alexphan wrote:

- Snip! -

Wow, this is your second large reply on this topic.

I fully support the idea of liking comments. I also support the idea to sort by “most liked”. However, I don't think we should be giving a feature to dislike (similar to the way we have no dislikes on projects), and I don't support @alexphan's suggestion to hide the amount of likes from earlier.

I would like to be able to like comments so that I can find the most relevant comments for a project. If somebody provided a suggestion to improve one of my games, for example, then if it gets a lot of likes, that shows that lots of people in the community would also like that change. If somebody provides some constructive criticism with something they don't really like, and it gets a lot of likes, then I might have to consider changing that thing. It would be a lot easier to tell what people want, but at the moment, it would just be one person saying it, and most people would not be able to find that reply and say they would like the same thing, as it may be drowning under other comments.

Speaking of “not finding”, the filter would also help a lot. If I could simply look at the most liked comments, then I would be able to find this good criticism much easier. If a comment is threatening for likes, and gets a lot of them, well the most liked comments filter would help me find those easier too (and the report button). Then, I could set it back to recent to be able to find the newest comments, and those would eventually be liked as well.

Why do I not support disliking? Why, it can make Scratchers feel bad. Although I'm usually against using “oh it'll make them feel bad” as an argument, I'm afraid it's one of the only options. Imagine if you take a lot of time into making a suggestion to improve a game, only to get tons of dislikes because people don't want that. Imagine if you're the creator of the project, saying that, on a tutorial or something, you're "glad that the project helped [someone] out in some way“, only to get dislikes, showing that people aren't getting helped by it. It would also conflict with the fact that projects don't have dislikes, either, and I want the consistency.

Why would I not support making the likes invisible? Well, I would like to be able to see the amount of likes that a comment gets. For example, if none of the comments had any likes, or just very small amounts, and then I clicked ”Top Comments“, then the most recent comments and top comments would pretty much be the same. If someone were to see comments like ”this project is terrible“ pretty high up because nobody's liked other comments, then it might make someone feel upset about it. However, if they were to see that those comments that made them feel bad had no likes, then they might feel a little happier. If the mean comment gets more likes, they should know that it's probably people trolling, and that you should simply report the comment, as it's an unfriendly, unconstructive comment.

I'm also going to bring a new suggestion to the table here. I think we should, upon hovering over the number of likes and clicking, see a list of the Scratchers who liked the post. If we were to do that, odds are, people would not like mean comments, as then the project creator could see that they actually did like that. Anyone who likes mean comments, showing that they agree, could also be reported. However, if the comment is constructive criticism, and they agree, then that would not be reportable, as instead of saying ”you're bad“, that means they simply agree with a statement like ”I like this and this, but maybe you could improve this or add this".

Hey, another large reply! Only took me 4 minutes, luckily. Now, try to count the number of times I've said “like” and any of its common forms in this whole post. I dare you. :P

support that sounds cool

VideoGamerCanInvent wrote:

redglitter wrote:

I think this is a great idea!
But maybe to avoid spam, the liking/upvoting comments engine could have a censor in it so if it was something like ‘Like for a follow!’ or ‘Like if you agree!’ it could edit out that part automatically.
We could also have liking/upvoting posts.

That's a bit difficult, but yes it could cause spam. If spam became a problem you could just report it.

That would be a lot of reports though, and the ST might not have time to delete every single spam comment…

DaEpikDude wrote:

Dupe

Not exactly, because that topic is from 2016, while this one is from 2014.

I think this is a good suggestion and should be added so users can give their opinions on comments.

Support. Projects have it. Why not this?

For those who saying, “but must may spam it”, there are a few things I have to tell you:
1. Users say it everywhere.
2. They might even put that on projects.
3. There is a report button.
4. There is a delete button (if you are able to delete comments on your projects).
5. You can disable commenting on your projects.

For those who say, “Scratch is not social media”, there are a few things I have to tell you.
1. Social media is not a site about liking comments. It's a site where people can communicate with others.
2. Other websites aren't social media, and they feature things social media has.
3. So what if Scratch isn't social media? If the feature is fine and doesn't do harm to the community, anything can be implemented, even if it tries to turn Scratch into social media.

