"Thanks" Button Paradise... A Sanctuary

[Valley]

I see that many are under the compulsion to keep hitting the button still... it doesn't bother me at all, but it's interesting to observe. From now on though... please respect my wishes for the thread and everyone refrain from using the button... I'm trying to do an experiment here. If you can't help yourself, please move on to another thread. If noone else responds, that's ok too.

I have no problem myself with using the button, but just wanted to try this as an experimental thread to see how things would be different without it and discussing their thoughts on it.

[Matt P]

Dennis, you're my new hero of the moment. Your first paragraph makes perfect sense. Your last paragraph nails it. I never even considered that and it makes so much common sense. Game, set, match.
Thanks!
Matt

(and without the thanks button you have to endure this message! )

[jagman]

Posted by Valley (here)
I see that many are under the compulsion to keep hitting the button still... it doesn't bother me at all, but it's interesting to observe. From now on though... please respect my wishes for the thread and everyone refrain from using the button... I'm trying to do an experiment here. If you can't help yourself, please move on to another thread. If noone else responds, that's ok too.

I have no problem myself with using the button, but just wanted to try this as an experimental thread to see how things would be different without it and discussing their thoughts on it. Every time anyone uses the button, they have directly disrespected my wishes for this thread I created.

Valley, I do understand what your trying to do here on this thread but
people seem to really enjoy thanking and giving thanks. It's like peoples
compulsion to slow down and look at wrecks on the highway. It becomes
forbbiden fruit, The BIG RED BUTTON, that has a sign behind it DONT PUSH! lol
Thank you for your thread Valley and I have to confess,I fought myself on
pushing the button several times. lol Watch? Please do not thank my post Please!

[grannyfranny100]

Boo hoo, now I don't know if anybody agreed with my post and that they are afraid of revenge from the zebra striped God of the Avians , too, and I have risked punishment. Maybe you are the Satan of the Avians and will be the one who punishes me if I don't start worshiping you. Maybe that is why Catholics have confessionals so they don't get punished. Can I go there to escape revenge. Boo hoo.

[Valley]

Posted by jagman (here)
Valley, I do understand what your trying to do here on this thread but
people seem to really enjoy thanking and giving thanks. It's like peoples
compulsion to slow down and look at wrecks on the highway. It becomes
forbiden fruit, The BIG RED BUTTON, that has a sign behind it DONT PUSH! lol
Thank you for your thread Valley and I have to confess,I fought myself on
pushing the button several times. lol Watch? Please do not thank my post Please!

Right, Jagman... it's a good opportunity for self-reflection/self-control. I was beginning to feel an energetic backlash from the people who don't like the thread idea... you've brought some welcomed relief, my friend. I'm not trying to take anything away from anyone here, just offering another experience which had not been done before... and see how it would go. I enjoy using the button normally like most everyone but this is just another option.
Glad you are enjoying it buddy.

[Valley]

Posted by grannyfranny100 (here)
Boo hoo, now I don't know if anybody agreed with my post and that they are afraid of revenge from the zebra striped God of the Avians , too, and I have risked punishment. Maybe you are the Satan of the Avians and will be the one who punishes me if I don't start worshiping you. Maybe that is why Catholics have confessionals so they don't get punished. Can I go there to escape revenge. Boo hoo.

It's a new experience GrannyFranny, and I'm glad you've joined the conversation... nothing to worry about, but a good opportunity for self observation and trying something new. If you're not comfortable here, there's plenty of other 'familiar' threads to choose from.
Thanks for sharing your unique perspective.

[Valley]

Posted by Dennis Leahy (here)
In Faceboog, the only button to acknowledge is "Like", so (for example) when I see a photo of a dead Palestinian child, and I want it to be "viral" on Faceboog so that the sickening reality is inescapably painted across the zeitgeist, I have to hit a button completely mislabeled as "Like."

"Thanks", on the other hand, can be "thanks for offering your perspective" (which I may not agree with, or 'like' either), or just "thanks for sharing that" - and is not necessarily any sort of endorsement or agreement.

If you've ever spent time on a forum without a 'thanks' button or similar functionality, you may see a post, then 7 more posts basically saying 'thanks' (but they are each a post, with an avatar, taking up lots of space and forcing you to keep scrolling to the next substantial post.) The "thanks" button is therefore very functional in keeping the database smaller, and the forum pages loading faster.

