Scott AnguishPeople keep saying “likes don’t matter because only the author sees them”
I’m seeing other people’s likes and it means something.
Nate Barham@Sanguish Thing is, until my first week here at Mastodon, I already thought this was how favs worked on Twitter for the last 10+ years! 😂
@NateBarham lemme guess, newest tweets first? Lol
Kuba Suder@NateBarham @Sanguish yeah, I mean, I subconsciously knew that *some* people might see my likes but I've never thought about it actively, I always gave likes on Twitter only because I wanted the author to see it or as an "upvote" of a comment in a thread, so I don't see why I'd do anything different here 🤷🏻♂️
@mackuba @Sanguish Yep. If people ever got a like from me on Twitter in all the years I’ve used it, they should know that they only got it because I liked what they said or the sentiment behind it.
Every single like was literally “I want the author to know I like/support this.”
I feel like a bit of a rube for not realizing. But I’m glad for it.
Chris Coleman@Sanguish Apparently all the people who never figured out how to turn off the algorithmic timeline thought likes were for tuning the timeline or something?
Andrew Abernathy@Chris @Sanguish I would suggest that the problem is more that whether or not you wanted Likes to tune the algorithm, they did. Sure, one could opt out of experiencing it directly, but it still affected those followers who didn't use the chronological timeline. I wasn't going to Like that I enjoyed, but there were plenty of times I withheld a Like for the sole reason that I didn't want a billboard about the fact being presented to my followers.
@andrewabernathy @Sanguish Yeah, I always knew likes were public, but I always got the hell out of there asap whenever they involuntarily switched me back to the “Home” timeline. I never really considered that *my* likes were being used like that.
Debm133@Sanguish So I’m brand new here and I don’t really know. But I was thinking of them like clapping? I think they don’t influence how promoted a Post is but I still like to see engagement
Michael Borland@Sanguish absolutely. A favorite doesn’t mess up your home timeline, and it lets people know their not just talking into the void. People can have amazing ideas and thoughts, but you’ll never know if they feel invisible and never post…
@Sanguish BTW showing Likes is at least somewhat client/preference/server-specific. I can see who like your post I'm responding to, for instance, on the web site and in the Mastodon app, but not in Metatext — although I can turn that on in Metatext prefs.
But at least Liking something doesn't insert it into your followers' timelines.
But at least Liking something doesn't insert it into your followers' timelines.
@andrewabernathy I think a lot of people assume everyone was running the algorithm timeline on twitter. And I think the people I followed were mostly reverse chronological.
I didn’t follow hundreds of people though. So chronological was manageable
@Sanguish I mean, back in the day the timeline kept resetting to the algorithmic one. I mostly avoided by using a third-party client.
@andrewabernathy that only got fixed finally in the last 8 months or so.
Madison@Sanguish Sad that they see "doing something" as exclusively meaning "feeding an algorithm" or "generating attention." Sometimes I just wanna give an internet person a hug or high-five without sharing the post with everyone who follows me!
@maddramaqueen exactly! And no I must share your post. Lol
kaiserkiwi 
@Sanguish Who says that? I read that they say they don't matter because there's no algorithm (which is even worse 🤪). But I can see the Likes on your Post.
@kaiserkiwi I’ve seen it reposted dozens of times in the last two weeks.
Angela@Sanguish I totally agree.