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/kbin meta @kbin.social revengebreaker @kbin.social

"Boost" needs a visual rework on kbin

It is the most unsatisfying feature on kbin.

We need something like this:
https://giphy.com/gifs/tri-indonesia-boost-triindonesia-duniatri-3BpyyvDfffs7t22Ged

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  • lol

    Yeah, boost is kinda out of place. I know it was counted as reputation instead of upvote probably for how things are different in fedi but it's too out of place. Now it just looks like the little social media share count on some websites.

    • I find it useful. I follow my Kbin account from Mastodon, anything I boost I then see there - and can boost it to Mastodon easily.

      If people followed my Kbin account and I used it as my main for everything, then boost would be useful without the double boosting.

      • Maybe have the upvote button also boost the post would be the way to go?

        • I think that would be annoying!

          • Yeaaahh, lmao. Five people tweeting out "I think that would be annoying!" with no context sounds like a move so short-sighted only a giant corporation would think of it

        • I would hate this personally. (tho you can take that with a grain of salt, I'm not "from" fedi and I'm still getting used to that voters on a post are viewable at all.) I don't always upvote things because I love them enough to share, sometimes it's just like a pat on the back

          • Fair, but AFAIK upvotes right now don't do much right? I'm still getting used to fediverse's ways ( ˶ˆ꒳ˆ˵ )

            • Pretty sure they serve the same purpose they do on reddit. In a feed on a Lemmy/kbin instance they control the ranking/order of posts and comments.

              However I don't think they change reputation/karma at all.

              • It's the other way around.

                At least for the top sorting order, boost seems to be all that matters.

                Reputation uses the formula upvotes - downvotes + 2*boost iirc.

                • Kinda makes the voting rather pointless, then, other than an ego stroking.

        • I'm not sure why this wasn't the approach. Why would you not want a boost, whatever it really does, when you upvote something? Or vise versa, boost but not upvote? It seems they both have similar or the same objectives, so just make the upvote button (that everyone uses for some positive reason) do it all.

          I'm in favor of removing a visible number for reputation/votes and put in a vague ranking system like lots of forums had/have that only shows how active a person is in delivering discussion that's appreciated. Remove downvote effects and just have them a visual on the posts themselves.

          • If kbin's microblog automatically boosted everything I upvote, whoever followed me or anyone else would have a timeline brimming with random comments from other users who said absolutely anything that anyone else liked reading, and it would be the least interesting thing nobody wants to deal with.

            We're talking my whole blog being just one-sided repeat documentation of every conversation I've had, because even when we don't agree, I like showing appreciation for an enjoyable interaction. We're talking every fair point or inquiry on mine or anyone else's post. Weed killer reviews. Someone's socks that I liked enough to pat them on the back for, but not enough to bother people in my life about.

            Following anyone would be unnavigable noise and would result in both complaints and an overall chilling effect as to whose contribution is good enough to warrant any attention at all. The platform really benefits from being able to make the distinction between "nice, interesting, thank you" and "nice enough that I'd brag to my dentist," imo

            • Which is why its function needs to be both clarified officially and maximized to benefit all users. If it's directed to followers specifically, then you're right, that would be madness, and it's probably happening already since there's been a lot of posts telling people to both upvote and boost. If it's actually just bumping it up in feeds more, then no one is getting that spam and it's being adjusted properly for being still popular. That's just it, I don't know which it really is doing, and the fact there's two ways to "upvote" is confusing.

      • You're not the only one. Boost is incredibly useful for sharing beyond Kbin.

        What's weird is following. I follow a couple of other users, but I don't have any feed or way to see their activity.

41 comments