"Thanks"

hz909 · Aug 22, 2009

Thank You Hack said:
One of the biggest problems on forums as you may know is 'posts boosting'. There are users who LOVE to say 'thanks' when ever they can. How can it hurt? Their post count goes up, they have nothing to loose.

There are also users who really like to express their thanks to post but don't like posting a post that looks like they're post boosting.

Then comes the moderators who have to delete people's thanks yous so a thread can look readable with out the thanks yous thrown around.

Finally comes the posters of these useful posts. They would have an idea of how many people really like their post when people say 'thanks'.

What this hack does is fix ALL these problems - except those users who like post boosting. This places a button called 'thanks.' When a user clicks on it, it places his username in a box right under the post saying that so-and-so says 'thanks' for the post. Every-one who clicks is placed in one box.

By giving your users the extra feature, you forum will look allot nice and organized. It is a guaranteed liking by ALL the members of your forum.

^^I put the good part in bold.

What this "hack" (aka 3rd Party Plugin) does is provide a "Thank You" button at the bottom right of each post. Ala:

When someone clicks on the "Thanks" button, a notification as much is made just below said post. Ala:

This is one of the most useful applications on vBulletin. So much so that I actually thought it was adopted into the vBulletin software itself, but I could be wrong. Has it been disabled? Could it be enabled? If it's not inherent, it's a simple and quick install.

Please and thank you.

Turtle · Aug 22, 2009

That's more for Web sites where post counts gets you some kind of meaningful status, like on picture groups, where leeches are frowned upon and posters are revered as being important. It's also for those with Sally Field Syndrome and need to have lots of responses to their posts to boost their egos. "You like me! You really like me!"

That's not really the case here. Leeches outnumber posters by a large margin because this is a research site as much as anything else.

hz909 · Aug 22, 2009

Your posts in the current inverter/fridge thread is what spawned this thread. I would have liked to have given recognition that I found your post(s) helpful. A simple click of the button would have done as much if that option was available. I could have just clicked 'Thanks' and moved on. As it is, I just moved on...without you ever knowing that I found your post(s) helpful.

The "Thank You" hack doesn't need to be tied to any reputation system or anything like that (it CAN be, but I'm not suggesting that it should be). It can simply allow people to give favorable acknowledgment without having to make new posts, or bumping old threads.

It's not a Sally Field thing at all. Unless, in the analogy, you're Sally Field, and I'm a movie watcher just trying to say thanks for the work.

Anyway, thanks.

or...thanks anyway.

hz

ps I guess what I'm really trying to say, Turtle, is that I like you. I really like you.

pps Now give me a button that says so, dammit!

Turtle · Aug 23, 2009

Thanks.

Couldn't resist.

Actually, there is a button like that, sort of. Under someone's avatar, way down at the bottom you'll see those three little icons:

One is a Cloud, next to that is The Scales of Justice, and next to that is the Tattle-Tail Sign.

The Cloud lets others know if you are online of offline. It you are offline, the Cloud is very blue, so blue that it's farting. You can almost smell it. It stinks when you're not online. If you are online, the cloud is still blue, but a blinding sliver of sunlight is peeking out behind the Cloud, apparently the ozone clears out the fart stink.

The Tattle-Tail Sign lets you report the post of a fellow classmate to the small army of hall monitors, who are also fellow classmates and tattle-tails. With great power comes great responsibility.

The Scales of Justice lets you approve or disapprove of someone's post, and you can add your choice of comments that will either make or break the Sally Field in us all.

bcordell70 · Aug 23, 2009

What I have seen on other threaded forums as well is the most approved answer thread, I am not sure if the mods do this or if there is some voting system in place that highlights the best answer for the thread..Have also seen a point system, what happens here is the user asking the question then if say Turtle gives the best answer the original poster can give Turtle a certain value to the post. I know this isnt the same as saying thanks but it would serve the same purpose.

cheri1122 · Aug 23, 2009

When folks click on the cloud on yr post, they can agree or disagree with your post, and add a comment [or not]. The number of positive comments determines your 'reputation' [the number of green boxes you have, which can change, obviously]. It's a pretty good system - you can neither approve nor disapprove of one particular member with frequency, so no vendettas or cheering sections.

In your 'user control' function, you can read any comments left by those who clicked on your posts.