manton
manton

Ghost in their weekly update, joking about likes:

Descartes famously said “I think, therefore I am” — but it wasn’t until several years later when we started getting likes on Instagram that we collectively came to the realization that the meaning of life, in fact, revolves around a consistent stream of dopamine hits from the internet.

Micro.blog doesn’t have likes and for better or worse, I’m standing by that decision.

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eludom
eludom

@manton I'd hit the like button on that post if I could.

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manton
manton

@eludom Sure, but I'm much happier receiving an actual reply. Worth 100 likes. 🙂

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pratik
pratik

@manton 👏🏽👏🏽 I firmly believe that ‘likes’ changes how and what a person writes.

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drose
drose

@manton I like that. I really not having likes.

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artkavanagh
artkavanagh

@manton 👍🏻

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jzfski
jzfski

@manton I love mb for this

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JimRain
JimRain

@manton It's definitely for better. Actually conversing with someone, instead of tapping a button, is one of the great benefits of micro.blog.

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leeS
leeS

@manton Stay the course. We’re with you!

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notunremarkable
notunremarkable

@manton like

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kjz
kjz

@manton Absolutely the right approach 👍

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manton
manton

@pratik That's a good point.

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manton
manton

@drose Glad to hear it, thanks!

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manton
manton

@artkavanagh Thanks. 👍

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manton
manton

@jzfski Thank you!

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cygnoir
cygnoir

@manton This is a defining feature of Micro.blog, for me, and I'm so happy that you stand by this decision.

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manton
manton

@JimRain Thanks, I think so too. A real interaction is just worth more, even if it is less frequent than a like click.

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manton
manton

@cygnoir Thanks so much.

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jthingelstad
jthingelstad

@manton “likes”, follower counts, and algorithmic timelines are the path to narcissism.

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manton
manton

@notunremarkable 🙂

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manton
manton

@kjz Thank you. 👍

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eludom
eludom

@manton That was an attempt a dry humor ...

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davidshead
davidshead

@manton ❤️

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briandigital
briandigital

@manton I'll be the one to represent the opposite opinion: I think private likes (visible to only the author) would help people receive encouragement to stick with this "shouting into the void" hobby.

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In reply to
manton
manton

@eludom Oh yeah, I read it that way.

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numericcitizen
numericcitizen

@briandigital I agree and wrote about this a while ago. cc @manton

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the
the

@briandigital @manton But would a possible compromise be to let the author of a post choose to whether to allow “likes” (and default it to not allow them)? And also to make them only visible to the author?

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