What does « Like » represent ?
- Thread starter Antho
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Skanky Vamp
Sniffin' the Slayer
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Remember a few years ago when you had to disable them because people were just posting and saying things to boost their like count? And people were getting upset with "unlikes" because it reduced their like totals? Those was good times is what those was.
nightshade
Have some karma!
Antho
Scooby
I consider likes as someone who agree or at least thinks what I said makes sense. It’s not that I can’t live without likes, i sure can 🙂, but in term of « paying attention » it’s the same thing as getting an response.
@Spanky : what you said is a perfect exemple of likes having a large effect on people. It’s not people’s faults it’s the society which make us like that
Sometimes I like posts when I agree with them, or sometimes I like posts just because I like someone, or sometimes I like posts because I have a reaction to them. I generally don't like posts if I disagree or have a negative reaction.
DeadlyDuo
Scooby
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I do that. It's just nice to see what it was I wrote that someone agreed with. Normally, I then spot errors in my post like a misspelling or a word missing but it's too late to correct it.
It is an interesting question about "likes". Generally, I think getting a "like" just means that people agree with your post but don't really have more to comment other than "I agree". Those that do want to expand on it will normally leave a comment.
I've received angry faces and reactions on posts I've written from certain people but then I knew it would probably wind some people up because people don't liked to be faced with a truth that differs from a narrative they've been telling themselves/been led to believe, especially when facts back up the opposing viewpoint.
I think if you're posting something, it needs to be done because you believe in what you're posting, rather than it just being done to garner likes. Everyone has different opinions and not all opinions are going to agree, shipping wars are built on that foundation. Just so long as you can justifiably defend your opinion, it shouldn't matter what other people think.
Antho
Perfectly said :)
Antho
Scooby
I think I know who you are talking about 😉. And I think you are 💯 right here.
This is exactly my opinion. I think « likes » give people more confidence and I would say it’s more easy to debate when you have some « support » I would say. Let’s say that if I have a debate with someone and that a lot of people like the opposite comments of mine and that I have nobody in my side, I think I would get tired of the debate faster. I will defend my opinion of course and probably won’t change it but alone, I will probably not entertain the conversation a very long time.
And I want to say that DeadlyDuo you are one of the members that I think write very good analysis 🙂. You and @TriBel really surprise me sometimes with your ideas and how you express yourself.
TriBel
Thank you. To be honest, I swear more in real life! :))
DeadlyDuo
Scooby
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That's understandable, however I think sometimes it's worth noting who the "likes" are from. If one set of people think a certain way and you know they think that way, then they're going to "like" the post that falls most in line with their opinion. That doesn't mean that your post is invalid or you're opinion is wrong, it could just be that your post hasn't been seen yet by the people who think like you.
It would be like if you posted in the Spuffy zone that you thought Spuffy was crap, someone else would argue that Spuffy is the best thing since sliced bread, all the Spuffies would then "like" the post praising Spuffy. However, if you were to post the exact same post in the Bangel zone and the person debating with you posted their same post, you would find that your post got the "likes" because the Bangels would have a similar opinion to you.
Thank you 🙂
Antho
Exactly. Well said :)
HowiMetdaSlayer
𝕔𝕠𝕔𝕠𝕒 𝕒𝕕𝕕𝕚𝕔𝕥 ☕️
thrasherpix
Scooby
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I honestly don't recall "likes" back then (though maybe you say the pleasure and sensation weren't the same because of that, but for me it's not an issue). I think the reason I don't care myself is that it wan't part of my online experience, and had very little to do with social media. Buffy Boards is the first board ever that used this system of Likes and the (no pun intended) like for me to personally experience. Still, I did interact on a few message boards, including fan-based ones (that included Buffy for a short while). I preferred discussion (even on fan boards) to anything else. Smilies were fine as long as they were used as intended because it implied tone.
I also recall getting into passionate arguments in my younger years, but those were stimulating, and I ended up making friends with some. Though probably inconceivable today, I chipped in $60 to help a guy who I frequently argued politics with to get a new computer after his was stolen and we never even met face to face (despite that our politics were almost diametric, we realized we had similar values, just disagreed on the best way to foster those values in society, and most of our arguments were respectable debates that assumed the other person was intelligent and well meaning, and we were on a fan board of a show we both loved as well), and I also loved the joking I used to take part in with others, sometimes at each other's expense that could turn into running gags (some of it that would get clamped down on fast today).
What really touched me was someone I argued in almost everything came to expand my views, and mine hers, and years after the board (a MSN board for those who remember them, and it was over neopaganism which I was involved with back then, though we clashed on a wide variety of subjects) was taken down so we lost contact, I looked her up years later and was deeply touched to find a conversation of former board members on another board where they said they missed me which really surprised me (but hadn't posted to that board in years, and I'd moved on from neopaganism by that time anyway). The way we both grew into mutual respect was much more touching, and likely a lot more possible, because we didn't have all this Like nonsense.
And on that same board (that, and related ones which we were both members of), another really liked me. She thought I was a college student and couldn't wait to meet me when I was headed her way. I'd have gotten a ton of Likes from her back then if that were a thing. But the moment she saw me, completely at odds with how she pictured me, she put me at a distance with it getting awkward. (It's one of those experiences I share about with a laugh, but likely another reason Likes mean so little to me.)
