OK, so it took me awhile. Like, 10 years. Or more. But finally, the brilliant idea occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, there is a "like" module for Drupal that I can implement quickly and easily that allows readers to indicate their appreciation of an article or other reader's comment without needing to log in and comment. And DUH!, a couple Google searches later, I done found something that'll work.
I could have set the "Like" feature to have a rating number system, which I thought was too much mental overhead for the casual reader. (I mean, it is for me. I don't want to think that hard, even about a good article. "Is it 5 stars? Maybe 4? Maybe it's really just 3? To hell with it!" Then not do anything.) I mean, life's hard enough, right? No need to spin one's wheels over rating a bloody Internet post. :)
So I settled on using the simple thumbs-up approach. I declined to provide a thumbs-down button because it allows fem-bot raiders of the site to swoop in and thumbs-down everything, and besides, if a reader, feminist or not, wants to pan a story, please log in and pan it, saying why. I like feedback, whether it be praise or condemnation; lets me know how my editing is doing, esp. around whether others think I published something germane to MRA issues or not. (Sometimes, I stray, and when it happens, I want to be told why you think I have.)
But back to the stars rating idea... if MANN regulars like the idea of using a star rating system instead of a simple thumbs-up system, then please comment to this post and say so. I can always change things easily enough; we can ex-shhhhperriment a bit if needed to see what suits us all best.
Thanks and enjoy the new thumbs-up feature!