Good points Dennis... and I agree with them. I see that more and more people are showing up to keep using the button like they're used to doing. It's a hard habit to break, I guess. I wanted to try this experiment, but I see I haven't gained enough respect around here yet. You could probably get away with a post like this with not a single click of the button by anyone... but of course you would never try such a thing.

Many people are just too attached to the button, I see, to try a different approach. Go ahead... click away everyone.

[Selene]

If we as a community could meet in person – or even over the phone or skype – there would be an abundance of informal feedback signals that would accompany our conversation: nods, smiles, glances, umm-hmmm’s, shifts of posture, etc.

An internet forum lacks this natural mechanism, but we still need to say: Yes, I’m here. I’m listening…. It’s an important part of being a human community, a set of human relationships and not merely electronic circuits.

We don’t always feel the need – nor have the capacity – to contribute a well-thought-out comment. (And my so-so ones probably aren’t worth posting.) But a nod of thanks, ‘I hear you’, ‘I’m here’, ‘I read this’ ‘Keep writing and commenting’…. We need to express this to our fellow humans.

Without feedback of some kind, we would have an uncanny sense here of speaking into a void... into silence... into 'nobody cares...nobody is listening....'

And this would ultimately squelch good conversation.

Saying thanks works for me.

Cheers and – yes – thanks Valley,

Selene

[PurpleLama]

Posted by Joey (here)
Funny, this came to my mind the other day. Noticed how i was checkig if i received any thanks.
It can easily become an ego thing.

You just have to up your game.

[PurpleLama]

Posted by mpennery (here)
I like the thanks button. In fact, sometimes I wish there were levels of thanks buttons (thanks, super thanks, holy crap thanks, etc) or that I could hit it 30 times.
Matt

Yeah, but every now and then, wouldn't it be great to have of button that said f-you? Or, you're crazy? Or hmm, I don't think so, you need to do more research before posting about this topic?

[Bluegreen]

Thank you, Valley, for addressing this seemingly innocuous subject, it's been surprisingly educational. I think this is an opportunity for me to thank Cidersomerset for keeping up (among others) the Jimmy Savile thread; this is important information but I can only take so much at one time (see Dennis' post #16). And Tesla_WTC_Solution, whose thoughtful, funny, and extremely entertaining posts I always seem to find when it's "too late to thank".

[johnh]

I've noticed "thanks" works well here in the forum, but not after sex Got just about boiled alive for that note of appreciation in the distant past.

[Valley]

I'll be back tomorrow to see how it's going... Enjoy!
(Don't think I'll try that again... : )
Thank Away, Everyone... feel free...

[gripreaper]

I wouldn’t dismiss the thanks button so quickly without looking at all of the implications. I’ll use myself as an example.

I have 25,896 thanks in 3,362 posts, which gives me a thanks to post ratio of 7.70. Now, you might ask, what does that mean? Well, try doing the thanks to post ratio of other posters, and what you will find, is that a 7.7 is a relatively high ratio and hard to achieve. You will find out who the other posters are that have similar high ratios and you will notice certain patterns emerge with these posters.

Many of the high ratio posters have very distinct and very erudite posts, and are revered by many others, and this gives you an idea of how the general forum membership feels about certain topics and the posters who have the best grasp on the subject. It helps to look at this angle.

Next, if you look at who the posters are who are thanking your posts, you also know who is interested in the thread and the discussion, and you will notice patterns over time of those who continuously thank your posts. This tells you who the like minded souls on the forum are, and it compels me to also seek out their posts and read them. What I have found, is that there are hidden gems I would have not found otherwise, had I neglected to take advantage of the resource of the “thanks” button.

Then, over time, certain energies begin to converge, as well as ideas, and it is all due to the prevalence of the energy behind the thanks button. I will say, that the thanks button, in my opinion, is the number one resource on the entire forum, for coalescing energies and developing an emerging synthesis for the new paradigm which is emerging and awakening among those who post and thank here at Avalon.

I would be totally lost without it, and I would strongly encourage those who want to see change, those who want to develop the synergies which foster change, to please continue to use the thanks button and treat it with the reverence and respect it so rightly deserves.

Without it I see no hope at all.

[PurpleLama]

Posted by gripreaper (here)
I wouldn’t dismiss the thanks button so quickly without looking at all of the implications. I’ll use myself as an example.

