A "Thanks" button :cool:

[Buddlespit]

Something I miss in this forum, that I've seen in others, is a way to say "thanks, you helped me out with your post" or "I really liked (or agree with) what you said". A few of the other forums I visit have a Thanks or Like button to press to say such things.

Case in point: Steve Riley helped me three times just today alone, two old posts and one today. Other than making a post saying Thank You, which I can't see me doing, (it feels like I'm hijacking a thread, taking it off topic and not contributing) the only other way is to send him a private message. And I'm still trying to figure out the guest message thing that we have here....

So, in essence, what I'm asking for is a Thanks or Like button.

[SteveRiley]

We've considered this before, and have decided against it. Judging by what I see on XDA, people turn it into a beg-a-thon or a competition. It's really quite unbecoming. So, here at KFN, it is perfectly acceptable to add a "thank you" post to a thread. It is not viewed as superfluous or a hijack.

[Buddlespit]

I know what you mean by beg-a-thon. And I do find myself biased on peoples answer based on #posts/#thanks. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

Could this be implemented without a public display or count? Well, that would just irritate me, to log in to read and find a popup telling me that I was thanked in a thread I had answered a year and a half ago.... Maybe that was a bad idea too.

Never mind. Just know that I thank you every time I read something from you (or the staff)!

[richb]

I administer the Mepis Linux Forum. We had both a thank you button and a reputation points button. I had to disable the rep button as certain members were constantly begging for rep points. I retained the thanks button. There has not been the same lobbying as with the rep button. However I am not convinced it adds very much to the forum.

By the way, I am not a lurker. I am using Kubuntu 12.04 as my main distro.

[verndog]

We've considered this before, and have decided against it. Judging by what I see on XDA, people turn it into a beg-a-thon or a competition. It's really quite unbecoming. So, here at KFN, it is perfectly acceptable to add a "thank you" post to a thread. It is not viewed as superfluous or a hijack.

Yes, exactly. I knew there was a reason I never like that idea. At Tom's Hardware they have that +/- system. I always got the feeling that people commented in ways to get "Liked" or "pluses".

Then again, I see a lot of "+1" only comments. That's a rare instance that a "Thank You" button would come in handy.
I often wonder if the "+1" crowd are not just padding their posts.

[HalationEffect]

Yes, exactly. I knew there was a reason I never like that idea. At Tom's Hardware they have that +/- system. I always got the feeling that people commented in ways to get "Liked" or "pluses".

Then again, I see a lot of "+1" only comments. That's a rare instance that a "Thank You" button would come in handy.
I often wonder if the "+1" crowd are not just padding their posts.

Ars Technica recently implemented comment voting, and yet some people still insist upon making entirely content-free posts that just say "+1" rather than simply voting up the comment that they approved of.

When I see such posts, I dutifully vote them down. Won't somebody think of the signal-to-noise ratio?! Some may be shocked to discover that in certain circumstances I do actually care about that.

[SteveRiley]

And I do find myself biased on peoples answer based on #posts/#thanks.

This is a natural human tendency. We would prefer that our members value each other based on the content of their contributions, not their ability to win numerical popularity contests.

Just know that I thank you every time I read something from you (or the staff)!

We admins like to be engaged and available here. The aloofness of staff I see on other forums rather mystifies me. Why go to all the effort to maintain a community if you don't want to involve yourself in it?

By the way, I am not a lurker. I am using Kubuntu 12.04 as my main distro.

Lurking is allowed, too

When I see such posts, I dutifully vote them down. Won't somebody think of the signal-to-noise ratio?! Some may be shocked to discover that in certain circumstances I do actually care about that.

This does not surprise me at all, my friend

[claydoh]

+/1 , thanking, voting, etc are all time consumers
imo, setting a thread [SOLVED] seems to be the best way to let others know of useful help - help that may have come from more than one person or resource, or the user solved it on their own. This aids the help seeker who is browsing/searching threads.

KDE forums has karma, and I -was being a posterior cavity and -1'd someone, so I got a -1 for that.
http://forum.kde.org/karma.php?u=322
Useless, imo, and lolz


Hmm I wonder if I should fix that -1 I gave, it was rather silly to "waste" a karma in the way I did .