What about a "like" button on the forum?

Andrew, that is what I mean the forum would look like if Peter Greene's suggestion of using emoji as likes were used and 3 people "liked" the previous post, as you say he may not know how likes are usually shown on other forums.

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Thanks for that- you are making my point here as I have no idea which post those thumbs actually refer to? With this inadequate system, I have to assume they were meant for me. Could you do the same for a a post that's ten positions up in the list? Or - if you quoted the whole of that post, how could I conveniently read it in the context of adjacent posts?

Andrew

No and that is one of the advantages of the new software that is coming soon.

Not too surprising - even though it's disappointing. But my earlier comment about comparing like with like (seriously, I wrote that without intending any pun) is relevant here. The Falmouth Packet will be a social / semi local historical forum, populated with people who love Falmouth but who have no other common interests.. Many of them will not be able to justify their comments etc. etc. Can you really compare it with ME?

As an Old Truronian, I am sad to read your story.

I suggest you all spend a few minutes on physicsforums.com That will possibly be quite enough for non-Scientists.

Just pick a topic with a reasonable number of posts and see how Likes can be used to effect. People are largely very polite and helpful and compliment each other when a good point has been made.

No punchups in my nearly ten years of membership!

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OMG, in my innocence I assumed that "likes" were something that would be used relatively infrequently to signify a particularly meritorious post .... not that they would be used by default.

Can't think off hand of a better way to ruin a forum.

Is the following a good example of what you might call a "ruined forum" ?:

"I suggest you all spend a few minutes on physicsforums.com That will possibly be quite enough for non-Scientists."

I remember an old Guinness advert "I don't like it 'cos I've never tried it"

The point of my invite to look at that forum was not the subject matter - it was the way it works. The Likes are no more than a murmur of "hear hear" during a debate. I can't imagine what experiences some members must have had on other forums to feel so strongly against this. Obviously there are more of them around like the Falmouth Packet forum.

I used to live in Plymouth as a young lad so Lyner and Lynher were frequently confused.

.

Well, I've been moaning about the forum features for quite a while. I just checked and I first posted here in October 2009, so nearly 11 and a half years ago. In that time there have been very few changes to functionality though a couple to "look and feel" (which I rather like though I find lot of "features" annoying). In that time the web has changed enormously, some for the better and some not. I guess I have too, I wasn't a spring chicken in 2009 and even less so now, but I think the site looks more and more out of step and newcomers will find it increasingly old fashioned. It will also get increasingly hard to maintain as sites migrate to new platforms. It' time for a change folks.

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... and I did:

I looked at this thread : **LINK**

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/reconciling-different-ways-to-define-an-ellipse.996916/

... from which it appears that the LIKES are for the Author, rather than the content of a particular post.

So is it basically a popularity contest for aspiring ‘influencers’ ?

MichaelG.

That's interesting, Michael.

I found it interesting also to find the following there, which suggests there are at least some interludes of discord amidst the prevailing harmony:

https://www.physicsforums.com/members/mebigguy.391788/#profile-post-comment-98

How could you come to that conclusion`? The post that got all the likes had a good video. Gaussian 97 made just one post which was liked and commented on six times. Didi it really look like he was an "aspiring influencer"? Do you have evidence from elsewhere to support your claim? That thread proves nothing negative at all about Likes. They all seemed pretty appropriate to me.

It seems to me that you just don't like the like idea and will fight it all the way. I could say that you, yourself are an "aspiring influencer" in that you want to influence the future of the like. Is that bad? Forums are posted on for the purpose of influencing although they are often used as a source of information.

Personally, I am trying to 'influence' what happens with this forum software. It is sadly lacking in many facilities which some members don't seem to be aware of.

I could imagine there were similar rejections on the forum of CNC and DRO in the not too distant past, on the grounds that neither was worth while and actually harmed the purity of the techniques of the time.

Edited By andrew lyner on 19/02/2021 23:07:06

Post #1 2,661 likes

Post #2 2,661 likes

Post #7 2,661 likes

Q.E.D.

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Or am I looking at the wrong likes ?

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 19/02/2021 23:13:41

An impressive bit of sleuthing there. What was your aim? I notice it was a private message. Did you read the posts that were referred to?

Edited By andrew lyner on 19/02/2021 23:15:37

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I would prefer that you did not

MichaelG.

Anyone tried using the 'profile' feature in this forum? No? So why ask for more features?

I'd hit the like button for some people's posts but, well, just can't be assed, I mean all that effort of actually clicking.

In the interests of equality can we have a button for "You dumbo go borrow at least one braincell". Now that's a button I'd use a lot. Also want this feature added to the TV news.

He's been on the forum since 97 (24 year+) and his posts are good quality and useful for Maths students and others. Can he help it if what he writes is liked? PF has a very large following of students as well as experienced Physicists and (real) Engineers. There is a broad range of topics and some real quality information. Does the presence of likes affect all that quality in any way? How would you know that a similar, healthy number of likes would go to the heads of our ME experts (or even some of the contributors to this thread) and give them ideas above their stations?

Oh boy - I just had a notification of yet another post. Is this all so frightening chaps?