Fun with #Facebook: Nerdy thoughts on a dislike button
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 12:39PM<editorsnote> Nerds, meet Jordan. He's been writing for us for a while now ... actually come to think of it, he was one of the first writers on this site - so he's been here a superly duperly long time. He's got a lot of thoughts inside that big head of his, here are some of them ... HIT IT JORDAN!!! </editorsnote>
#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @saintpepsi
What I am about to speak of has been bantered about the websphere for ages. It is something every single facebook user has thought about. Just like every male in the world at some point has thought about having sex with his female friends. Why isn't there a dislike button? No doubt you have seen the pages dedicated to petitioning facebook for one. Articles listing the reasons why. Others listing reasons why not. Still the thumbs down remains absent. Even with the plethora of reasons for it, still it is assumed that anything that you can dislike becomes negative. Why would facebook assume this? Disliking things isn't always negative. In fact there are things that demand dislike. “My grandmother just died in a car wreck, I found out I have cancer, or I lost my job because of downsizing.” These are things that should be disliked. Things that you then have to comment on because you can't just hit dislike. Resulting in an awkward conversation. Generally, even if people post depressing things on facebook they aren't looking to talk about them, just to keep people informed. The forced comment starts conversations. Where as a simple dislike allows someone to let them know we are thinking of them without engaging in a sore subject. On top of that the forced conversation often leads to angry statements such as, “I don't want to talk about it!” This is fine if you let it go at that. Still people tend to get confrontational at responses like this, “We take the time to comment and you don't even want to talk about it.” Suddenly, something that was just a dark spot in someone’s life or day becomes a battle to maintain privacy. Ending in the deletion of the thread or people yelling at someone, “Why post about it at all if they didn't want to talk about it.” Sometimes, we just like to keep people informed without having to draw it out into a giant story. That's what notes and blogs are for.
This, “only think positive” trend seems to be saturating the net. With Googles +1 and Twitter's Favorite. Luckily, YouTube sacked up and put a thumbs down on it. It's almost like content control. It allows people to understand just what if something they did really is horribly offensive, or just plain sucks and should be taken down or left up as a testament to douchebaggery. Sometimes, we do or say things that need others to verify that they aren't good. As a people we tend to rationalize anything we do. It's how we get through the day. If we can convince ourselves that whatever we do is funny, essential, or good for us we can do that thing. Even if that thing is good, bad, or self destructive. Still that outside perspective can be a powerful motivator for change. It can open your eyes to your own faults. Or it can quickly open your eyes to overzealous creepy people, or jealous people. Let's say you are interested in a girl or guy and after you friend them they go through your photo's and dislike any picture you have with another girl or guy. Instantly, you are clued into their jealous streak and can avoid the relationship that would no doubt end shortly after this person punches a close friend of yours in the face for hugging you. Sure you can get the same feeling from them liking every single photo of you or liking everything you post or write, but with a dislike button it narrows that margin of error. Making it all the more creeptastic if they take the time to write something on each picture and status update. With a dislike button next to their comments you would be allowed to subtly let them know that they are creeping you the fuck out without having to unfriend them or block them right off the bat. Instead things tend to go way to far, way too fast. Your Mom can't just let you know she thinks your pictures are a little immature with a dislike, she has to comment on them. We lose the power of subtly. Sure you can always simply like something to let people know you saw it, but you don't always like everything you hit that button on. I know plenty of people who simply write out dislike. Still at that point the other person knows you took the time to write. If you take that time you may have well have written a comment. It's a no win situation. In the end generally we just don't bother.
If you want to test this theory simply post something really happy one day. Chances are you will get a lot of “likes” and a few comments. The next day post something horrible or depressing. You will get 1 or 2 “likes” from people you will automatically think are dicks. You know that's true. Hell if people post awful things that happen to them and anyone “likes” it even if it's not my status I think they are dicks. On top of that a whole shit ton of comments and questions on why you feel this way or asking what's wrong. All of which could have been avoided by a “dislike” button. Simple as that facebook. If youtube can add a “thumbs down,” you can surely add a “dislike” button. After that we'll talk about the “meh” button. Which shall be the new hot topic on the interwebs soon enough. Allowing people to voice their utter un-amusement and disdain for status updates and posts of irrelevance without having to commit to “liking” it or “disliking” it.
