The Treasure Chest

Rant/AAM: Likes

^ image above by street artist IHeart, called "Nobody Likes Me"

Okay, first off sorry if this offends anyone or anything, this is just my opinion on stars and hearts. So let's not get too feisty, okay? I don't really feel like arguing with anyone on something as bs as this.

Censored cussing.

Every single social media site ever has it. The star, the heart, , the smile, the thumbs up, the double-tap. Whatever the symbol is, it's a like. Or whatever other name it goes by, I don't care.

It's used to say "hey, I like this". At least, that's its intention.

However, I feel like nowadays, likes don't actually mean anything. It's more of a sort of "hey, I'm your friend, I'm obligated to" thing. I watched one of my friends scroll through her entire feed on Instagram, double-tapping everything and not even looking at any of the picture. Also, people like the randomest things ever, things that they don't give a carp about. (Ex: I post One Piece thing that only OPers would understand. Ten people that I know for sure are not OP fans and heck if they even know what it is like it.) Likes really don't mean anything.

Still, people obsess over them like crazy. People are commenting on a bunch of other people's images, "like for like?" or "look at my pictures" and stuff. I've even had a friend go up to me all angry and demand that I like her recent post. A lot of people like their own posts, which I personally never do on purpose because I just feel like it's a silly and pointless thing to do. On Wattpad, a lot of people say at the end of the story, "Vote, comment and share!" I've never really liked that, since I feel like it's pressuring me. If I ever say it, I say to vote if you like it. Because honestly, if you don't like it, I don't want your vote anyway. Then there's the ultra-desperate people who have to have <1 gazillion likes or they'll die. I really, really hate those people. Especially if they randomly state aloud the number of likes they got on some picture or complain about not having enough likes. Honestly! No one gives a duck, so shut the duck up!

I've never understood the craze about likes. I love comments, but I honestly haven't been a fan of likes ever since they came to mean nothing. I never fully understood why people had to go around demanding others like their posts or why people had to like their own posts or make separate accounts to like things on their main account (actually, I did the last one when I was younger, since that was what everybody else did, and I just found it really bothersome). 

Recently, the likes to comments ratio on my posts has been increasing, with typically 0 comments and several votes. I suppose I should say thank you for the votes, but first, let me ask a question: of the people who have voted on my recent TTC posts, who has actually read the post? Especially the entire One Piece dissection. I highly doubt that anyone besides me has had the willpower to read even half of that gigantic thing.

And yet I have a couple of votes on it.

This is probably going to sound oh so ungrateful and I might get backlash from it but honestly, if you haven't even read it, can you please just not vote for it? It's meaningless. I just really don't care because it really doesn't freaking mean anything. You saw an update notif and pressed a button. Hallelujah. You haven't even read the freaking thing, though? Really?

I appreciate comments so much more than votes. I always have, and I always will. Comments tell me that you've read it, at least some of it. You're replying to something within the text or criticizing me or praising me (lol no) or whatever. Still, most of the time, to comment, you have to read. Voting or liking, on the other hand, is literally just tapping the screen once. So many people recently are liking posts that I'm pretty sure they haven't read, like, at all, and it's really getting on my nerves. 

Yes, I understand that some of my posts (my OP analysis, hehe) are super-long or that you don't have time or don't want to read it. Then just don't. I'm not saying you have to comment or read, but if you haven't read it, don't vote on it. Just ignore it. Fine by me. I get that not everyone has the time and willpower to read 6.5 thousand words about a series they couldn't care less about. But don't fludging vote on it if you haven't read it. Because that just decreases the value of all the other votes. I never know anymore if people are voting because they're obligated or because they like it. It's hard to get feedback from votes.

I'm not saying don't vote, let's make this clear. I used to love votes. It meant people were enjoying whatever carp I came up with. If you love something I wrote, by all means, vote away and thank you. However, only vote if you love it. And honestly, if you read something of mine, and have time, could you please comment? I don't care about votes much, but comments really tell me how my writing has been received and whether or not it has been appreciated. I almost always reply to comments, and it's also a form of interaction between me and any readers I still have. I really miss those commentators (ahem bluebellshadow) that would actually strike up a conversation with me and show me that they really read whatever was posted. Vote if you like it, if not, don't. And comment if you can. I also understand if you don't have time or energy to write out a comment, so that's fine, too, but at least read my post if you're going to vote on it.

Yeah. So if you don't read, don't vote. If you read and don't like, don't vote. If you read and like, vote and/or comment. Simple, yes?

Voting is not an obligation, it's a sign of appreciation and enjoyment. Let's make it that again, shall we?

Now that I've written that rant, I'm going to rant below about a related but not necessarily related enough to include above thing that I noticed. v

Okay, so recently I've kind of been on Tumblr a lot, mainly browsing One Piece analyzations, theories, and fanart. There's one artist on Tumblr that often draws Coralaw, and I noticed on one of her more recent posts that in the tags, she was having emotional problems outside of the blog. No one else seemed to notice it, even though a bunch of people liked the art she had uploaded. It kind of pissed me off, since I kind of related to the situation. Here there was a person drowning, and she was completely ignored. 

So, yeah, that annoyed me. That people just tap things without caring about it or even looking at it.

I would rant more about this but it's getting late and finals are tomorrow so cya, byeeeee.

~ElaineKane (the so screwed for COMPs)