Thinking Reaction

[Tawnis]

There've been a few times now where someone has said something that I've thought was interesting and that I would think about, but didn't have anything else to add to the conversation at that point in time. I thought it might be worth adding a thinking or considering reaction for stuff like that. 

 

Maybe... think on it. 

[Brother Tyler]

Let's wargame this out (I'm not saying it will/won't happen, mind you)...

 

Someone has said something that you find interesting. You don't necessarily agree with it (ruling out the  AGREE reaction) or disagree with it (ruling out the  RESPECTFULLY DISAGREE reaction) and you want to think about it further before you reply in the discussion (if you reply, that is). The fact that you're still thinking about it probably means that you don't quite LOVE it, and you may or may not  SUPPORT it (yet). You don't necessarily think it's funny (ruling out the  HAHA reaction). Is that correct?

 

This leaves two of the existing reactions that might convey the concept (among other things)...

 

 LIKE doesn't necessarily mean that you agree with something (hence the other reaction), so it might be used in the sense that you like that someone has posted interesting content and you're thinking about it further before commenting.

 

 THANKS can also be used in a way that is different from agreeing with someone (again, hence the other reaction), so it might be used in the sense that you're thanking the other member for posting content that is thought-provoking.

 

All the reactions aside from RESPECTFULLY DISAGREE confer a reputation point upon the member whose content has received the reaction. Even if one ultimately disagrees with the points made (after further thought), would the thought-provoking nature of the original post merit a reputation point? If one of the point-conferring reactions was used and you later decide that you don't think the member deserves a reputation point (because you eventually disagree either with the arguments made or the method of argumentation), would either the ability to remove a reaction or some neutral (i.e., non-point-conferring) reaction be better? And what if you eventually decide that the points made are worthy of a reputation point? If the original THINKING reaction was neutral, you would likely want to change it to a different reaction that confers a point (likely one of the existing reactions). More likely, however, members wouldn't think to change their reactions later, even if they eventually agree/disagree with the points made in the post. In such cases, points would be retained even if the member assigning the reaction ends up not agreeing with the post (if the original THINKING reaction confers a reputation point) or no points would be gained even if the member assigning the reaction ends up disagreeing with the post (if the original THINKING reaction doesn't confer a reputation point).

 

Perhaps you just want to say that the content is thought-provoking. It might be argued that either LIKE or THANKS work well enough, but there might be sufficient nuance to merit a distinct reaction. What would such a reaction look like? Keep in mind our intent to have each reaction have a unique appearance, including key colors. So unless we were to change the background color of one of the existing reactions, we would have to find a distinct background color for a THINKING or THOUGHT-PROVOKING reaction. At present, orange is the only significant color that isn't represented in the existing reactions (and it might work well in this instance). The first icon that comes to my mind is a light bulb, but we might collectively identify something better (keep in mind, however, that it has to be simple enough that it renders well at very small size- 16 pixels wide and tall, as in the examples above).

[Trokair]

Can I have a ‘thinking about this’ reaction while I think about this?

 

I have used the Thanks reaction a few times in the past when I thought a post was interesting but I had nothing to add and the other reactions such as Agree were not relevant. Though it guess the reasoning was as much Thanks for positing something interesting/thought provoking as it was i am thinking on this and will get back to you later.

 

Light bulb to me feels more like I have had an idea and not I am thinking about your idea.

 

Would a brain be a good symbol for this reaction?

[Tawnis]

Some good points Brother Tyler, and certainly some things I hadn't fully considered; but I think there is still merit here. 

 

I hadn't considered the reputation point thing, but I think that's still fine for two reasons. 1. If something being funny is worth a reputation point, why would something that is insightful or thought provoking not be? 2. I do think that Like and Thanks are the two most likely to be used in place at the moment, Thanks typically if the insightful comment is answering a specific question, or like as it's just a general catch all for a myriad of things when none of the others fit. So, I don't think that there's going to be some random spike in points from the addition of this. (I can't speak for anyone else, but I honestly never considered the reactions in relation to the rep system, I just react with what I feel at the time, I'd honestly forgot that they were related. ) I do agree though that I don't think many people would go back and change their reaction after the fact, but as with the aforementioned Haha reaction, you can find something amusing and also like it, disagree with it, be thankful for it, ect... I can't think of a situation that Thought Provoking wouldn't be in the same lane as Funny. 

 

What would the reaction look like? Originally I was thinking that emoji with the finger over the mouth, thumb on the chin, and looking up. However, you make a good point about them each looking visually distinct and that would overlap with the current HaHa reaction too much. Trokair made a great suggestion though, a brain would be a good simple icon to convey this. It could also be pink/peachy which isn't a colour currently used (though I suppose orange could work as well if that's all that's available). As for the name of it, something broad like Insightful could work, or if you want to go more into modern internet culture "big brain" does more-less mean the same thing.