"Thanks" Button Paradise... A Sanctuary

[Valley]

I would like this thread to be a sanctuary where the Sacred "Thanks" button is never used. So, please... Nobody Use the "Thanks" Button on this thread, Ok? If you want to thank someone, just do a post telling them personally, if you feel strongly enough to do so.

I'd like to see what a thread would be like without using that button, and I'd like to discuss how you all have been affected by this "Thanks" button, and how you think it is affecting the Avalon site overall... and how do you think the site would change, or not change, if there was no more "Thanks" button.

Thanks for passing by... : )

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?

EDIT#2: Some have decided to stay with my original idea to see if they can refrain from using the button on this thread, so I'm going to stand strong with them and my original intent. Feel free everyone else to do whatever you like.

FINAL EDIT: (copied from my post #50 from this thread, after I refined my thinking on what I want to do with the thread)
Just want to make my intentions clear, now that the initial "storm" has settled here, and I have clarified my own thinking for this thread...
1) I want everyone to feel welcome coming on and posting anything that's on their mind, and Thanking anyone they want.
2) I want this to be a kind of a sanctuary where anyone can feel free from ever thinking about hitting the Thanks button.
3) A place to talk about giving and receiving thanks of any kind, whether we choose to use the button or not.
4) A place to talk about the thanks button and everyone's experience using it, and their observations or speculations of anything to do with it.

I can see that it's not really the button that is so important to most people, it's the fact that they are being acknowledged by others and feeling a deeper connection to others... the button just makes it easier to do that, without having to type out a message. I'm not against using the button... I just wanted a place where we can be free from ever thinking about using the button because I think it has become overly fixated upon by some, as can be seen by some posts where one's Thanks statistics are looked at almost like their bank accounts... and if they have a higher number, or quotient... then somehow what they say has more clout than someone else with a lower statistic. There are several ways to manipulate one's posts to get higher thanks statistics and it has become a competition to some. I think it wouldn't be like that if one's thanks statistics were only found on one's profile page... but because those numbers are always posted next to their name, on every single post, they become overly fixated/identified on that.

So I want this basically to be a sanctuary where one doesn't ever have to think about using the button... and we can feel free to post without having to consider how many thanks we might or might not get, or give.

[Joey]

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.

[Carmody]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=FT4YbO_1mvA

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=NITBfc1EOBo

[Agape]

World without thanks is thankless world

[Carmody]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=48TyDnakXZE

There's no thanks button in emails, but I get along just fine...

When in Rome....

[the_real_dave-id]

Interesting. I think it would nice for you to state your opinion and start out the thread with more than just "no thanks."
.
How do YOU think it's affecting Avalon? Why do you think it's affecting Avalon to such a degree that we need to talk about it in it's own thread?

But to answer your post, I've always kinda liked it myself.

Honestly though, that's without giving it much thought. I don't ever think about how it might be affecting me or Avalon as a whole.

I usually hit it when someone posts a video that I actually watch, or a pfd that I download. Seems like a pleasant thing to do, saying thanks for offering something that I used or was useful to me. I rarely hit it to say I agree. In that case I would post and say why.

As far as getting thanks on a post, I also think that's kinda nice. I don't wear it like a badge of honor or anything, but it's nice to see with a quick look that others are appreciateing what I said in a specific post. So seeing thanks on specific posts are sort of important to me, but the accumulated thanks under the avatars, not so much.

Anyway, both those things would be lost without a thanks button. Although in that case, I would probably go ahead and make a post to simply say "Thanks" to someone who offered something I watched or read or listened to.

I can imagine a lot of others might as well, making any thread a lot longer for readers who will see a lot of posts with just the word "thanks" over and over. Not very fun to scan through.

But it's hard to say if it would really make a huge impact one way or the other.

Just one man's opinion. Thanks for asking!

[jc71]

Thanks very much

[Valley]

Posted by the_real_dave-id (here)
Interesting. I think it would nice for you to state your opinion and start out the thread with more than just "no thanks."
.
How do YOU think it's affecting Avalon? Why do you think it's affecting Avalon to such a degree that we need to talk about it in it's own thread?

But to answer your post, I've always kinda liked it myself.

Honestly though, that's without giving it much thought. I don't ever think about how it might be affecting me or Avalon as a whole.

I usually hit it when someone posts a video that I actually watch, or a pfd that I download. Seems like a pleasant thing to do, saying thanks for offering something that I used or was useful to me. I rarely hit it to say I agree. In that case I would post and say why.

As far as getting thanks on a post, I also think that's kinda nice. I don't wear it like a badge of honor or anything, but it's nice to see with a quick look that others are appreciateing what I said in a specific post. So seeing thanks on specific posts are sort of important to me, but the accumulated thanks under the avatars, not so much.

Anyway, both those things would be lost without a thanks button. Although in that case, I would probably go ahead and make a post to simply say "Thanks" to someone who offered something I watched or read or listened to.

I can imagine a lot of others might as well, making any thread a lot longer for readers who will see a lot of posts with just the word "thanks" over and over. Not very fun to scan through.

But it's hard to say if it would really make a huge impact one way or the other.

