Nostr Web Client

What is the purpose of a reaction that the author of a post won’t see, and is that purpose fulfilled better with some other functionality? Not saying there isn’t a legitimate need for what you’re describing but is a reaction the best solution?

jimbocoin 🃏 2y ago

There are three audiences for a reaction:

- the author of the original note,

- the creator of the reaction,

- other readers observing both.

If you eliminate the author from seeing the reaction, there are still the other two. The creator may want to know later which posts they liked and when. The creator may want to search through their old liked content to find something they half remember.

The other readers may want to see aggregate counts of reactions of different types. Perhaps they want to search for the mutually-liked posts of the people they follow. That could be a strong signal.

Could these be handled in another way? Certainly. But what would be the benefit of inventing a different mechanism?

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Discussion

Marks 2y ago

I think this is where the bookmarks feature comes in. Someone correct me, but I think you can have public and private bookmarks. So you’re able to search for things later. And if they were bookmarked publicly, it can be a signal for others to see.

jimbocoin 🃏 2y ago

Right. The nostr protocol is fairly liberal in what kinds of content one can post. One could use replaceable long-form notes to encode an encrypted list of bookmarked posts for example. There are probably dozens of ways to implement bookmarking and personal search for the specific only-you use case.

jimbocoin 🃏 2y ago

The nice thing about likes in particular is that it’s an established paradigm. Likes are low-hanging fruit, UI-implementation wise. Some clients won’t implement likes, but many do. So a user using likes for bookmarks/search can more easily try different clients compared to a user relying on a more exotic implementation.

corndalorian 2y ago

I disagree that anyone other than the author of the note and the creator of the reaction have any significance when it comes to this. Anyone else is a bystander, a lookie-loo.

jimbocoin 🃏 2y ago

I don’t know what you mean they don’t matter. Whether someone’s like matters is subjective. Do you mean the bystanders don’t matter to you specifically?

corndalorian 2y ago

A reaction is between two people. Third parties may be curious to see them but it’s not intended for them. Do you give likes to give feedback? Or is it to get attention from others? That is what it boils down to.

jimbocoin 🃏 2y ago

In that case, one could implement private likes. Basically a DM where the payload is “I liked this thing you posted”.

Personally, as a bystander, I like to see like counts on other peoples’ posts. This provides feedback about what types of content are connecting with readers. It’s a weak signal, but signal nonetheless.

corndalorian 2y ago

Fair enough. It doesn’t matter to me to see them and I don’t feel obligated to receive them only so you can see them. Difference of preference. 🤷‍♂️

jimbocoin 🃏 2y ago

What I’m learning from this conversation is that there seem to be a surprisingly broad range of ways people think about likes and their relative value. I would not have expected this. The concept of a “like” seems straightforward at first blush, but what that like means (to the creator, the recipient, and the bystanders) is definitely not obvious. 😅

corndalorian 2y ago

Agreed! 😅 Definitely a broad range of perspectives. If nothing else this feature has sparked some great discussion

pleb_world 2y ago

Feedback! (For me)

I send zaps when I find some truly valuable. 🤙’s and 🖤’s are just a nice passive “hey I like this”

BitcoinBird 2y ago

The basic idea of zaps is to reward good content and avoid bot spamming. I’m not decided on what is the best way at the moment, but I do see a possibility for people to give likes too much weight and enabling bot manipulation again. Likes are essentially Fiat money as they hold no weight and it isn’t verifiable whether the account leaving it is real.