For those who say, “No Support because of dislikes”, there are a few things I have to tell you:
1. The user didn't suggest dislikes.
2. Everyone knows they have to read the stickies before suggesting. They know anything sharing negativity is not allowed such as downvotes.

For other reasons:
1. Project also have likes. Does that mean they have to be removed from projects?
2. Likes are not for teasing or bullying.

Not supported. If you want upvotes, go to StackExchange

turkey3 wrote:

Support! No downvoting, but upvoting only. It allows multiple people to express the same opinion without them all having to post it separately.

Agree.

Support!

No support. It would turn into a chaotic hellscape of “1 like=blah blah blah blah”

I don't even know what good would come out of liking comments or forum posts, so I think the cons very much outweigh the pros.

In my opinion, liking comments/forum posts would be completely useless and abused.
You might make the same argument with loves and favorites, but both actually have a purpose - loves add to Scratch's culture like Zro716 said, and they also provide a way of telling somebody you like their project without having to mess up the aesthetics on your profile or showing everybody that you like that project. Favorites are a way of bookmarking projects/showcasing the projects you really like on your profile.

I think its a Good Idea!

I think downvoting would also be good it would just show a ration though

Mr_PenguinAlex wrote:

No support. It would turn into a chaotic hellscape of “1 like=blah blah blah blah”

Agreed.

Imagine this scenario:
You are playing a game. You think it's really fun.
You decide to make a comment telling the creator you like it and make a suggestion for the game. The comment gets only 5 likes.
Meanwhile, a comment saying “1 like=One more level for the game” gets way more likes than your comment.

See what I mean?

No support.

No support.

Just look at the youtube comment section nowadays. People begging for likes endlessly. “2019?” “Can I get a like? I never got a like before.” “If this comment reaches x likes bla bla bla”. People would just care for likes on comments rather than focus on the project itself. This would also accentuate the “social media” aspect of Scratch. I know loves and favorites and follows also already do, but having a like for comments is different and it wouldn't have the same effects, from my point of view.

WolfCat67 wrote:

I would like to be able to like comments so that I can find the most relevant comments for a project. If somebody provided a suggestion to improve one of my games, for example, then if it gets a lot of likes, that shows that lots of people in the community would also like that change. If somebody provides some constructive criticism with something they don't really like, and it gets a lot of likes, then I might have to consider changing that thing. It would be a lot easier to tell what people want, but at the moment, it would just be one person saying it, and most people would not be able to find that reply and say they would like the same thing, as it may be drowning under other comments.

I disagree.

If a lot of people agree that a change should be made, you can just say “I agree!”. Having lots of people saying that they agree with a suggestion and constructive criticism would be the same as liking a comment, in this situation. Plus, I don't think a lot of people would care to see how many likes a comment has, unless it is clearly displayed. If for example your project is really popular and you don't want the constructive recommendations to be drowned in the sea of comments, just make a to-do list on a text editor or anything you can write on and save. It doesn't take that long, and it wouldn't be worth adding a “like” button just for this sort of stuff.

Speaking of “not finding”, the filter would also help a lot. If I could simply look at the most liked comments, then I would be able to find this good criticism much easier. If a comment is threatening for likes, and gets a lot of them, well the most liked comments filter would help me find those easier too (and the report button). Then, I could set it back to recent to be able to find the newest comments, and those would eventually be liked as well.

How would the filter detect which comments are begging for likes and which ones aren't? How would the filter detect which comments are constructive criticism and which ones aren't? It really isn't that hard to look for the comment that had suggestions on how to make your project better. Again, unless your project is really popular, you could just do the same thing as what I suggested above. It only takes a minute or two. Also, from what I've seen, there's never as many constructive comments as you seem to be thinking there is. (did my sentence make sense?) Sorry if I'm misinterpreting this post, but to me it kinda sounds like you're assuming each project gets tons and tons of good criticism. I would assume 99% of the comments are “awesome project!” and stuff on those lines.

Why do I not support disliking? -snip-

I agree.

