Dislikes: Why they're necessary, but should be renamed.

So, obviously, the pace at which people are putting new content onto the site has stagnated lately, for obvious reasons. Experimentally, I tried checking out Wattpad, to find more stories to read. And yet, most of what was rated highly and showcased on the site seemed mediocre at best. It was mainly stories from years ago that had many years to accumulate votes. I've encountered similar problems trying to find good reading material on Ao3 and the eponymous fanfiction dot net. That's one of the reasons why I'm still here. And, after comparing the websites themselves, one key difference (aside from the amazing fimfic featurebox system) stuck out to me. This possibly key factor to maintaining quality visible content is the dislike count.

Now, many people complain about dislikes on their stories. It can be demoralizing, even extremely aggravating. And yet, I think it's important we keep them around. For one, it helps avoid the above Wattpad situation, in that if a story isn't totally superb, it will pick up some small level of negative response once everybody is reading it. Moreover, more information is always better to have as a prospective reader. On Ao3, for instance, two stories might have the same number of kudos, but here, one might have just as many likes as dislikes. Then, you'd be less likely to pick it up only to be disappointed.

Which carries over into my next point. See, the biggest problem with having dislikes is that people will just click on a fic with a concept they don't like, drop a downvote, and immediately leave. This is common with certain unpopular ships, genres, or types of fetish erotica, I've noticed. People get it into their heads that if they dislike anything about the premise of a story, it's their duty to contribute to the red line. They way I've used the dislike feature for years now is more to express disappointment. IE: I thought I would like the story, but after a few chapters, it took a poor turn, or stagnated, or what have you. (If I realize I'm not going to like the story briefly after starting, mainly due to an abundance of typos or the author's writing style, I'll just leave without voting either way.) This is what I think we should start calling it: the disappointment count. That way, we retain all the good the feature can lead to while mitigating the feelbads. I'm curious to see what you guys think of all this.

~ Thought Prism

Comments

[Reese]

I think I've mostly just heard it called "Downvote" rather than "Dislike", actually. But I also almost never use it, and it sounds like already in a way similar to yours (with the only specific example I'm currently remembering indeed being an expression of disappointment and/or similar emotions at a story having an ending I felt really didn't fit with the rest of it, in a way I didn't like; the author and I then had a nice conversation about it, though, since I also left an explanatory comment, and said author is now one of my favorites (and not just on FIMFiction or in fanfiction but in general, I think)).

I also don't know that the renaming you propose would actually help, as I'm not sure how many people leaving drive-by downvotes would actually care what is was called; my impression is that your hypothesis of misunderstanding is not the most frequent motivation they have. Of course, that impression could be wrong, and I haven't actually encountered or thought of your hypothesis before to consider (though I also don't know how widespread referring to them as "dislikes" is).

Still, thank you for your efforts to improve things. :)

(And yeah, I read fanfiction primarily on FIMFiction, Ao3, Fanfiction.net-of-the-strange-linking-prohibitions, and Sufficient Velocity (albeit as a lurker), and I've indeed found FIMFiction to be very likely the best of the four in that experience.)
(Well, for ponyfic, obviously.)

[FanOfMostEverything]

No matter what you call them, some people are going to use them for an unintended purpose. I do like this philosophy towards downvotes; it'd just be tricky to redefine them on a sitewide scale and have everyone actually adhere to it.

That said, I'm glad you're still here. The more people who understand my Magic jokes, the better.

[Thought Prism]

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Well, I'm glad you guys are still appreciative of my random output. I get the urge to write the darndest things sometimes.

[Reese]

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No problem. :)

[My Little Epona]

I rarely ever hit the dislike button, ever. If I find I don't like a story I'll just stop reading.
I actually don't know if I've ever disliked a story.

[Delta-118]

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I think it's the best overall. It's got a much better interface than either ao3 or fanfic.net, and it's much easier to find quality stories thanks to stuff like the featured page.

[RainbowSparkle3]

I sort of feel like dislike and disappoint are too similar to warrant separation, And honestly, likes and dislikes are trivial compared to comments. For the creator, definitely, and even for readers, they can just read a little and see if they like it or not. I think the system is fine as is to be honest.

[Reese]

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Aye, I hedge a little in the comparison to Ao3 and particularly Sufficient Velocity, since I do so much less there... but I'm pretty sure it is, indeed, better than Ao3 at least, and of course Sufficient Velocity as a general forum is kind of a different thing, making comparison harder.
(With Fanfiction.net, on the other hoof... yeah, basically no contest there, I think. Fanfiction.net also has non-pony stories... and that's pretty much the only thing it has over or even really close to FIMFiction, I think.)

[Coyote de La Mancha]

Yeah, I’ve rarely used the Downvote Disappointment, and even then my usage was similar to your own, I think. But I’m also aware that different folks will use the tools presented to them for different purposes, and so I take them with a small salt quarry.