I have 25, 896 thanks in 3,362 posts, which gives me a thanks to post ratio of 7.70. Now, you might ask, what does that mean? Well, try doing the thanks to post ratio of other posters, and what you will find, is that a 7.7 is a relatively high ratio and hard to achieve. You will find out who the other posters are that have similar high ratios and you will notice certain patterns emerge with these posters.

Many of the high ratio posters have very distinct and very erudite posts, and are revered by many others, and this gives you an idea of how the general forum membership feels about certain topics and the posters who have the best grasp on the subject. It helps to look at this angle.

Next, if you look at who the posters are who are thanking your posts, you also know who is interested in the thread and the discussion, and you will notice patterns over time of those who continuously thank your posts. This tells you who the like minded souls on the forum are, and it compels me to also seek out their posts and read them. What I have found, is that there are hidden gems I would have not found otherwise, had I neglected to take advantage of the resource of the “thanks” button.

Then, over time, certain energies begin to converge, as well as ideas, and it is all due to the prevalence of the energy behind the thanks button. I will say, that the thanks button, in my opinion, is the number one resource on the entire forum, for coalescing energies and developing an emerging synthesis for the new paradigm which is emerging and awakening among those who post and thank here at Avalon.

I would be totally lost without it, and I would strongly encourage those who want to see change, those who want to develop the synergies which foster change, to please continue to use the thanks button and treat it with the reverence and respect it so rightly deserves.

Without it I see no hope at all.

You know, I went a couple of years without thanking any of your posts, after the (first?) Hitler dub. It was funny, to me, to not thank you after that. I had to unthank quite a few of your posts, catching myself inadvertently thanking your typically splendid posts. But, I did stop not thanking your posts about a year or so ago, and now I have to start again.

[Fellow Aspirant]

You have posed an interesting question, one that goes to the heart of what many members of this forum often refer to as a "community". Avalon is a site to share views and news about our world in a long distanced way, as we almost never meet face to face. Your reference to the "Sacred "Thanks button", which seems to imply, at best, irreverence (I like irreverance) but at worst a belittling (I don't like belittling), so I would like to weigh in here with some thoughts about the act of "Thanking", at least as it applies to "us".

The ease of clicking on a wee button belies the importance of the act itself, so it is tempting to see it as a meaningless twitch. In fact, it may have several meanings, none mutually exclusive.

First, it's a quick way to supply feedback to those with whom we agree or those who have brought to our attention something worthwhile. If we don't agree or appreciate, then we withhold our thanks; we don't necessarily have to type out and post an objection. The "sacred button" therefore is part of a sliding scale of engagement, one with very few increments as it is. Perhaps we should have some other response options, like "I couldn't agree more" or maybe a number from 1-5.

And do it in the form of a thumb count:

And by the way, I shall never need permission to thank anyone, ever.

Secondly, it can help shape the discussion(s) here on the board. If I use the "Thanks" count to gauge how many members have 'hit the button', I can see which kinds of things "resonate" with others, and presumably post similar items, or, conversely, I can get a better idea about which things have hit a dead spot, and not bother posting any more. Everybody wins.

Thirdly, it can and should be used to offer direct encouragement. Posting to this forum is always, for me, a positive act, but it takes time and effort in a busy and precarious world and I like to think that those who have posted have done so in a spirit of helpfulness. As such, hitting the "sacred button" is a way to let the poster know that their effort is appreciated. I have a couple of items that I intend to post, but have not gotten up the energy actually follow through on - posting requires effort to introduce and frame the "thing" being presented, at least it should. I sometimes see posts that have very little information along with them; invariably, someone will ask for an introduction so that the reader can gauge whether the video or program is worth the investment of time required to get its message. They don't get so many "Thanks". Encourage the energy, I say!

Fourthly, it helps the forum's spirit. Positive vibes, man! As far as it being used as a popularity contest, I like to think that it forms a small part why I post, although I DO like to think that many of those that I trade "Thanks" with are friends. This aids in a worthwhile communal feeling.

Speaking of communal feeling, as a Canadian, I do notice how citizens of many other countries refer to us as being overly polite ...
(although we don't hold a candle to the Japanese! ) I take it as a compliment, and would like to think that most Avalon members are simply showing their respect for one another.

It is, in its most basic form, simply a way of being polite. Public discourse needs such gracious behaviour.

