The "Like" Button

[Lisa]

I had a question about the "Like" button at the end of each chapter.

 

Why is it that readers are encouraged to click on the "Like" button if they liked the chapter, but they are only allotted a certain number of times they can do this per day. I think it's only five times, right? But how about if you read more than five chapter updates that you like? Should you save your five likes until you're through reading everything and then pick and choose which of the stories you liked better?

 

It's frustrating as a reader that I can't click on the "Like" button as often as I'd like and then the authors don't think you liked the chapter because you didn't click on the "Like" button.

 

Who made up this rule and why do you even have it?

[joann414]

I know what you mean Lisa. It frustrates me sometimes, but I finally tried to train myself if I am reading more than one chapter of a story to hold off until the last one that I read to hit like, so that way, I try to give each writer that I read one like, but there's days that I still run out of likes because I like some posts of some others. I guess I can do as some others do, and tell them that I ran out of likes. lol. It is hard sometimes.

[Lisa]

Yeah, I've done that before also; wrote it in the review that I ran out of 'likes'. What really annoys me is when I stay up late (on the weekends) and by the next morning, I already ran out of 'likes'! And I still have a whole day ahead of me!!!! hahah Ok, so I really need to get a life.

 

I just don't know why they would set a rule that you could only hit the 'like' button five times. And it's not fair for the authors who count on these 'likes' in order to get on the main story update page. That's what they're for, right?

[podiumdavis]

Oh my two favorite people in one thread.

 

I agree the like issue sucks at times, maybe we could protest for a bump up.But I understand why it is. It's basically to prevent a flood of likes for any given user. Possible it could be done to have a MAX of five likes PER author a day. That would seem fitting. But more illogical and hard to code. Let's get an admin in here to voice their opinion.

[asamvav111]

doesn't work in mobile version. Please fix that.

[Lisa]

Oh podium, you never cease to make me chuckle.

 

Yes, five likes per author would be much better. I just get annoyed when I want to hit the like button and it doesn't go thru b/c I used up all my likes for the day.

[Andy78]

I'm just thankful they got rid of the "dislike" button. There is an author I spotted with a rep of something like -16

 

But yeah, I run out likes all the time. It was really frustrating reading Bill W's Castaway Hotel, because at times I'd read fifteen or twenty chapters in a night, and the annoying little "you have run out of positive votes for the day" message kept on popping up.

 

I'm not sure why the limit of likes was set to five either, but, like Andrew says, I think it was probably designed to prevent over-inflating an author's rep. But when you get an author on 1000+ rep what's an extra few likes between friends? Besides, on day's when I'm not reading, I tend go back over any chapters I didn't get to like the day before, and like them then.

 

And it's even more annoying at the moment with the release of the fall anthology (13 stories, 5 likes per day, you do the math I've already run out likes, so the other anthology stories are going to have to wait until tomorrow to be read).

 

Then we have the GA anniversary anthology due out soon, and since that is a novella anthology we can expect probably 100+ chapters being released at once (depending on how the various authors have set their stories up).

[Lisa]

And there's a day when you're not reading Andy? From what you just wrote you'll be reading from now until Kingdom Come. lol Whenever that is!

 

They really had a dislike button? That would be horrible for an author! Way to boost their confidence, lol.

 

I think there should be at least fifteen likes for the day. Because as you said Andy, sometimes you're reading more than one chapter for a story and you want to 'like' all the chapters but you can't. Maybe they should limit the likes to the last chapter then. Idk.....I just think five is too little. Or maybe I should just get a life and read less. ;(

[Ashi]

Oh my two favorite people in one thread.

 

I agree the like issue sucks at times, maybe we could protest for a bump up.But I understand why it is. It's basically to prevent a flood of likes for any given user. Possible it could be done to have a MAX of five likes PER author a day. That would seem fitting. But more illogical and hard to code. Let's get an admin in here to voice their opinion.

 

I also don't like the "like cap".... If over-inflate an author's rep is a concern (some authors are just more popular than others, which is fine, but not very encouraging to new authors), maybe they can make a system where first 5 likes weight more than, let's say, the next 25 likes (with only 75% of the weight), and the next 125 likes will weight even less (each like only worths 1/2 of the original vote). Something like that.

[podiumdavis]

A weighing system would be quiet difficult to program (this coming from a programmers perspective) and it would also devalue the like system in some way. (that's if I'm understanding correctly). But in all seriousness, who'd do 125 likes in a single day?

[Ashi]

A weighing system would be quiet difficult to program (this coming from a programmers perspective) and it would also devalue the like system in some way. (that's if I'm understanding correctly). But in all seriousness, who'd do 125 likes in a single day?

 

I mean if a story got over 125 likes. It's just an example, but the system has to be some type of exponentially weighted to be fair (since a story will get more reviews if it's already more reviewed, so the weight has to be a reciprocal of the exponentially multiples to make it linear). Just a proposal. The final system can be modified to be more fair. I don't have the general stats with me (like on average a story gets how many hits), so I don't know how much weight would make things seemingly fair. Just a possibility, not absolute rule.

[Cia]

Lisa, the dislike button wasn't something that was used often in GA Stories, it was much more prevalent on the forums, especially the Soapbox.

