Will "like" become a favorable way of replying?

Do you think it will become appropriate to "like" someone's post as apposed to replying to it with a brief "I know" or "thank you" or something similar? As we start to get used to XF and see it across many more communities, do you think the "like" button will replace most generic and short posts?


Old example:

I'm looking to get a new external hard drive and have been wondering where the fastest and cheapest place to order from would be. Any suggestions?
Just order one from Amazon. They have the cheapest prices and it'll only take about three days to arrive.
Thanks!

New example:

I'm looking to get a new external hard drive and have been wondering where the fastest and cheapest place to order from would be. Any suggestions?
Just order one from Amazon. They have the cheapest prices and it'll only take about three days to arrive.
[like button]

 

Probably. Which could be a good or a bad thing. Good because it reduces the useless "thanks" posts. But on the other hand, others may see those "thanks" posts as valuable parts of the community that help illustrate the community's closeness and generosity amongst members.

Personally, if something is more than "just" helpful or something I agree with, I'll "like" it but still reply in a post, but with more than usual. e.g., "Thanks so much; I've been trying to figure this out for weeks and your solution is the only working one I've found."

 

Honestly, I like the idea, always have. It keeps the one liner "thanks" and "Like" posts out of the mix and rewards individuals for liking posts

 

Could be, people nowadays are too lazy to write a few words... from the other hands if the have to write some bullsh*t then "like" is a better option to go with. Personally I would like people on my forums to write some constructive posts.

 

It removes the needless and rather annoying:

+1

Which is a great thing. First person to +1 this post gets a banana.

 

There is always the possibility that some people will "like" instead of replying, but on balance at least for my community, likes have been a positive force. What they take away with some short posts not being made, they give with better interaction and incentive for people who post good content to be rewarded for it. I have also seen cases where people both like and reply to say thanks, or that the content was good. So I think if someone has something to say, they will still say it.

 

Think the LIKE has it uses along with posting replies

 

Thought along the same lines when first seeing the LIKE feature, but I don't mind it now, think it comes in handy at times.

 

I wrote about this back when I did development for ImperialBB: http://www.ryanashbrook.co/2010/10/12/reputation-vs-likes/

My thoughts can be summed up in that post.

 

Think you can argue both sides of the coin, true the LIKES can take away from posting forum replies. But on the other-hand, it gives you a quick way to show you liked a persons post rather than posting a pretty meaningless 3-4 word reply to say it. Swings both ways really. What nobody has touched on, when I used MyBB and it's LIKE type system that allows both Positive and Negative rep points to be given. Your forced to leave a comment with it, what that means is some text is still left with a LIKE for reading on a members rep page to be indexed by search engines. That means nothing is taken away from liking a post, but not leaving a forum reply, either way some comment text is left for reading.

 

I much prefer the likes system but then I run a discussion forum as opposed to a downloads or sharing resources type forum.

I found it very annoying to see a thread with a dozen replies and then when I go to that thread to read people opinions all that they had posted was...

'thanks'
'agreed'
'this!'
'+1'
'ditto'
'me too'
'like'

Now this behaviour helped increase post count but it put me off reading threads because I was wasting time scrolling through rubbish to get to content. Since we've introduced likes people have stopped this annoying behaviour and I'm grateful for it.

 

At first, I didn't like the like/thanks/etc. systems. For the same reasons others don't. We don't want to replace comments/content.

I have found that I participate a lot more using the like button. I don't always want to make a reply because sometimes I don't have anything to add to the topic. It's just easier to like posts that say what I agree with rather than to repeat what they already said. And to me it's like showing my support for the ideas presented in the post.

There are times when a thread is over-run with opposing views. You'll see people liking the few that they agree with and not the rest. Those same people are not as vocal as others. The like system helps them make their opinion stand out without creating a post. You'll see that on forum business forums where people don't reply in heated threads for fear of being attacked by those who disagree with them. They use the like system to show where they stand on issues without getting in the middle of arguments.

If a topic rating is available, I use that as well. But, sometimes the entire topic goes off topic and a rating would be pointless. Liking individual posts just makes more sense in those cases.

I want my banana! Lol...j/k

 

I don't think so. I think people who genuinely like forums are there to engage in conversations with other members and will continue to do so. The "like" feature is just a great feature that quickly lets the poster know their post is well received.

 

I've noticed my member's don't or rarely do hit the like button.....so i haven't really noticed much difference.