G@G Update: Like, Mute, and More Xpers?

[GirlsAskGuys]

Hey GAGers!

Most of you have probably noticed quite a bit of changes in this recent update. So, we wanted to provide everyone with a complete list of the changes that were made and what you need to know to navigate/use the site with these updates.

"Like" Feature

We are happy to announce the introducation of a "like" feature!

• The like button is the heart-shaped icon located at the bottom left corner of questions, myTakes, and Opinions.


• This feature takes the place of the up/down vote system. So now, when you like a Question, myTake, or Opinion, you can simply click the "like" button to show that you agree or enjoyed reading the post.


• If you accidently "like" a post, don't worry, you can simply click the button again to "un-like" it.


• This feature also comes with a new notification! When a user "likes" your question or myTake, you will receive a notification letting you know who liked it! If you do not want to receive these notifications, you can simply go to your profile settings, scroll down to where it says "notifications" and uncheck the box that says "Someone likes your Question/myTake." Then click "save."

New "look" for the Interaction Bar

The interaction bar is the bar you see when you visit a question or myTake that lets you know information such as how many users have left opinions from each gender, etc. There are now new options located in this area, it can also be seen on Opinions, Opinion Comments, Question list pages, and the Live Feed.

On Question and myTake pages

• You will see the "like" button with like count by gender


• "Share an opinion" button with opinion count by gender.


• "More" button with the option to report the question and mute notifications for that post.


• "Next" button which will take you to the next question or myTake in the list.

On Opinions for Questions and myTakes

• You will see the "like" button and like count by gender.


• "Comment" icon and comment count by gender.


• MHO button (for question askers).


• "More" button with option to report the opinion or the "Anonymous" option on your own opinion.

On Opinion Comments

• You will see the "Reply to this comment" button.


• "More" button with the option to report the comment.

Xper Changes

With this new update comes a few new changes to our Xper point system!

• Having a question/myTake "liked" 5 times gives 3 Xper points to the Question Asker/myTake Owner. If members "un-like" their content, it does not remove the Xper points that were given.


• Having an Opinion "liked" at least 5 times gives 3 Xper points to the Opinion Owner. If members "un-like" the opinion, it does not remove the Xper points that were given.


• Having an Opinion "liked" by the Question Asker/myTake Owner still gives 1 Xper point, just like with the previous "up voting" system that was in place.

Mute Notifications

Users can now have the option to "mute" notifications!

• If you no longer want to receive notifications for a specific post, simply click the button that says "mute notifications" located where the "more" button is on the bottom right corner of the question.

• This button is visible to the Question Asker/myTake Owner, anyone who left an Opinion on the question/myTake, and anyone who left an Opinion Comment on the question/myTake.


• The button will "mute" notifications for new opinions, new comments, mentions, MHO awards, and "like" notifications.


• By clicking "unmute notifications," the post will be "un-muted" and the user will receive all new notifications for their posts.

Play icon for Videos

• When you see a video on a question or mytake there is now a "play" icon in the image on the homepage, live feed, and other places on the site!

So there you have it, GAGers! Let us know what you think of all of these changes in the comments below! If you have any questions, feel free to post them and we will respond as quickly as possible :)

[BellePepper]

I told you guys letting people know who likes things is going to be problematic and here we are. A feature no one needs that takes away from the site. I also notice the follow system THAT WAS ACTUALLY USEFUL still isn't back and the button glitch for mobile hasn't been fixed either. And no quick jump to each genders' posts. WHY DOES THIS SITE KEEP GETTING HARDER TO USE?

The only good part of this update is the muting system. Because it's USEFUL.

And where did you guys get this heart idea? It doesn't fit the site theme, it doesn't fit the site atmosphere, and it *definitely* doesn't fit the community. Little hearts and no downvotes aren't going to make the community a nicer place. Effective community management and logical topic promotion would do that for you.

This update is so frustrating because it shows that, once again, the administrators aren't listening. You don't listen to things we do want, you constantly make the moderators' jobs harder, and you make ridiculous decisions. Stop that.

[BellePepper]

The button bug is even worse now. Buttons rarely respond on the first tap if at all.

[Mekkalyn]

I agree with you completely. I hate the changes. Especially the removal of the downvote. I found them very informative.

[orphan]

well said bellepepper.

i forwarded this to tolga@girlsaskguys. com

[RainbowFanGirl]

You're my spirit animal. ☺️

[BellePepper]

@RainbowFanGirl Lmfao Ty XD

[springocelot]

well said. i've been decreasing GaG usage for the past month. now this change really justifies taking a full-on break from this place.

[BellePepper]

@springocelot Awwww I really don't want you to leave but I understand your reasons :c

[musicbrain5]

This this this. All the way. 👍

[BellePepper]

@musicbrain5 Thank you so much for saying so!

