feature and would be fine and better without it but that's only my opinion.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Hey man nobody can accuse me of being a spiteful poster. I see you have been dogging me recently but have I done the same with you? Nope as I have nothing against you and the fact we have differing opinions on certain topic in no way defines the type of person you are in my eyes as I've seen nothing here to indicate you aren't a good dude. I'm just not a mean spirited person which is why I have survived here over the years despite being a lightning rod at times. I honestly do not like to see people belittled or bullied on internet forums regardless of who they are. That's not me patting myself on the back as it is who I am as I would gladly sit and have a beer with anyone here even New Era.

I’m gonna be honest, I was just seeing whether or not you had thick enough skin to not respond.

Just giving you the gears I actually agree with what you’re saying though, for a long time I would mostly only thank posts where someone was having some form of hilarious internet meltdown.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

I thought this was the "Who would you vote for in the US Presidential Election" and not a "Is the Thanks button good or bad" thread.

That said.

I disagree that thanks leads to one line attacks. Lots of long, well reasoned posts get thanks. If anything seeing those posts get thanks likely causes more people to read them rather than tl;dr.

I know if I'm scrolling pages trying to get caught up on a thread, the posts with thanks are the ones I stop and read rather than skim or skip.

I will admit, I do enjoy the dopamine hit. I also miss being able to go to my User CP and checking out my posts with thanks.

Maybe that makes us better posters? Maybe it just appeals to the vein part of our brains? Maybe both?

I haven't really noticed a lot of posts attaching another poster getting lots of thanks, unless its clearly toward a troll. Not saying it doesn't happen, never underestimate my ability to miss the obvious.

TL;DR

Thanks are good... now thank this post please.

[Lanny_McDonald]

^^^ Oh, the sweet sweet endorphin rush!!!

[GGG]

I probably should have left it at it clearly gives the social media dopamine hit which then will change posting behaviour subtlety to seek thanks

How that changes and whether it improves or lowers quaulity is much more speculative.