@unmog - I have to say that I remain disappointed in our not having an LOL button here any longer, but totally understand the motivation behind its removal and why it is not likely to return.
But as a moderator of a much less busy forum than this one, I am puzzled by the implied request for a Dislike button. Disagree is one thing and its benefits vs. downsides here were also debatable, but if someone "Dislikes" a post then allowing them to merely click a button without saying why imparts no useful information to the one who posted it or any of its readers. And, if fact, one of the reasons we no longer have Disagree (or Zagadoo as it briefly returned as) is that members kept referring to those reactions as Dislikes even when that is not how they were intended -- as in, I can politely disagree with what someone is saying without expressing an opinion as to how likable the post is or how much I might have enjoyed reading it.
About the dislike~ eh, its just a counter to like. With that same reasoning, one could say to get rid of the like button too or replace it with an "agree" option. Whats stopping me from just clicking like without adding anything useful either? Any glass that is half full is also half empty ya know.
About the dislike~ eh, its just a counter to like. With that same reasoning, one could say to get rid of the like button too or replace it with an "agree" option. Whats stopping me from just clicking like without adding anything useful either? Any glass that is half full is also half empty ya know.
Fostering an environment where randomly positive things with no explanation are available for use even if they are anonymous and not especially meaningful is not harmful. Fostering an environment where randomly negative things are available for use runs counter to the purposes of a friendly, supportive community forum where we congregate to share things about our games with other players.
I agree that it may not seem to make any difference, anonymously and meaninglessly positive vs. negative, from a logical standpoint. But forum members are humans, not logic circuits, and tend to react as such.
Here is another example. Forget about the anonymous reaction buttons, consider two sets of actually typed out reactions that are not anonymous but have no real meaning either. A member has posted some screenshots of their game and sims that they clearly have spent a lot of time on and care about.
"What a nice looking family and house, they must be fun to play, and you should be very proud of them." (This doesn't really mean anything as it doesn't say what I like about the efforts displayed or why it made me happy to see them, but is intended to be encouraging and make the OP feel good.)
"What a horrible looking family and house, I wouldn't want them in my game, and you should be ashamed of having shared them with us." (This doesn't have any objective meaning either, it doesn't say what it is that the OP could have improved upon in any way. But it is not a very nice thing to say, serves no constructive purpose, and the sentiment would have been better left not posted.)
Not everyone is here merely to make other players feel good. That's fine, we all come to the forums with different purposes in mind. But no one who comes here to make other players feel bad should be provided with more convenient ways to do so as that just isn't helping the forum do what it is intended to do. I believe the second example, although I did admittedly exaggerate it to be more extreme than clicking a button, should be disallowed from any well-managed community forum board that is intended to be a supportive platform for those of us enjoying our games and wishing to share that joy with others. Allowing a reaction button that has the potential to convey the same kind of negativity with less effort doesn't truly help anyone either.
About the dislike~ eh, its just a counter to like. With that same reasoning, one could say to get rid of the like button too or replace it with an "agree" option. Whats stopping me from just clicking like without adding anything useful either? Any glass that is half full is also half empty ya know.
Fostering an environment where randomly positive things with no explanation are available for use even if they are anonymous and not especially meaningful is not harmful. Fostering an environment where randomly negative things are available for use runs counter to the purposes of a friendly, supportive community forum where we congregate to share things about our games with other players.
I agree that it may not seem to make any difference, anonymously and meaninglessly positive vs. negative, from a logical standpoint. But forum members are humans, not logic circuits, and tend to react as such.
Here is another example. Forget about the anonymous reaction buttons, consider two sets of actually typed out reactions that are not anonymous but have no real meaning either. A member has posted some screenshots of their game and sims that they clearly have spent a lot of time on and care about.
"What a nice looking family and house, they must be fun to play, and you should be very proud of them." (This doesn't really mean anything as it doesn't say what I like about the efforts displayed or why it made me happy to see them, but is intended to be encouraging and make the OP feel good.)
"What a horrible looking family and house, I wouldn't want them in my game, and you should be ashamed of having shared them with us." (This doesn't have any objective meaning either, it doesn't say what it is that the OP could have improved upon in any way. But it is not a very nice thing to say, serves no constructive purpose, and the sentiment would have been better left not posted.)
