# approval button / approve posts



## dawar

Hello, bonjour, merhaba!

I'm wondering if we can add somekind of "approval button" to the forum. Let me explain in a situation :
Somebody submitted a thread and another person answered. We agree with that answer and we have nothing to add. And as I think that writing an answer just to say "I agree with X" is useless, so we could use that "button". 

This could help the person asking a question to judge the quality of answers. Of course in big forums like french/english, answers are always qualitative. But in small forums like turkish one, a question about french for example will be answered by 1 to 3 person max. So I really think that option could help to improve the comprehensiveness of answers.

I'm waiting for your opinion!
Have a nice day.


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## Paulfromitaly

Hello 

This topic has already been discussed a few times

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## dawar

Sorry! looks like I didn't use the correct keywords for my search :/


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## DearPrudence

dawar said:


> Hello, bonjour, merhaba!
> 
> I'm wondering if we can add somekind of "approval button" to the forum. Let me explain in a situation :
> Somebody submitted a thread and another person answered. We agree with that answer and we have nothing to add. And as I think that writing an answer just to say "I agree with X" is useless, so we could use that "button".
> 
> This could help the person asking a question to judge the quality of answers. Of course in big forums like french/english, answers are always qualitative. But in small forums like turkish one, a question about french for example will be answered by 1 to 3 person max. So I really think that option could help to improve the comprehensiveness of answers.
> 
> I'm waiting for your opinion!
> Have a nice day.


+ 1 

Sometimes I just want to confirm what another member has suggested, while having nothing else to add, and I don't feel like adding "& on the other hand what X said was bad" (answering now because it has happened to me a couple of times lately, where A has suggested something good, B something not good (at all) with the thread ending with B).
I've seen that on other forums & I thought it helped. But well, I guess we must be the only ones to find this option interesting


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## Senordineroman

This feature should _totally _exist on WordReference.  C'mon, WR!  Let's see it added.  Let's be efficient.


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## merquiades

I don't believe people should be judged on their answers.  It would drive foreros away or at least deter them from offering what they believe to be the right answer. All the posts in a thread answer the question together and all have their own merit.  If not it is possible not to agree with a "poster" and give your own examples to contrast.  Further, who is to say that these anonymous voters would be right?


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## LilianaB

I agree. I think it would be a very bad idea -- sometimes the people who read the posts are also not knowledgeable enough in a particular subject to judge the content, so they may not be able to objectively evaluate particular posts, but they are still welcome to participate without judging the posts. If they don't agree with a particular post, they can always say so and state their reasons. Participation in the fora is not any kind of contest, but rather something that is supposed to help people with various linguistic problems, promoting the linguistic culture.


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## rusita preciosa

I agree that an approval button is not a useful feature, but there are other ways to support someone's answer: sometimes when there are many different answers to a question, I use  to mark the one I agree with or believe to be the best/most accurate. That way the OP sees that an answer got another "vote" from a different forera. Actually, at times I provide an answer and someone posts a better answer, then I mark the better post with a , saying that I like it better than mine. 

Other times, when I feel like my "vote" needs an explanation, I write a post saying "I vote for XXXX answer, because...." 

If I disagree with a post, I *always* explain why, because just "voting"  would not be useful.


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## Senordineroman

I am not at all suggesting that WRef is a contest.  I think that some of you are a bit too heart-driven in this matter.  If people would be swayed away from answering based on the fact that their answers will be judged and voted on, only the most confident responders will respond -- which would benefit everyone.  And THAT is the point of WReference - not for every half-knowledgeable Joe-Schmoe to care and share.  I vote for voting.


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## merquiades

No, I do not agree.  We should be encouraging dictionary users to become members and members to participate. Everyone has some experience or anecdote to share.  Even the most inexperienced member has a gut feeling on certain language matters.  Even if it's just a feeling, it still brings information, at least about him and his linguistic circles.  Anyone can read a thread and get an idea of which answers suit his request or not. And again, confident people are not always right. They're just confident. Besides, bookish people are not always in tune with what's happening in the streets in certain places.  It depends on the thread really... Anyway, being all inclusive is what has made WR so big and successful.  I would not like to see that changed by arbitrarily ranking people.


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## LilianaB

I agree with Merquiades.


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## stella_maris_74

In addition to the concerns that other member have expressed, I'll add that I can easily see a scenario where members "like" posts by their "forum friends" just for the sake of it (similar to what happens on Facebook) or, for example when there's disagreement over a proposed answer, I can easily picture the authors of said answer asking their "forum friends", via PM, to go and "like" their posts in an attempt to make their point stronger


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## Senordineroman

Stella - Wow... Now _that is something I would have never_thought of.  I really doubt that that many WordRef users feel such a tight bond with other WordRef users that this type of scenario would happen.  If WordRef is the place where people are becoming buddies to that extent, they're probably really nerdy and brainy -- and wouldn't resort to those lame shenanigans.  I appreciate the responses everyone has put here, but I still feel the same way.  I'm done spending time debating about it, though.  Ya se ha declarado aqui mi opinion.  Cheers, everyone.


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## LilianaB

Hi, Chris. you never know -- people are people, and this is what I would actually expect, from time to time.


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