I'll add my 2 cents as well now, just because I can; I don't care about points and likes, but I do care about being noticed and noticing others. For me the reactions are a way to signal to the writer that I've read what they say and appreciate it. If they make me laugh or just generally contribute to the forum in a good way, even if I don't agree, they get a like. If they write something clever, smart or hand out tips I agree with, I give them an agree (obviously), and if they write something interesting, new for me, insightful or if I can see they put a lot of effort into a post, I give out an insightful. It's not for points, its my way of giving recognition that I SEE you.
@Skatan Hey, that is exactly what I think as well! Reactions help a lot in making the communication "two-way", rather than it being just "one-way" or even "no-way". Letting people know you have read and appreciate what they have written is a great way to encourage discussion and also foster friendship and bonds in a community. After all, nobody loses anything giving out a like or insightful!
The tipping-point for me was some time ago (last winter or spring, IIRC) and I wrote a very lenghty post offering advice about profiency points for a paladin or similar. I probably spent 45 minutes writing that one post and IIRC it got zero reactions. No one replied to it, not even the OP. I felt that I had just wasted much of my time for nothing and I kinda started to stop doing that. I'm not saying my advice was the best in the world, it was just my subjective views after all, but it would have felt nice to at least have been seen.
I used to do the exact same thing but I realized long ago that it doesn't matter if anyone else responds. The important part was the act of creation and the opportunity to put my thoughts on a given subject in order.
Even if no one else interacts with something I have written it still served the purpose of being both a thought and literary exercise which will benefit me in the future.
I graduated summa cum laude based entirely on the skills I developed by writing long, intricate, and profound posts on internet forums that only I seemed to care about.
900.) When forumites try to summon the helper bot via dark rituals in the hope it will devour the world like some elder god.
902.) When an on topic post in the off topic forum makes a post about a completely on point message in an off topic post in an off topic forum, and makes you think about the thing you thought about in a new light as to welcome it's off topic nature.
905) When you return to a thread for the first time in a few months and your internal DM sets the scene:
Kneeling down, you inspect the scattered wreckage the topic you knew last. Perhaps it was naive to assume that nothing would change, but something clearly momentous, and terrible, has occurred in your absence.
There was a heated battle; that much is sure. The scars raked into the earth, and the forums, are fresh, but neither aggressor nor spectator have remained to tell the story.
Your initial instincts are to investigate further, but life has, and must, move on. The past has past. A silent prayer is given for those caught in the exchange, the straps on your pack are checked once more, and you offer the quiet around you small chuckle.
There is a clarity in duty, and Off-Topic has need of the hilarious cat memes and terrible limericks in your possession. All you can do is quicken your step, and hope that your return is not yet too late.
The tipping-point for me was some time ago (last winter or spring, IIRC) and I wrote a very lenghty post offering advice about profiency points for a paladin or similar. I probably spent 45 minutes writing that one post and IIRC it got zero reactions. No one replied to it, not even the OP. I felt that I had just wasted much of my time for nothing and I kinda started to stop doing that. I'm not saying my advice was the best in the world, it was just my subjective views after all, but it would have felt nice to at least have been seen.
I used to do the exact same thing but I realized long ago that it doesn't matter if anyone else responds. The important part was the act of creation and the opportunity to put my thoughts on a given subject in order.
Even if no one else interacts with something I have written it still served the purpose of being both a thought and literary exercise which will benefit me in the future.
I graduated summa cum laude based entirely on the skills I developed by writing long, intricate, and profound posts on internet forums that only I seemed to care about.
Agree so much on this. @Skatan Back in times when I was only a moderator, and below the 10000 points mark, I had a lot of detailed posts gameplay-, and playthrough- related, which didn't get "enough" reactions. But I never gave up. I continued to put a part of my soul into each comment. A person, the OP, could just miss your reply. You could post it in the not-so-popular "challenges and playthoughs" sub-forum. But in no way you should have interpreted that situation as if "good detailed game-focused" posts are unneeded. It might work, or it might not work (in terms of reactions), but it will even itself in the end. Good quality content will be appreciated.