I know how important they are to some kids I know which makes me glad I'm not a kid. Then again, peer pressure was always a thing, and though it could only be verbal, phones were a heavy part of that when I was growing up, and it didn't affect me then, so maybe I wouldn't so afflicted today, assuming similar early childhood development experiences.
Antho
Scooby
@thrasherpix i think it’s super cool when we develop virtual friendship and it becomes a real thing. You know what I mean, when you meet people of the board in real life. I enjoy reading your experiences, which are full of various emotions. It’s really sad that one experience where you met the person, she saw you and then... it’s over ! What was the problem ? Also I really want to meet some of the people here. But I’m Afraid that for me to afford a travel in USA is really impossibly now 😅 for corona reasons of course but also financial and in fact also because I’m really too shy... and I’m afraid at what people would think of me.. but that’s a personal problem I have in my everyday life
The key to a healthy online existence is to not read to much into who likes what and who didn't like what.
At least for the average person on facebook, forum like this and other similar places.
Personally, and I think many others are the same, so do I usually click that like button rather randomly.
Sometimes I just can't be bothered or perhaps I get distracted and plainly doesn't think about it.
Doesn't matter how brilliant the post was or much I agreed. I will not always get around to click like.
Other times I will click like for a decent post that I'm just kinda agree with or for whatever random reason.
In the end. Those likes, or lack of, will tell you nothing.
Especially not when your reach isn't bigger than a bunch of friends or a half decent sized forum.
/SK
At least for the average person on facebook, forum like this and other similar places.
Personally, and I think many others are the same, so do I usually click that like button rather randomly.
Sometimes I just can't be bothered or perhaps I get distracted and plainly doesn't think about it.
Doesn't matter how brilliant the post was or much I agreed. I will not always get around to click like.
Other times I will click like for a decent post that I'm just kinda agree with or for whatever random reason.
In the end. Those likes, or lack of, will tell you nothing.
Especially not when your reach isn't bigger than a bunch of friends or a half decent sized forum.
/SK
Fuffy
You have a point
thrasherpix
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I'm glad you asked since I can clarify what I said (she didn't actually think I was a college student as she knew I was too young, though by this time I'd gotten my GED, which is the equivalent of a high school diploma, with a very high score).
We interacted online when I was 17-18 and she was in her late 20s (and a college grad herself). At the time I had a very old school tutor who told me it was all the more important to use proper English (which she took in college during the 1960s and was a professional editor for decades) as there isn't tone online. That, combined with my then insecurity over being a high school dropout who wanted to be taken seriously, got me to do so until some of those I interacted with online were openly intimidated by me and even imagined me having advanced degrees (and I was stunned when a woman in her 50s wanted to be MY "apprentice"--her words, btw) so that I finally toned it down (as I was genuinely interested in what they had to say rather than being "right").
Even so, I was learning a lot and excited about it, and I also had a lot more energy (both mental and physical, filled with endless curiosity) so that my enthusiasm of what I was learning (which was college level) showed through.
But I was still a kid, and a very passionate one at the time. Since I didn't have social media to trumpet my colors, I instead made some artistic adjustments to a trench coat that not only signaled many beliefs of mine (and some I considered allied to, which included an Army airborne like patch featuring a witch on a broom that said Wiccan Army, 13th Airborne), but mocked society (I think I was 25 when I burned it up so I'd never cringe again upon seeing it in my closet, seeing it as destroying the evidence). I had a very off beat style on top of that, such as mixing striped arm wraps and muscle shirt with cargo pants and combat boots. I believe my hair was dyed black & blue at the time in addition to being boyishly short.
I got off the bus to find this very ordinary, low key woman about 27 who was stunned by my appearance. She explained she was in the closet and being seen with me was going to raise all kinds of questions from her family and coworkers (and we did run into the latter later) that she didn't want to answer. I did change, and wore some of her clothes while I was there, and then it was time for me to move on which was obviously a relief to her. And after that she was very distant to me online until we didn't interact at all.
As she told me in her car after I first arrived, she pictured me as being like a nerdy college girl, probably with glasses, because of how knowledgeable I was, my vocabulary, etc. Since she hung around people like that, it wouldn't raise too many uncomfortable questions for me to stay a couple of days, and she figured most would assume I was older than I was. But she panicked at the thought of being seen with me as she saw me step off the bus looking like a freak when she was trying to keep her Wiccan religion and witchcraft practices private (and I think also feared being seen as something other than heterosexual).
It's no big deal to me. Had we talked more about it before I showed up it would've been less awkward. But both of us made too many assumptions so it never occurred to either of us to plan it out better. I suspect she became distant from me because she felt awkward and ashamed at how she was about my appearance (and not foreseeing the possibility), but to me it was just a funny incident even at the time. I hope she has become a lot less concerned about what others think by now, but even if she hasn't, I expect she could relax in my company now (in the extremely unlikely event of our paths ever crossing again) as I dress a lot more normal now and haven't even dyed my hair in over 15 years.
ILLYRIAN
Druish Pervonian Wizard
What do the likes mean for those people who live in the north of England. And a person who lives in the north of England will say a person is entitled to say, "They like whatever subject they like, like!"
I rarely dislike things/press to downvote but I will dislike things on Youtube occasionally because I imagine it makes the algorithm not recommend that type of content to me. But maybe I’m wrong.