Implement A 'Like' Button For Good Posts

I love SCF and spend much time here. I also spend some time at an astronomy forum (cloudynights) and they have one feature that I have not seen here. I don't even know if it is possible on this platform. I suspect it would add significantly to the intricacy of the programming and computing requirements.

A "Like" button. If you read a post that you particularly like, press the button. It provides a little 'food pellet' for the poster's soul. It allows others to see what POV is popular, without having to wade through dozens of other posts - it allows people to voice approval without having to add another post. A small icon next to the topic title could indicate to a member that they have a post in that topic with a 'like'.

After a while, the usage of this would 'settle' down to some reasonable amount.

Been discussed many times. The backbone to any forum is user posts. A like button will greatly diminish the amount of posts. So we won't be doing it.

That phrase tickled me.

And here I was looking for the like button for both mootermutt and rod222's posts
Clive

We already have one. I believe it is this-

Mike

A post that is liked is easily spotted by the way they are answered.

Peter

and by both the quantity and quality of the responses.

WE DON'T NEED NO STEENKING buttons!

Another downside, it becomes a popularity contest. You'll get some who want 'likes' enough to start opening multiple accounts just so they can 'like' their own posts. Kind of sad but it happens in other stamp forums.
Don

Respectfully, please don't add a like button. On some forums I frequent that have those, there's a tendency for people to value the posts purely by the number of likes, rather than the content of the post.

Appears to be unnecessary, IMO.

All right! All right! Forget I even suggested such a thing! None of the doom and gloom that is predicted is yet to materialize on the other forums that I have participated in that have had this feature for years. As with anything in life, having such a feature doesn't mean that you HAVE to use it if you feel it isn't in your interest. It is amazing to me how resistant people can be to change. So.... please ignore this idea as anything that could improve the experience on SCF for some people.

On the plus side, with a like button you don't have to wade through numerous one lines posts that are essentially thumbs up responses and have zero actual content.

On the other hand, if you're trying to increase the number of posts on a forum to indicate lots of activity as a lure to advertisers then a like button isn't a wise addition.

Yes, it has. You just don't have access to the back end to see.

Adding a like button here would almost overnight drop the number of posts by at least 20%. I've been running forums for 15 years and have seen it.

How about a "I almost liked it but kind of did not entirely but now I changed my mind and am conflicted about the post to some degree" button?

That we can do.