[TimeSplitters123]

Yeah i get that, it have the things don't work, plus the site is slower.

[tellmefantasies]

Hehe... This site was becoming a mindsore, now G@G admins have complimented that and made it an eyesore as well.

Now there's another change to serif fonts. Messages being typed in sans-serif and the post is in serif. Who does that?
It's like some 10year old is playing around with site design. But even 10 year olds can be smarter and more creative. They might as well shut the site down. Ain't no grief, ain't no suffering. I think this is my cue to leave the site.

[BellePepper]

@tellmefantasies I'm frustrated with the font changes too but I'm also pretty confident it's something they'll get worked out.

[9mfeo]

Hopefully ~*~*~

[BuchitaBuchys]

4 months later and still no option to follow questions or takes :/

[BellePepper]

@BuchitaBuchys lol let me hold back my surprise.

[tellmefantasies]

:O
I can read things now. The fonts were grey n thin all this time.

[Mesonfielde]

... you know, I liked the downvotes. Did you know that people since the start have been eager to get a DISLIKE button on Facebook? There used to be extensions for it and everything.
It showed that you've resonated a chord in some people. I loved collecting downvotes, they were each like trophies. Now all I get is a pat on the back. I find it disheartening.

And with all the text everywhere, the UI feels bloated, even if less cryptic (it was certainly awkward for new users, considering they had no idea what was what; but all they saw was icons).

I dislike the new placement of the "Post a comment" button and the "...".
I think the LIKE (numbers) then COMMENT (numbers) is.. disorienting. Oh well.

I really dislike the lack of downvotes.

[Mesonfielde]

... yeah, I'm now going to click on the "..." instead of "post a comment" for a while.

Ugh. >.>

[QuestionMan]

I fully agree.
I actually want a dislike button on Facebook but apparently Mark Zuckerburg said it could lead to bullying. Seems like a bs excuse

[Mesonfielde]

@QuestionMan it was always fun to see a comment that was like [0, 0] then [10, 5]
You just knew you have the greatest and most revolutionary idea ever

[redeyemindtricks]

Or, when you have a comment that's [0,6] [7,0] ... or vice-versa. Whole sociology lesson in 15 seconds, there. Gone now.

[Mesonfielde]

@redeyemindtricks That too.

I feel like the site has no purpose for me anymore.

I'm not even sure why I'm here.

[QuestionMan]

I honestly loved it when it was [3,6] and [5,2] or something along those lines.
As great as it is to have [3,10] and [2,0] I prefer the more balanced one since it shows that there are people that disagree with me that aren't just bitter.

[RedRobin]

The "like" button and removal of the down vote makes it seem more like Facebook

[Mesonfielde]

Funny thing because that's exactly why I find Facebook boring.

Urghhhhhh

[Mekkalyn]

I absolutely hate that you are furthering censoring and are trying to PG this site... it was nice having a simple dislike vote to know when my opinion is unpopular and to easily know when someone disagrees... by taking that away you are taking away opinions... those people most likely are not going to comment on my post saying that they disagree, so now I'll never know if people dislike what I'm saying.

I don't want to be part of a world where it's only okay to upvote things and it's wrong to easily express a different opinion.

Also, I dislike that you moved the "post a comment" button. It's really annoying and definitely will take an adjustment period... it was better fitted on the right side.

[Katy16]

I agree with you

[Prof_Don]

in my opinion this change is done as an experiment to eliminate pessimistic anonymous trolling. The negative trolling has become an issue in the past 2-3 years.

[Mekkalyn]

@Prof_Don Okay, and when the people that before we just leaving a downvote are now leaving opinions? What then? Are we going to start censoring the second someone disagrees with an opinion?

The downvote was an easy way to say "I don't agree with what you're saying". It's not an "I hate you, go die" button. It's a "I dislike what you are saying" option without actually having to say it. It's a form of censoring to disallow anyone to have an opposing opinion.

[Prof_Don]

I see it as "if u disagree, reveal yourself and say why."

I understand your viewpoint on the internet censorship, with everyone worried about being too PC. We shall see how this experiment plays out.

[Mekkalyn]

@Prof_Don There are a lot of comments where it's just not worth the time and/or energy used to state your opinion, or where if you stated your opinion it would start a war. It's much easier just to down vote it and move forward.

For example, if I asked "How do I look?" and someone said "you are the ugliest person I have ever seen". I bet there would be a lot of people that disagreed with that statement, but only a fraction would actually say something. The rest would just think "whatever" and move forward. Whereas in the past they would downvote it to show the Asker that not everyone agrees. So, now what we have is one person saying you are ugly and maybe 1-3 people disputing it (on average - if you're lucky) with an opinion.. when really, perhaps, 10 people disagree. Those 10 people would downvote and let the asker know it's not a popular opinion and not to consider it. But with less opposition the asker might feel really bad about his or herself unwarranted.