Just one man's opinion. Thanks for asking!

Thank you, dave-id... I didn't want to start out with my own opinions so the thread would build it's own momentum, and if there wasn't any interest I'd be just blowing hot air into the breeze.

I like the button in some ways too, but feel it has become a fixation and distraction from the actual subject matter of threads many times. I think there are folks who don't respond to threads, even though they feel like it, because it is very slow with very few thanks shared and they know they won't get many thanks, or maybe none at all. So I think it stops perhaps many threads from getting into deeper discussions.

I think it makes things less personal too, perhaps keeping folks from developing more meaningful friendhips/connections by not speaking to them directly.

Of course, I'm just speculating... so I wanted to try this experiment here in this thread, and see how it would be different without using the button, and see how everyone else feels about the subject, and see how attached they may be to using the button in question.

Peace...

[Valley]

Posted by jc71 (here)
Thanks very much

Welcome... Thanks for stopping in JC... I see you couldn't resist hitting the button several times... maybe it has become an automatic response for you when you like a post, but can you please remove all your thanks you gave to everybody? I want to see what it's like here to Not use the button... a kind of sanctuary from it... OK?
Blessings. ..

PS...Can you say why you've thanked the thread with the button and with words also? Are you trying to disturb me perhaps? It doesn't bother me but I'd like to hear your reasoning.

[ZooLife]

I could not help but hit the 'thanks' button, especially with the perfect use of the Ren and Stimpy clips.


I was powerless, please forgive me.

[Project_Buggy_Beach]

If you don't use the Thanks button you are either very selfish or totally unobservant (I've had these unrealistic thoughts)!

[Tesla_WTC_Solution]

Carmody, haha, my former boss's boss loved Ren and Stimpy.
It's hard not to push that button.

[Valley]

Posted by Agape (here)
World without thanks is thankless world

Welcome Agape... Consider yourself officially thanked... : ) Some have a compulsion to use the button, and/or be the recipient of the use of it... as I would have suspected.
Blessings...

[Matt P]

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. Of course, if I feel that thankful I usually just send a private message of personal thanks. I think it's a wonderful habit to get into of being thankful and expressing it. When I see people who have been here for months or years who have never thanked or thanked very little, I admit I have a negative reaction. I think "if they're not thankful for the amazing stuff they find here, why do they come?" I am frequently overwhelmed with thankfulness by the things I read on this site and I cannot imagine not being able to express it. I have to admit I also like to be thanked though I am not consumed by it at all. Actually, I find it has influenced my commenting because it makes me want to contribute something meaningful, instead of shooting off emotional responses (which I do still do occasionally) and not waste peoples' time. I also use it when I really agree with a comment. And I am mindful to thank the few who I have had disagreements with when they make very rational or positive comments. Are there some negatives with it? Perhaps. I do sometimes check a thread even though there's been no new posts to see who's seen and appreciated it. I guess there's a little ego with it. I do judge a little those that don't thank and even some who over-thank (sounds like a Seinfeld episode). But I very much feel the positives outweigh the negatives. I suppose I'll have some tomatoes thrown my way after some of this but I'm just being honest for some reason.
Great thread question, btw. I'll honor your request and just say thanks personally.

Matt

[grannyfranny100]

OMG, The Almighty zebra-striped God of the green poke-a-dotted Avians will punish us. Now could you ask us to sin like that.

[Dennis Leahy]

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.

[Agape]

Posted by Valley (here)

Posted by Agape (here)
World without thanks is thankless world

Welcome Agape... Consider yourself officially thanked... : ) Some have a compulsion to use the button, and/or be the recipient of the use of it... as I would have suspected.
Blessings...

That's what the art of vipassana meditation is good for, I suppose .. one can sit upon your thread and watch the neural tic towards the Thanks button .
I remember times before this button was released and social experience on forums was comparatively less social for me .
Much has changed thanks to the tiny thanks button .

There were/are still people who can't appreciate or stand certain items , for example smileys , there are guys who hate Ms Kitty pictures , and pictures of Cats in general ,

and what else ..

they probably get fits on visiting the web as we know it now because it's not as wild as they hoped for .


It's an experiment after all, thank you for participating . Thank you .






Oh but wait , you see ... Dennis came and I totally lost my awareness ... it's Alzheimers on the way .

[DaRkViPeR]

We as members of Project Avalon are a unique family tied together by the fact that we are different in comparison to he crazy sleeping world out there.
Here we search for truth.
Here we share our knowledge
Here we sometimes share our deepest beliefs, secrets and fears.
The "Thanks" button is our acknowledgement of not being alone, but being part of something bigger than we are.

[the_real_dave-id]

I can't believe how many people have ignored the concept of OP and pushed the "thanks" button in this thread anyway. Ah well.....

[ghostrider]

Posted by DaRkViPeR (here)
We as members of Project Avalon are a unique family tied together by the fact that we are different in comparison to he crazy sleeping world out there.
Here we search for truth.
Here we share our knowledge
Here we sometimes share our deepest beliefs, secrets and fears.
The "Thanks" button is our acknowledgement of not being alone, but being part of something bigger than we are.

very well said ...