Why would I not support making the likes invisible? Well, I would like to be able to see the amount of likes that a comment gets. For example, if none of the comments had any likes, or just very small amounts, and then I clicked “Top Comments”, then the most recent comments and top comments would pretty much be the same. If someone were to see comments like “this project is terrible” pretty high up because nobody's liked other comments, then it might make someone feel upset about it. However, if they were to see that those comments that made them feel bad had no likes, then they might feel a little happier. If the mean comment gets more likes, they should know that it's probably people trolling, and that you should simply report the comment, as it's an unfriendly, unconstructive comment.

Isn't worth the risk. If someone made a rude, disrespectful comment and it appears to be the top comment, as you say it, just report it…? Isn't that what we always do and always have been doing?

Anyone who likes mean comments, showing that they agree, could also be reported.

How would you report a person that has liked a comment that is mean or disrespectful? Would there be an option for “liked disrespectful comment”? I don't think it would be worth having an option for this, really… And I don't think anyone would go through “contact-us” to inform the Scratch Team that someone liked a mean comment.

I haven't made a post like this in a while…

Support. We can love projects, and there's lots of real thoughtful comments out there.

klomaster10 wrote:

This would be a cool idea, but it also pose some problems, like spamming comments with memes and jokes and other junk, just so they could get a ‘like’ or ‘upvote’.

People could use the Report button, or just not like the comments.

Chainmanner wrote:

As much as a good idea this might be, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to turn that upvote for this thread upside-down. It might encourage unfriendly competition to get the higher comment, some memes might get higher ratings than a comment better in quality, etc.

You could say the same for loving/favoriting projects.

CatsUnited wrote:

No support. How do you tell how many likes you have?

It could probably just say “(number) likes” next to the Like button.

CatsUnited wrote:

Also, what if someone reports a liked comment?

What would the problem be with that?

Superandultra wrote:

No support, its like the project rating thing. It discourages unpopular opinions as they would probably get alot of dislikes.

Z-zap wrote:

turkey3 wrote:

Support! No downvoting, but upvoting only. It allows multiple people to express the same opinion without them all having to post it separately.

Right. No downvoting.

MrSherlockHolmes wrote:

Too much like youtube. Anyway, comments are mostly irrelevant. The project is what counts

What about WIP projects where people are looking for feedback in comments? They could like a comment if they found it helpful but would prefer not to take the time to write a thanks comment.

StarscreamClone wrote:

You have a few good points, but I'm just wondering if it's beneficial enough to be worth the effort on ST's part…

Maybe they could throw it into the next major update.

MegaApuTurkUltra wrote:

little_kitten wrote:

I like the idea. What if you could like forum posts too? I think we'd need that!

I agree.

contest101 wrote:

“likes” would be abused very much. Just look at Facebook. Peaple WILL post comments just for likes, and that does not fly with me!

Again, what about project likes?

awesome5185 wrote:

Another suggestion, it might not get approved, I think the Scratch Team can add a ‘needs improvement’ button on projects. Not nesseraly that it's bad, but it could be better.

Yeah, that would be less likely to discourage New Scratchers than a dislike button.

Zro716 wrote:

I dunno. For likes to be worth something, there has to some use for them besides agreement. The best way to agree with someone is to reply to them, to let them know you listened to what they said without skipping over. Likes, as nice as it sounds to receive them, would kinda hasten your response which isn't as thoughtful.

And what kind of use is there besides that? Karma? Everlasting fame? To me, I just don't get it, at least not here. On Reddit, people earn karma for participation because, well, that's the nature of Reddit. Scratch is different because we hold a different set of values: education, creative freedom, and fairness. Because karma would throw fairness off balance, it's not a good idea for Scratch.

If you look at places that have “like” buttons for comments, i.e. Facebook, YouTube, and Google, you can see one predominant problem: the surfacing of humanity's worst. As a rule of thumb on the Internet, people are willing to do literally anything for likes. Some of the people who farm for likes are the biggest disappointments I have ever seen. Even if it's just for laughs, “just kidding”, reposting memes, etc., it's still not worth the value it shows because there is a lot more to someone's personality than a number.

So let's connect the dots: Likes for comments on Scratch would hold no distinct, practical value; yet people, especially kids are willing to do their worst to get likes at any rate, because everyone loves fake Internet points; as a consequence, this masquerades their character under a greedy surface, which otherwise would give a much more honest, thoughtful response.

