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I think "disagree" (thumbs down) and laugh emojis degrade this community

Porco said:
I disagree with your point at its core because I think negative votes do degrade the site (just a little bit), but you expressed your view so gracefully and eloquently I found myself tapping the ‘love‘ button. :)
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You just made my day! Thank you.

My view is that expression is actually curtailed by any voting, because there isn’t as much nuance possible in the use of emoticons rather than replying with a full post. But negative voting not only curtails the nuance, it also makes disagreement reductive, which *can* (not always of course) contribute to a less welcoming, less productive place for discussion.
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I do agree that a response that's more than a thumbs up or down does promote discussion, whereas en emoji does not.

maflynn said:
...There are many times where a member chooses to voice their dissent on a post without wanting to reply in full, especially since we provide members the ability to voice their agreement via the like button...
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I agree with this in cases where I would only post something like "agree." Since +1-type posts are against the rules, I am left with the thumbs up option. And I figure it's better to show my approval that way than not reacting at all.
 
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For the "laughing" emoji, I think how people intemperate it is cultural. Some cultures see it as "I'm laughing *WITH* you" and other cultures view it as "I'm laughing *AT* you". This will cause conflict. However, the "thumbs down" serve no value in this type of group.

My advice?

Replace both with other emoji. I recommend "clapping" emoji and maybe a "thinking" emoji?

However, if the "laughing" and "thumbs down" emoji are there just to cause conflict and flame wars so we can stay longer on the site, then shame on you!
 
A great man once wrote "È meglio essere amato o temuto?" In the end, he opted for the latter.
 
I mean, the moderators aren’t blind are they? Just look at the hatred between the two posters who shall remain unnamed, in every. single. iPhone. article...

This “downvoting” only degrades this community and helps to spread negativity.
 
MacRazySwe said:
This “downvoting” only degrades this community and helps to spread negativity.
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Ok, lets be realistic, the voting system in general is a tiny little part of articles that shows 1 of each emoji response received, 3 members names and the count of others.

You need to click it to view any degradation or negativity so perhaps, just perhaps, don't click it?
 
The 'laugh' emoji is used more in a negative way than it is for it's proper intended purpose. Many members in here use it in a disrespectful manner, to laugh 'at' you. All you need to do is go look through the politics section and go through threads that are Donald Trump related or threads relating to the current issue with Epic games or threads relating to the App store or threads relating to Tim Cook becoming a billionaire or threads about Apple becoming a trillion worth company, you will see many posts where someone has made a constructive comment but then someone has come along and used a 'laugh' emoji, it being clear the intention is that they think the post is a joke/ridiculous thereby being disrespectful to the member who made the post.

For that reason the 'laugh' emoji should be removed.
 
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laptech said:
For that reason the 'laugh' emoji should be removed.
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While I understand that many members have used the 'laugh' emoji in this way the joke is inevitably on them because it acts as an 'upvote'.

Again, it has such a tiny footprint at the bottom of every post that you need to interact with in order to see the various reactions, if you don't like them, don't use them! If no one uses them they will probably go away. If they continue to be used then perhaps, just perhaps, the problem is with the few individuals in this thread complaining about them and the ease with which they are triggered.
 
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icanhazmac said:
While I understand that many members have used the 'laugh' emoji in this way the joke is inevitably on them because it acts as an 'upvote'.

Again, it has such a tiny footprint at the bottom of every post that you need to interact with in order to see the various reactions, if you don't like them, don't use them! If no one uses them they will probably go away. If they continue to be used then perhaps, just perhaps, the problem is with the few individuals in this thread complaining about them and the ease with which they are triggered.
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If it's 'such a tiny footprint' as you claim it to be then why not remove them completely, because if it's such a 'tiny footbprint' then by that statement alone it has no signifigance and as such it's not worth wasting resources on having them. No, your wrong, it's not a tiny footprint, it's much much bigger than you care to realise.

If you was in a meeting or with a group of friends and having a general discussion and you answered someones question with what you consider to be a constructive comment but for then to have someone laugh in your face becuase they thought your comment was utterly ridiculous, would you not feel a bit aggrieved at what has just taken place?. would you not feel a bit resentleful at that person's repsonse? The laugh emoji replicates that exact response in digital form. In the abscense of an actual joke or something that is genuine humourous, the use of the laugh emoji can be used to demean someone's post by using the digital form of 'laughing in their face'.
 
