Tomb Titivator
Posts: 911
Joined: Thursday, 17th December 2015, 02:36
Replace thanks with laughs
Another advantage of laughs is that people can use them to express their opinion about a proposal. Too often on GDD people mutter some banal design cliche or declare their lack of conviction and call it a day. It's a cheap way to seep credibility from an idea, because it doesn't add anything of value but it does invoke a level of apparent sophistication that a mere laugh doesn't. In other words, it creates the illusion that a counter-argument has been made. Laughs would not prevent people from making such pointless posts, but it would give them an alternative outlet which, if used, creates a more accurate impression of the situation. If the ability to revert a thank is carried over to laughs, you could meaningfully change your position by unlaughing, which is as good as a thank. All of the above also applies to bad advice and its shunning.
Laughs also mitigate the sense of mob mentality by taking the bite out of potentially offensive posts, since people can't “agree” with them by thanking.
so let's