@prologic@twtxt.net this seems to be missing “like” functionality, which maybe you never intended to implement.
However, that functionality is a major driving force for people using services like this due to the dopamine situation.
Looking at the twtxt spec, I wonder if it would be reasonable to implement it by creating a specially crafted status that yarn.social just interpreted as a “like”?
@kayos@twtxt.net No. We will never do this. If you read the About Yarn.social page you’ll understand why. The short answer is this:
Supporting reactions, like, counters, trending or anything else really based on algorithmically generated content and manipulating content leads to the same bad things you see in traditional “big-tech” social media. This drives a behaviour of “engagement” and “look at me” and all sorts of other psychological problems we’re not paying for “big time” in society at large.
The number one driving factor of Facebook for example (I used to work there); is:
Driving up engagement
Publicly they like to tell people:
We connect people to each other
Or some such bullshit. But it’s not true.
The bottom line is this, and it’s something my old man @off_grid_living@twtxt.net has taught me over many decades of wisdom:
If you don’t have something good to say, don’t say it.
You can extend this to also mean:
If you like what someone posted or is talking about, chime in with your piece too.
Having reactions/likes adds no value to the conversation whatsoever. It only serves the financial interests of companies like Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, etc and their advertisers (who are actually their customers/users, you are just their products!).
@prologic@twtxt.net This is a fair point as well, but it doesn’t feel as natural to say “Cool post!” when you can just “like” the post. However, I totally understand your position.
@kayos@twtxt.net Yeah loo we’ve debated this time and time again, and every time single this comes up the answer is the same. If we don’t stick to the original projects goals and vision here and the ethical/moral decisions of the project and it’s design choices, we are no better (or worse) than any other “social” platform.
This is not something I think any of us that have poured nearly (in a few months) 2 years of effort in to 😅
In practise, if you like something, just say so. It actually works quite well in reality 👌
And more importantly, say why too! This is an important human aspect. If someone has (for example) walked many miles with heavy gear on to go take nice pictures of nature and then share them with the world, you should be courteous to say something about his/her hard work! I’m looking at you @lyse@lyse.isobeef.org 🤗
@kayos@twtxt.net Yes that is possible but actually quite hard to do on purpose 🤗 And it’s already been tested 👌
@kayos@twtxt.net Instead of me spelling out the details, why don’t we work together and improve the software and ecosystem to prevent or reduce the kinds of abuses you’re thinking about 🤔
For example; rate-limiting certain endpoints is what I have on the radar..
@kayos@twtxt.net 👍 (see what I did there)
@kayos@twtxt.net hi! I’m the site admin.. meaning I’m the administrator.. meaning I make cups of coffee for the lead developer.
we have had this discussion many times on many long car rides 😬
I fully understand the need for the dopamine hit and without introducing ‘likes’ and such yarn.social as a brand will suffer. however, it’s not here to make money. it’s more like social media rehab. we can’t be different if we are the same. we can’t spread the message if the message is tainted.
I really hope you stick around 🧶
… we have had this discussion many times on many long car rides 😬 …
Ha ha! I bet. :-) Welcome @kayos@twtxt.net also hope you stick around. :-)
@kayos@twtxt.net I don’t really see the issue with bots that you are suggesting, since twtxt/yarn is purely pull, and not push. So there might be a bunch of twtxt.txt files replying or mentioning you in a lot of post, but unless you actively follow those feeds you will not get the noise.
@lyse@lyse.isobeef.org Can you elaborate a bit on what you meant by:
And this makes it possible to spark other ideas, discussions, etc. As for bots, I’m 100% with @darch@twtxt.net. You just don’t follow them. Granted, it might be more difficult on yarnd than on traditional clients.
The facilities in yarnd to deal with this are there, granted rate-limiting is not (yet).