Once again WordPress has instituted a new feature without a word to us bloggers. Or if there was a word, I missed it.
I was over reading timethief’s latest post and learned in the process that Comment Likes are now active on our blogs. Go to Dashboard > Settings > Sharing and you’ll find it as the very last item on the page. (When was the last time you looked down there?)
I’ve enabled the feature for now. We’ll see how it goes.
What do you think about Comment Likes? Good idea? Bad Idea? Remember, it’s your comments here that will be getting Likes. How do you feel about that?
Speak! I can be persuaded …
Update, March 10, 2014:
I’ve decided I don’t like the feature and am turning it off. Too much clutter and an obvious “in” for Like spammers (just like the Like button for posts). For those who wanted to see what the Comment Likes look like, here’s a screenshot. The pop-up is what you see when you mouse over “2 people.”
I have spoken In my post … lol 😀
And cogently, as always.
Well, I just discovered the first shortcoming … I almost clicked on “Like this” as I was aiming for “Reply.” WP needs to move “Like this” to the far right.
I have seen them on other web pages and wondered what was the point?
What next? Likes on peoples likes on likes on likes.
Why?
Who has time?
It looks cluttered too. Cyber clutter!
A thumbs down on my comment without explanation? Sounds cowardly. A drive by thumbs down.
Some people are not having likes at all on their blog and I can see why. I think I am getting over the whole “likes” thing. 🙂
It appears there are only Likes, not Dislikes or Thumbs Down like I’ve seen in many forums. That’s an improvement, I think. But it does look cluttered where it is.
As long as it doesn’t turn into an opportunity for spammers to draw attention to their own blogs, I suppose it’s harmless.
Hmm. For some reason I’d assumed it would just display the number of Likes. If it shows Gravitars like the post Likes, it’s gone. There’s enough extraneous stuff on here already.
Only one way to find out. I liked your comments here. It just says “Liked by you.”
Yep, that’s what happened when I like my own comment below.
Liked by me and then you get the other people when you scroll over it. 🙂
Thanks. Now we can all see what it looks like.
Of course, that means that spam Likes will be seen, just as they are on post Likes. And I definitely don’t like that. The feature should promote excellent comments, not the people who like them. But maybe WP thinks identifying Likers will discourage people from just going through clicking Like on everything. (As a further experiment, I’m going to Like this comment to see if anyone else can see it.)
I can see it and I also ‘liked’ it… 🙂
Thanks
Does a ‘Like’ button on a blog mean you like the post’s subject, agree with the opinion of the author or does it just mean you read the post?
Obviously all this ‘like’ business has evolved from Facebook. There it’s used pretty much as a catch-all and so often it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, especially if you take it literally. Someone may post that their grandmother just died and they get 15 ‘Likes’. Obviously these 15 people aren’t really glad someone’s grandmother died! In this case the ‘like’ is used more as an acknowledgment in lieu of an opinion.
I really like the WordPress version with the associated gravatar but not as a ‘like’ indicator but rather as a way of noting who has supposedly read your current post. The issue for me is the button designation itself. If the button were titled ‘Follower’, or ‘Visitor’, or ‘Read By’ it would be much more to my personal liking and more informative. I think most know that there are ‘stats’ plug-ins that are available to give a blogger detailed info on their visitors. But a plus to a button similar to the WordPress version is it allows others to see who frequents your blog plus, allows another way for you to offer a link to the blogs of those who do support your blog.
You use the WordPress buttons and when I look at those gravatars associated with your ‘Like’ button, it represents the bloggers who have read and acknowledged your post to me. It also takes the self-imposed obligation of leaving a comment that some bloggers feel. I like it… but not as a ‘like’ acknowledgment.
If a blogger is trying to appeal to the masses, then yes they need the ‘like’ button to feed their ego I suppose. So let them have a ‘like’ button. I, on the other hand, am always curious as to who has visited my blog but as far as liking or disliking any particular post, it’s a personal blog and there are going to often be times when my subject matter will not have appeal to a reader. So if I don’t get any ‘likes’ what am I suppose to do, never post on that subject again?
I use an independent plug-in, LikeBtn.com, for my ‘like’ and ‘dislike’ buttons but they get little to no use and contrary to the WordPress button, the one I use is completely anonymous. Almost on a daily basis I deliberate removing them. Maybe after reading your post and evaluating my response that will be something I do today… 🙂
Like buttons on posts mean different things to different people. They actually liked the post or they just wanted to indicate that they visited but had nothing to add via a comment. They are a nice way to provide links to your visitors blogs, via the Gravitar site (I’ve often wished they linked directly to the person’s blog instead). The downside is that spammers can use them too, in an effort to draw people to their sites, or simply to get their name on the Liked post. See also “Why I turned off WordPress ‘Like’ and “Issues WordPress needs to address.”
I decided to give the WordPress “Likes” a try but have noted that the version of JetPack that I am running does not have the option regarding ‘likes’ in the comment section available as reflected in the graphic associated with your post. According to my “Plugins” section I am running version 2.9.1 of JetPack. Just out of curiosity, is that the same version you are running?
If you are running JetPack, you must be on WordPress.ORG. I’m on WordPress.COM and we don’t have JetPack. The two WordPresses are completely separate and don’t share all features. The WordPress.org forums (http://wordpress.org/support/ ) may be able to tell you if you have or will be getting comment Likes.
Oh… okay I got it! I thought your blog was independent of WordPress since I didn’t see ‘/wordpress/” in your URL. My WordPress blog is independent of their servers, I am just using their software. That does explain it completely.
Heh, I’m far too lazy to go independent.
