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Cover image for Our Dear Unicorn Friend is Going on Vacation
Ben Halpern for The DEV Team

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Our Dear Unicorn Friend is Going on Vacation

We are making design adjustments to Forem (the open-source codebase that powers DEV and other communities).

We are removing the unicorn icon from the current set of possible reactions, and making room for an indicator of how many comments there are in the discussion — alongside "like" and "bookmark".

There are a few drivers of this design decision:

  • Members cannot easily view how many comments are in the discussion and easily scroll there.
  • The unicorn, as it stands, is pretty confusing for a lot of folks.
  • We want to build towards a more fun and expressive end state in terms of how these reactions work.

We are planning to re-institute the unicorn as a set of customizable secondary reactions which can be unique to each Forem, and possibly change for fun from time to time.

Anticipate the final result being something like this, but open source and more funky!

fb reactions


As mentioned, the unicorn has caused a good amount of confusion, here are a few of the hundreds of posts on this subject.

Part of the fun of the unicorn is that it means nothing in particular, it's just there. However, we can have that fun without the clutter. And that is the plan.

This change will go live later this week.

Feel free to comment on some other reactions we may want to implement on DEV once we get to the "fully customized" state. 😇


The unicorn will (eventually) be back and better than ever

unicorn

Happy coding! 🦄

Top comments (44)

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kaspera profile image
Kasper Andreassen

So you guys are basically a servant of Lord Voldemort, slaying an innocent unicorn?

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Rest in peace, sweet prince 🦄

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jimajs profile image
Jima Victor

Dev team: Avada Kedavra

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strongunsullied profile image
Kasope Johnson

😭😭😭

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tylerlwsmith profile image
Tyler Smith

🦄 (unicorn reaction)

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oskar_lauritsen profile image
Oskar Lauritsen

😭😭😭

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wiseai profile image
Mahmoud Harmouch

I like how the URL of this post ends with: idm - I don't mind. So our dear lovely creature is ok with that decision. Legend says it could be a wild coincidence.

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

Ha, that's great.

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manuartero profile image
Manuel Artero Anguita 🟨 • Edited

I'd really just replace the boring 🧡 by the 🦄.

🧡

  • i like this
  • nothing new
  • lack of personality

🦄

  • I unicorn this
  • rainbow
  • it's a unicorn babe.
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raibtoffoletto profile image
Raí B. Toffoletto

This! Please this.

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michaeltharrington profile image
Michael Tharrington

cartoon unicorn with humanoid body using hula hoop with arms crossed, only shown from waist up, thankfully

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thomasbnt profile image
Thomas Bnt ☕

Whatever, I unicorned (liked + unicorn) this post.

This post was unicorned

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dinerdas profile image
Diner Das • Edited

Gone but not forgotten 🦄

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panditapan profile image
Pandita

I'm sad about the unicorn :'( I always loved to click it as a way to EXTRA like a post XD

I do want to mention that I really miss Dev's retro feeling (and the pink theme), I know WHY it had to change, but... I still miss it.

Hopefully the unicorn comes back soon!

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jmau111 profile image
jmau111 🦄

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wjplatformer profile image
Wj

lol

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iamschulz profile image
Daniel Schulz

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Question: How is this going to be solved in the API? I'm using positive_reactions_count on my blog to display those sweet sweet likes. Are they going away?

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

Historical unicorns are still present and part of the count.

And once the unicorn returns in the new format, they'll also still be there.

For the time being, folks can't create new unicorns, but everything else stays in place.

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iamschulz profile image
Daniel Schulz

Awesome.
And I love that fact that you now have to deal with historical unicorns.

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jarvisscript profile image
Chris Jarvis

The Unicorn was the GOAT.

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ekimcem profile image
Ekim Cem Ülger

This is the first ( and probably the last) post that has more unicorns than likes :)

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ekimcem profile image
Ekim Cem Ülger

Wait, can't you unicorn comments? nvm.

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cicirello profile image
Vincent A. Cicirello

No. Comments just have the heart reaction. I wonder whether the UI update will change that?

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ekimcem profile image
Ekim Cem Ülger

Maybe a new type, "downicorn" ? better then unlike

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fredoist profile image
Freddy González

I thought the unicorn was meant that a post was unique or like finding a magic creature so it was worth reading. 🦄

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f53 profile image
F53

F

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wjplatformer profile image
Wj

!! pretty rude, I must say...

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f53 profile image
F53

?

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gregorygaines profile image
Gregory Gaines

What about new posts that won't get the benefit of an aditional reaction to help their post climb? Seems a bit unfair.

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andypiper profile image
Andy Piper

Personally I'm here for the community, and for writing when I have something to share; not for sheer volumes of reactions.

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gregorygaines profile image
Gregory Gaines

That’s good to hear but that doesn’t change that posts are ranked by the number of reactions which older posts get the benefit of pre unicorn vs. post unicorn posts.

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thejaredwilcurt profile image
The Jared Wilcurt

You're telling me I made this gif for nothing!

Hearts and Unicorns, requested by Stephen Colbert