I AGREE! And, Discourse Forum Software supports reacting to posts with other emojis instead of just the heart/like option. Would you be interested in a limited selection of Emojis being available to react to posts/comments? If so, which emojis would be good to include as options?
Which Emojis would you most prefer to be included as post reactions?
NONE! I prefer that the only option is a heart/like or nothing like now.
I donāt care as long as they are all generally positive emojis.
Include all except a few that are usually used for negative purposes (or just remove some if that particular one starts being abused).
Just include ALL emojis and sanction anyone who tries to abuse it just like you would if they posted a comment against the guidelines.
All the Custom Wyze Emojis - Ex:
Most of the Face Emojis
Animal Emojis
Heart Emojis:
Hand emojis:
Person Emojis:
Numbers:
Other Emoji not included above (due to poll size limit - see comments)
0voters
I assume one of the main reasons they have never enabled this feature is that some emojis could be used in ways that could increase contention/offense, banning them all is safer. So to make it more likely theyād allow it, my proposal would generally be for them to decide which emojis are allowed and make them mostly fun, playful, cheeky, positive, neutral, and USUALLY not offensive, while still giving us more expression options.
Feel free to post your own suggestions in the comments below if you feel like I missed some that would be great to add (Polls are limited to 20 options, so I couldnāt just list every emoji to be voted on anyway).
Note: I have not [recently] brought this up with the forum admins, and they might not do it regardless. I am just gauging interest and insight before I potentially propose it to anyone who makes these decisions.I might link the admin(s) to this poll later, but I was curious to see what the community thought first.
Based on my understanding of what Iāve read about Discourse, thatās kind of the motivation behind the base platform having only the : Itās a means toward promoting positive community engagement.
On the other hand, I favor the on platforms like YouTube and wish that theyād make the count publicly available again by default, because I think thatās a useful metric to help someone decide whether or not a video is worth watching (particularly when Iām looking for how-to content; Iād rather not waste my timeāI do enough of that already!āand seeing a high negative-to-positive ratio on a video can help eliminate useless content from my search).
In the case of the Forum, though, I just choose my own engagement. Sometimes that means responding with an image of my own choosing, without being constrained to some predetermined set of āreactionsā.
Rather than posting ā+1ā or āAgreedā, use the Like button.
I think allowing emojis would reduce āno contentā posts a little bit by allowing us to react with an emoji instead of having to post a no-content comment with an emoji because there is no other way to react.
I admit I have sometimes been guilty of only posting a custom or selective Emoji or GIF from time to time (especially in the water cooler) because I had no other way to engage and react to a comment, but might have used a reaction emoji instead if that was an option. It would reduce No-content posts a little, and I find reactions enjoyable when they are playful/cheesy, etc. I like to use them on discord and miss that I canāt do the same in the forums. I get value out of them.
However, I donāt know if they can be moderated other than not allowing certain emojis. I do think the thumbs down and middle finger make engagement happen less often. Just look at reddit where if someone gets downvoted too much they just delete their comment, and sometimes a downvote isnāt even about a ābad commentā but just that there are a bunch of bunch of group think cultists swarming them or people use it to punish them (take away their Karma and hide their comment and other things). Then a person starts avoiding participating, etc and gets all angry where they wouldnāt have before. Thatās the risk.
Thatās why I think it would be good to only have some selected positive, fun, playful, or cheesy emojis. I would use them instead of being tempted to make no-content posts.
Iām aware of all that, too, and Iād argue that even something like this is ācontentā.
I also use sometimes as a simple acknowledgement[1] that Iāve seen and read a message or post, not with any intent that I actually like it, so I sāpose someone else could argue that Iām abusing that button already.
On balance, I feel like Iām already doing quite a bit to keep the Forum tidy by doing things like using a single post to reply to multiple users in a topic (rather than posting back-to-back-to-back) and using the to suggest topic/post merges and category/tag adjustments to the Moderators as an effort to improve the content order and visibility for other users.
See, saying things like that is just placing unnecessary limits upon yourself. Free your creativity!
I totally get that, and Iām not even a heavy Discord user. Kind of like what I previously said about YouTube, I also think reactions (including but not limited to āheartcoinā) provide a means to quickly gauge the perceived quality of a post and also get an idea of other community membersā impressions of that content. In that way, they act kind of like a means for an informal poll, so from that perspective I agree with this:
Thereās probably truth to that, and Iām a little surprised that the latter is in the emoji set here, though perhaps thatās by design or thereās no easy way to filter the emoji set. I donāt know. Iāve been even more surprised when Iāve seen that emoji used on the Forum and apparently allowed to stay in place (though I also think that intent is important and didnāt think it was being used maliciously).
I think your comments about Reddit are fair, too, given my limited experience with that platform (and thatās probably a reason for the limit). We get to choose what communities we want to participate in, and I think itās really cool that Wyze has chosen multiple platforms for this, even though I avoid Facebook and TikTok like the plague. You go where the customers are, so thatās good for business. I donāt fault them for that. I choose to spend time here because I feel like Iām participating in what is already largely a lot of positive engagement.
Tāwood be nice to have an acknowledged icon. I often use that in agreement or to let them know I saw their reply. The heart is nice to let them know you care, even with a sarcastic or opposing viewpoint
I would not take the contrary viewpoint just to get a response. If I believe in a viewpoint, I will defend it, unless you can educate me otherwise.
In any case, life is too short to worry about the minutiae. Have fun, be nice. Donāt worry, be happy.
Thereās a Unicode glyph for āACKNOWLEDGEā (ā) to represent the actual control character (which is in Unicode but has no meaningful visual representation: ļæ½). Itād be kinda silly to just be droppinā ās and/or ās around, though, and itās probably not worth the effort.
Yeah, in some contexts thatās exactly my intent.
