i think it would be kinda bold to just remove the like button entirely, make it comments, rehosts or nothing
I genuinely think the like button discourages people from leaving comments! If you like it, just leave a nice little comment, it doesn't have to be long!! Even just a "<3" is already great
I have a lot of anxiety so I don't often want to be perceived by everyone in a comment section. It's nice still being able to leave some simple support despite that. I also just don't always have the time or energy for a comment and likes are significantly easier than summiting one, regardless of the complexity of the message, especially in bulk.
Personally I think comment frequency is more influenced by the social nature of the environment than anything; whether it's a welcoming and safe feeling place, or doesn't frame every bit of communication as competitive number-go-up content. Likes on this site just feel like an accessibility feature to me.
Of course, you don't gotta do anything at all! Sometimes it's just fine to look! But I'm also just saying that maybe the little like notifications are also training us to use websites in a way that's not good, actually. Receiving likes doesn't really "do" anything, except keep us addicted to websites, and you know what maybe that's not so good?? I at least want to sow doubt about it, because i've become a bit of a skeptic lately.
i enjoy likes as a very low-commitment way to acknowledge that you saw something but there is definitely a bunch of reward-getting impulse in being on the receiving end of that. maybe if they weren't little hearts
I mean I don't feel THAT strongly about it, so I'm not a crusader or anything about it, but lately i've definitely started to suspect likes were a function intentionally designed to keep us addicted to websites and to socially engineer us to keep producing free content for tech companies, but we've all just kinda accepted them as the background hum of everything now, it's hard to imagine a website without a like feature now
it's complicated bc i don't think likes/notifications were intentionally designed like that but they've definitely turned into retention mechanisms, facebook/instagram constantly comes up with fake new things to notify you about just so you feel compelled to check in often lol
dang I kind of agree with this acttyly. Would be cool to toggle off likes on one's posts, the feature in its entirety or just notifications.
funny instant edit: I guess turning off notifications effectively turns off the feature in its entirety anyway. um. oop
Yes! I would love to be able to turn off likes on my posts! I don't want to turn off notifs though, I might miss when someone comments!
oh, ye I just mean like notifications lol, comment notifs are good of course!
