What happened to Meh

[Special Officer Doofy]

Not sure where to post this so feel free to punt it to a better spot if needed, but why was "Meh" removed as a reaction to posts? I feel it filled a spot that angry/sad/confused doesn't fill. And if it was felt that it is disrespectful or something, how is it any worse than angry? If I told someone in person something I was passionate about, I would be less upset if their reaction was "Meh" versus them being "Angry". Sorry if this was already talked about, just send me a link and lock the thread if that is the case. Meh was my favorite response besides thumbs up, and felt like the opposite of it. Angry is too strong of an emotion for me on a forum about toy soldiers. Meh felt appropriate.

I'm assuming it was taken away, as I can no longer do it and have not seen anyone else do it in quite some time.

[Special Officer Doofy]

Bueller... Bueller... Bueller... 

[Brother Tyler]

Yes, the "Meh" reaction was removed.

[Dagoth Ur]

11 hours ago, Brother Tyler said:

Yes, the "Meh" reaction was removed.

Not to sound flippant, but that still doesn't answer *why* it was removed? Any insights into that?

[phandaal]

20 hours ago, Dagoth Ur said:

Not to sound flippant, but that still doesn't answer *why* it was removed? Any insights into that?

My guess is because people were using it like a reddit downvote button. Felt out of place on this forum.

[Sword Brother Adelard]

There was a feeling that it was seen as a dismissive reaction, with no real positive value, it is in effect a non-reaction, so doesn't need a reaction to convey, it adds nothing to the debate, and could detract from it, and maybe even discourage the poster who received it. 

There was a vote of the mods, and it was decided to remove it.

[Dagoth Ur]

1 hour ago, Sword Brother Adelard said:

There was a feeling that it was seen as a dismissive reaction, with no real positive value, it is in effect a non-reaction, so doesn't need a reaction to convey, it adds nothing to the debate, and could detract from it, and maybe even discourage the poster who received it. 

There was a vote of the mods, and it was decided to remove it.

Thank you, I appreciate the transparency.

[Special Officer Doofy]

"Angry" reaction it is then haha.

[skylerboodie]

I take it there's no potential for any new reactions, such as one to convey "I respectfully disagree"? I'm in agreement that Angry is hard to use without it coming across in a particularly negative context.

Similarly, sometimes the most accurate reaction would be to say "I agree", for which "Like" doesn't feel right; for example, if someone were to comment along the lines of 'it really annoys me that X is released as a set of 20 with two duplicates per model rather than a set of just 10', I'd rather Agree with that comment than Like, which could sound as though I like the fact it upsets the person or even that I like the box of 20, rather than agree with the original commenter's point of view. (Not a good example I know, but all the more relevant situations it occurs in have disappeared from my mind right now!)

TL:DR - any chance of Agree/[respectfully] Disagree reactions?

Also, would be good if the laughter reaction gave fraters points in the same way as Like and Thanks do, as feels a shame when see other fraters' witty/hilarious comments that won't get rewarded despite often lots of positive reaction to a joke. 

Thanks

[Dumah]

Perhaps something along the lines of "hmm..." with a raised eyebrow emoji? I feel like that would satisfy the above suggestion without being dismissive or insulting.

[Brother Tyler]

A problem with the reactions is that it is difficult to assess when the reaction is directed towards the news or towards the poster. In addition, it's difficult to assess the motive behind the reaction, especially the emojis. Someone might use the Haha reaction to show that the poster said something funny. Someone else might use the reaction to say that they're laughing at a post that they think is ridiculous (for example, someone might read this post, think it's stupid, and assign the Haha reaction as a result). The Meh reaction fell into this category and was especially easy to interpret (perhaps mistakenly) as saying that the reactor was dismissive of the poster.

 

This is why we've separated the reactions into those that accrue points (Thanks and Like) and those that don't (the emojis). We could conceivably expand the range of emoji reactions, but most could have multiple meanings, some of them negative/sarcastic. Since we're not going to prescribe how members should use reactions, the easiest thing is to just limit those that accrue points. That's the main reason that the Thanks and Like reactions are not yellow faces, instead featuring other colors and icons - making it clear that those are the ones that accrue points while the others don't.

 

We're not necessarily confined to that process, but we would need to explore whether or not any [new] reaction might have multiple uses, especially if some of those might be sarcastic/negative.

 

For example, the proposed "I Agree" reaction might be something like a finger pointing up a la the "Favorite" reaction in Discord. I don't think that such a reaction should necessarily confer a point upon the poster since the points are supposed to be for contributing to the community (just saying something that someone else agrees with doesn't inherently contribute to the community).

 

If you have suggestions for additional reactions, please post them. We are definitely open to expanding the range of reactions. We don't want dozens and dozens of reactions, but a range of options is fair. We're trying to minimize the negative reactions, though.

[skylerboodie]

Thank you Brother Tyler, I understand re: points for reactions and potential for Hahas to be meant negatively - although if fraters knew it would confer positive points when used perhaps that in itself would discourage the negative use of them!

I agree re: not wanting lots of negative reactions, especially where may be seen as aimed at the poster rather than the post itself, hence why considered a Disagree as a less emotive and 'friendlier' reaction than an Angry one. The latter feels more likely to be construed at the poster, the former just the post itself. 

But, as ever, I trust in the mods judgement for what is best, I'm just grateful to be along for the ride :)