You do realize that there's an opinion (not small) that the 'like' is passive-aggressive, yes?
That is literally the react baseline, if all others were removed.
So yeah.
Logical fallacy?
My opinion is that any react, no matter which, can be - and likely will be - used to cause some level of negative connotation. The passive-aggressive like opinion supports this. So that was the basis for the suggestion, since it seems likely to be a persistent cause of contention.
But, as others have said, that validation from peers via reacts makes this an unpopular opinion.
I wasn't trying to disagree with the notion that a reaction can (and at some point will) be used in a passive-aggressive manner, just that a decent percentage of the time the likelihood that the
intention of the non-overtly negative reacts are not going to be for that end. Yes, I am aware that people have this idea that if someone "just likes" a post that they either do not like or that it's a passive-aggressive react hiding behind plausible deniability - I just disagree with the idea that this is actually the case (that people are actually actively doing this with the like react as their primary reason in using that react specifically).
I may have mistaken the perspective you were coming at this from, but I still think it's much more of an argument regarding a slippery slope than it is a real issue that happens on a consistent basis. There are actually people that use the like react for its intended purpose, or as a placeholder reaction while on mobile, or as a way to say they've "seen" the post but either haven't read it or are going to change the react to something more fitting their genuine reaction to the contents of the post as a later point in time - this is the vast majority of cases.
That being said, removing something that is not implicitly meant to denote a negative response to something isn't the way you handle people who weaponize something like the "like" button - you handle it by dealing with the person in question. If that person is someone you're in conflict with in some way that is causing you to believe that they're using the like button to passive-aggressively react to your post then there should be some chain of events leading up to that point which you can point towards to either block the person (uncertain if that hides reacts from that person or if they can react to posts if the person has blocked them, though) or, if more severe than that, report them with the report button that is on their account page or at the bottom of every post they make on the forum.
I can empathize with not wanting someone to hypothetically do something that is simultaneously so minor but also so noticeable, and therefor demoralizing after a point, but there are avenues to take to ensure that it doesn't continue once it happens - avenues that typically disincentive that behavior if they are taken because it means removal from the site if they decide to continue regardless, but
only if people actually make use of the tools they have available to them. We have site rules explicitly against harassment, we shouldn't be removing features to cater to the would-be harassers rather than rooting them out of our community unless those features only serve to provide a negative connotation (i.e; cringe).
Starlin Rand
know when he made my Padawan cry with his sadge posts
Matt the Radar Tech
I can kinda get what you're saying, that y'know if you can 'love' react to a post, and just like it? Does that mean you like it less? Why are you love reacting smeeglemoo's posts and not mine? Why don't you go marry smeeglemoo?