[RainbowFanGirl]

Agreed.

[TimeSplitters123]

This si the only thing i don't like, getting rid of the dislike feature or down vote, should be allowed.

[Anonymous]

"Having a question/myTake "liked" 5 times gives 3 Xper points to the Question Asker/myTake Owner. If members "un-like" their content, it does not remove the Xper points that were given.

Having an Opinion "liked" at least 5 times gives 3 Xper points to the Opinion Owner. If members "un-like" the opinion, it does not remove the Xper points that were given."

Now what if ALL members started liking ALL questions and opinions and the amount of Amazon giftcards you have to give out raises 1000x? 😈

[Dragonstarterplus]

That's what we should do they change it back and bring back the dislike button!

[JuicyBrain]

I was thinking the same thing. I will start liking absolutely everything I see now. No matter if I like it or not.

[DaniaMQ]

Some things are good, like not getting notifications when the QA up votes but the down vote button... Nope.. That wasn't a good idea... The down vote button was so good to avoid arguments, you might get so annoyed of what u read that u just can't leave it alone, so to avoid any arguments, u just down vote it but now, we must go through an argument and might be mean... That sucks.. I REALLY hope the down vote button would be back, besides, the good thing is that u will have no notifications about it, so you won't notice it unless u go back to your opinion, and SOME gaggers need to learn how not to care about how many downvoted them coz not everyone will agree, and life goes on...

[TimeSplitters123]

No need to rant i wish i could down rate this comment.

[DaniaMQ]

@TimeSplitters123 see! But you can't downvote it so you just have to get over it.. I wish you could downvote me too lol :p

[TimeSplitters123]

No i was joking.

[detlef]

On the removal of downvoting:

GaG has been getting increasingly tedious and toxic over time. A lot of the people I actually liked and admired on the site had left, in large part because the atmosphere was often repellent. It's getting to be like the worst of a stereotypical high-school experience, and especially for mature users (of all ages) that is by no means a selling point.

Without downvotes, people will have to actually engage ideas with which they disagree, and articulate, as best they can, a counter argument. That's a postive, both for people who can disagree and articulate a counter argument, AND for the people whose opinions they wish to critique. People who preferred to drive-by criticize while hiding behind anonymity will be at a disadvantage. Then again, that activity was no asset to the site.

[mikemx55]

I want to make a request. I think it's an easy one.
This is on mobile, and
I know the ads are loaded from another source, but could you please put them inside something (a div) with a preset height?
Because in the mobile version, if I start scrolling as the page loads, it keeps shifting down because the ads add vertical space in the page while they're loading.

If scrolling sounds stupid, it mostly happens when I press the back button, because the browser puts me directly where I was before, and I start scrolling and 2 seconds later the ads come and I get a bit lost on where I was.

Please let me know if you have no idea of what I'm talking about here

[mikemx55]

Seriously, no one?
Nobody faces this problem? And no developer saw this? Please it's an easy one 😢

[astrOnaut01]

I think a lot of people are frustrated with the down-vote feature being removed.

Do you guys have an explanation or reason for removing the feature?

[douride2]

Yes to many butt hurt people.

[BellePepper]

It's probably an effort to promote ~Harmony~ which is ironic considering the content that's encouraged by the staff.

[Prof_Don]

There's been a lot of negative anonymous trolling in the past few years. in my opinion this change makes sense because for someone to publicly disagree the person is forced to identify themselves (opinion comments cannot be post anonymous).

[Skeye89]

What happen to the dislike button I miss it that was the first thing I notice what's happening with that... Stop messing around on the site and work on creating a mobile app.

[9mfeo]

The update looks like you took a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, threw her in a meat grinder and spread her innards all over the website. Fix it. It's horrible.

[BellePepper]

Oh my god i feel so bad for laughing right now XD

[9mfeo]

@BellePepper no Manic Pixie Dream Girls were harmed in the writing of this opinion. The same cannot be said for the website update.

[YourFutureEx]

Now I cannot downvote that creepy guy's opinion, who told that underage girl to get implants.

But now some insane haters cannot stalk me and downvote my opinions without any reason.

I am confused if I should be happy or not.

Other changes are cool! :)

[RainbowFanGirl]

Oh hi you're back!

[YourFutureEx]

@RainbowFanGirl Hello UberMod! :-)
Just came here to cover up some messages.

[Prof_Don]

*bows * he has returned!

