Thankyou buttons

FNH · Post by **FNH** » November 24th, 2009, 9:00 am

Wouldn't it be nice for all of the web pages of the finished books to have a "thankyou" button ( and maybe show a count ). People could then choose to just click the button by way of a thankyou for producing the book.

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kayray · Post by **kayray** » November 24th, 2009, 9:06 am

FNH wrote:Wouldn't it be nice for all of the web pages of the finished books to have a "thankyou" button ( and maybe show a count ). People could then choose to just click the button by way of a thankyou for producing the book.

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What a nifty idea! I'd like that very much.

icyjumbo · Post by **icyjumbo** » November 24th, 2009, 11:32 am

Yes, that really is a nifty idea.

Lucy_k_p · Post by **Lucy_k_p** » November 24th, 2009, 12:24 pm

Sounds good. I'm not sure where on the page it would fit though.

Steampunk · Post by **Steampunk** » November 24th, 2009, 12:34 pm

There's a WordPress plug-in that would work for the catalog page.

Have to pass it by the Mighty SysAdm first, though.

Jim

kayray · Post by **kayray** » November 24th, 2009, 12:37 pm

I'll ask Dan if it would eat server resources or anything. And yeah, Jim, let's get feedback from some other admins!

kmerline · Post by **kmerline** » November 24th, 2009, 12:46 pm

I'm assuming the number of "thank you's" received would be displayed somewhere.

Volunteers should be able to know they are appreciated, as long as it doesn't turn into a competition!

It would be good if the numbers for a book were only displayed on the catelong page for that book, not summarized anywhere.

Steampunk · Post by **Steampunk** » November 24th, 2009, 12:53 pm

That particular plug-in shows the number next to the button. And the button is page-specific.

It also can be configured to deny multiple hits from the same IP address, so it's harder to artificially inflate the numbers.

It would eat up some SQL space. But not much, I shouldn't think.

Jim

[disclaimer: I'm not endorsing, just reporting.]

Starlite · Post by **Starlite** » November 24th, 2009, 1:54 pm

Love the idea!!

Esther

Post by **hugh** » November 24th, 2009, 2:09 pm

This kind of idea has been discussed a couple of times - essentially a "thumbs-up, I like this" note of approval for a recording (vs ratings or comments, which have "chilling effect" problems with them ... ie negative comments scare away volunteers).

I think I am in favour - a means giving positive feedback to books people particularly like, though I am a little concerned about unintended consequences...So I lean to yea, but am open to nays as well.

If there is a wp plugin - that makes it pretty easy to test. If we don't like it we can uninstall

Post by **chocoholic** » November 24th, 2009, 2:17 pm

Sounds like a good idea though I can see it turning into -- not a competition exactly, but people will certainly follow their numbers and some might worry if they aren't very high. I'm trying to envision a "thank you" button on a project at Gutenberg (can't do it too well, lol); I wouldn't want it to feel like an obligation or a solicitation.

edited to add: I wouldn't want the number of thank-you's to be shown -- that would invite comparison and I don't think that would be a good thing. Which leads to the question: where would the thanks go? Directly to the soloist or BC?

Post by **annise** » November 24th, 2009, 3:55 pm

I feel its against what we are trying to do - yes it would be nice to know someone appreciated the book , but we do keep saying that this site is about reading the books , not about people listening to them , and that reading some rare book in a language spoken in Antarctica is just as valuable as "Jane Austen", "Anne of Green Gables" and "the Art of War".
And we know which would get the most button pushes.
Whatever we did it would turn into a competition amongst some people - look at what happens with post counts

And it does seem somewhat hypocritical to ask for "thumbs up" and refuse to allow "thumbs down"

Anne

BellonaTimes · Post by **BellonaTimes** » November 24th, 2009, 10:14 pm

annise wrote:, and that reading some rare book in a language spoken in Antarctica is just as valuable as "Jane Austen", "Anne of Green Gables" and "the Art of War".
And we know which would get the most button pushes.

Which is why I like to do those rarer books no one else is recording. I want to turn people on to the good and great "no-name" books. On the other hand, if I saw a thanks for bringing this book to someone's attention, I'd feel all the more vindicated.

FNH · Post by **FNH** » November 25th, 2009, 2:36 am

Even if the thankyous were just totaled up together to give a monthly total it would be a nice touch.

icyjumbo · Post by **icyjumbo** » November 25th, 2009, 6:40 am

I wonder whether it might be possible for the Thank You button to give the thanker an opportunity to write a message to the reader(s), etc. Not compulsory, of course, but then there would be something to send other than "Someone clicked your thank you button".