Not everyone is here merely to make other players feel good. That's fine, we all come to the forums with different purposes in mind. But no one who comes here to make other players feel bad should be provided with more convenient ways to do so as that just isn't helping the forum do what it is intended to do. I believe the second example, although I did admittedly exaggerate it to be more extreme than clicking a button, should be disallowed from any well-managed community forum board that is intended to be a supportive platform for those of us enjoying our games and wishing to share that joy with others. Allowing a reaction button that has the potential to convey the same kind of negativity with less effort doesn't truly help anyone either.
I agree with igazor about placing negative buttons on this site. And I say that because the site management team once added the Disagree button and what fiasco it was when we had it. (And yes, one would say that Disagree and Dislike basically mean the same thing as each other.) People didn't like getting disagreed with when they would either posts ideas for the game or give their opinion to whatever the topic of the thread was. They would then complain about why someone would hit disagree but not explain their reasons why they disagreed with them. Some people just couldn't handle getting disagreed with. Granted that we still have those types of people on this site when someone does go and explain what it is that they don't agree with that will call out that person to tell them that they're wrong about whatever it is that the other person disagreed with.
I remember back on the old TS3 site where some people had asked for a "Like" or "lol" button for the forums so that they could give out likes and lols to other members posts. Well now that we got this site and the ability to give out such things, people complain about the buttons and say things that they need to be taken away as they really don't add anything to the conversion and such. EA can't please everyone that comes to this site as there will always be some that will either complain about the lack of buttons or complain about the ones we do have claiming that they're being abused/misused. jmo
I think lol sounds ok, but I wouldn't want to see a disagree button. Reddit has the upvote/downvote feature which is a breeding ground for trolls, especially when you are involved in a political thread. Whew! This forum is much more mellow.
And I'm back here again. I wasn't going to reply but, eh, now I am.
I agree that it may not seem to make any difference, anonymously and meaninglessly positive vs. negative, from a logical standpoint. But forum members are humans, not logic circuits, and tend to react as such.
@igazor
I'm pretty logic oriented, tho I have already admitted to having aspergers. Regardless, by not having any sort of button at all other than positive ones you're messily removing other parts of the conversation. So even tho it might seem a popular opinion, I respectfully disagree with the idea that nothing can be gained from disagreeing with someone. Plus, when it's based entirely on likes and such, then one can only assume no one liked their post anyway if no one or not many click the like button compared to other posts. Least thats how it made me feel, but maybe I'm more sensitive than I think~ still it's peoples right to "not like" what I say. *shrug*
People didn't like getting disagreed with when they would either posts ideas for the game or give their opinion to whatever the topic of the thread was. They would then complain about why someone would hit disagree but not explain their reasons why they disagreed with them. Some people just couldn't handle getting disagreed with.
@lisasc360
On to one major point I want to tackle, even tho I wasnt there. So as respectfully as I can, I'm going to say... so what? You can't ever please everyone at all times you know. Plus, what was the point in screening new people so they're not trolls if you still let the trolls dictate what you can or can't do/have? If it's really an issue, just make those buttons restricted (like everything else~) until they become a member? Or, if its an issue of anonymity, being able to know who liked and disliked your post? As a US Vet, when it comes down to a battle between censorship or freedom of speech I always come down to the side of speech. That's specifically in place for people with disagreeable opinions after all, people don't need a freedom of speech rule for saying things everyone agrees with already and positivity after all. Are we not assumed to be real, responsible, mature people by the time we gain full membership? I don't think people on this forum need to be sheltered so much that they can't handle a disagreement.
It's a shame we can't freely react to funny (LOL), sad (Sad) or amazing (Wow) posts without some form of malice created through its usage.
