Somnastra
Good
Don't. Panic.
You might notice something different about the ratings bar. This is intentional. I am running an experiment for a month or two to see if removing the dislike rating helps engender a more harmonious attitude on the forums. This might eventually extend to the disagree rating, too. We'll have to see.
Now. I understand that there may be some grumbling about this. I've seen lots of folks saying that negative ratings - and let's be clear, here, this is just the dislike rating - should be handed out with the same supporting justification as positive ratings. Which is none, in most situations. Let me tell you why I think this argument is specious: the psychological reaction that individuals have to positive ratings ranges from ambivalence to warm fuzzies to excitement, while the reaction to dislikes (particularly when they are not explained) is most mild at defensiveness (not actually a constructive reaction), and has been demonstrably shown to escalate quickly and engender hostilities and often mindless arguments more often than not. (I use mindless in the sense that people argue with their emotions, not their rationality in these cases.)
So I'm gonna run this experiment for a while. In a a few weeks, I'll solicit feedback and let you guys let me have it.
One thing we may do, depending on how this goes, is implement an upvote/downvote kind of system instead of like/dislike, and have both of these ratings be neutral. We'll explore this some more later.
In the meantime, if you don't like a post, either ... don't "like" the post, or actually tell someone why it disagrees with you like bad meat. We'll all learn to communicate a little better for it .
Thanks, guys!
UPDATE:
You might notice something different about the ratings bar. This is intentional. I am running an experiment for a month or two to see if removing the dislike rating helps engender a more harmonious attitude on the forums. This might eventually extend to the disagree rating, too. We'll have to see.
Now. I understand that there may be some grumbling about this. I've seen lots of folks saying that negative ratings - and let's be clear, here, this is just the dislike rating - should be handed out with the same supporting justification as positive ratings. Which is none, in most situations. Let me tell you why I think this argument is specious: the psychological reaction that individuals have to positive ratings ranges from ambivalence to warm fuzzies to excitement, while the reaction to dislikes (particularly when they are not explained) is most mild at defensiveness (not actually a constructive reaction), and has been demonstrably shown to escalate quickly and engender hostilities and often mindless arguments more often than not. (I use mindless in the sense that people argue with their emotions, not their rationality in these cases.)
So I'm gonna run this experiment for a while. In a a few weeks, I'll solicit feedback and let you guys let me have it.
One thing we may do, depending on how this goes, is implement an upvote/downvote kind of system instead of like/dislike, and have both of these ratings be neutral. We'll explore this some more later.
In the meantime, if you don't like a post, either ... don't "like" the post, or actually tell someone why it disagrees with you like bad meat. We'll all learn to communicate a little better for it .
Thanks, guys!
UPDATE:
Ladies and gentlemen,
There has been a disheartening trend lately of abusing the disagree button. I understand that frustrations are high right now, and I empathize. However, lashing out at folks, and then hiding behind semantics is not the way we should handle this.
I'm removing the disagree button at the request of more than a few people, for well-argued reasons. I can be convinced to make this a temporary change, but it cannot return until I am assured that this will not continue.
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