Given that the OP is in favor of a Like button (in absence of his wet dream, a WMD, a.k.a. Bad Post button), the question arises (now seriously, again) what is the difference between Like and +1? After all, +1 is Google's equivalent of FB's Like.
What's not to like about +1?
- it is shorter than Like, thus saving trees, bandwidth, planet ultimately
- it saves me from retyping what someone else already said, usually more eloquently than I could (saving, again, trees, bandwidth, etc.)
- it gives a poster an indication that people read his post, let alone a confidence boost that someone actually agrees with him or likes his pictures
- I've been known to argue for quite some time against "constructive criticism," arguing instead that every criticism should be accepted as constructive. My people say that, for a smart head, even a mosquito buzz is music (and you can't get a shorter buzz than +1).
You know, the type of "constructive" criticism that is RedwoodGuy long and detailed, the one where, in order to tell you what they really think of your work, they have to go on and on, but first have to give you three feel-good things (i.e., more tree-distroying fluff). Like telling a writer that what they like about his new book is the lovely font he chose for it.
Ooops, I just realized I embarked on yet another rant of mine. Which brings us to another OP topic, rants.
What's wrong with rants*? One man's rant is another man's gem of skillful writing, stream of consciousness, humor of absurd, tidbits of real life. As much as I benefit from them, god save me if all I could read in the future are those dry, serious, technically and politically correct, posts. Some people take themselves, and the world, too seriously.
'Good post' button? This site used to have a star-rating system. Guess what? I had, at some point, before people knew better, all five stars. At the same time, Schewe had... three! Every time someone would give him five stars for expertise, someone else would give him one for... his debate style. So, whose expertise would you trust more, especially if you are a newbie?
* EDIT: The same applies to "trolls"
