The title is a bit tongue in cheek, but I do have two serious suggestions and wanted to see what people thought!
1. The "ComeAtMeBro" tag
Edit: For complete clarity I am aware the tag #comeAtMeBro is not suitable, I am not actually suggesting it! The #openToCriticism tag is what i am actually suggesting (or something similar / more suitable!)
The idea is a tag that you can add to your posts that says "I am open to criticism, in fact I welcome it". (or better yet a checkbox you can tick when creating an article so you don't have to waste a precious tag!)
This lets people know that they can make suggestions to your posts or even call you out on things you have gotten wrong and you won't delete their comment as it offended you.
You see for me I find I learn best when I make an assertion ("The Earth is flat") and someone calls me out as an idiot and shows me a load of information that proves me wrong.
Thanks to people correcting me I now believe, like most people, that the Earth is a sphere (although some girl keeps trying to tell me the Earth is actually an oblate spheroid! I mean she doesn't seriously think I am going to fall for that doe she? π)
Now I am not actually suggesting we use "#ComeAtMeBro" but something more inclusive, slightly less combatitve and more descriptive like "#OpenToCriticism" or "#AllCommentsWelcome". (Although I have to admit the child in me really wants to see a feed scattered with #comeAtMeBro tags!!).
This idea was brought about after a few comments I made got deleted, but in particular after I posted a comment on this article (go give the author some love as they are the sort of person we need writing on this site!!):
My comment was deleted (the "tone" of my comment did look like I was attacking the author to be fair). Now luckily I reposted with a disclaimer at the start to say I enjoyed the article and the author left it up, but it made me wonder how many good comments (not trying to be big headed π) get deleted as the author is offended by them.
I may be part of a dying breed but I would prefer you call me out on being wrong so that I don't spread misinformation. (something dev.to sadly has a lot of, without any mechanism other than comments to point out incorrect information it is down to people to do their own fact checking....and I am sick of looking like an a$$hole when I try and point it out...I promise I am not actually as much of an a$$hole as I appear to be in my comments! π€£)
Anyway that is idea one, a tag for people who want to engage with people who disagree / they can learn from! That leads me nicely on to idea 2:
2. Sort by most commented
Now this one I imagine will be more popular, I can't be the only one who wants to see "where the action is at".
I might have missed it but as far as I can tell there is no way to sort posts on dev.to by "most commented".
Now personally I think the comments are where the real magic happens most of the time.
Someone will make a one line suggestion that completely changes the way you think about something.
I also find it a great way to "get a barometer" of how people feel about something.
Take this post from yesterday I wrote:
Article No Longer Available
There are some great insights into the problems we have in accessibility and inclusion, the sort of knowledge that I find invaluable! Now the post itself was only mildly popular (which is fine) but the discussion was lively and interesting and full of great ideas. Because it only got about 1.1k views some people may miss it who like to "get stuck in" and people who want to add to the discussion might just pass it by.
On the flip side if an article has 200 likes and no comments it makes me think it is a good resource to bookmark but not something that I can "get involved with" (which is great to add to my reading list but not something I might want to engage with now depending on my mood!)
More than anything though, I like a "good fight", by which I mean a productive and well structured argument between two people with opposing viewpoints, not a slanging match! Lots of comments normally means "a healthy debate" is going on (and I am aware of the #healthydebate tag, but a lot of the good debates happen where they are not intended!)
A "good fight" can really be an eye opener no matter which side of the argument you personally agree with, especially when people smarter than me are arguing those points!
So that is why I want an "order by most commented" option as I think it points to interesting and entertaining articles as well as seeing where the interesting discussions are.
The end
That is it, I only have two ideas floating around in my empty skull at the moment!
I look forward to seeing what you all think!
Top comments (10)
The comeAtMeBro was a joke, I did try to make it clear that although the child in me would find it amusing I am aware it is not a suitable tag. Hence βopenToCriticismβ. Sorry if that wasnβt clear, sometimes hard to get satire down in words (for me!)
Glad you agree on the comments part!, I will change the tag to meta, great suggestion! I will also amend the wording to make it clear that comeAtMeBro is indeed a joke as I donβt want people thinking I am serious! Hehe.
Thanks for the feedback! β€οΈ
You and I might not delete comments but there are a fair few people who can't take criticism, I would rather not offend them / waste my time writing a long comment if it is going to be deleted, but I don't want people to "hold their punches" with me, if I am being stupid or i am wrong...tell me!
p.s. didnt realise but I have read a couple of your posts and enjoyed them β€- fixed that now with a follow and some long overdue upvotes!
#OpenToCriticismand#AllCommentsWelcomeare depressing names.If not
#ComeAtMeBro, it should at least be#Don't@MeSo is this the point where you bring out the goat then? and when do I get to learn the funny handshakes? π¨ π
Done, added a line to ensure there is no ambiguity, thanks for pointing it out (changed the tag too!)
So, do you agree? If not then #ComeAtMeBro(ette) π
Open to criticism by default, closed to criticism explicitly (by disabling comments)
If only that was the stance people took!
Why not #changeMyMind? Although if I'd want a good tech discussion, I'd probably try not having it on dev.to where most devs are running after the latest marketing hypes.
Ah are you referring to "the wind" when you are talking about latest marketing hypes by any chance? π€£ Or is there a new one for me to try and wrap my head around π
#changeMyMind is (IMO) more for if you have a strong opinion on a subject (or are Steve Crowder π)
The idea here is that it is saying "I do not offend easily, tell me if there are big mistakes in what I am saying".
A subtle difference but important as I am about to write a lot about accessibility and despite years of experience I am always surprised that I have been doing something for years and it isn't actually optimal. It is also an area where there is still room for "the optimal solution" as it is so disjointed and poorly orchestrated so there are strong discussions to be had.
It also means that I can go on a post with this tag / flag and just offer help and advice without having to be super careful about how I word it.
Maybe I have just been unlucky, or maybe I need to just spend 2 more minutes rereading my comments to make sure the tone is correct (but that is always harder on a mobile I find!).
I suppose the final one is when I see absolute rubbish being spouted...I want to comment but I have no idea how to do that without being offensive....but then I find it hard to leave erroneous information sitting there with 50 likes as I know hundreds of people will have taken it as fact....yet again probably stemming from the fact I work in accessibility (the more I type the more I realise it might just be me π€£π€£)
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