To think Mumsnet would be better with likes/upvotes

[EricTheHorse]

Sites like Reddit have the ability for users to up or downvote posts and replies to posts. An overwhelming number of downvotes leads to posts/replies becoming “hidden” and so a democratic vote basically decides which posts and replies can be seen rather than requiring moderators to step in and babysit.

Is this something that would work well on Mumsnet?

YABU- Mumsnet works fine as it is TYVM
YANBU- This feature should be added

I hate the voting system on reddit, it just allows bullying men to prioritise things they find important and effectively silence anyone with a different view.

On mumsnet every post stands on its own merit and you are free to decide for yourself which you agree with and which you don't.

@BertieBotts

I hate the voting system on reddit, it just allows bullying men to prioritise things they find important and effectively silence anyone with a different view.

On mumsnet every post stands on its own merit and you are free to decide for yourself which you agree with and which you don't.

👍

Reddit, like Mumsnet, is anonymous. How do you judge who is a man and who is a woman? There have been many posters burned on Mumsnet for incorrectly assuming the race or gender of a person they are replying to.

But I do see your point about allowing all posts to stand on their own merit. Perhaps a likes/dislikes button would be useful to get a feel for the general response to a thread. I know there is the yabu/yanbu vote but there is nothing for replies to threads.

No because like anything else it then becomes about getting ‘likes’ not real engagement. You’d end up with a few mumsnet ‘influencers’ who get constant upvotes/downvotes just because of who they are. I think the like button is a horrible thing, it enables thoughtless ‘engagement’ and becomes about a popularity contest.

No, it would make it worse. The whole "downvoting" thing can very quickly become bullying with cliques all piling on.

The whole "like" thing was dragged up only last week actually. It's not a new suggestion by any means and always gets (rightly) rejected. Using words.

No, it wouldn't suit the site.

I think there's a place for both Reddit style upvotes and the traditional forum format, and don't think either is necessarily better than the latter. Mumsnet's format allows for more variable and individualistic discussion and encourages people to say what they really think, rather than what will get the most upvotes, and to form their own opinions of what's said, rather than go with the most popular answer as a matter of course. On the other hand, Mumsnet's format makes discussions less organised.

PPs' comments about Reddit being full of 'bullying men' are strange to me. Reddit is a collection of communities each with its own culture (and gender ratio), and the way to use it is to find communities that suit you. r/babybumps is, funnily enough, heavily female biased.

Reddit is overwhelmingly male dominated. It's been shown in demographics of the site's users.

You can't tell who upvoted or downvoted a specific post anyway so I'm not sure what assuming anyone's gender has to do with things. I'm talking about trends in what gets upvoted and what doesn't. It's very white-young-American-rich-male centric.

I suppose it would be interesting to see what MN votes were like but I reckon you'd get a load of anonymous voters who skew things without ever bothering to post - you can see that from the AIBU poll questions!

I don’t use Reddit but this must be problematic. Firstly you’d get people posting what they think would get a like, not what they think, and secondly you’d get bullying of posters. People ganging together, creating new profiles to target posters, sounds batshit but some folks would do that shit.

OK, an example on r/BabyBumps - anything US centric gets highlighted right to the top of the sub because US posters are the most numerous.

Any discussion on vaccines ends up completely one sided. MN is hardly anti vax but you are allowed to discuss things. On reddit you must agree with such insanity like "Every distant third cousin of the baby MUST get a whooping cough vaccine or they don't love the baby. Deny contact to grandparents." Nothing ever has a nuance. There is one rhetoric which is allowed and this is policed by use of upvotes.

Just try having a conversation about "gender" or trans on reddit :o

Indeed, Reddit is a US site, US-centric things tend to get the most attention (except in communities catered to a specific place, r/CasualUK, r/de as examples). Presumably, if MN switched to a Reddit-style format, it would remain a UK site and UK-centric things would be upvoted. This is an inherent feature of an upvote-based system and whether this is an advantage or disadvantage is one of the things that would have to be considered before any potential switch.

I wouldn't say that there is no nuance on Reddit, only that within any one community (and you can find anti-vaxxer subs, and anti-trans subs, if you're so inclined), popular opinions tend to be upvoted repeatedly so that one has to do a lot of scrolling to see dissenting opinions. This is why I personally think the Reddit-style format wouldn't be an improvement for MN, though others may see the downplaying of fringe views as a benefit.

@CoalCraft

I agree that I cannot understand people saying that men bully on Reddit. I’ve used Reddit for years and this is not my experience of the site at all. I think some people are determined to see the world through the lens of whichever particular grievances they carry through life.

I enjoy the ability to curate the subreddits I follow and I find the site easier to navigate than Mumsnet. As a PP says, the discussions on Mumsnet can be quite disorganised. This is mostly to do with the layout of the site.

Perhaps nested replies would improve this.

I think Reddit has problems with posters stalking specific posters/subjects, down voting all the time, no matter what is being posted.

If you want likes use Facebook, there is no good reason to create an environment here chasing likes. If you agree with someone you can quote or state you own advise.

@BertieBotts

YouTube’s demographic/user base is overwhelmingly young men. This doesn’t bother me.

But speaking about Mumsnet specifically I do wonder if some additions would help improve the site. The ability to upvote/downvote being one. This could be implemented in a different way to sites like Reddit/YouTube perhaps. Or the ability to nest comments and replies to more easily follow the conversation and avoid cross-posting as so often happens.

OP, you do know there is a new competing site with the features you miss here. I quite like the lack of likes .

@Bluntness100

I use Reddit a lot and find this doesn’t happen. Perhaps it depends which subreddits (communities) you’re active in. Much like Mumsnet’s AIBU, some subreddits will have more of a reputation for pile-ons/rudeness than others. Perhaps. As I say, I’ve always found the conversations on Reddit fun, easy-going, and interesting.

@EricTheHorse

I could definitely see nested replies adding some helpful organisation to MN, though I could see it leading to one branch of a conversation coming to dominate threads even more than is already the case if replies to an earlier top level comment appear before subsequent top level comments. Ideal in my view would be a complete overhaul of the quoting system to allow nested quotes, partial quotes, etc.

@BertieBotts

Perhaps. But there are certainly topics on Mumsnet that are “Verboten”. I’m not even going to name examples here as I know the thread will become derailed. Mumsnet can be a hive-mind around certain topics.

Personally I really don't think likes/upvotes would be of any benefit.

@giantangryrooster

No, which site do you mean? I enjoy Mumsnet very much. Especially as a hub of common sense discussions around TRAs and the current gender focussed climate.

I just wonder if there are some elements that could be tweaked to make the site more user friendly.

No. I like people actually using words and making some effort to formulate a response.

"Nested replies" just add clutter. Truly awful.

No I wouldn’t want a like button. Would make you feel like you owe someone a like because they have liked one of your posts.

Why can’t you edit posts on here? Genuine question. You’ve been able to edit on DS and other forums for years.