Look at the "Maybe this time", or "LoB+SCS solo" threads - they have TONs of insightful info, and posts DO get reactions there. It's just a matter of timing/forum area/luck that you didn't get attention you wanted. The "no reloads veterans" have always been people who played these games the most (I remember it by old BioWare threads). It's not surprising the majority of IE advice can now be found there - with each year passing since the last IE EE game released it becomes more and more similar to those old times.
These days, I don't have time to post gameplay-related stuff. Heck, I even don't have time to play these games. But when I do, I enjoy it (both posting good stuff, and playing).
Another aspect: the forum is not a chat, or another fast-paced platform. People tend to return to old threads/comments, and give reactions years after. Please share a link to that post, and I'll go and spend time reading and maybe even commenting there. Others might do the same.
I've given you a promote because "a reaction shows someone read my post; and my reactions shows I read someone's post" is exactly my own understanding of how it should work. It's been my understanding when I had less than 10000 points, and it's still my understanding. I know @lolien thinks the same. So back in the day I've made a habit of giving reactions to posts I read.
And of course forum friends will get more reactions from a user. But imagine a situation when the amount of your forum friends is more than 100. Then you'll just give "bonus" reactions to almost everyone. And this will - at least it led me to - lead you a conclusion that the more reactions you give, the better the forum becomes. Users in situations like described by @Skatan will feel themselves "read" and "appreciated". Users like @BelgarathMTH will feel they're not left out of any "group".
There are many reasons why you are a moderator and I am not @JuliusBorisov, what you describe here is just one of the great traits you possess which I don't. I reduced my game-advice activity, but you didn't. It's safe to say, you've earned your spot and we are all better of for it. Thanks for the read and the reply and as per my own understanding, you get an insightful because it's obvious you put in effort into writing this post.
EDIT: I tried to search for that old post of mine, but didn't find it. I seem to recall it was called something like "Paladin weapon proficiences" but couldn't find it. I can't search my own posts either, and it would take forever to manually look page after page to find it. But thank you for your comment about this. The post was just an example though and it doesn't need to be brought up more.
That was the one @FinneousPJ, your google skills are very high it seems, hehe. I just used the forums own search engine, but that wasn't so good (can't filter/sort on date etc).
But please, there's no need to go back and like that post. That was never my intention with using that post as an example.
EDIT: Added here instead of in an own post: Thanks @mlnevese! I have now bookmarked that thread you linked below.
Commenting on old threads reminds me of another conundrum in the posting world. When you bring back to life an old thread (or try to) - you find a lot of apologies and a lot of people accusing others of necro posting.
Personally I think there's no problem with it - the only times I find myself on such an old thread, is because I've googled something (for example "what is better paladin or cleric/fighter"). Other people will also google and find old threads in the future and new posts will be useful for them. Another more annoying problem is troubleshooting, sometimes I google a problem and find a forum of people chatting about the exact problem I have... the final post from the OP reads "don't worry, fixed it" or something like that, with no comment on how.
Also... anyone else feeling dumb for never searching google with quotations before
Another more annoying problem is troubleshooting, sometimes I google a problem and find a forum of people chatting about the exact problem I have... the final post from the OP reads "don't worry, fixed it" or something like that, with no comment on how.
Haha THIS, so this. I spent ages looking how to fix the lag issue with Arcanum before finally finding a 10 year old thread in an obscure part of the internets that had the proper answer.
906. After a pages long off-topic debate about the value of forum reactions in the "You Know It's a Normal Day in the Forum" thread, forum reactions stop working properly on the forum.
906. After a pages long off-topic debate about the value of forum reactions in the "You Know It's a Normal Day in the Forum" thread, forum reactions stop working properly on the forum.
Yeah, what's going on with this, it's bloody awful.
