Can someone explain why we have a "like-system" on Nofap?

I find it motivates me to get more involved in the community which is helping my recovery. I couldn't care less if someone has more or less than me or if people like all my posts, it just gives me something to look at while I'm here, and like I said, makes me more involved in the community.

 

I think of it as a feedback tool. If my post gets likes, I know that what I've said has been helpful, informative, relatable, etc, and that I'm doing my part. Although I see where you're coming from, I think the majority here don't see it as a popularity contest and don't feel the same sort of pressure they might experience from a more conventional social media platform. And as logical-chaos said, it also serves as incentive to get involved in the community.

 

I'll give you a like for that

I understand what you're saying, and I do find myself checking for likes as well. I agree that it's probably the same "notification addiction" mechanism that plagues social media, but honestly I'm afraid a site like this couldn't exist without it. The encouragement you get from likes makes up for it for me, and I have to say this community really is warm to it's users: I haven't seen many people left out.

On the other hand I don't want to replace one addiction with another, so I try not to log in too often.

 

Plus, if you win 1000 likes, the NoFap mods give you $1,000,000!

 

This is how I feel about this:

 

Overcoming pmo is our main issue
I don't understand how likes can affect us negatively
Infact they motivate us to write something good

 

This was pretty much my thought process when I was writing a response. I was being very careful not to come across that way lol

 

I feel like it could be used as a dopamine fix, maybe?
You know? Always looking for that next 'Like' & then get super bummed if max like potential isn't achieved.

I do 'like' things that I genuinely find interesting or something that makes me go oh, hell yes, I think that/do that/need to work on that. I have to admit I'm super confused on why there's this like-war thingy that happens on here. Idk, to each their own, I suppose..

 

You should probably worry less about what other people think.

 

i admit i am guilty when it comes to craving likes, but i dont post on here for likes, i genuinely like helping people but i also like getting likes haha, but it does help me out because it lets me know people find my info useful, even if i only get one like i am happy because i know i helped one person in some way, if i get no likes that on some level sucks but that does not really mean to much in the end, if i know what i am posting is good than who cares about likes, take the info or leave it!. But i do like the system as a whole, if i like something someone posted than i want them to know that.

 

There’s always something to work on. It’s just how life is.

 

I agree with MLMVSS. I think this is something you need to work on within yourself, not something the outside world (i.e. this site) needs to change for you. That's running away from the problem. If you have an issue with this and you just turned off the "like" function somehow, then you aren't addressing the actual problem. Get to the bottom of why you feel the need to get tons of likes and why it makes you feel so happy or important or whatever it makes you feel. Some self exploration could tell you something really important that could change other aspects of your life as well.

Personally, for me, I don't care about how many likes I get, for the most part. It does make me happy, of course, to see that someone agreed with me or felt encouraged by something I said. But a lot of the time I don't even click on my "like" alerts, when I'm busy and just want to quickly see if someone replied to a conversation. It actually disappoints me a little when I have a bunch of alerts and they're all likes, because then I have nothing to respond to.

But I do think likes are important, for the reason Alexander stated. There are no likes in the Sandbox part of the forum, and I've found that to be really irritating, because you can't easily Express that you liked something without quoting the person's post to tell them you liked it. And if you don't have anything valuable to add to the conversation, then it's nice to just be able to give a like to show your agreement.

 

An eye opener!

Respect!

 

Well, as someone who got to 2nd place on the likes top 20 list, I can speak a bit from experience on this.. Yes, it's got a bit out of hand on this site, I can say that now I've stepped back a bit from interacting here. The first problem is, when people are spamming likes, you don't know if they actually liked your post or not.. if they agreed with it, or even read it at all. That is a bit shallow and takes away any meaning.

The other problem, as mentioned, is yes, it gets addictive, becomes something of a contest and way for people to feel good about themselves. Now, in the original use of likes, it's nice to have someone like your post and it's nice to feel good for that.. but getting addicted to having 100s of alerts in your inbox everyday is kind of an abuse of this.. and I know a few people who told me they got addicted to it.

I did myself to some extent.. and really, after reaching 2nd place I decided it needed to stop.. and I do feel better for not worrying about giving or receiving likes on here. Also, yes it did help for a while, especially last year, when I was doing my early streaks, but it is a kind of dopamine substitute.. and in the end, we're trying to get away from that.

Saying all this, I don't judge anyone personally for doing what I was doing a lot of the time last year. If it's helping you, then great. Just be aware, if you feel a withdrawal from it, then it might be a problem.. and some relaxing of giving out likes might be a good idea.

The way I'm looking at it now, it's something nice to do now and then, give someone a treat, a little shower of likes. It is encouraging and way of showing support. But it is also interesting that once you stop spamming likes, you hardly receive them much any more.. and make of that what you will!

I'm also grateful for everyone who gave me likes in the past, but these days, less is definitely more.

 

All the "likes" I have received are not reciprocal as I have never clicked, "like", since it was first introduced on NoFap.

To "like" content is a social media feature as far as I am concerned, and that is not how I see this place or how I use it.

I seldom use "like" on Facebook either. I'd much rather articulate my liking for something, even if it clogs up the place.

 

I got sucked into the vortex, but if I don't like something, I'm not gonna" like" it. I read all the things I give likes on.

It's actually a lot harder to give big batches of likes in one sitting than I thought, it's a lot of time taken from the individual who gives you
I haven't been giving big batches of likes for long and it's already pretty..overwhelming.
I can think of more people that deserve my status of likes than I do and now I feel sort of silly with it..


Status of likes dont really mean much or make an individual seem higher than another in my eyes, only few really do deserve their statuses of likes if you look @ it that way.

I have a problem with it when you can't tell what's genuine or not, some people like anything and everything on here..

I don't agree with being nice just to be nice. I agree with genuine kindness.

It's also a lot harder than I thought to not want to return likes just because you received some.. you feel this imaginary pressure....

Idk, it's not so healthy depending on the reasons or how often you do it. but it's nice to surprise some people or special people to you sometimes..

I think words are of more value and I'm really working on my words.