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Thanks Option

dukebound85

dukebound85

macrumors Core
Original poster
Jul 17, 2005
19,131
4,110
5045 feet above sea level
I was looking at another forum (the modmyiphone forum) and noticed the members there had "thanks" and the # of thanks they had received.

I think this would be useful as some posts are alot more "quality" than others. thus if i were to see a member with alot of "thanks" i would take his advice much more so than someone that did not.

anyone else agree?
 
xUKHCx

xUKHCx

Administrator emeritus
Jan 15, 2006
12,583
9
The Kop
generally the best bet is to wait for a few replies and see what the consensus is. After all no one can be an expert in everything.
 
CalBoy

CalBoy

macrumors 604
May 21, 2007
7,849
37
xUKHCx said:
generally the best bet is to wait for a few replies and see what the consensus is. After all no one can be an expert in everything.
Click to expand...

I think you hit it on the head. Some of us are really good in some areas, and horrible in others. Not all of us are mad jews!:p
 
J

juxtaposer

macrumors regular
Oct 10, 2007
164
0
In A Field
Sounds like a good idea. Especially for newcomers (like myself). Would help a lot to know which users are giving the most useful information. :)
 
Jaffa Cake

Jaffa Cake

macrumors Core
Aug 1, 2004
19,801
9
The City of Culture, Englandshire
One problem that springs to mind is that I might be an expert on X, having received loads of thanks points for my sage and helpful comments on that particular subject. However, I know nothing about Y so when I wade into a thread on that subject with an answer that's hopelessly wrong, my suggestion might be favoured over someone with a lower thanks rating but is offering the correct advice.

If that makes sense. :eek:
 
iBlue

iBlue

macrumors Core
Mar 17, 2005
19,180
15
London, England
I visit another forum which has this feature, I really like it.

It can only be a positive thing. (unlike reputation features which can invite negativity)

Sometimes I don't have anything to say other than "thanks" and it passes that point along without me posting it.
 
mad jew

mad jew

Moderator emeritus
Apr 3, 2004
32,191
9
Adelaide, Australia
Yeah, I think this idea makes sense. I can't imagine there're people out there so fragile as to worry about how many 'thanks' points they have compared with other members. Does vBulletin support this? :)
 
Eidorian

Eidorian

macrumors Penryn
Mar 23, 2005
29,190
386
Indianapolis
mad jew said:
Yeah, I think this idea makes sense. I can't imagine there're people out there so fragile as to worry about how many 'thanks' points they have compared with other members. Does vBulletin support this? :)
Click to expand...
I've been on other vBulletin message boards with reputation systems.

It's fun for older users (ego stroking) but I'm wary of newer ones and the chance of abusing it.
 
mad jew

mad jew

Moderator emeritus
Apr 3, 2004
32,191
9
Adelaide, Australia
Yeah, this is subtly different to the reputation system, but I guess you're right. It could be used on the same mechanism. Personally, I can't see it being instigated though.
 
grahamperrin

grahamperrin

macrumors 601
Jun 8, 2007
4,942
648
A roundup, and looking ahead (to beyond the migration from vBulletin)

Bringing in some quotes from duplicate topics and elsewhere:

iPhone 62S said:
… On a lot of other tech help forums, they have a "thanks" add-on, where every post will have a "thanks" button, and if the post has helped you then you click the button and it gets added to the thank count of the user who posted.

I think this will be good on this forum, it helps see which members are helpful etc. …
Click to expand...

RedTomato said:
Eh, how about a thanks count that is NOT visible to the general population?

I.e. pressing a 'thanks' button sends a thanks to the poster, or increases their thanks count, but only the poster is able to see their own thanks count?

That would make it different from post rankings or popularity contests.

I know if I wrote a long helpful post, I'd be quite chuffed to get thanks from several other people who also found it helpful. It doesn't matter that no-one else sees these thanks - they're for me alone.

Other benefits of a private thanks counter: reduces spam posts saying '+1' or 'fab post thanks!', easier than sending PMs and clogging up their PM folder.

If you want to say PUBLIC thanks to someone, simply post saying so, same as what we have now.
Click to expand...