Edit: As some clarifying information, I don't entirely disagree with having likes on Scratch. Depending on how you look at it, the level of maturity on Scratch versus another place like Facebook can be better or worse. The older class of Scratch is on average more mature than the younger class, and that's just a fact by observation. But still, at any maturity, the pull of karma will bend the will of anyone.

What about stuff like “Like this comment if you agree”?

Zro716 wrote:

Edit 2: Before someone points out that love-its are the equivalent of likes for projects… that is correct. But first, allow me to explain the distinction that makes them necessary, as opposed to likes for comments.

First, love-its are a functioning metric for community trends. The What the Community is Loving row on the front page displays the top 20 trending projects. While it's mildly unsettling to some that it intensifies the popularity of those who land on it, Scratch would not flourish in culture without it.

Good point, but it's not like people are unlikely to come across Scratch's current memes anyway.

Zro716 wrote:

Second, love-its are one of the only ways to gauge fairness. Depending on how hard you work, you may receive a fair amount of love-its, assuming equal probability. If luck does not favor you (you don't earn as many love-its as you think you deserve), then perhaps getting the attention of a curator or ST member may help.

So it's not fair if one person gets more love-its than another?

Zro716 wrote:

Third, love-its feel heartwarming to receive. It's a much stronger word than “like-it”, so it has a much stronger, more sensible feeling to it.

Maybe mildly, but in the long run they're just received the same as likes.

awesome5185 wrote:

Wow @Zro716, I've never thought on how likes could be a BAD thing. I guess it could be used for fame. But the main reason i suggested it was because if you don't know what to say other than “I agree” or “yeah” then just a simple ‘like’ would do. Plus, the commenter might have made a good point that needs to stand out, and many Scratchers agree, then likes would draw people to read that comment.

^

pvz_pro wrote:

no support, likes don't need fame, but I would support it if there is a dislike button for comments and if a comment has too many dislikes, it will be marked as spam

That is not spam. Spam is material that actually can bother people. If a bunch of people don't like a project, that doesn't make it spam. Also, what Abstract- said.

rasmusolle wrote:

Somefakescratcherihopedoesntexist335768 wrote:
You suck and ( more insulting words )
34 likes





You know what? It might not be a good idea…

*cough* the report button (I guess it's another thing whether or not someone could get banned for liking an inappropriate comment though)

Abstract- wrote:

Liking Comments:

We don't need more fame

“I agree”

Abstract- wrote:

Needs Improvment:

That is what comments are for, but we can actually tell them what to imprve.

True, but it's also a less offensive way of disliking projects.

MathlyCat wrote:

If you simply agree there is no reason to say anything; even like it. The main reason is because you aren't going to be adding to discussion saying “I agree” or liking a post. If anything adding something to the discussion is better than anything else.

Exactly why we need this. So people can show they like or agree with something without posting useless filler that doesn't add to the discussion.

alexphan wrote:

I also doubt someone will like a comment that says this:
LIKE MY COMMENT OR ELSE I WILL REPORT U!!!!!!!!

Gullible people might.

alexphan wrote:

This feature would be very useful, because most of the comments these days are just “lol” or “cool” or “_meow_”, or people just talking (like the OP said) which can be really annoying for Scratchers on the front page. Liking comments will help get constructive comments (such as feedback or suggestions) more noticeable and will help encourage constructive comments.

^

alexphan wrote:

To those who say “no support would cause more competition”:
First of all, Scratch and real life has competition, whether you like it or not. Second, this isn't exactly encouraging competition, rather, it's encouraging people to be more constructive. More constructive comments would appear on the top.

Besides, again, you could make the same argument for loving/favoriting projects.

alexphan wrote:

Now, the downsides. I've seen comments on YouTube that say something like:
Like this comment or Harambe will kidnap you
1 Like = 1 Cookie

In that case, we should add to “what we should report?”: “Report any comments that solicit likes or threatens people that do not like the comment.”

^ Definitely.

bigpuppy wrote:

alexphan wrote:

Now, the downsides. I've seen comments on YouTube that say something like:
Like this comment or Harambe will kidnap you
1 Like = 1 Cookie

That will probably happen less on Scratch, because the Scratch community is way different than the YouTube community. I totally agree with your full post though.