But regardless of that, I slept on it, (just got up actually ) and I have an idea that I think everyone who is a true sim lover would be on board with... and it's sort of in line with what you said @Trowicia
Why not a reflection of the actual main emotions in the sims? For instance, we already have a happy (like) button, insightful (focused) button, and an awesome (love) button. Im assuming we can't have buttons with colors since none of the current ones do. Why not have;
a playful button (party hat or smiling lips of some kind)
a sad button (maybe a crying or sad face or tear drop)
an angry button (I think a fist would be suitable for this, which isn't necessarily "negative" that people are afraid of)
and a tense/uncomfortable button (could be a question mark, but I'm not sure on this one)
Id just have it where some buttons don't give points if the points are meant only for positive ones. Doesnt hurt to have something to cover the wide range of emotions someone can reply with, I'd just suggest some more thought put into them than disagree/dislike, that way a button can mean more than one thing so it's not "necessarily" negative.
Tho as a closing defense of the simple unlike button, it seems to work well enough for youtube which is a much bigger platform than this forum~
As a US Vet, when it comes down to a battle between censorship or freedom of speech I always come down to the side of speech. That's specifically in place for people with disagreeable opinions after all, people don't need a freedom of speech rule for saying things everyone agrees with already and positivity after all. Are we not assumed to be real, responsible, mature people by the time we gain full membership? I don't think people on this forum need to be sheltered so much that they can't handle a disagreement.
Thank you for your service.
And while I am happy to agree that what we have is indeed a mutually polite disagreement, I feel obligated to point out that the freedom of speech concept does not apply to a privately run forum where no forms of government-based reprisal are forthcoming. If you were a guest in my living room and said something I didn't like, I don't mean disagreed with I mean really didn't like to the point where it bothered me, I would ask you to either stop or leave. But I would also have the right to do that even over something that seemed much more arbitrary without infringing upon your constitutional rights. This forum is EA's living room and we are all guests here.
While I understand your answer about private entities not being bound by the constitution the same way the government is, the important thing to remember is the spirit behind it and why its important. Without diverting the conversation too much, I will say in the future I believe all public forums, whether or not its on the internet or privately owned, will at some point have to follow the same spirit behind the freedom of speech. We're already getting into murky waters with congress pressuring sites like facebook and youtube and such to censor people, and they can get away with it because of the "privately owned" argument. Im on the side that any public forum deemed big enough would have to follow the same rules everyone else does. Now from there it gets even more complicated since well, different countries have different laws and such, so there'd need to be a basic universal freedom of speech at some point. But again, I'm not going to go that far off into the weeds.
For the meantime tho, you're "legally" correct tho I could argue it based on fundamental principles.
As we're veering into politics (which ain't okay, folks - these aren't the forums for interpretation of legal rights and governing laws) and we've had some links to the previous reasoning on the lack of a "lol" button, I am closing this thread.
~my hair color is frequently changing, so my Sim reflects that~
Comments
About the dislike~ eh, its just a counter to like. With that same reasoning, one could say to get rid of the like button too or replace it with an "agree" option. Whats stopping me from just clicking like without adding anything useful either? Any glass that is half full is also half empty ya know.
I agree that it may not seem to make any difference, anonymously and meaninglessly positive vs. negative, from a logical standpoint. But forum members are humans, not logic circuits, and tend to react as such.
Here is another example. Forget about the anonymous reaction buttons, consider two sets of actually typed out reactions that are not anonymous but have no real meaning either. A member has posted some screenshots of their game and sims that they clearly have spent a lot of time on and care about.
"What a nice looking family and house, they must be fun to play, and you should be very proud of them."
(This doesn't really mean anything as it doesn't say what I like about the efforts displayed or why it made me happy to see them, but is intended to be encouraging and make the OP feel good.)
"What a horrible looking family and house, I wouldn't want them in my game, and you should be ashamed of having shared them with us."
(This doesn't have any objective meaning either, it doesn't say what it is that the OP could have improved upon in any way. But it is not a very nice thing to say, serves no constructive purpose, and the sentiment would have been better left not posted.)
Not everyone is here merely to make other players feel good. That's fine, we all come to the forums with different purposes in mind. But no one who comes here to make other players feel bad should be provided with more convenient ways to do so as that just isn't helping the forum do what it is intended to do. I believe the second example, although I did admittedly exaggerate it to be more extreme than clicking a button, should be disallowed from any well-managed community forum board that is intended to be a supportive platform for those of us enjoying our games and wishing to share that joy with others. Allowing a reaction button that has the potential to convey the same kind of negativity with less effort doesn't truly help anyone either.
