Limited Thumbs 👍👎

@mwmiller said
Ah yes, I remember that one now. In it someone suggested just getting rid of the thumbs totally, and my comment to that was:
"I agree! They appear to be a 'clickbait toy' for children.
I fail to see any useful reason for them to exist."

I still have that opinion, not that it matters.
If someone has a reason to approve or dislike a post just act like an adult and say so in a reply.

Copied the below from the thread:

It sometimes looks like the only way the community get to give feedback to a troll if they don't want to take what comes with replying directly. The people whining about all the thumbs they get are usually the ones doing the trolling. If you want to troll then live with all the red thumbs it attracts.

I've replied to trolls here rather than thumb. Based on that experiment I don't blame anonymous thumbers. At the height of that process I also got trolled elsewhere via the email address of a volunteer group, at exactly the same time as the stuff here (where it had never happened before). Maybe the anonymous thumbers knew how far it would go. Pathetic imo.

@Relentless-Red

I get many thumbs down without the cowards explaining why....

Sad state if people are that scared of an internet forum 😆

@mwmiller

We aren't complaining about the thumbs down.

We want to know who is thumbing us down.
Are they too scared? Ooooo Booga Boooga big scary man 🥴

We also want to know who alerts us.
Of course they are too sacred again 🙄

My idea...limiting thumbs would make them more valuable and when used would cause more effect and it would stop every damn thread looking like a red and green Christmas tree 🙄

Red
Green
Red
Green

That's all we see 🙄

@contenchess said
@mwmiller

We aren't complaining about the thumbs down.

We want to know who is thumbing us down.
Are they too scared? Ooooo Booga Boooga big scary man 🥴

We also want to know who alerts us.
Of course they are too sacred again 🙄

My idea...limiting thumbs would make them more valuable and when used would cause more effect and it would stop every damn thread looking like a red and green Christmas tree 🙄

Red
Green
Red
Green

That's all we see 🙄

A certain amount of noise is price we pay for having an open forum.

Limiting the number of the thumbs isn't going to increase the value, impact, or effectiveness of those which remain.

Any cap on a maximum number of thumbs, whether 3,7,12, or any other number, would be arbitrary. Fewer posts will not be thumbed thereby; all the posts which reaped 13 thumbs before will still reap whatever the limit is. The only difference will be that we won't be able to distinguish which posts reaped 13 thumbs but were capped at 3,7,or 12, from the ones which just reached the cap and would not have gone over it had there been no cap.

Anonymity is useful, just like voting in an election. Knowing who thumbed a post up or down merely satisfies idle curiosity.

Yes, the TU-TD feature is open to abuse by a few people, but we should not degrade a good feature because of a few miscreants. That's like annulling an election because of five fraudulent votes.

TU is equivalent to "hear, hear" in Parliament, and serves a useful purpose. Sometimes one wants to express approval without the need to add anything more to what has been said already.

TD is equivalent to a titter, without the need to add anything more. This too has a useful function in an open forum.

@contenchess said
@Relentless-Red

I get many thumbs down without the cowards explaining why....

Sad state if people are that scared of an internet forum 😆

I tend to reply rather than thumb. The process that follows can be embarrassing. Certainly glad I never recommended this site to anybody I know in the real world. It might not be fear that stops people replying? They might simply not want what comes with it. GF is looking emptier to me.

What I am seeing is that some people think the thumbs are great as-is, some would like to see who clicked the thumb, some think they should be rationed, and others think they are stupid and a waste of time. Some compare it to an election and think that justifies keeping it anonymous.

Does the number of TU's or TD's have any effect on the post?

When I see a post with 5 TD's, what does that even mean?
Is it really a bad or disagreeable post?
Are they just a form of personal attack against the author?
Are a few members going around like a street gang and clicking thumbs as a form of entertainment, bullying or vandalism?

So my opinion is that the current 'thumb feature' has no real value.

@mwmiller said
What I am seeing is that some people think the thumbs are great as-is, some would like to see who clicked the thumb, some think they should be rationed, and others think they are stupid and a waste of time. Some compare it to an election and think that justifies keeping it anonymous.

Does the number of TU's or TD's have any effect on the post?

When I see a post with ...[text shortened]... ment, bullying or vandalism?

So my opinion is that the current 'thumb feature' has no real value.

I suppose some people TD a post for its content, whereas others TD a poster (regardless of content). This is the noise we put up with in having an open forum.

I'm not bothered with them and rarely use them.
(actually that is a lie - see below.) It's just a piece of fun.

If I like a post I thumb green and will often say so next post.
As I only haunt the chess forum these days I've never had much use for
the red button. They should be saved for people being unnecessarily nasty.

However....
Quite a while back I stumbled on the 'Recommended' button and saw to my
surprise that I was tied top with another poster on 8.
So (I was not sure if this would work) without even reading their post
I red thumbed it, they dropped to 7 and I was the sole leader. Yipee!
(it is wee victories like this that keep me smiling all day.)

@contenchess said
@mwmiller

We aren't complaining about the thumbs down.

We want to know who is thumbing us down.
Are they too scared? Ooooo Booga Boooga big scary man 🥴

We also want to know who alerts us.
Of course they are too sacred again 🙄

My idea...limiting thumbs would make them more valuable and when used would cause more effect and it would stop every damn thread looking like a red and green Christmas tree 🙄

Red
Green
Red
Green

That's all we see 🙄

If you're that butt-hurt about red thumbs, you could try not posting like a jerk.

Just sayin'.

@suzianne said
If you're that butt-hurt about red thumbs, you could try not posting like a jerk.

Just sayin'.

Most of his posts are non abusive and non scornful. Many are humorous and often self targeted.

Unlike the majority of yours which, like the one I’m replying to, are indeed, abusive, scornful, lacking in humour and always targeted and posters you disapprove of for some silly partisan reason.

@suzianne said
I think individuals here should be more responsible for handling their own anxieties and not have a website responsible for holding their hand and telling them everything will be okay.

If your preciousness is offended by getting a red thumb, maybe you should take some responsibility yourself and not post in a highly corrosive or combative way.

The irony!

@contenchess said
I don't care about up or down thumbs.

Contrary to your belief...I see red thumbs as an indication I am doing my job right.

I was talking about adding value to them because they would be limited. Thus making them more important and not wasted.
They would have more meaning.

Spot on target.

@suzianne said
Giving the illusion that most people agree with you and your forum nastiness.

No thanks.

Read this thread again - YOU are the one spewing forum nastiness.

@mwmiller said
Why are the thumbs anonymous? It would be more meaningful if the username was listed with each thumb given, regardless of if it is up or down. Just a thought.

Usually this sort of post would attract a flurry of thumbs and a torrent of abuse from the likes of Suzianne.

You may have escape due to her perceiving you to be an ally.