One of the problems shared by many social media platforms, is the "pile on" effect. Someone says something dumb and the entire Internet shows up on their doorstep to mock them.
Twitter has this problem in spades, it's one of the reasons it has a bad reputation for harassment.
As far as I know, there is nothing technically preventing the same problem here in the #fediverse though.
If it became a social norm to just star people who have already responded instead of piling on, that would help.
"If it became a social norm to just star people who have already responded instead of piling on, that would help." --@HerraBRE https://mastodon.xyz/users/HerraBRE/updates/97718
When folks advocate for the star to be something *other* than a save button, it means the save function is serving a social purpose, and my saved post list becomes cluttered.
See also: https://github.com/tootsuite/mastodon/issues/1178 My request to separate the "like" and "save" functions into two buttons!
@HerraBRE I'm not complaining! The way you're proposing we use it is the best we've got with what we have. And you proposing a private save button alongside what we currently have is pretty much what my feature request suggests. :) I hadn't thought about it being private but now that you mention it, it makes complete sense.
But yeah. Public like/support/heart, private save. Separate functions, one social, one practical.
@cassolotl Talk about missing the forest for your favourite tree...
Anyway, the star is obviously serving a social purpose already, that is clearly its intent. Otherwise it wouldn't be advertising that you've clicked it.
My advocated use case is perfectly in-line with what the button currently does.
A private save button would behave very differently. That's a totally legit thing to want, but don't complain about people using the existing features for what they are.