Suggestion: I dislike the "like" button

[Astinus]

We're not going to willingly introduce a way to incite drama on the forums. Although I like schadenfreude as much as the next person, I don't want to have to deal with it here.

As for the like button in creative forums, I didn't have much of a problem with it in FF&W when it was first introduced. I figured that the Like button would mean that more "feedback" would get to the author: they could tell if people liked their work by someone hitting the button. A feature akin to this is on a few other websites for sharing fanfics, and I have seen people in fandom say that they like having a button they can just hit to let the author know "I like your story!" It saves the effort of having to go "I like your story for [reasons]" because not everyone can pinpoint why they like something in particular.

Though I will admit that that was years ago, and if the nature of things have changed now to show that the Like button is more of a hindrance in certain forums, then it might be time to revisit the issue.

 

[Arylett Charnoa]

I have an idea, actually—what do you guys think of removing the like button in the forums that encourage serious discussion/feedback and increasing the number of characters required to post? Unless that's already a thing?

Eh... I think this'll only discourage people from posting even more, and crystallize that "if I don't have anything substantial to say, I won't say anything at all" mentality. Not only are you removing the like button, which is an easy way to give feedback, but you're forcing people to type up their words in a certain amount of characters. They'll think this is only a place where you can say something if you're a super expert, which is the opposite of what you seem to be trying to encourage.

Honestly, making the creative forums seem more accessible to others should be the answer here. Removing the like button makes it seem even less accessible. If you want more feedback, you have to be less concentrated on encouraging "quality" feedback, and more so on just encouraging it at all. Because otherwise, you're just intimidating people. Making the forums seem like anyone can pop in, post a comment, and then pop out without having to be super committed would encourage activity more so than removing like buttons or forcing character limits. Just let people know, it's okay to say things, even if you don't quite know what you're talking about in such sections. Make it seem more casual, a more friendly environment for discussions and sharing rather than just... artist/writer/whatever posts things, you must provide super critique and be a professional.

Then once activity starts to pick up, you'll get more "quality" posters in these sections. People will still like, of course, but they can also feel free to provide more detail if they wish.

And if you still don't quite agree with that, well, I suppose as FBI said, having it be an option up to the OP's discretion would probably be the best way to appease both parties. For people like me who encourage and actually enjoy likes. Because after all, sections like these are about the preferences of the creators, and each creator has different preferences.