Because the WoW forum users would use it as a Disagree button instead of a Bad Post button like it was intended to be.
That was the exact problem.
That person gets it!
Like a person could write a well thought out post, for or against, about LFR. The post could be perfect, in every way (no, I'm not talking about posts of mine because I am THE WORST!) but people would dislike it A LOT who disagreed. Someone would say, "Well, I DO(or DON'T) like LFR, so I must dislike every post in this thread of a different opinion!"
So it ended up not being used in the way it was intended. The intended use was for goobers who come to the forums and post "ASMAHGHOULD!", something or other.
Like a person could write a well thought out post, for or against, about Asmongold. The post could be perfect, in every way (no, I'm not talking about posts of mine because I am THE WORST!) but people would dislike it A LOT who disagreed. Someone would say, "Well, I DO(or DON'T) like Asmongold, so I must dislike every post in this thread of a different opinion!"
So it ended up not being used in the way it was intended. The intended use was for goobers who come to the forums and post "HIGH ELVES!", something or other.
Hey look you can just replace three words. As this is entirely about opinion.
Because the WoW forum users would use it as a Disagree button instead of a Bad Post button like it was intended to be.
Exactly!
People want proof of that? Then look at the last reddit AMA with Ion.
The WoW community abused it.
Then it should have said bad post, the buttons say like, dislike. If I didn't like something I hit dislike. I wasn't aware that I was supposed to hit dislike if it was a bad post. I always figured that's what the report button was for. Much like on youtube you don't like a video you can either hit dislike or stay neutral and say nothing. It's not rocket science, and just because people hit dislike doesn't mean they are toxic. Just like people disagreeing with you doesn't mean they're toxic. People have the right to think what they want and disagree with each other. If we become an echo chamber and only allow others to think what we want them to think, then we're the toxic ones.
If they lock likes / dislikes to bnet accounts to prevent people from alt-bombing, then the auto-hide is useful. If so many people of the community dislike what you have to say that it gets hidden, then maybe the problem isn’t the community.
It would allow Blizz to quickly determine how popular an topic is and allow the community to, in some way, self-police against obvious trolls. Less work on Blizz’s end.
… but of course, as others have said, we can’t have a social platform where people’s feelers get hurt. Positive feelings only people!
I would say a dislike button should be enabled for viewers/readers of the Community Council board at least - if they refuse to enable it in the rest of the forums
If the rest of us can’t post replies there or share our thoughts on topic X, then a simple “dislike” button would give the community the ability to “vote” on which Community Council ideas they like/don’t like (as evidenced by the like-to-dislike ratio on any given thread)
Right?
Honestly the fears of “people will just use alts to dislike-bomb other posters” are overblown. As you said, a very simple way to prevent such abuse is to just make it “1 dislike per Bnet account”
1 Bnet account
1 “dislike” allowed per post (prevents alt dislike-spamming abuse)
Problem solved
…the only posters “against” the idea of the dislike button coming back are those posters that have unpopular ideas or make disliked threads, in which case they’re the problem rather than the community (…because like you said: if their ideas/posts were good then they wouldn’t be getting dislikes in the first place)
I have been a forum lurker sub species for many many years through many many mmos. It is typical. EQ, EQ2, SWG, etc… all the forums drew trolls and people who liked to debate. I liked to read them, but rarely posted. I still don’t post that much. But Wow is one of my longest played games for sure.
“I am glad the Dislike Button is gone. It was abused a lot. I had many posts buried, but not because I said something others did not like, no. It was just because of my posting quirk. I got buried a lot, because I have a silly posting quirk. That was hateful and abusive. I am glad it is gone.”
That’s what the flag button is for. For example, I don’t like you so I report you under false reasons to get you banned from the forums. That’s the flag button.
