You know what LJ needs so so badly?

[violethuntress]

Like buttons.

I've been on here for a week or so, and I feel their absence profoundly.

(I'm guessing I'm probably not the first person to say this.)

(If this were Tumblr or Facebook, this post would probably get several 'likes'. I'm just gonna imagine that they're there.)

Comments

[violethuntress]

Yeah, I think for me the "like" button doesn't really prevent meaningful interaction as much as it shows general support for a person or a post even if you have (a) nothing to add or (b) feel like it isn't your place to add anything. It's just the equivalent of saying "great post" or "thanks for posting!" which, well, I guess you could write as a comment... But the "like" button is more efficient :)

[eiael]

I think so too. Sometime you just want to be like *thumbs up*, especially if you get comment-phobic (I do). It's why I love the kudos feature on ao3.

[emmagrant01]

[eiael]

I agree in that it makes helps you to engage with your fellow fans, but I was actually quite serious about finding commenting on lj a lot more stress inducing (for me, I mean). I don't really know why. It's obviously much different now that I'm older, but 10 years ago, I just lurked on lj to read fics, then (ironically) some rl friends talked me into joining (I also wanted to get into some locked comms to read the stuff there.) I signed up for one about a week before the Pornish Pixies/Strikethrough debacle (inorite?), so gun shy almost doesn't cover it, lol. Also, I used to be very intimidated by bnfs (not so much now, but I still get nervous) when I was in my early 20s, so commenting out of nowhere always felt intrusive to me. *shrug* It's weird bc I have zero social anxiety in real life, but somehow the format of LJ was very intimidating to me back in the day. After tumblr, I think I might be better at actually participating over here, but we shall see. *fingers crossed* :)

[marta_bee]

It's actually become a bit of a thing with me, where i'll comment with a sentence like "where's a like button when you really need it?" - and just that. It works well enough, I suppose, but the thought's actually a sincere one. I kind of do wish there was a like button.

And... not so much, actually. I'm of a divided mind, because I think not having that gives people the nudge to actually comment, at least a short one-liner. Also the freedom to have a comment be not much more than "I agree," or however much more they want to add to that. I don't know, maybe a like would be nice, but I kind of like the fact that I can get actual comments where people may think if they only have the time or thoughts for a single sentence, that's perfectly fine.

Btw: I think you were looking for a way to save posts for later reading. Would the memories function do that? Here's the FAQ.