 

Podiumdavis, it sounded like you were espousing a system of only allowing the author to 'get' five likes a day on their stories. That would be illogical, since there are authors that have a higher volume of likes when they post a story. Typically I have 10-15 in the first day. It would make no sense to limit the ability for readers to like material on a story just because 5 other people liked it first.

 

The problem in the past was that certain authors were abusing the like system to inflate their points. While levels above 100 don't really matter for anything but impressing other members, that's something we didn't want continuing. The like button comes from IP's programming, which is the template we use for the forums and incorporated into some aspects of GA Stories. Also, GA Stories and the forums likes all count together, so that makes limiting 'stories' likes alone is unlikely for the programming aspect as well. Really, I don't think the techies can't just change the system itself, however, you might be able to convince Myr to increase the daily likes each member can have.

[podiumdavis]

Cia maybe I hadn't been clear enough, or maybe you misunderstood. But the 5 likes part was in reference to the person giving those 5 likes to one specific author. Not an author himself being limited to receiving 5 likes..

 

The suggestion of mine was that any given person would be allowed to do a max of 5 likes for the day to ONE specific author. But wouldn't be limited for giving another 5 likes to let's say you. Clerified more?

 

Or just up the limit LOL. Just an idea.

[MikeL]

Related questions...Is it true that when I "like" a comment on a blog, the commenter does not get credit? But, it does count against my daily total of five?

 

Sorry, just based on an observation.

[Yettie One]

I find it quite frustrating as I used to go first directly to the forum, go through stuff there, where it is easier to use your five likes in rapid form, then when it comes to settling down to actually read something, I've got no likes left.

 

But if I am honest, I prefer to leave feedback in the form of a proper comment on the story, than click the like button. In my mind the like fits a post in the forum or a blog, but if you have read the story and liked it at last tell the author why you liked it, even if it is only one simple line of text. Personally I'd prefer that a whole lot more than someone clicking a like button.

 

Yeah the like adds to your reputation, but I see that as someone more actively participant on the site than their reputation as an author. Maybe I am wrong in viewing it that way, but I just think that I learn more from actual comments than the likes, and I appreciate the feedback more when it is tangible. I know that all the mods and site promoters try to encourage people to feedback more, and it would be lovely to see it happen more often. It would be nice to figure out some way of maybe promoting feedback more, like switching likes to feedback, or giving a feedback status so that people can see what your feedback reputation is.

 

Again just an idea to try help promote feedback

Edited September 11, 2012 by Yettie One

[Cia]

The likes amounts are the basis for our determining the moderation and peer review queues. So I don't see them going anyplace soon. I'll talk to Myr about increasing the # of likes members can use in a day.

[Stellar]

My main problem is not so much with the limitation on likes per day, though I do think this could be structured differently so it's a little more sensible.

 

It is mostly centred around the conflation of likes from several different places into the 'reputation' number. For example, someone can write a forum post a couple lines long and it would have equal weighting to an artistically brilliant 10,000 word story chapter, because there is no differentiation between the two; the button means the same thing. To me, this renders the meaning of reputation somewhat indecipherable. I recognise that the number has no practical purpose outside of the early stages of an author's moderation but even so, I think there is a perception of sorts - perhaps not shared by everyone - that it is a sort of scoreboard of prestige.

 

I agree with Yettie, it often feels like it is rewarding active forum and community participation more than an author's ability. Don't get me wrong, I think it's good to encourage those things, but I just think that 'reputation' is ambiguous. I think it would be better if it these things weren't considered together as a single number.

 

I also like the idea of things being more feedback oriented, as he suggested. I think that's a great idea and it's what I would be pushing, because it's promoting engagement and thought, and that is more constructive than simply clicking a button that says "I approve of this!"

[MikeL]

For example, someone can write a forum post a couple lines long and it would have equal weighting to an artistically brilliant 10,000 word story chapter, because there is no differentiation between the two; the button means the same thing.

 

The other side of this is the fact that a well-written story will garner many more "likes" than any forum post. Good authors have an advantage here and that is as it should be.

[Ashi]

Maybe we should separate author points with forum points? It doesn't make sense that posts and stories are rated in the same way, so I am on similar side with Yettie and Stellar, though I am mostly a forum poster. Though my blog posts are definitely more elaborated and thought through than my forum posts.... Just saying....

[Andy78]

It's also probably has a lot to do with the programming behind the site. If we start having "forum likes", "story likes", "blog likes", will the coding that the mod queue relies on, be able to cope with having multiple formulae in order to determine when an author no longer needs their stories modded prior to posting? And as we know, when computer coding becomes more intricate, it just means that there is more that can go wrong.

 

I have always seen the whole "rep" thing as in indication of how engaged a particular individual is with the site as a whole. So those who post multiple blogs, regularly post in multiple forums and post multiple stories are more likely to have a higher "rep", than those who post say one story (no matter how good that story is).

 

Anyway, we can all see how many forum posts we've made - so that kind of works a bit like a forum rep.

 

Just my tuppence worth.

[Palantir]

I think this is one of those problematic situations where no matter what is done there will always be different views.

 

The number of 'likes' doesn't really matter - you adjust your use of them accordingly. if there aren't enough you become more discerning (or apply them retroactively on a day when you're not quite so active).