Wasn't too aware of a points system but not being able to give a quick agree/like/insightful to a post and it clearly showing is really annoying.
@UnderstandMouseMagic Vanilla Forums is doing this all over, or so I hear. I also heard they are working on it. How long it may take... Well, your guess is as good as mine.
Comments
Even if no one else interacts with something I have written it still served the purpose of being both a thought and literary exercise which will benefit me in the future.
I graduated summa cum laude based entirely on the skills I developed by writing long, intricate, and profound posts on internet forums that only I seemed to care about.
900.) When forumites try to summon the helper bot via dark rituals in the hope it will devour the world like some elder god.
Kneeling down, you inspect the scattered wreckage the topic you knew last. Perhaps it was naive to assume that nothing would change, but something clearly momentous, and terrible, has occurred in your absence.
There was a heated battle; that much is sure. The scars raked into the earth, and the forums, are fresh, but neither aggressor nor spectator have remained to tell the story.
Your initial instincts are to investigate further, but life has, and must, move on. The past has past. A silent prayer is given for those caught in the exchange, the straps on your pack are checked once more, and you offer the quiet around you small chuckle.
There is a clarity in duty, and Off-Topic has need of the hilarious cat memes and terrible limericks in your possession. All you can do is quicken your step, and hope that your return is not yet too late.
Edit: spelling.
Look at the "Maybe this time", or "LoB+SCS solo" threads - they have TONs of insightful info, and posts DO get reactions there. It's just a matter of timing/forum area/luck that you didn't get attention you wanted. The "no reloads veterans" have always been people who played these games the most (I remember it by old BioWare threads). It's not surprising the majority of IE advice can now be found there - with each year passing since the last IE EE game released it becomes more and more similar to those old times.
These days, I don't have time to post gameplay-related stuff. Heck, I even don't have time to play these games. But when I do, I enjoy it (both posting good stuff, and playing).
Another aspect: the forum is not a chat, or another fast-paced platform. People tend to return to old threads/comments, and give reactions years after. Please share a link to that post, and I'll go and spend time reading and maybe even commenting there. Others might do the same.
I've given you a promote because "a reaction shows someone read my post; and my reactions shows I read someone's post" is exactly my own understanding of how it should work. It's been my understanding when I had less than 10000 points, and it's still my understanding. I know @lolien thinks the same. So back in the day I've made a habit of giving reactions to posts I read.
And of course forum friends will get more reactions from a user. But imagine a situation when the amount of your forum friends is more than 100. Then you'll just give "bonus" reactions to almost everyone. And this will - at least it led me to - lead you a conclusion that the more reactions you give, the better the forum becomes. Users in situations like described by @Skatan will feel themselves "read" and "appreciated". Users like @BelgarathMTH will feel they're not left out of any "group".
EDIT: I tried to search for that old post of mine, but didn't find it. I seem to recall it was called something like "Paladin weapon proficiences" but couldn't find it. I can't search my own posts either, and it would take forever to manually look page after page to find it. But thank you for your comment about this. The post was just an example though and it doesn't need to be brought up more.
I gave you a like.
But please, there's no need to go back and like that post. That was never my intention with using that post as an example.
EDIT: Added here instead of in an own post: Thanks @mlnevese! I have now bookmarked that thread you linked below.
Personally I think there's no problem with it - the only times I find myself on such an old thread, is because I've googled something (for example "what is better paladin or cleric/fighter"). Other people will also google and find old threads in the future and new posts will be useful for them. Another more annoying problem is troubleshooting, sometimes I google a problem and find a forum of people chatting about the exact problem I have... the final post from the OP reads "don't worry, fixed it" or something like that, with no comment on how.
Also... anyone else feeling dumb for never searching google with quotations before
Yeah, what's going on with this, it's bloody awful.
Wasn't too aware of a points system but not being able to give a quick agree/like/insightful to a post and it clearly showing is really annoying.