Update/remove the dislike button

[kuma7]

The dislike button is a well-known button that typically appears along with a "like" button in many social media. On steam, every screenshot, artwork, workshop mod, video, guide and review that has been published has a dislike button. Until this year, it was also shown in the "friend activity" feed whenever any of your friends bought a game or posted a "status" message. However, it was a mere placeholder and had absolutely no effect, so it has been removed (we can still see it when a friend adds one of the previously mentioned items to favorites).

In my opinion, this button is completely useless for screenshots, artworks, videos and reviews as well, since they don't have the 5-stars-rating-system that the other items have. (EDIT: I mean, the button does absolutely nothing for these items, you cannot even see a dislike count). Thus, it should be removed too.

Regarding the workshop mods and reviews (especially the workshop mods), there is a huge problem with the rating system. Personally, I see the dislike button as negative for this purpose, but I understand why some people see it as necessary. Nevertheless, that is not the problem I want to criticize.

Currently, every workshop mod is included in a list called "Most popular mods of the week" at the time of publication. 7 days later, it's removed from the list. The problem is that, while the most liked mods are shown on top of the list and hence they're easier to see, dislikes also play a role in computing the position of mods in that list. A very unfaire role. Why are dislikes so unfair in this context, you may be wondering? Because, based on my own experience, the effect of 1 dislike is equal to about 10 likes, so a mod with 4 likes and 0 dislikes will end up being more popular than another mod with 36 likes and 4 dislikes, which is ridiculous (the proportion should be 1:1). Some people, mainly haters and modders who see other modders as their competitors, are well aware of this system and abuse of it by making other mods drop dramatically with a single dislike (you can guess what happens when they have multiple accounts).

Many people probably don't care at all because most of them aren't modders, but keep in mind that this affects everyone directly, because the quality of the mods we see on top of those lists is not as good as it should be. In addition, making a good mod is very time consuming, quite a lot more than making a video for YouTube (on average), so modders want to reach as many people as possible.

Hope you understand these issues and have a nice day.

[matt]

When Nicolas Cage makes a bad movie, do you think he cries himself to sleep when some random critic on the internet gives him a thumbs down? No! He says, "I'm Nicolas ******* Cage, and I don't care what you think!" Then he makes another bad movie. Just because he can!

Be like Nicolas Cage!

[kuma7]

The system is clearly unbalanced and that is a real problem because of the abuse. 1 dislike should count as much as 1 like, not 10.

[Nx Machina]

People can like or dislike something hence why it exists.

[kuma7]

I don't think you have read the whole thread, because I am not asking to remove the dislike buttom, I would like to have a fair system.

To make it clear, imagine that you are a person who hates anime, and someone posted an anime model on the workshop of a particular game. According to the current system, your opinion is 10 times more important than that of someone who likes anime. Is that ok?

[Nx Machina]

Originally posted by kuma7:

I don't think you have read the whole thread, because I am not asking to remove the dislike buttom, I would like to have a fair system.

I read the thread and you posted.

Originally posted by kuma7:

In my opinion, this button is completely useless for screenshots, artworks, videos and reviews as well, since they don't have the 5-stars-rating-system that the other items have. Thus, it should be removed too.

[kuma7]

Yeah, for screenshots, artworks, videos and reviews the button is a placeholder. It does nothing. If you could see the dislike count it would make some sense.

However, for workshop stuff it makes sense, but if the system is fixed and balanced.

[Gwarsbane]

Just another "my thing got a dislike, REMOVE THEM!!" thread. If they get rid of dislikes they should get rid of likes too. Having/showing one without the other is pointless.

[kuma7]

I am not saying such thing

[Draeka3]

No. Grow up.

[Lily McFluffy Butt]

If you can't handle dislikes on the internet, you might not be mentally mature enough to use the internet.

I'm a modder btw, and some people disliking doesn't affect me.

[fluxtorrent]

The problem is you are conflating likes and dislikes as an addition and subtraction function, when it isnt. its a ratio function.

1 dislike counts exactly the same as 1 like, but thats irrelevant. 4 likes and 1 dislike is the same as 8 likes and 2 dislikes. Both are a 75% approval rating.

Your example of a 4:0 and 36:4 are of course not the same, one has a 100% approval rating and the other has 89.2% approval rating. But just 1 dislike on that 4 drops it to 75% well below that 36:4's near 90%

[kuma7]

In the most used workshops (L4D2, Gmod, CSGO...), out of hundreds of addons that are posted weekly, only 5-10 get more than 100 ratings. Assuming that most of those ratings are likes, the impact of just 1 dislike is enormous (let alone less popular workshops like the one for Wallpaper Engine), hence in practice dislikes count more than likes. This is why some people fake the system to make their own addons hit the top places of the list.

I've made mods for more than 5 years now, and I've seen how not just my own addons, but those of my friends and other modders I know are completely buried after a couple of bad ratings (once you drop too low in the list, it's almost impossible to make a comeback. After 7 days have passed, the mods use to be forgotten forever.

[Lily McFluffy Butt]

Originally posted by kuma7:

In most used workshop (L4D2, Gmod, CSGO...), out of hundreds of addons that are posted weekly, only 5-10 get more than 100 ratings. Assuming that most of that ratings are likes, the impact of just 1 dislike is enormous (let alone less popular workshops like the one for Wallpaper Engine), hence in practice dislikes count more than likes. This is why some people fake the system to make their own addons hit the top places of the list.

I've made mods for more than 5 years now, and I've seen how not just my own addons, but those of my friends and other modders I know are completely buried after a couple of bad ratings (once you drop too low in the list, it's almost impossible to make a comeback. After 7 days have passed, the mods use to be forgotten forever.

Mods come and go in popularity, especially in gmod. It happens. It's not the dislikes, it's people's short attention spans. I've been a modder for 8 years, and whatever power you think dislikes have just isn't there.

[kuma7]

I'd like to point out several aspects that have been missed by the previous answers in this thread.

First of all, nobody has made any statement about removing the dislike button for screenshots, artworks, videos and user reviews, where it has currently no purpose (if you cannot see the effect of pressing a button, why would you want to use it?).

Second, in the case of mods (and guides, which I forgot to mention), they have a 5-star-rating-system, as said before, where the stars are assigned according to the like/dislike ratio, as explained by @fluxtorrent. That's fine to me and it's a good indicator of the quality of a mod. However, mods should not be listed in the "Most popular mods of the week" section according to that ratio.

This is the definition of "popular": "Liked, enjoyed, or admired by many people or by most people in a particular group".

Back to the examples I made up before and based on that definition, a mod with 36 likes and 4 dislikes is more popular than another mod with 4 likes and 0 dislikes. Out of 44 people, a vast majority preferred the first mod.

On top of that, you have the guys who actively fake the stats, which nobody mentioned too.

[8-bit Trash]

Originally posted by matt:

When Nicolas Cage makes a bad movie, do you think he cries himself to sleep when some random critic on the internet gives him a thumbs down? No! He says, "I'm Nicolas ******* Cage, and I don't care what you think!" Then he makes another bad movie. Just because he can!

Be like Nicolas Cage!

But people will know that N. Cage made another bad movie (propably), so this is incomparable, cuz almost nobody will know about thoose mods.