Rating System (was: what even are social noises round N+1)

You could make an argument against expressing any emotions or sentiments at all for risk of triggering people or feeding spirals. A palette of solely bland reactions seems equally useless to me there, and at that point we might as well just go back to a simple like. (Which of course has exactly the same problems anyway, so, heck, who knows)

 

In that case I would suggest replacing one of the ones we want gone with "Seen" So I don´t have to "like" an opinion I possibly really don´t in a discussion.
To me, witnessed and Smypathy (lets go with that) convey different things still, i´d prefer to keep them separate.

 

I also pointed that out. The issue is that we have had multiple people say that 'Hugs' will trigger them and it's impossible to protect them from that with the software other than removing it.
The problem I have with 'Funny' is that it seems very much like it could be weaponized. Again, people cannot say 'please do not use funny on my posts' and be sure that it won't happen. Signatures aren't always turned on, they don't work on mobile, and a lot of people don't read first posts. You can put it in your subtitle but that seems unfair! I shouldn't have to change my subtitle to "No funny ratings please".

The key problem here is not just 'oh well everything could trigger anyone' the key problem is that this is a system that people cannot opt out of. That means it has to be set up in a way that can do the least harm. An example would be losing informative would upset me because I like using it, but if it could cause harm to someone else I would not mind because these are ratings and they do not prevent you from communicating. We have had just 'like' for ages, more choices are great but more choices also means a need to assure that we haven't opened up more threat surfaces.

 

Mind you, that is not me saying I want it gone. I don't, I like the system (beyond my CHANGE reaction and issue over movement of the like button but neither are important). I just think that in a system that people literally cannot opt out of it's less important to say 'But I really like x reaction' when someone else, who cannot fully protect themselves with such a system, is saying 'This would trigger me'.

And this. I'm pretty sure that this is not intended to be an alternative for having to post. It shouldn't be, it never will be. I'm sorry if I got nothing but 'Informative' on a post I made and no replies that would actually upset me because it means that no one took the time to talk to me about it they just clicked a button and went on with their day.

I had the same problem with just like spam and no reply. The rating system shouldn't replace posts unless you're low spoons.

 

I absolutely Do want to option not to "like" Someones posting about feeling lik shit, or a terrible thing that happened to them.
I find "Agree2 and "Informative" useful for discussions and such, and I think a "Seen" button would also be handy, as well as some button to express sympathy. If that is only wtinessed, fine, but give me something.

 

Yeah. The ones where people have offered little-to-no negative feedback to the prospect of seeing or using them, that are also functionally different from how I want to use Like, those are the ones I pointed to as ones I'd like to keep.

Stuff like "relatable" as a samehat button, that'd be pretty great in some threads. Right now I keep wanting to click "witnessed" for that purpose. You'd think it'd be closer to "agree" but no, my brain disagrees, why.

 

For me, it isn't simply a matter of liking the various reactions. I have pretty major difficulties with making words sometimes due to mental illness and disability. The selection of reactions is a big access improvement. I don't agree that the possibility that it could trigger someone is definitely more important than this. Not to say it isn't important, just, they're both important.

 

I know you can disable getting alerts for likes (or you used to be able to, dunno if it still works with new system), is there a way to set it up so you dont get alerts for specific buttons? Like if i disabled alerts for hugs it gets rid of half the problem of having violent flashbacks every time someone does it and i can still feel validated from likes and agrees and witnesses and shit.

 

Yeah. For me with witnessed and sympathy, Witnessed as used for bad things to me is for like, someones died. Someones house burned down. Sympathy is for 2I dropped my favorite cup" But if people wanna consildate them I´ll live. I just Do want one or the other.

 

i like the Witness button and if there is a sympathy button added i'd ask that it not replace witness.

+1 over the worry wrt Funny and it being used to upset someone. also considering @Savriti said, likes have already been used as a means of harassment (specifically in people's vents) and i worry about a Funny reaction being used to intentionally upset someone

 

also a general note, when you get an alert it's still "X liked your post" but an alert for any of the others is "X ratedyour post Witnessed/Funny/Agree/etc to your post" (with the reaction being Calitalized)

is there a way to make the alerts more consistant?

 

I'd be okay with getting rid of the Funny rating, I think the regular like covers it well and it's too redundant.
Also, I kinda feel it's almost dictating what I'm supposed to think about a post, which :/

 

re: [social noise], I tend to think of it as being similar to the Japanese "Aizuchi"? the whole indication of, still here, still listening, you have my attention
maybe it'd help if there's some sort of word that doesn't come off as "distress noise" (although hitting "ack'd" on a post would be Really Fun), but still parses as "here and listening"

 

sugestion: replace "hugs" with a <3 emote, which can covey anything from comfort to love to sympathy to support to "that is an adorable animal" ?

a la facebook's <3 reaction

 

I think "Seen" would function that way. I kind of like [social noise] specifically because it's so vague that I have no idea what it's really supposed to mean, though. It's kinda funny.

 

For me it feels like replacing witnessed with seen would go from 'this person feels sympathetic towards me, this is nice' to 'I am being watched, time for a social anxiety spiral', which is...probably not the intent.