Like vs Thank? Also, Dislike? (Post Quality)

Likes are meant to express:

• Positive acknowledgement of a post
  
• You agree with something in the post
• You enjoyed some part (or all) of the post
• You found the post pleasant or attractive
• You want or desire something in the post
• You think the post is good or excellent
• You prefer posts like this
• Etc.

Thanks are meant to express:

• Thankfulness that it was posted or shared
• The post is useful
• You found it helpful
• You are grateful for the post (expresses gratitude)
• You believe it will be helpful to others
• You appreciate their contribution(s)
• Etc.

There is overlap in certain situations, and when that happens, choose whichever you lean toward the most.

Note: Both Likes and Thanks are counted as Likes in the statistics.

Here are some reasons someone might Dislike a post:

• The post is not useful
• They disagree with it
• They disapprove of it
• They are displeased with it
• They don't recommend reading it (i.e., thumbs down, downvote, or vote down)
• It contains content that the member doesn't like to see
  
• It violates the rules (e.g., spam)
• It's negative
• It's rude, disrespectful, or offensive
• It's too wordy or long
• It provides no value to the conversation (e.g., a post that says, "Hmm" and nothing else)
• It lacks depth or cohesion
• It's off topic
• It appears to have a hidden agenda (ulterior motive)
• It's factually inaccurate or misleading
• It's about something sad (e.g., the passing of a beloved pet)

The Post Quality System (Likes, Dislikes, and Thanks) is designed to provide subtle feedback to members on the content they're producing, and then they can decide to post more content like that or change their posting habits accordingly.

Note: Reactions are used in discussions, appraisals, contests, etc. Sometimes, these reactions are used for less obvious reasons such as "like this post if you think I should accept the offer, or dislike this post if you think I should decline the offer."

@Eric Lyon

Hi,
Among like and share, which one do you think is superior?
In other words, If someone posted in my thread or replied me on someone else's thread and I found it less helpful to me and to others but I want to express my gratitude out of politeness, which one should I use?

I think Like > Thank.

Anees Ahmad said:

Among like and share, which one do you think is superior?

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I may be biased but share is best because then it helps bring the attention of the community to more people outside of NamePros and grows the community to be even stronger and more useful for all.

Anees Ahmad said:

In other words, If someone posted in my thread or replied me on someone else's thread and I found it less helpful to me and to others but I want to express my gratitude out of politeness, which one should I use?

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I believe many members use "Thanks" for this person because you can be thankful for lots of things: their time, their input, their ideas, their candor, etc.

I don't think "like" or "thank" is better. They're both treated as +1 on NamePros. From my observations, "like" is used more often to agree with a post and "thanks" is used when you may not agree but you're glad they posted.

Keep in mind that members can use "like" and "thank" for any reason as long as they don't abuse them.

Hope that helps,

@Eric Lyon Thanks.

Anees Ahmad said:

If someone posted in my thread or replied me on someone else's thread and I found it less helpful to me and to others but I want to express my gratitude out of politeness, which one should I use?

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I guess I should use thanks in this case and like when I agree with the post or when I think it's useful.

There will be overlap sometimes when you both agree with a post and are thankful for it, so which you choose is just a matter of preference. In those cases, many users tend to choose "like" since it's more common/popular across other social media sites, but you could do something different, such as choose the one that has the least on the post so far to give it more variety (E.g. if 5 likes and 10 thanks, give it another like so there will be 6 likes and 10 thanks). Or flip a coin.

Eric Lyon said:

There will be overlap sometimes when you both agree with a post and are thankful for it

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That's right.

Eric Lyon said:

so which you choose is just a matter of preference.

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I doubt that. Let me explain,

Thank is according to your own words, meant to express thankfulness that it was posted or shared. We choose this to appreciate their time or candor, encourage them to post more, etc. If we weren't thankful to someone for any reason like their unfairness, we would choose dislike or would just ignore the post. If we choose like, it means we are thankful and do agree with the post.

In other words, we choose like in so called overlap situations.

Anees Ahmad said:

In other words, we choose like in so called overlap situations.

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Thanks for sharing, but remember that everyone is different. Try to be careful not to simplify things into what everyone does. There are exceptions. I explained one way, you explained another, and there are more possibilities too.

We can't make assumptions about how members use the reactions because everyone can use them anyway they want (Within the rules).

Hope that helps,