Is this the BBC or the Onion?

[Aeson]

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34264624

'Dislike' button coming to Facebook

Dave Lee
North America technology reporter
3 hours ago

Facebook has been mulling the idea of a dislike button for some time

Facebook is to add a "dislike" button to its social network, founder Mark Zuckerberg has said.

In a Q+A session held at Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, the 31-year-old said the button would be a way for people to express empathy.
He said Facebook was "very close" to having it ready for user testing.

A "dislike" button has been constantly requested by some users since the introduction of the now-iconic "like" button in 2009.

"People have asked about the 'dislike' button for many years," Mr Zuckerberg told the audience on Tuesday.

"Probably hundreds of people have asked about this, and today is a special day because today is the day that I actually get to say we are working on it, and are very close to shipping a test of it."

However he went on to say he did not want it to be a mechanism with which people could "down vote" others' posts.

Instead, it will be for times when clicking "like" on "sad" posts felt insensitive.

Prof Andrea Forte, an expert in social and participatory media at Drexel University in Philadelphia, said users will not suddenly turn on each other's posts.

In an email, she wrote: "They may use a dislike button to express some negative emotions (like frustration with ads popping up in their feeds) but I doubt it will cause them to start wantonly disliking pictures of their friends' babies, dogs, cats and cooking experiments.

"I suspect it will mainly be used to express mild disapproval, or to express solidarity when someone posts about a negative event like a death or a loss."

[Elok]

This seems like an excellent opportunity to increase the amount of bull**** drama on FB. Have you considered an equivalent function here? Because we can't afford to fall behind on the bull**** drama race.

[Aeson]

It's a good idea. Maybe a under each post that starts out gray and the more times people click it the bigger and redder it gets.

[Lorizael]

I noticed awhile back that you can comment when a friend adds a new friend, which always seemed like a setup for drama to me. "Oh, you friended Kyle? Do you know what he said to Sasha last Tuesday? Ugh." If you can also dislike your friends' new friends, the road to drama will be that much quicker.

[Aeson]

That's an excellent idea. I'm going to set up a fake account to friend people I don't like so I can dislike my fake account's posts when they friend them. If I'm called on it by anyone of significance, I will just say I'm disliking the spam since my fake account is adding so many friends ... but in my heart I will know the truth!

[Elok]

It's a good idea. Maybe a under each post that starts out gray and the more times people click it the bigger and redder it gets.

Will it eventually get so big that it blots out the post and nobody else can read it? Oooh, idea: make it flash rapidly and vomit pixelated penises if it gets a sufficient number of dislikes within a critical time period, say five minutes. And it plays some canned insults by Gilbert Gottfried every time the poster of the disliked post scrolls past it. That will really get a lot of extra mileage out of this hot new concept.

[Thoth]

Prof Andrea Forte, an expert in social and participatory media at Drexel University in Philadelphia, said users will not suddenly turn on each other's posts.

In an email, she wrote: "They may use a dislike button to express some negative emotions (like frustration with ads popping up in their feeds) but I doubt it will cause them to start wantonly disliking pictures of their friends' babies, dogs, cats and cooking experiments.

[DaShi]

Do not want!

Every time I see this meme I'm reminded of a Chinese exgirlfriend who would say this. Usually in response to my suggestions of smuggling her into the US in my suitcase.

[Sava]

yeah

i've found that the longer someone stays in a university setting, the more they are indistinguishable from someone who was held back a few grades

one goes to school because they can't learn on their own

or aren't smart enough to make money on their own and want to mortgage their life for maybe a job interview... for one job... with 1,000 other people trying to get it

pathetic

[rah]

A whole new era of cyber bullying is about to begin.

[Alexander's Horse]

If Facebook had a dislike button I'd probably join it