In the old forums “dislikes” were allegedly removed because posts that earned enough “dislikes” were “greyed” out by the software, essentially, buried.
The new forums have a “flagging” system which is only supposed to be limited to use for reporting spam, or posts that break forum rules. In the new forums, enough flags will “grey out” or “bury” a post, just as the former “dislike” system did.
Setting aside that in the “dislike” system could have been retained by just stopping the “greying out” effect, we now have exactly the same result with flags. Players now use flags to express “dislikes,” rather than as a tool for reporting forum abuses.
So how about enabling “dislikes” again without “greying out” or “burying/hiding” the disliked post and limiting flag abuse so that they are only used for serious issues?
No, comrade. This is Blizzard forum. Only social credit is observed. Soon new post will be buried when we adopt YouTube style system and algorithm find only popular post about good Blizzard idea. Do not resist. If we don’t like, you no post. You do not have right to have critical think or original thought. Descent is not allowed. Welcome to future, comrade. Your job is peon. Universal income will be sent to credit account. If you do not comply, you will be deleted. Have nice day.
Having been part of the “these repeated classic wow requests claiming a million people will come back must just be trolls” forum hivemind, I humbly accept that I can’t be trusted with a downvote.
Yeah, I’ve seen several threads today where the post was gray. There was really no reason for it to be flagged to being gray; People just disliked what they said.
I think Blizzard needs to “flip” it, suspending the people who flag for no good reason.
If there was a down vote system a false flag could earn ya two in return. People could false flag themselves into obscurity…then create posts about how they are unfairly censored. Heh
Yes. It’s powerful enough to lock a thread and stop people from using said thread.
The dislike button was there for that specific purpose, according to blue posts back then. It was not for voting, but it was supposed to help combat trolls. Players also used it incorrectly.
It doesn’t just bury posts. Enough flags can lock a thread down. It’s got the report system of old, the dislike system that buries posts, and it’s own tricks and it’s just too powerful.
What is the proof that it is used to show dislike? It doesn’t show a tally of reports. Players know what reports do and don’t do and they probably use the tool because of what it does, which is so much worse than burying a post sometimes. It’s intentional. However, the odd thing is that the reports may actually be warranted. In long threads, players rip into each other day after day and there are no consequences. So if mods actually stepped up and cleared some of the repeat offenders out it might actually clear some issues up. Not all, but some.
I think if there is a like option there should also be a dislike option, especially if blizzard measures likes for things like what questions to use in a Q&A (which Lore mentioned they did look at likes in a video). Or just get rid of likes and dislikes and let players use their words to show support and let CMs read the feedback. Balance either way though, in my opinion.
Oh and flags are severely limited. You only get a few and it’s on a CD. Mods should be stepping up so that there are fewer posts to report though, and being proactive (actually read the threads and act on posts that break their rules instead of just reacting to reports).
Yes, it was a dumb idea with how they packaged it (a thumbs up or down with the like/dislike label) vs how they intended it to be used. Whoever made it didn’t think it through clearly. Players took advantage of it and used it as a weapon and that’s why it was removed. Now players have an even stronger weapon with the report system. Discourse also didn’t think their system through. Maybe their system is only good for websites that have very active mods and smaller audiences, I don’t know.
The thing is, to get a real punishment after your post has been hidden it needs to get reviewed. Other than your post being hidden for a bit, it will come back.
What people normally don’t understand is why their post gets flagged, well there are a lot of reason but like some people don’t agree on stuff, you’re basicly just disagreeing why they flagged your post. They might rightfully think there’s a good reason for their flag. Personnaly, I would be even for the removal of the like system, it doesn’t serve anything other than confirmation bias.
People could false flag themselves into obscurity…then create posts about how they are unfairly censored. Heh