Like Button

You are currently planning to let us have the option of adding comments to our blogs, which is great.

I’d also like the option of having a Like button on our posts. I realize this is not going to be wanted by all Write.as bloggers, but just let us have the option.

Some people may even want to allow a Dislike button.

Perhaps let us have three options:
• None
• Like button only
• Like + Dislike buttons

And, perhaps read.write.as could have multiple streams informed by traffic stats and Like/Dislike ratio:
• All
• New
• Trending
• Popular

I appreciate the suggestion, but this is something we’ll probably avoid permanently.

Either way, what did you see this being useful for, besides on Read Write.as? Maybe we can accomplish it another way.

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Similar to how we can click the heart on posts here on Discourse, it gives people a low friction way to show their appreciation and engage.

I’d rather have people just click a Like or Heart button rather than leave a one or two word comment that doesn’t really say much.

I don’t want people to have to log in to be able to click the Like/Heart button because that would add friction. However, I guess that would lead to misuse.

I’m a sensitive soul, so probably wouldn’t want to have a dislike button, but perhaps some might.

Thanks, these things do make sense.

I’ve written a bit about this topic before. But from my side, the way the product is built affects people’s behavior. That’s why the editor is minimal, for example – we’re trying to encourage uninterrupted writing, rather than keep people on the site looking at ads. So I’m very wary about adding one-click reactions, because I don’t think they facilitate real communication.

While readers can leave a one-word comment, the design and interface around filling in that comment at least communicates that they should be writing something more. On the other hand, a one-click reaction requires no deeper thought, no conversation, no human connection. lt’s a lever we’ve all been trained to mindlessly press on the web, like rats in a lab. Most people will choose to press it instead of working to form full sentences.

Besides this, there’s the addiction factor. Many people have noticed this on other social platforms: they post something, and if they don’t get any likes / claps / retweets / whatever, they assume no one cares, or that no one liked it at all, or no one really read it, etc. Their sense of worth / success is now tied to a cold, impersonal number – something that wouldn’t have happened if there weren’t “likes” in the first place.

And on the back-end, it means we’re incidentally collecting more behavioral data, which I’d like to continue avoiding, as it diminishes the privacy protections we can offer.

Ultimately, there are plenty of platforms on the web that already have upvotes, downvotes, likes, laughs, claps, favorites, angries, etc. – and new apps copying this feature every day. I think this is best left to them.

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I appreciate the thoughtful explanation. Make sense.

Would be great to have a collection of these types of posts compiled into a manifesto that explains the philosophy behind how you’ve created the Write.as ecosystem.

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Matt actually has these type of posts sprinkled across different collections. In the Open and his own blog are good places to find manifestos. Perhaps when the ePub integration is ready collection of them can be compiled into an actual manifesto!

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