Lastly, showing respect and giving "Thanks" form the basis for gratitude, a sentiment that beings who are awake and aware should always aspire to.

Namaste Folks! (and let's not get started again on the misappropriation of THAT word! )

Brian

[gripreaper]

Posted by PurpleLama (here)
I did stop not thanking your posts about a year or so ago, and now I have to start again.

Purple Lama, I see your thanks to post ratio is 8.59, which is very respectable and higher than mine. I've always read your posts and find that your contributions to the forum are very good and well received. Keep doing what you're doing cause its working!

[PurpleLama]

Posted by gripreaper (here)

Posted by PurpleLama (here)
I did stop not thanking your posts about a year or so ago, and now I have to start again.

Purple Lama, I see your thanks to post ratio is 8.59, which is very respectable and higher than mine. I've always read your posts and find that your contributions to the forum are very good and well received. Keep doing what you're doing cause its working!

You'll get not thanks from me.

[gripreaper]

Posted by Fellow Aspirant (here)
You have posed an interesting question, one that goes to the heart of what many members of this forum often refer to as a "community". Avalon is a site to share views and news about our world in a long distanced way, as we almost never meet face to face. Your reference to the "Sacred "Thanks button", which seems to imply, at best, irreverence (I like irreverance) but at worst a belittling (I don't like belittling), so I would like to weigh in here with some thoughts about the act of "Thanking", at least as it applies to "us".

The ease of clicking on a wee button belies the importance of the act itself, so it is tempting to see it as a meaningless twitch. In fact, it may have several meanings, none mutually exclusive.

First, it's a quick way to supply feedback to those with whom we agree or those who have brought to our attention something worthwhile. If we don't agree or appreciate, then we withhold our thanks; we don't necessarily have to type out and post an objection. The "sacred button" therefore is part of a sliding scale of engagement, one with very few increments as it is. And by the way, I shall never need permission to thank anyone, ever.

Secondly, it can help shape the discussion(s) here on the board. If I use the "Thanks" count to gauge how many members have 'hit the button', I can see which kinds of things "resonate" with others, and presumably post similar items, or, conversely, I can get a better idea about which things have hit a dead spot, and not bother posting any more. Everybody wins.

Thirdly, it can and should be used to offer direct encouragement. Posting to this forum is always, for me, a positive act, but it takes time and effort in a busy and precarious world and I like to think that those who have posted have done so in a spirit of helpfulness. As such, hitting the "sacred button" is a way to let the poster know that their effort is appreciated. I have a couple of items that I intend to post, but have not gotten up the energy actually follow through on - posting requires effort to introduce and frame the "thing" being presented, at least it should. I sometimes see posts that have very little information along with them; invariably, someone will ask for an introduction so that the reader can gauge whether the video or program is worth the investment of time required to get its message. They don't get so many "Thanks". Encourage the energy, I say!

Fourthly, it helps the forum's spirit. Positive vibes, man! As far as it being used as a popularity contest, I like to think that it forms a small part why I post, although I DO like to think that many of those that I trade "Thanks" with are friends. This aids in a worthwhile communal feeling.

Speaking of communal feeling, as a Canadian, I do notice how citizens of many other countries refer to us as being overly polite (although we don't hold a candle to the Japanese! ) I take it as a compliment, and would like to think that most Avalon members are simply showing their respect for one another.

It is, in its most basic form, simply a way of being polite. Public discourse needs such gracious behaviour.

Lastly, showing respect and giving "Thanks" form the basis for gratitude, a sentiment that beings who are awake and aware should always aspire to.

Namaste Folks! (and let's not get started again on the misappropriation of THAT word! )

Brian

Brian, I wish I could thank this post more than once. Very well written.

[ZooLife]

Posted by Valley (here)

EDIT: OK... I give up... I can't hold back the floodgates of Thanks pouring in... Go ahead Thank away everyone. : ) Thanks All for joining the experiment/conversation. Your welcome to thank me, or anyone to the limit... one click per post, as usual. Hey, what if we could click the Thanks button as many times as we wanted for each post...? I wonder how that would be?

An attempt at ego manipulation, that was the real experiment wasn't it?

Don't push the button, push the button.

Reminds me of the Song: Sign Sign, Everywhere a Sign. "Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?"



(Okay, guys, I see you looking for the remote. )