Well, there's always the chance that a pro YouTuber might randomly get a Scratch account…

GryffindorFreak1 wrote:

No support, because what if somebody posted “Like this comment for a follow!” or
“Like this and good fortune will come to you, I swear!”

Also: oh my gosh, yay, this is my 100th post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See alexphan's post.

raspykoo wrote:

MrSherlockHolmes wrote:

Too much like youtube. Anyway, comments are mostly irrelevant. The project is what counts

You can say that the tagging system is too much like Twitter, too. lol.

Yeah. Even if Scratch isn't meant to be a social media site, it's hard to have a site that's partially about “sharing” without some aspects of social media.

Empty-Map wrote:

Ya this would be nice to have. I would also like it on the comment on projects.

I thought that's what the OP was referring to…

redglitter wrote:

But maybe to avoid spam, the liking/upvoting comments engine could have a censor in it so if it was something like ‘Like for a follow!’ or ‘Like if you agree!’ it could edit out that part automatically.

A foolproof filterbot for that would probably be difficult to program (not that the existing filterbot is very foolproof either). Use the Report button.

WolfCat67 wrote:

However, I don't think we should be giving a feature to dislike (similar to the way we have no dislikes on projects)…

WolfCat67 wrote:

Why do I not support disliking? Why, it can make Scratchers feel bad. Although I'm usually against using “oh it'll make them feel bad” as an argument, I'm afraid it's one of the only options. Imagine if you take a lot of time into making a suggestion to improve a game, only to get tons of dislikes because people don't want that. Imagine if you're the creator of the project, saying that, on a tutorial or something, you're "glad that the project helped [someone] out in some way", only to get dislikes, showing that people aren't getting helped by it. It would also conflict with the fact that projects don't have dislikes, either, and I want the consistency.

It's rejected anyway.

WolfCat67 wrote:

I would like to be able to like comments so that I can find the most relevant comments for a project. If somebody provided a suggestion to improve one of my games, for example, then if it gets a lot of likes, that shows that lots of people in the community would also like that change. If somebody provides some constructive criticism with something they don't really like, and it gets a lot of likes, then I might have to consider changing that thing. It would be a lot easier to tell what people want, but at the moment, it would just be one person saying it, and most people would not be able to find that reply and say they would like the same thing, as it may be drowning under other comments.

Makes sense. Someone could spam likes, but I guess it's the same for loving/favoriting projects.

WolfCat67 wrote:

Why would I not support making the likes invisible? Well, I would like to be able to see the amount of likes that a comment gets. For example, if none of the comments had any likes, or just very small amounts, and then I clicked “Top Comments”, then the most recent comments and top comments would pretty much be the same. If someone were to see comments like “this project is terrible” pretty high up because nobody's liked other comments, then it might make someone feel upset about it. However, if they were to see that those comments that made them feel bad had no likes, then they might feel a little happier. If the mean comment gets more likes, they should know that it's probably people trolling, and that you should simply report the comment, as it's an unfriendly, unconstructive comment.

You should probably report the comment either way. It violates the CGs.

WolfCat67 wrote:

I'm also going to bring a new suggestion to the table here. I think we should, upon hovering over the number of likes and clicking, see a list of the Scratchers who liked the post.

I would support (I think Facebook has this). We should also have this for loving/favoriting projects and following studios.

WolfCat67 wrote:

Anyone who likes mean comments, showing that they agree, could also be reported.

Someone could click the like button by accident without realizing it.

WolfCat67 wrote:

Hey, another large reply! Only took me 4 minutes, luckily. Now, try to count the number of times I've said “like” and any of its common forms in this whole post. I dare you. :P

33.

redglitter wrote:

VideoGamerCanInvent wrote:

redglitter wrote:

I think this is a great idea!
But maybe to avoid spam, the liking/upvoting comments engine could have a censor in it so if it was something like ‘Like for a follow!’ or ‘Like if you agree!’ it could edit out that part automatically.
We could also have liking/upvoting posts.

That's a bit difficult, but yes it could cause spam. If spam became a problem you could just report it.