I’ve always thought of the Post “like” button as simply a way of indicating that I thought it was interesting, but not necessarily Pulitzer-worthy. I use it when I don’t feel able to add anything to the conversation and feel neutral about it. As to the Comment “like” button, I think I’ll like it because there are times when a commenter has put forth a good effort and in the same context as for the post. We” see. Thanks to PT, I’ve activated mine.
I can see how the usefulness of this could be diluted if a post has a great many readers, but in my case the posts and comments tend to be visited by pretty much the same people whose opinions I respect and I recognize their gravitars – that’s meaningful to me.
I doubt WordPress has implemented anything so complex, but on some sites I visit, comments that garner the most Likes are moved to the top or otherwise given special recognition so that readers don’t have to read through hundreds or thousands of comments to sift the wheat from the chaff.
My two biggest concerns remain: clutter and spammers.
I saw it on Time Thief’s blog, too. It’s an ego thing? Why open up a competitiveness among commenters?
Turning it off, too. If someone has something to say, let them comment. APpreciate the reminder and easy instructions so I don’t have to search around
I’ll admit I enjoy getting Likes on my comments on popular news websites. It tells me that people actually found and read my comment (among hundreds or thousands of others) and appreciated what I said. I suppose that makes it an ego thing.
On WordPress I’ve never felt that comments are vying for attention. I’ve always read them all and I suppose I’ve assumed everyone else does the same.
News sites are a whole different game.
I worry people have a certain amount of time to read blogs – if they get really into comments and rating them, that means less time to get around to other blogs.
We’ll see how it shakes out – I guess it could make it easier to “like” a comment on a post that you really don’t “like”(some are sad situations or events) but feel you should leave some sort of token appearance and don’t know what to say in words?
Yes, in much the same way you would Like a post. I guess I was thinking with comments it might be something along the lines of “Yes! Excellent point. Well said.” But as you can see from the note I added to my post, I’ve already decided to disable Likes on comments. It just looked to cluttered.
I probably noticed Comment Likes the first day that they magically appeared unannounced because I often look around the WordPress.com Dashboard because I know that things are sometimes/often changed/added/removed without warning, and so I like to keep myself updated on things like that.
I was looking through my settings that day, and then I noticed Comment Likes in my settings; but the day before it was not there, and so I knew that it was probably added on the day that I noticed it.
A week or almost two weeks ago I noticed a new widget that was not announced and that has no Support Page when I last checked a week ago, it is the Tlk.io Widget, have you noticed this widget yet Piedtype?
Thank you for sharing this post because many people probably do not know about Comment Likes yet. 🙂
I also wonder why Ratings and the Ratings Widget seem to never get any updates/improvements, and I wonder will a Dislike Button and/or Neutral/Unsure Button ever be added? 😀
-John Jr
Oops, it is called the Tlk.io Webchat Widget, my mistake. 😉
-John Jr
I’ve no idea what that one does. I’ve never looked at it.
It seems to add a webchat for your blog, and you can create your own lobbies that people can join to chat.
Oh, I did look at that briefly. No interest in adding any more than I already have.
Yeah, there was a time when I wanted a webchat widget, but not anymore. 😀
Thank you for responding to my comments today Piedtype, it has been fun, but I better let you get some sleep/rest; and I need to get some sleep, even though I am having fun. 😉
I would not be surprised if I end up having a WordPress related dream tonight. 😀
Good night,
-John Jr
More like a nightmare!
Hahaha! 😀 😉
I consider nightmares to be dreams too, negative/bad dreams, and I usually do not use that word myself; and I find it interesting/strange how many people seem to see dreams and nightmares as two different things or at least it seems that way, and I think that is funny for some reason. 😉 😀
I am fortunate to not be plagued by many bad dreams and/or I think of bad dreams a bit differently than some people, and I probably often see bad dreams as learning experiences/training/et cetera; and I have probably learned how to better deal with bad dreams when they happen.
Anyway, I am so tired and my eyes are so tired that I am probably not making much sense at this time, and so please excuse my jibber jabber Piedtype. 😀
-John Jr
Frankly I’ve lost track of all the widgets they’ve added. They never announce them, and there are a lot more now than when I first started on WP.
What is your wild guess Piedtype as to why they usually do not announce new widgets, and why some widgets do not seem to even have a Support Page?
I really have no idea why they would go to the trouble of adding a new feature but not tell people about it. They do it all the time and it makes no sense to me.
Yeah, I am still confused/disappointed/et cetera by this, and sometimes I wish that the Support Pages were a bit like a wiki where I could update Support Pages and/or add Support Pages for widgets/features that do not have a Support Page. 🙁
I was looking at the WordPress.com Forums today Piedtype and I noticed this topic about the Tlk.io Webchat Widget (http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/web-chat-tlkio?replies=2), and so there is a Support Page for it now.
Well done WordPress 🙂 , now it is time to add Support Pages for all the other widgets/features missing Support Pages still, and it is time to start announcing all of the unannounced widgets/features. 😉
-John Jr
I loathe Comment ‘likes’. All they do is enable people to leave a faint trace of their presence on your site, without any need to do other than, as it were, tick a box.
I’m currently wondering about removing ordinary ‘likes’, because that would mean that any input received would be by way of an actual comment; and thus would I know the real value of any post.
Btw, you missed nothing, Susan. This is how it all works, these days: they change what they want with total disregard to their users.
Comment Likes were too much clutter, I quickly decided. But as I’ve noted elsewhere, I decided I liked Post Likes. I use them myself to indicate I enjoyed the post but have nothing new or different to add to the discussion. Just couldn’t see denying others that same option. And I enjoy seeing the Likes and who bothered to click. Gives me a wee bit of insight into who some of my visitors are — more so than just views and visitors stats.
Fairy nuff. 🙂