keropi wrote on 2026-10-12, 15:37:

I have a heretical idea, a "like" button that was discussed and dismissed AFAIR because of it's ties to social media
but I really think it is helpful to not clutter the forum, sometimes you read something good and you just want to say thanks without adding more to the discussion

Like 👍

keropi wrote on 2026-10-12, 15:37:

I have a heretical idea, a "like" button that was discussed and dismissed AFAIR because of it's ties to social media
but I really think it is helpful to not clutter the forum, sometimes you read something good and you just want to say thanks without adding more to the discussion

You only go this route if you want people here who go out of their way to farm likes, just look at Reddit to see how that works out. I'm here for the discussion and have zero need to know if people like my posts or not, I simply don't care about such things. Trust me when I say adding likes/dislikes changes how people interact towards each other and not for the better, Youtube is another example of this.

So no thanks I don't want Reddit here and would never use the like function, I would go out of my way to block it via Ublock just like I did with every social feature Reddit has aside from the threads.

I don't want to believe that people behave like that but I guess I'm naive. What on earth would they get out of farming likes? There's no awards or cash prizes handed out.

I could see dislikes causing issues but likes? I really don't see the harm, in my mind it's just a simple gesture to say "thankyou for going to the effort of posting something that was interesting or that I agreed with"

badmojo wrote on 2026-10-12, 23:38:

I don't want to believe that people behave like that but I guess I'm naive. What on earth would they get out of farming likes? There's no awards or cash prizes handed out.

I could see dislikes causing issues but likes? I really don't see the harm, in my mind it's just a simple gesture to say "thankyou for going to the effort of posting something that was interesting or that I agreed with"

Visit Reddit, you will very quickly understand the issue, same for YouTube where there are entire AI channels that spam content for the likes and comments all in an effort to drive them up the advertising algorithm.

There are not only people who think and behave like having internet likes is important they fully believe that they and only they should have all of them . .what's amusing is the bots that farm likes are their competition.
And for Vogons .. bots farming likes will be the biggest issue, and yes there will be bots trying to do that, no idea why but reddit is full of bots that post content just to farm the likes.

There really is no way to implement a likes system to prevent abuse from either people or bots, Vogons already has enough trouble with bots we don't need another reason for them to spam here.

But in the context of Vogons, what is the advantage of farming likes? There's no advertising algorithm, no revenue to be gained.

I'm not trying to start an argument just seeking to understand because I'm interested, and it wouldn't be the first time I'd be amazed by people's motivations, but I just can't see how getting a million likes on this forum benefits a person - or a bot - in any way.

badmojo wrote on 2026-10-13, 00:27:

But in the context of Vogons, what is the advantage of farming likes? There's no advertising algorithm, no revenue to be gained.

I'm not trying to start an argument just seeking to understand because I'm interested, and it wouldn't be the first time I'd be amazed by people's motivations, but I just can't see how getting a million likes on this forum benefits a person - or a bot - in any way.

You're right there is no benefit, there isn't one on Reddit either but well they do it all the same for supposed Internet clout and self gratification from having the biggest likes number, bots are usually ran by a human which again goes back to that self gratification from "Big Number Better" syndrome and "Must have all the likes" mentality.

I personally don't get it but have seen it happen on every single forum that has implemented some form of likes/dislikes system, there will always be one individual who simply cannot help themselves.

Also don't be afraid to argue a point, its how things get fleshed out and understandings occur, so long as we both keep it respectful I don't have any issue with an opposing argument !

I "like" the idea of a like button.

But it needs to be kept simple and in no way useable to get more views of your posts.

I'd just have a counter thay showed when already viewing the actual post (so viewer could see how the information on screen was useful to orhers)

and in the search, "your posts" list (so the poster could see how well the post was reacted to)

It should NOT be shown anywhere it could encourage "clicks".

DaveDDS wrote on 2026-10-13, 00:48:

I "like" the idea of a like button. […]
Show full quote

I "like" the idea of a like button.

But it needs to be kept simple and in no way useable to get more views of your posts.

I'd just have a counter thay showed when already viewing the actual post (so viewer could see how the information on screen was useful to orhers)

and in the search, "your posts" list (so the poster could see how well the post was reacted to)

It should NOT be shown anywhere it could encourage "clicks".

How about a shadow like/dislike system where the like/dislike is not visible to anyone but the person who liked the post but each separate like/dislike helps to promote/highlight/flag that post in the thread. This way posts that offer valuable advice or tips could be more visible to others, such as adding a coloured border to that post.

Dislikes could simply be used by the mods as a way to know when a post has gone to far and may need attention, the more dislikes a post gets sets off a flag for mods, dislikes shouldn't be visible to anyone but the mods to prevent abuse.

Just spitballing here.

If people "like"ing becomes a problem... cap the "public" display number at 10 (or even just a simple "more than a couple viewers liked" indicator.

And posters should not be able to "like" their own posts.

Yes, there will still be those who have multiple accounts or use friends to make their posts seem more useful - but if you rely on this to govern your reading, viewers will quickly sense who's "drivel" always shows as useful.

It really should be more about letting a poster know the post was appreciated- not to encourage "views"

DaveDDS wrote on 2026-10-13, 01:02:

It really should be more about letting a poster know the post was appreciated- not to encourage "views"

I agree

I think we were having similar ideas at the same time.