In othersā¦not so much, which is why @peepeepās comments about āheartcoinā are so apt. The vagueness is part of the charm.
I would not be opposed to forcing certain persons (we neednāt name names) to use five a month or maybe ten percent of posts read or even five or whatever (the robot says are you listening?) In any case we need to stamp out these chronic non-hearters. Thereās a vacuum building that could suck us all and everything in and to where I donāt know but itās a sure bet there wonāt be much heart there. And who wantās that?
Not you not me no one!
Separatelyā¦
Some say we must avoid [POLL]iferation. I am not among them.
I even prefer the odd inline poll (destined to be barren or nearly so) as an alternative to heartcoin itās variants or blunt memery.
I know this stance is not popular and many who have trod this path (or similar) have come to ruin but still I say it deserves support until a painfully long essay persuades otherwise.
In conclusion a slogan: Non-hearters are non-starters
Thatās a HUGE misunderstanding. That is not even one of the top 3 reasons for doing it. Youāre missing out.
Devilās Advocate: The purpose of devilās advocate, is to test the strength and VALIDITY of an argument. This can help ensure that all potential weaknesses and counterarguments are considered, leading to a more robust conclusion. It helps to mitigate the extremely terrible consequences and deficits caused by cognitive bias and group think. steel-manning another perspective actually helps you and your viewpoint more than anything else you could do.
Intellectual Exercise: Engaging with opposing viewpoints can be a stimulating mental exercise. It helps improve critical thinking skills, understand different perspectives, and refine oneās own beliefs. It literally makes you smarter over time with huge critical thinking skills that most people are mediocre with. Theyāve actually done studies of people who have strong biases on any subject, from political party teams to sports teams, religion, patriotism, even military branches, family, any tribal subject at all or any strong belief someone has. They will take people with opposing views and monitor their brain activity while they watch the same video as the other person, and see the brain literally shut down and not even listen anytime either side is presented with pure facts that donāt support our aid their positional or tribal bias. The brain literally turns off and hears nothing because we donāt actually want to care about facts or the truth or learn unbiasedly. Then the brain will magically light back up and turn on and consume information the moment it starts hearing things that support the biased desire. Most people want to believe this about themselves: āunless you can educate me otherwise.ā ā But scientific research says itās almost impossible when it comes to the majority of tribal interactions and premade pet viewpoints that they want to believe. Most people literally cannot hear a viewpoint that doesnāt support their pre-existing conclusion. Their brain literally turns off and doesnāt consider any information that doesnāt boost what they decided the answer should be, even when presented with pure facts. Practicing through intellectual exercise like this is one of the only possible ways to gain skills to protect you from yourself and gain critical thinking. Most people arenāt even capable of deconstructing their own false beliefs and viewpoints because their brain literally shuts off and theyāve never practiced it and canāt objectively tell if something is a fact or not. Some of the research in this area of psychology is wild.
Fostering Empathy: Arguing from an opposing viewpoint can help a person better understand where others are coming from. This can lead to greater empathy and more nuanced opinions. I canāt tell you how many times, professionally and other instances where I may strongly disagree with somebody, but am able to steelman their viewpoint so they feel understood, and then take that and help them to change their mind once I have done that. By having empathy for their position, and showing I understand by arguing their viewpoint first, they open up and stop resisting and fighting, allowing me to achieve a better desired outcome for all of us. This has made me very successful in recent years.
Social Dynamics: The last reason, is the least important and is the one that you mentioned above . In some cases, people might argue a point they donāt believe in to provoke discussion, challenge a dominant viewpoint, or keep a conversation lively and engaging. I personally prefer something to this over boring and pointless small talk. But there is a line between asking socially dynamic questions to get someone to talk more or add to a discussion so it doesnāt die out and being a jerk. There is also borderline between the 2 that mixes a little bit of devilās advocate Ruth pushing for increased engagement.
At least, those are huge reasons why I do it after my psychology education in studying the research on this fascinating issue. I like challenging my confirmation bias and groupthink to reduce the instances of my brain shutting off and not listening to objective data. Not that Iām perfect at this, especially in certain areas/subjects, but I generally try make my brain think and not shut down.
A lot of people legitimately donāt even know why they believe something or what they believe or any foundational basis to their belief. Their belief is purely inherited or tribal from their environment. One of the only ways to overcome that is to steel-man opposite viewpoints like this. If a person doesnāt do that themselves, itās almost impossible that they will ever deconstruct their false beliefs.
I disagree. You cannot convince me to be a contrarian with your summary.
I cannot see wasteing my time to be a devilās advocate. In school, it was an exercise. I gave up on exercise long ago.
Another disagreement. If you logically can show me that my beliefs are incorrect, I would definitely have to consider change through logical deduction.
If the belief is of a personal nature, I could see reluctance and lt is none of my business to have you think otherwise.
I disagreed with @dave27 's view of what is the 2K standard, but he showed me that my belief was incorrect. I accepted that and moved on.
If you have views contrary to mine, I may question your beliefs, of a non-personal nature. I just canāt see arguing for argumentās sake.
Life is a constant learning experience so I am open to learning something new or correcting my misinterpretations.
Just an opinion. Some people like word exercises. Iād rather have a direct, true answer without misdirection.
I do appreciate straightforward thinking as you have expressed here. I just donāt accept much of it. Some people like drama. I have no problem with that.
: Itās a means toward promoting positive community engagement.
on platforms like YouTube and wish that theyād make the count publicly available again by default, because I think thatās a useful metric to help someone decide whether or not a video is worth watching (particularly when Iām looking for how-to content; Iād rather not waste my timeāI do enough of that already!āand seeing a high negative-to-positive ratio on a video can help eliminate useless content from my search).
versus silence discourage you do you think? 