seeing another round of "don't favorite posts on fedi"

[dio9sys@haunted.computer]

@sarae If i like something, I fav it. If I need to read it later, I bookmark it. It's so weird the lengths people will go to try and recreate some kind of algorithmic magic on a network that's defined by its lack of black box algorithms

[oldclumsy_nowmad@mastodon.social]

@sarae

Thanks for 'speaking' out in favor of kindness and friendly feedback to others on social media. And against imposing limits on what 'favorite' means. It means different things, in different circumstances, as you and those in the thread have said. And it always means "I saw your message", which is enough to justify it.

Sometimes I even 'favorite' a post which describes something I detest (crimes, dirty trickery, rotten behavior, etc.), if I appreciate being informed about it.

[tykayn@mastodon.cipherbliss.com]

@sarae fav to this!

however i saw some studies that show that faving decreases the dialogue between people, which turns to more isolation, which is not the most we expect from social medias

[foobarsoft@mastodon.social]

@sarae Feels a bit like this may tell you something about the people who say that. That they don’t see value unless it’s something that expands someone’s reach. A bit of the “influencer” mindset.

What’s wrong with just saying “I like this!”?

[steggy@sunny.garden]

@sarae I can just about muster a Gen X “whatever” to this. I will continue to favorite posts, and probably do it even more now I know that it annoys the self-appointed Mastodon HOA board.

[elleninedmonton@mstdn.ca]

@EarlyTwix @sarae
I find it somewhat jarring when a follower boosts my post without any interaction, especially if it's part of a discussion thread.
Also, I never follow anyone whose entire feed is just boosts. I want to read original content, not something that's recycled, unless it's really critical information that I might have otherwise missed.

[tuuktuuk@piipitin.fi]

@sarae @lalah

Commenting does *decrease* post conversation visibility, though. The worse the noise-to-signal ratio, the earlier people give up reading a thread

[tanekrune@mstdn.ca]

@sarae
I just like sometimes because my brain is broken and so I can remember if I've already read something or if I'm stuck in a loop.

So good luck getting me to stop.

[chrisjagged@mastodon.social]

@sarae

"Don't like, only boost" is just someone saying "I don't care about YOUR Fedi experience, what can you do for ME?"

[rozeboosje@masto.ai]

@sarae I would say it depends on what the toot is. If you think "I want other people to see this, too" I would suggest you "boost", and if you think "this speaks to me but it's not necessarily something that the entire world needs to see" you can "favourite". In any case, I most often do both.

[ninafelwitch@tech.lgbt]

@sarae
Excuse me, what the fuck?

Why wouldn't I favorite a post that I like? It shows the person who posted it that I like it.

And it shows up in my favorites list.
Clicking the 'fav' button has zero downsides. Why would anyone discourage its usage?

[taylor@social.axfive.net]

@sarae I see it largely as the Fedi equivalent of nodding as you pass somebody on the street. We are both humans and I acknowledge your existence in a more-positive-than-neutral way.

I don't see the problem. It's not some great kindness, but it's doesn't hurt either. Reminds me of the Nirvana fallacy, though it doesn't fit exactly. Doing something mildly nice is seen as a bad thing, even though it's better than nothing, because it's not as good as it could have been.

[thattagen@mastodon.art]

@sarae I often see the same attitude on Tumblr: "Oh you can just do your own thing, we don't interact with posts here."

Sounds good on paper and maybe even a little positive until you realize you desperately want a sign that your audience is out there and that you are seen.

[taylor@social.axfive.net]

@kichae @sarae I might be wrong, but I vaguely remember some Fedi software having the option to prune old remote posts from the database, and it retains favorited, replied-to, and boosted posts.

I wish GoToSocial would do that.

[kichae@wanderingadventure.party]

taylor
Misskey and its spinoffs work that way, IIRC.

[wordsmith@writing.exchange]

@foobarsoft I appreciate the irony of boosting this and to make up for it I've bookmarked it. In six months I'll be looking for something I bookmarked, stumble on your post, and agree with it all over again.

[wordsmith@writing.exchange]

@tykayn when I get a favourite it's an excuse to nose around a stranger's posts and bio, or reminds me to catch up on a follower's posts I might have missed. Favs can lead to serendipity!

[bytex64@awesome.garden]

@gloriouscow @sarae I think the idea is you should try to participate in the conversation with some original posts, too. But that really assumes some things about how other people work. Some people are only here to lurk and curate and I have found a lot of people that way.

Would much rather have someone whose feed is 100% boosts than any proportion of chronic complaining.

[boydstephensmithjr@hachyderm.io]

@sarae I appreciate getting "favorite" notifications, even if it doesn't mean the post gets any further.

I think of favorite as "I appreciate seeing this" and boost as "more people should see this".

[a@pdx.social]

@sarae @Flux “But there’s no algorithm to game!” Who cares? I don’t laugh for the algorithm. I’m not giving someone a high five to increase distribution. What a weird idea.