[YourFutureEx]

@Prof_Don *Brofist*

[Mesonfielde]

Yeah now every opinion is just as fine as any other, whether it's misogynistic or actually helpful!

[YourFutureEx]

@Mesonfielde honestly, I felt very comfortable now. Our downvotes never change the mentality of the asker. All it does is to upset the answerer who just tried to be honest with his/her feelings.

Ya, that was fun but think again for a moment.

[Mesonfielde]

Hmmm... The fonts are fugly now, though.

[zombiebabe]

interesting changes... but why remove the downvote button? :/

[anonman32]

i think they do this because otherwise people will change their opinion to popular opinions because people will down vote what is not popular. then you will get a bunch of variations of the same popular opinion while unpopular opinions are down voted into oblivion.

[Prof_Don]

U know what... GaG may have removed the dislike button to force those who disagree to use words AND identify themselves (opinion comments can't be done anonymous).

Not a bad idea. This will completely dead anonymous trolling. Anyone who wants to display their disagree-ance has to reveal themselves.

We will see how this plays out.

[kingoficeolation]

I would dislike this if I could. I want to be able to simply say "no, I disagree" to things without wasting any real time. I also like to be able to anonymously express disagreement with more popular or universal opinions.

[detlef]

I agree 100%.

[noneoftheabove]

people are dying of serious diseases, people are dying of starvation, people are being killed in car accidents on a daily basis, families are broken or falling apart, and this world is generally just a mess...

... yet here people are moaning about tiny little changes to an internet forum. Perspective. its not the end of the world... stop treating it like it is.

[Mekkalyn]

You could say that about every single thing that irritates you. It doesn't stop it from being irritating, now does it?

[noneoftheabove]

sometimes we need reminding how shit the world is and how many problems there are. changes to an internet forum are not even worth getting stressed or pissed off about if you think about it...

[detlef]

AGREED

[T-shirtsandkneehighs]

Well i assure you that lack of the dislike button won't make the site a happier place. I'll be forced to use my words now... Even more that usual

[Yumix]

*grabs popcorn*

your comments will definitely be more fun than a downvote :P

[T-shirtsandkneehighs]

@Yumix haha i'm glad you think so

[Prof_Don]

U know what... GaG may have removed the dislike button to force those who disagree to use words AND identify themselves (opinion comments can't be done anonymous).

Not a bad idea to experiment with.

[Prof_Don]

@Yumix I agree, her word play with disagreeing will be a joy to watch. 💪👊

[T-shirtsandkneehighs]

@Prof_Don Maybe you're right

[BuchitaBuchys]

-I'm still waiting on being able to follow questions and takes again like we used to before all these update shenanigans.

-Bring back the downvote! You could make it a broken heart to go with this cutesy, pixie, cheesy theme you got going on.

-Will there ever be an app for Android users? I remember y'all had one for iPhone, but iPhone is not my thang, you know what I'm sayin'?

[DocRim]

"When a user "likes" your question or myTake, you will receive a notification letting you know who liked it!"

Is it the same with opinions? Meaning, when someone likes your opinion can you know who liked it?

Also, thank you for this update explanation! :)

[xHoneyxBeex]

No, users are only notified of who likes their question or myTakes. For opinions, it just works the same was as the previous up vote system :)

[DocRim]

@xHoneyxBeex Alright, thank you!

[KawaiiPie67]

@ xHoneyxBeex how do you give thumbs up or thumbs down?

[KawaiiPie67]

@xHoneyxBeex

[DocRim]

@KawaiiPie67 The downvote option is gone, and the upvote option now turned into a "Like" option. You can like opinions, questions or myTakes.

[xHoneyxBeex]

@KawaiiPie67 DocRim is correct :)

[queenmariereigns]

Lmao so we can see the users who liked the posts now? This is going to ruin some gag friendships I bet.

I'm not popular here so I could care less. The new features are awesome

I love that we can unlike something we accidentally liked

[queenmariereigns]

Nevermind I thought it would show the users who liked it

[queenmariereigns]

Please bring the down vote feature back

[Cjanes]

Please bring back the down vote button. Some people need to know we disagree with what they are saying but sometimes we don't want to have to explain why we disagree to trolls

[Anonymous]

Good to know, thank you for explaining the changes! I like the mute feature.

[Massageman]

The "Mute" looks likes it may have some merit.

I'll have to wait and see about up/down voting.
I get the impression that the powers that be at GaG just want to make things friendly and smoooooth, Andy, really niiiiiice and smoooooth. If there is no downvoting, then, by definition - ie, everyone will be "happy" on a defacto basis since they can only get "likes/upvote" responses. Seems a bit 1984ish- or worse, even NBCish. I'll see how I feel in a month or so.