Too noisy; I nearly always refrain. https://macrumors.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201265337-Forum-Rules#nottodo point 2.

iPhone 62S said:
Actually, on other forums that have a thanks button, there are very few +1 posts.
Click to expand...

MBClub UK (see below) allows readers to both like and give thanks, I never noticed a shortage of likes in that forum.

RedTomato said:
It's for you and only you. Ever had someone quietly say 'thanks' to you? Ever said 'thanks' to someone for doing something small but useful like passing the salt or getting down something from the top shelf?

Many things don't need a big public song and a dance, but a bit of quiet gratitude is still in order.

And it would be nice to look at your account in a few years time and note to yourself that you've been individually thanked one-by-one by, say, 30,000 people. (not impossible for some of the more helpful posters on MR).
Click to expand...

bmcgonag said:
Possibly a "Thank You" or "Nice Tip" or "Nice Answer" button for the forum posts.

I've seen this on other forums, and it's nice to give props without adding to the length of a thread.
Click to expand...

GGJstudios said:
It would be great, if it would cut down on the number of ancient threads being resurrected years later, just to say thanks! …
Click to expand...

SilentPanda said:
I wish this button were available also. It would hopefully cut down on the number of +1 type posts plus possibly make it easier to find the "right" answer in a thread.
Click to expand...

appleguy123 said:
I like this idea, too.
Click to expand...

TwoSocEmBoppers said:
… seriously...I'm a big fan of this idea.
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charlieegan3 said:
I would quite like a thanked feature like many other sites have (on top of like/upvote).
Click to expand...

Jaguarr40 said:
… I know that MacRumors is much different than other forums but "Likes" and "Thanks" are also another form of ending a conversation after it is read and keep track of it for the poster. It sorta tells everyone else reading it how they feel about the post they just read making the person feel a good sense of what others they have come to know feel about their contribution to an ongoing conversation and makes that person feel good and it becomes infectious. …
Click to expand...


Moved from migration-related https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=20469521#post20469521:

----
If the button is named 'like', I'll click reasonably often.

If the button is named 'thank you' or 'thanks', I'll click far more often.

With the current system: I often like the majority of a post, but I refrain from clicking 'like' because I don't want it to be misinterpreted as liking all points within that post. A 'thank you' will be more effective; it's an acknowledgement that you have taken the time to read and appreciate someone's contribution – without necessarily agreeing. ​

Two examples

At the UK Mercedez-Benz Owner's Forums site:
  • threads can be rated
  • a post can receive thanks
  • beneath each post there appears the names of people who are grateful, and the dates on which each person gave thanks.
An extreme example: http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=92596

The member statistics page does not attempt to summarise thanks given or thanks received.

At the MBClub UK site:
  • threads are not rated
  • a post can receive thanks
  • a post can be liked
  • within each post there appears the names of people who like it
  • beneath each post there appears the names of people who are grateful, and the dates on which each person gave thanks
  • at the head of each page of a topic there appears the number of likes; a love heart menu … that might sound ugly but now I see the contents of that menu, it's surprisingly useful.
Example: http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/general-discussion/170866-diesels.html

The member statistics page summarises thanks given and thanks received but does not attempt to summarise likes. The summaries are not published, I think that's proper. http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/members/grahamperrin.html for example (I don't mind the public seeing my own stats):
----

In XenForo Community

"Thanks" AND "like" button? – I can't add to that topic … the Post Ratings product that's mentioned is apparently 'Not Available'.

Liking posts after the MacRumors Forums migration from vBulletin

A recent comment:

arn said:
Feel like it's hard to talk about until its in action. It's hard to explain/predict how the dynamic changes until you use it.

arn
Click to expand...

That's sensible.
 
lowendlinux

lowendlinux

macrumors 603
Sep 24, 2014
5,439
6,735
Germany
Since this thread was resurrected I'll throw in my pennies:

The two other tech forums I'm on a great deal are OCN and Linux Questions. They both use a rep system but seem to handle it differently, I'd rather see a rep than a thanks system.
 
Partron22

Partron22

macrumors 68030
Apr 13, 2011
2,655
808
Yes
Seems to me a thanks system promotes mutual admiration societies. These abominations already come close to outnumbering cat pictures on the internet.
 
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