Why don't members just use the like button?

[Beverly]

On one of the forums that I manage, I have a constant frustration of how members will respond with 'thanks' and 'nice post'. If you like a post, just click the like button. Very simple. Though I want to encourage people to express thanks to other members for informative posts, simply clicking the like button works too.

Sometimes, when dealing with these situations, I have to weigh rather or not the member's other posts are equally short. And, if so, that makes me think they are simply post count building. This happens with many new members who are just trying to earn the signature line.

Then again, there are times when I would see a reputable forum member just say, 'Thanks! Good information.' on a post. I can't simply delete their comment as it will cause friction. And, likely they are truly appreciative of the other person's post or just being polite. For those situations, I don't make a big deal of it.

I don't want to over think the situation as I know this happens to everyone who owns/manages a forum. It's a tiny frustration, compounded by spammers.

Just want to know what's so hard about clicking that like button?

Do I really need to write a forum rule for this?

 

[wordsmatter2me]

As a newbie to forums I would be comfortable in staff reminding members of the like button.
The more information that is shared with membership the more active the forum can be.

 

[Arcusma]

Hi Beverly

I have seen a reputation system work before with this kind of issue. Users get +1 rep for a liked post. Users can only give 3 likes per day. It sort of gives them power to give true thanks to a post. ( Making the like button a more usable perk to your forum ).

Hope this helped.

 

[Cosmic]

Depending on how big your forum is, posts which say "Thanks," are pretty good for your post count. I sure wish I had the same problem you do. 🙂

That said, there are a couple factors at play:

1. People want to say what they want to say publicly. Clicking "Like" is too subtle.
2. Sometimes they want to give their thread a free bump.
3. They don't think to click "Like."
4. They want to say more than "Like." "Thanks" has a different meaning.
5. People were raised to be polite. Just clicking "Like" may not meet their standards.