What's in the upgrade?

[Akimbo]

As for the Likes which are called Reactions in the new board software: the new board comes with several reaction-levels (no matter if we like it or not). Each level gives a score: +1 (like) +2 (really like) 0 (whatever) -1 (disagree). As pointed out by others earlier, that last level is nasty. So the scoring has been changed to 0.

Just to be clear, these positive and negative scores are how xenForo comes out of the box. We changed them so that negative reactions have a zero score to prevent abuse.

 

[kelemvor]

Thanks for updating the dark mode theme! Looks great!

 

[jborg]

New mobile layout is great, huge upgrade to the previous one.

 

[letterboy]

Thanks for updating the dark mode theme! Looks great!

the xenforo forum thread for the reactions is actually a pretty enlightening read. skip over the folks needing tech support and they have a discussion about the purpose of negative vs positive points.

I do think negative points would be beneficial. It would prevent users from going into a serious thread and posting/being off topic for example.

there are add-ons (that would increase back end complexity for management) to even limit the number of reactions given by any single user in a set time period. I believe it can even be set on a by user basis. ie they could say I can have 25 reactions in a 24 hour period because I abused the reactions feature.

just thoughts - I can see how the negative ratings could be abused, but I can also see the benefits to keep off topic or ridiculious posts out of serious threads...

maybe a off-topic reaction with -1 points. . . instead of using the report function a user could express displeasure with off topic posts publicly. . . it would give accountability to both posters...

 

[Akimbo]

I do think negative points would be beneficial. It would prevent users from going into a serious thread and posting/being off topic for example.

As you know from the xenForo forum, it is a very complex subject and there are valid arguments for every opinion. We (the Staff) had a long debate on the pros and cons and concluded that, for ScubaBoard, Confusing and Disagree are the best compromise to communicate the member's perceptions of posts instead of punishment for the author (by reducing points).

I would say "negative points would could be beneficial", but they can also can be little more effective at improving behavior than the whole world seeing the unfavorable reactions pile up.

For all readers:
Don't forget that members can change their vote at any time if you or others convince them their vote was in incorrect. How many actually will change their vote is yet to be seen, but I'm hopeful that most will when convinced it was not justified.

 

[Marie13]

Love the dark style.

 

[Akimbo]

I thought I would share a story from our debates on Reactions. We literally agonized over everyone (except Like) and it started to stabilize on something very close to what we went live with... except for one tiny detail.

I was thinking that the "Confused" icon & tooltip meant "I am confused". I started to realize that some Staff members were thinking it meant "You are confused". We changed it to "Confusing". The intent is that Confusing is interpreted as "Your post is not clear to me", but that doesn't fit well on a tooltip, especially on a smart-phone.

 

[Akimbo]

Love the dark style.

Agreed, A round of applause to @Psychlinks for taking a crude first attempt to a far higher level.

 

[letterboy]

Ohhh a reaction would be fun....

Can we have different reactions based on areas of the board?

Ie and down votes in the pub, but only have positive reactions for areas like basic scuba and diving medicine?

 

[lowwall]

So you put Disagree back? Please understand that many of us participate here because this is an unusually civil and supportive forum. Please don't mess with that.

I cannot see any value to this feature. If people disagree, they need to explain why for it to be helpful. Simply sniping at the post is useless.