I don't like using "like"s to promote visibility... that still has incentive to abuse.

I'm also not keen on dislikes .. that can also be abused.

I personally always rely on "title" to decide if I want to view, and sometimes "author" to judge expected quality (or lack of)

Agree with this and in my simple mind that's all a like button is, an indication to the poster that people are agreeing or are appreciative. It's nice to be able to see which members clicked the like too. But it's not linked to visibility or ranking in any way.

I see no point in a dislike button though.

Here's a good example, this post made me laugh and I want to acknowledge it, but replying with 'lol' is a waste of space.

personally I am only thinking about a small "like" button at the end of the post , no dislike and no counting whatsoever outside the liked post - much like what exists for almost 2 years now on AmiBay where it helped minimize offtopic discussions and de-cluttering of sales posts. Ofcourse there is no such issues here but still it has it's uses IMHO - and remember it's just an idea/suggestion 😀

If there will be "like" button, I demand "dislike" button as well, and a field with list of usernames under the post to show who "liked" and "dislaked" the post. This should be fair.

Trashbytes wrote on 2026-10-13, 00:41:

You're right there is no benefit, there isn't one on Reddit either but well they do it all the same for supposed Internet clout and self gratification from having the biggest likes number, bots are usually ran by a human which again goes back to that self gratification from "Big Number Better" syndrome and "Must have all the likes" mentality.

There *is* a "benefit" on reddit: giving accounts some legitimacy and credibility, whatever the end goal is (misinformation, ads, guerilla marketing...).
High karma reddit accounts are being sold for those uses. Vogons is not Reddit. Having a tiny like button to show appreciation to a post shouldn't have much effect on such a small community.

Personally I'm doing fine without it, but wouldn't mind it if was implemented either way.

Hi guys! what happen to forum!????? is broken since yesterday in Thorium legacy (chrome 122) , Supermium, 144, and in my Cellphone too Via Browser version 7.0.0 using Android System WebView 154

Fail in all same error (i already deleted cockies, site cache, data, etc no luck)

1This site can’t be reached
2
3The web page at https://www.vogons.org/ 
4
5might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address.
6
7ERR_HTTP2_PROTOCOL_ERROR

Im posting this using Chromium Version 150.0.7828.0 (Official Build) (32-bit) in windows XP at least is working, in my phone works forcing desktop version

keropi wrote on 2026-10-13, 06:39:

personally I am only thinking about a small "like" button at the end of the post , no dislike and no counting whatsoever outside the liked post - much like what exists for almost 2 years now on AmiBay where it helped minimize offtopic discussions and de-cluttering of sales posts. Ofcourse there is no such issues here but still it has it's uses IMHO - and remember it's just an idea/suggestion 😀

This is the way to do it, in my opinion.

SegaRetro/SonicRetro uses a similar system, although with more unnecessary bells and whistles (like splitting it into "likes" and "informative"): https://forums.sonicretro.org/forums/general- … -discussion.92/

The primary purpose of it is to show support for people who post things you like or found interesting. I see a lot of posts here where the poster clearly worked many long, hard hours on a project, and it gets like 2 random replies and then fades into obscurity. An easy-to-use "like" system would encourage more showing of support, which in turn would hopefully motivate people to keep doing the awesome things they're doing.

It definitely should not be some reddit-like upvote/downvote thing. Just a simple system of showing support that can easily be ignored if you don't care about it.

No, it is not the right way. This way is only for pumping some fake "likes" (upvote). If there will be "like" function, there should be also a "dislike" option, so everyone could see, if the downvote ("dislikes") is more than collected "likes" for the particular post. And there should be also list which user "liked" and "disliked" the post, so nothing to be hidden, because we will not play on some false democracy here, if such "like-dislike" functions will be implemented.

In general, I'm against such rating systems, because, as I already mentioned, they lead to more and more counter-constructive consequences:

analog_programmer wrote on 2026-10-12, 15:51:

keropi wrote on 2026-10-12, 15:37:

I have a heretical idea, a "like" button that was discussed and dismissed AFAIR because of it's ties to social media
but I really think it is helpful to not clutter the forum, sometimes you read something good and you just want to say thanks without adding more to the discussion

Yeah, and next suggestion will be for user's "likes" collected ratings and even more segregation in user groups like "new vs. old", "noobs vs. l33ts", etc. No, thanks, I prefer to writhe "thank you" in the comments, instead of clicking on those "likes" or "reaction" icons implemented by other forums.

analog_programmer wrote on 2026-10-13, 08:52:

No, it is not the right way. This way is only for pumping some fake "likes" (upvote). If there will be "like" function, there should be also a "dislike" option, so everyone could see, if the downvote ("dislikes") is more than collected "likes" for the particular post. And there should be also list which user "liked" and "disliked" the post, so nothing to be hidden, because we will not play on some false democracy here, if such "like-dislike" functions will be implemented.

In general, I'm against such rating systems, because, as I already mentioned, they lead to more and more counter-constructive consequences:

What you're describing doesn't actually happen on similar forums that use a like system.

It's a minor feature that most people don't even notice - just a small thing on the bottom of a post like in Keropi's screenshot. Its sole use is to tell the poster if people are interested in what they're doing. It isn't used for anything else and it can't be gamed because it simply doesn't matter for anything.

I consider it a must-have feature for a forum where people are posting a lot of creative projects, because it lets people show appreciation and encouragement.