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laptech said:
If it's 'such a tiny footprint' as you claim it to be then why not remove them completely, because if it's such a 'tiny footbprint' then by that statement alone it has no signifigance and as such it's not worth wasting resources on having them. No, your wrong, it's not a tiny footprint, it's much much bigger than you care to realise.
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Well thanks for your input but it appears the community likes the emoji reactions based on their usage. It is a tiny footprint as compared to the overall footprint of a post, please reference post #107 where you see 1 single reaction, it is a TINY footprint, always 1 line of text, rarely more than 50% of the post window. Get over yourself.
laptech said:
If you was in a meeting or with a group of friends and having a general discussion and you answered someones question with what you consider to be a constructive comment but for then to have someone laugh in your face becuase they thought your comment was utterly ridiculous, would you not feel a bit aggrieved at what has just taken place?
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Nice try but there is a huge difference between a workplace meeting and an online tech forum. And for what its worth, if I'm together with my friends and someone says something stupid you can rest assured we will all laugh AT the person who said it, we all say dumb things from time to time and a good 'laugh at' helps you grow.
 
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Not a fan. I see users using this to try to "get back" at other users they don't agree with. Some will take the time to find all of a user's news posts and downvote them just to give them a downvote. This negates the "responses" tally on their profile.

I don't mind one or two disagrees but when it's used as a "get back at you" tool...
 
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There is a quota to how many posts you can downvote in a given period of time? That's good to know.
 
BigMcGuire said:
Not a fan. I see users using this to try to "get back" at other users they don't agree with. Some will take the time to find all of a user's news posts and downvote them just to give them a downvote. This negates the "responses" tally on their profile.

I don't mind one or two disagrees but when it's used as a "get back at you" tool...
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I have a few particular ‘fans’ on this site, [at least that’s what I call them], they like to follow me around In the community forum or ‘tech threads‘, try to trigger me by using the ‘thumbs down‘ or a poor attempt to illicit a response by disagreeing no matter what‘s posted (Which has no effect on me in any way possible). My theory is, by me ignoring them, it makes them even more peeved off, to the point where they literally get themselves suspended based off their own juvenile tactics, because they can’t follow simple rules and clearly have other ongoing issues.

Here’s how I see it, if you have someone who consistently follows you around to gain a response or some type of triggered interaction that would be disruptive just for the ‘sake of arguing‘, then maybe the Internet isn’t really the place for _that_ person. Or in the least, take a break, go for a walk, Do something more positive. What some of these members are really looking for, is some type of acknowledgment of their ‘online existence’ that they can outsmart you, but the key is, ignore them to the point where they feel insignificant, and they just kinda-sorta go away. 😁

Be that it may, This is a great site, (and the only site that I actually subscribe to), but there’s such a bigger world outside Macrumors, where the internet can be a bitter place, but I never personally worry about what a digital stranger tries to provoke or prove in the realm of ‘I’m better than you’, life is good and I’m thankful for the knowledge I’ve gained from quite a few members on this site in both the Community and tech sector, but also for the moderators who make it very possible to enjoy this site. Which, ever since the new forum migration, Arn has made the site even more attractive and fluid, so thanks for that.

Press on!
 
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BigMcGuire said:
There is a quota to how many posts you can downvote in a given period of time? That's good to know.
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Luckily they still have haha ;)
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Wando64 said:
I have found a user whose only activity over a period of over two months has been to “thumb down” two of my posts.
I feel as if I have achieved something in my life now. 😂
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Yeah, I’ve seen a few of these too. Hasn’t happened to me but good grief. I wonder how much potential content this stifles? Glad to see it hasn’t affected you negatively.
 
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BigMcGuire said:
Yeah, I’ve seen a few of these too. Hasn’t happened to me but good grief. I wonder how much potential content this stifles? Glad to see it hasn’t affected you negatively.
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Feel free to hit me up when the chance arises and I’ll sort you out with some “Thumbs-down” anti-love.

*Please note, this is a limited time offer, only 4 thumbs down per poster per day and offer void in AZ, DC, PR & HI.
 
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I am probably in the minority on this but I think all of the up and down voting results should be hidden to end users (other than the poster themself perhaps).

It’s great that users want to do it and I think that probably does help with ranking threads and comments..

For the community though, the toxic part is when others can see the results of it on a post and it becomes a “pile on fest” in the positive or negative direction.

In other words — collect and use the data to rank best and controversial comments (Etc) for the purposes of user sorting, but otherwise hide those results so people can actually think with their own brain and not be influenced by what others are up or downvoting
 
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