the like button

What does the like button mean, what can you do with it

thank you

Addison.maddiso

hmmm .... ill be checking back for an answer

tzholl

i also would like to know

BoingBoing

Its mostly cosmetic, I think. Or at least it appears to be. If you view a board in text mode (take the tick out from "image mode" in the upper right corner of any board), therell be a small orange icon behind some threads title, and if you hover your mouse over, itll display something like "Recommend <number> <number>". Once a thread has enough likes, that icon will show up. I have no idea how the number is calculated, I couldnt find any formula for that. I guess it also weighs into the decision if the thread should be made into a digest or not, since thats purely about popularity. Maybe in the past, there was a reward associated with it too, I cant recall.

I know if you hit "Support" under a reply, the reply gets pushed to the top. The reply with the most "Supports" will be the first to display, the second most supported on the second place, etc. and the rest will be displayed in chronological order. If there are no replies supported, the system will automatically choose a few replies (usually newer ones) to display on top. If you check the upper right corner of the replies youll either see a #<number> or "Recommended". The recommended replies are those, that either got some support or were chosen by the system. Funnily enough, "Not Support" does the same. Logically that should push an answer to the last place, but it has the exact same effects as "Support"...


Update: The "Recommend <number> <number>" value is depending on the user group of the people who liked the thread. Its +1 for DIY0, +2 for DIY1, +3 for DIY2, and so on. DIY9 and DIY10 both have a recommend value of +10.

Silverlea

Makes sense BoingBoing :-).  Besides the technical data it harvests I thought it was an indication for users to see what patterns that users like and what they would like to see uploaded in Bounty area.