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
It's a shame we can't freely react to funny (LOL), sad (Sad) or amazing (Wow) posts without some form of malice created through its usage.
I agree with igazor about placing negative buttons on this site. And I say that because the site management team once added the Disagree button and what fiasco it was when we had it. (And yes, one would say that Disagree and Dislike basically mean the same thing as each other.) People didn't like getting disagreed with when they would either posts ideas for the game or give their opinion to whatever the topic of the thread was. They would then complain about why someone would hit disagree but not explain their reasons why they disagreed with them. Some people just couldn't handle getting disagreed with. Granted that we still have those types of people on this site when someone does go and explain what it is that they don't agree with that will call out that person to tell them that they're wrong about whatever it is that the other person disagreed with.
I remember back on the old TS3 site where some people had asked for a "Like" or "lol" button for the forums so that they could give out likes and lols to other members posts. Well now that we got this site and the ability to give out such things, people complain about the buttons and say things that they need to be taken away as they really don't add anything to the conversion and such. EA can't please everyone that comes to this site as there will always be some that will either complain about the lack of buttons or complain about the ones we do have claiming that they're being abused/misused. jmo
http://store.thesims3.com/myWishlist.html?persona=lisasc360
My stories on this site:
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/991317/my-sims-stories/p1?new=1
@igazor
I'm pretty logic oriented, tho I have already admitted to having aspergers. Regardless, by not having any sort of button at all other than positive ones you're messily removing other parts of the conversation. So even tho it might seem a popular opinion, I respectfully disagree with the idea that nothing can be gained from disagreeing with someone. Plus, when it's based entirely on likes and such, then one can only assume no one liked their post anyway if no one or not many click the like button compared to other posts. Least thats how it made me feel, but maybe I'm more sensitive than I think~ still it's peoples right to "not like" what I say. *shrug*
@lisasc360
On to one major point I want to tackle, even tho I wasnt there. So as respectfully as I can, I'm going to say... so what? You can't ever please everyone at all times you know. Plus, what was the point in screening new people so they're not trolls if you still let the trolls dictate what you can or can't do/have? If it's really an issue, just make those buttons restricted (like everything else~) until they become a member? Or, if its an issue of anonymity, being able to know who liked and disliked your post? As a US Vet, when it comes down to a battle between censorship or freedom of speech I always come down to the side of speech. That's specifically in place for people with disagreeable opinions after all, people don't need a freedom of speech rule for saying things everyone agrees with already and positivity after all. Are we not assumed to be real, responsible, mature people by the time we gain full membership? I don't think people on this forum need to be sheltered so much that they can't handle a disagreement.
But regardless of that, I slept on it, (just got up actually
Why not a reflection of the actual main emotions in the sims? For instance, we already have a happy (like) button, insightful (focused) button, and an awesome (love) button. Im assuming we can't have buttons with colors since none of the current ones do. Why not have;
a playful button (party hat or smiling lips of some kind)
a sad button (maybe a crying or sad face or tear drop)
an angry button (I think a fist would be suitable for this, which isn't necessarily "negative" that people are afraid of)
and a tense/uncomfortable button (could be a question mark, but I'm not sure on this one)
Id just have it where some buttons don't give points if the points are meant only for positive ones.
Tho as a closing defense of the simple unlike button, it seems to work well enough for youtube which is a much bigger platform than this forum~
And while I am happy to agree that what we have is indeed a mutually polite disagreement, I feel obligated to point out that the freedom of speech concept does not apply to a privately run forum where no forms of government-based reprisal are forthcoming. If you were a guest in my living room and said something I didn't like, I don't mean disagreed with I mean really didn't like to the point where it bothered me, I would ask you to either stop or leave. But I would also have the right to do that even over something that seemed much more arbitrary without infringing upon your constitutional rights. This forum is EA's living room and we are all guests here.
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
For the meantime tho, you're "legally" correct tho I could argue it based on fundamental principles.
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