A "like" button would be nice!

gentleshores... I think that's a brilliant idea! A Like and a Smiley!

That's a good point.

While it means some people may just "like" rather than reply, it also means that lots of people who don't reply, can acknowledge that they like a post - ie people who sometimes just read and don't say anything.

I suspect that’s why we won’t get one. Lurkers add nothing to the site, which can be slow at times and is paid for by ads based on traffic. Anything that encourages replies (even if they are just ‘hear hear’ or ‘I agree’) helps to pay the rent, and anything that stops replies and encourages lurking takes us closer to closure.

I can't use my phone smilies on here.

Am I allowed to do that? Link sites?

This place has smilies, avatar photos and all sorts - for stepmothers.

www.secondwivesandstepmums.com/forums/

I don't mean to be rude but I do think the software is about 10 years dated!

And my keyboard shortcut smiley doesn't display as a smiley face on here! Just this! :-)

Doodledog

*What is the quickest way to use smilies on here? I've just seen the bit below with bracket - type word - close bracket. It's a bit tedious!*
🥳

To do what I have just done, highlight the words you want to quote or just click ‘quote’ and the whole post will be selected for you.

If you’ve selected the bit you want to use then click ‘copy’, go to the next post and press your cursor and choose ‘paste’. You can use * or ^ to surround the text to make it bold or italicised if you like.

Then select a smiley from your phone or gadget and off you go. You can check that your reply is what you want it to be by clicking on preview, and making any corrections before clicking ’send’.

Thank you :-) I can see it would be easier to add smilies if using a phone and using the phone ones. I tend to use a laptop keyboard so nothing like that. I just know how to do colon, dash, bracket to type a smiley face like this :-) I guess there are more.

The Mumsnet anonymous one is just for "thanks". So it thanks someone if they've said something helpful. "Thanks" isn't always appropriate if you just want to say you really love a comment. Anyway thank you for letting me know it's been suggested before.

I think it can work well. Yes people could "like" absolutely everything and then it would be pointless. But I don't think they do and don't use it for favouritism either. They just like or love a particularly good post. While it means some people may just "like" rather than reply, it also means that lots of people who don't reply, can acknowledge that they like a post - ie people who sometimes just read and don't say anything.

Absolutely Bluebelle 👏👏👏

BlueBelle

This is so boring we have asked for things like this a dozen times over and are always ignored, an edit button would be the best thing but we are just old dears who can’t be trusted to use modern short cuts properly.
A year ago it was yawn time as GN asked what we wanted but as always with this exercise everything is totally ignored and just melts away into the sunset with not even the politeness to acknowledge our answers
You are wasting your time Gentleshores

Love it- so true👏🏻

I like the MN ‘like’ button. Nobody else can see it, so there’s no competition as to whose post has most.
You get a notification, with a link to the particular post, if someone has ‘liked’ your post, or quoted it.

This is so boring we have asked for things like this a dozen times over and are always ignored, an edit button would be the best thing but we are just old dears who can’t be trusted to use modern short cuts properly.
A year ago it was yawn time as GN asked what we wanted but as always with this exercise everything is totally ignored and just melts away into the sunset with not even the politeness to acknowledge our answers
You are wasting your time Gentleshores

A anonymous like button like that on Mumsnet would be fine,no ones knows the poster is who gets the clapping hands. except the poster it Is meant for.

I agree if the likes were open to everyone to see it would put some posters of posting.

I think a like button would be good ,too. Some don’t like the idea because of ‘favouritism’ but ,really, who cares ? It is not a popularity contest, we are not school kids and I think it would be an interesting addition. .

What is the quickest way to use smilies on here? I've just seen the bit below with bracket - type word - close bracket. It's a bit tedious!
🥳

To do what I have just done, highlight the words you want to quote or just click ‘quote’ and the whole post will be selected for you.

If you’ve selected the bit you want to use then click ‘copy’, go to the next post and press your cursor and choose ‘paste’. You can use * or ^ to surround the text to make it bold or italicised if you like.

Then select a smiley from your phone or gadget and off you go. You can check that your reply is what you want it to be by clicking on preview, and making any corrections before clicking ’send’.

petra

Why not use a smilie, flowers, hand clap emoji from your keyboard.
🥰👏👏🤣💐🌹.

Thank you! I don't know how to do that on my keyboard! Is it a shortcut? (I use a laptop mainly).

Yes good point it means people might not post as much. And yes you can type, agreed or whatever, but sometimes I find a post I want to agree with is a whole page back! I suppose you can just quote it then.

Some of the places I've seen with "like" buttons have lots of different emoji options though - not just a "thumbs up" type like, but "love" "sad" "hug" and all sorts of other things. So a brief visual comment to what someone has said - if you want to
show that on someone else's post you can - rather than add the emojis to your own post.

What is the quickest way to use smilies on here? I've just seen the bit below with bracket - type word - close bracket. It's a bit tedious!

There is no need for a like button. How long does it take to put in the emoji or a quick comment? Seconds.

I’m not in favour. I think it would mean fewer posts and more lurking, and yes, result in a popularity contest. Why would anyone want to see if they got ‘likes’ if they weren’t worried about being popular? And if they didn’t get any the logical conclusion is that they are not popular, so there would be more angst about cliques and people threatening to leave.

It takes 2 minutes to post ‘agreed’, or better still 5 minutes to add to the discussion with a comment, which is the point of a discussion board.

No thanks. Like buttons=clique formation

Everyone has an opinion, no need to visibly like an opinion

For those who want to see if they’ve been mentioned in dispatches why not look at Im on

If you mention the name of a poster whose comment you "like", you are often accused of being cliquey.
If you mention the name of someone whose comment you disagree with, you are often accused of being nasty or attacking.
I give up!

Not in favour here.

It isn't necessary to quote the post to express approval. Just mention the name.

I can't use emoji on my phone on gn. I don't know why.

Wyllow, that's what I meant. Posters would receive notification via email as per Mumsnet so the "likes" would only be visible to them. If you are also notified about being quoted, it really does encourage more interaction. I'm often oblivious to the fact I've been quoted on Gransnet or at least I don't discover until some days later, by which time a response seems rather pointless. Sometimes someone may have asked me a question but they will be unaware that I've shown the interest to answer. I think that's a great pity.

I agree with gentleshores