Toe in the Water

Liking Likes

Liking Likes

I have to admit I’m a Like counter. It’s a habit that stems from being in Facebook for far too long. The very fact that someone has been taken enough with one’s comment is sufficient to indicate some form of popularity. And, if the Likes begin to mount, we can take it that we have hit the nail fairly squarely upon the head.

At least, it’s about all we have to go on when commenting in Facebook. In WdC it may be different, however. I can’t even imagine the number of times I’ve forgotten to hit that Like button after thoroughly enjoying what someone else has said. And you’d be quite right to accuse me of depriving them of their justified rewards for being so accurate and agreeable in their commenting. But I’m quite sure it happens to me as well.

There are times, too, when I hit the button because I want to encourage the person commenting. I am fairly flexible in that regard and may well be influenced by mood too. So maybe these things balance out and we all get our due.

This all applies to comments, of course. When it comes to creative writing, the Like button is the easy way out. If it’s that good, we ought to reward it with a review. But that’s a considerable investment of time and effort and I doubt we do it that often. Speaking for myself, it’s only the stuff I really rave about that I’ll review. Unless I’m actively looking for things to review, like on a raid or adding to the GP stash. Even then, I won’t review the poor stuff - that’s too much like hard work!

So reviews are a better indicator of how we’re doing than Likes are (I still count ‘em. however). It’s a pity we don’t have more time to get reviews done.

But there is a way to indicate approval without doing a full review. We could nominate the piece for a Quill. This year I copied the relevant links to allow me to nominate without the hassle of finding the relevant form. It’s all there in my little notebook (https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/), ready to supply the necessary at a moment’s notice. That there is a link to Notepad++, the most useful little freeware app on the net. Take a look.

And now would be a good opportunity to go hit that Like button for this post!


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