Asklemmy @lemmy.ml Jakeroxs @sh.itjust.works 2y ago

Emojis and Lemmy

Does anyone else think having emojis as a response to a comment/thread would be a neat addition instead of only upvote/downvote?

Reddit seemed to sorta do that with awards but thats not quite what I'm suggesting.

Something similar to GitHub for instance, except we keep the upvote downvote system as-is.

This would hopefully discourage the use of upvote/downvote as a "I like/dislike this" button while also adding the ability to more accurately express the emotion the post/comment illicited

Additionally, there are a lot of people who are mostly just lurkers and have no desire to post, but they want to be able to emote further then just a upvote/downvote but DON'T want to actually post a comment like "I love this" or "You're so right" or even just commenting an emoji, because making a comment is a whole extra action that makes them visible, opens up to comments or upvotes/downvotes.

61 comments

No, I don't think that. I like that Lemmy is not facebook, or whatsapp, or instagram, or youtube, ir reddit.
- Adding emojis as an optional response not requiring a comment (and not removing or interacting with the upvote/downvote system) wouldn't make Lemmy as a whole anything like Facebook whatsapp Instagram or YouTube, that's a very weird thing to say.
No thanks. Up and downvotes is all Lemmy needs, keep it simple.
- I wouldn't mind seeing tags for posts to categorizes discussions in a community tho,
  
  Yeah, but tags are a type of reaction. OP is talking about reactions to posts and comments.
  
  Tags would be great to have.
  
  IIRC it's going to be added
I think that when Facebook swapped like and dislike out for the set of five emoji responses they noticeably reduced the feedback it was possible to leave on a post. They removed the ability to disagree with a post and turned every response into an affirmation of some kind.

I'd prefer not to degrade lemmy in the same way.
- I would definitely advocate for both, not removing upvote downvote at all
  
  Like I mentioned on another reply, I'm thinking more akin to discord wherein you can upvote/downvote but also add 1 emoji if you'd like
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- Lol
If you want the fediverse to grow, it needs content. Emoji responses are some of the lowest effort engagement you can have. That's just asking for a race to the bottom.

Encourage more substantial responses, not less.
- I mean, is it really any different then upvote and downvote? Why even have that functionality if we should be focusing on requiring everyone to write a reply? :p see how that logic doesn't really make sense?
  
  well... I think many people use up/down voting as a continued engagement driver (visibility and whatnot). would you also propose filters/sorting for emoji reaction (most hearted, etc)? my biases tend toward simplicity and reactions outside of actual replies "just don't do it for me".
I think it's fine to just leave the emoji as a comment.
- My only problem with this is threads can quickly become overrun if everyone did that, I'm thinking like discord style
  
  🤷
  
  I don't forsee threads being overrun on Lemmy anytime soon (with the exception of hexbear spam perhaps).
Emojis don't have fixed meanings. A better solution to what you're asking for would be Slashdot-style moderation, where you can apply an upvote/downvote and specify a reason, and then the system would kind of average them together and say whether a comment is generally thought to be insightful, informative, trolling, etc.
- I don't see how that'd work within the framework of Lemmy/Reddit, that'd be a COMPLETE overhaul to the entire system
  
  I don't entirely disagree, but at least it would be effective at its stated purpose of showing how people feel about a post.
👎
I think it could be fun if it were opt-in per community, similar to custom awards on Reddit but free. The downside would be losing compatibility with other ActivityPub implementations (although FireFish does have emoji reactions so implementing it the same way as FF would help to set a standard).
- I'm actually curious what does the upvote/downvote button equate to for other activitypub implementations?
  
  Upvote is like a Mastodon favorite, and should be used similar to a favorite across other ActivityPub implementations. Boost, likewise, is common across other implementations.
  
  (Fun fact though: kbin originally had these reversed - upvote performed a boost, and what is now called "boost" was originally favorite! This was switched a bit ago for better interoperability with Lemmy and other AP implementations.)
  
  Downvote, to my knowledge, is a unique implementation to Lemmy/kbin.
- Right, it would be something that could be implemented and understood more widely, if we never push the envelope in the name of interoperability, we won't ever move forward. Obviously it can and should be done intelligently, not advocating to break everything with every change or anything like that
Yes. Like what github does. It'd allow expressing agreement or a brief opinion, while supporting the "upvote if it's interesting, not if you agree," without forcing everyone to either resort to "me too" comments or being mute.
- Exactly like that! Better example then Discord style thank you!
I would like that. Only thing, we need to figure out a way to calculate a score for posts and comments to be able to sort them.
- I feel like that would be a much harder aspect, which is why I was advocating to keep the upvote/downvote system unchanged.
  
  Would certainly be interesting to think about how something like that could be accomplished though 👍
  
  Having two competing systems in parallel maybe isn't the best choice. People probably don't want to click 2 buttons everytime. And then you lose their votes. Also this way the emojis are mere decoration and not something useful to grade the posts.
  
  I read some people don't like the way down-voting works. A new system would be a good opportunity to fix this and provide ways to distinguish between disapproval and wanting to lower visibility.
  
  Idk. If it's a well-made, elaborate new system. I'm okay to replace the old one.
  
  I think some Fediverse software already has emoji reactions. Could be Misskey or Pleroma or something like that.
😣

61 comments