That would be a lot of reports though, and the ST might not have time to delete every single spam comment…

Pretty much all spam is like that though.

TimeLordPlanet wrote:

Not supported. If you want upvotes, go to StackExchange

Why does that mean Scratch shouldn't have them?

staffordboys wrote:

I think downvoting would also be good it would just show a ration though

It's rejected.

cheesyfriedeggs wrote:

Mr_PenguinAlex wrote:

No support. It would turn into a chaotic hellscape of “1 like=blah blah blah blah”

Agreed.

Imagine this scenario:
You are playing a game. You think it's really fun.
You decide to make a comment telling the creator you like it and make a suggestion for the game. The comment gets only 5 likes.
Meanwhile, a comment saying “1 like=One more level for the game” gets way more likes than your comment.

See what I mean?

No support.

There could be a rule against such comments.

NilsTheBest wrote:

No support.

Just look at the youtube comment section nowadays. People begging for likes endlessly. “2019?” “Can I get a like? I never got a like before.” “If this comment reaches x likes bla bla bla”. People would just care for likes on comments rather than focus on the project itself. This would also accentuate the “social media” aspect of Scratch. I know loves and favorites and follows also already do, but having a like for comments is different and it wouldn't have the same effects, from my point of view.

Well, it's better than a bunch of people replying with “yes”, “I agree”, “lol”, etc.

NilsTheBest wrote:

If a lot of people agree that a change should be made, you can just say “I agree!”. Having lots of people saying that they agree with a suggestion and constructive criticism would be the same as liking a comment, in this situation.

Well, it would probably take up less space.

NilsTheBest wrote:

Plus, I don't think a lot of people would care to see how many likes a comment has, unless it is clearly displayed.

Some people might feel happy if their comment gets a like.

NilsTheBest wrote:

Also, from what I've seen, there's never as many constructive comments as you seem to be thinking there is. (did my sentence make sense?) Sorry if I'm misinterpreting this post, but to me it kinda sounds like you're assuming each project gets tons and tons of good criticism. I would assume 99% of the comments are “awesome project!” and stuff on those lines.

It still could be worth it for the other 1% though.

NilsTheBest wrote:

Anyone who likes mean comments, showing that they agree, could also be reported.

How would you report a person that has liked a comment that is mean or disrespectful? Would there be an option for “liked disrespectful comment”? I don't think it would be worth having an option for this, really… And I don't think anyone would go through “contact-us” to inform the Scratch Team that someone liked a mean comment.

Maybe the comment report could include a checkbox for “Have this report also count for the people who liked this comment.”

BumpSign wrote:

NilsTheBest wrote:

No support.

Just look at the youtube comment section nowadays. People begging for likes endlessly. “2019?” “Can I get a like? I never got a like before.” “If this comment reaches x likes bla bla bla”. People would just care for likes on comments rather than focus on the project itself. This would also accentuate the “social media” aspect of Scratch. I know loves and favorites and follows also already do, but having a like for comments is different and it wouldn't have the same effects, from my point of view.

Well, it's better than a bunch of people replying with “yes”, “I agree”, “lol”, etc.

In which way is it?

NilsTheBest wrote:

BumpSign wrote:

NilsTheBest wrote:

No support.

Just look at the youtube comment section nowadays. People begging for likes endlessly. “2019?” “Can I get a like? I never got a like before.” “If this comment reaches x likes bla bla bla”. People would just care for likes on comments rather than focus on the project itself. This would also accentuate the “social media” aspect of Scratch. I know loves and favorites and follows also already do, but having a like for comments is different and it wouldn't have the same effects, from my point of view.

Well, it's better than a bunch of people replying with “yes”, “I agree”, “lol”, etc.

In which way is it?

I could be wrong, but I think likes would take up less space.

Support! In my pun studio, whenever I see a funny pun, I want to like it instead of saying “LOL” or “XD” or “haha!”

BumpSign wrote:

I could be wrong, but I think likes would take up less space.

How so? When there are over 4 or 5 replies they hide the rest.

Green_Cookie wrote:

Support! In my pun studio, whenever I see a funny pun, I want to like it instead of saying “LOL” or “XD” or “haha!”

What's wrong with saying that?