jSnively

nht said:

[...]

I have no idea why you would bother taking away something that some folks are using that isn't hurting anyone.

For the same reasons we removed the dislike button. Contrary to popular belief, people do understand sarcasm. when their post has a bunch of funnies piled on it and it's not a funny post in any real way, it has the same exact effect as a dislike button. It does cause problems.

nht said:

[...]

note that I've never hit funny but did use dislike to indicate that the post in question was yet another tedious reiteration of "apple sucks" by the resident trolls.  I think some of these folks would think a "funny" would be a positive thing even when used sarcastically.

We're working to actually moderate more of that out. Having people hit a button that had no effect on the visibility of the posts didn't make any real difference, and it was prone to abuse. For a while we contemplated making the button have an effect on the visibility of posts, it was actually while looking into that as a solution we realized how abused it was and the problems it was causing. I sort of touched on this earlier when someone brought up the Ars style up/down system.

nht said:

[..]

Using dislike was a lot faster and less cluttering than writing the normal rebuttal.  I vaguely recall a list and we could respond by number for the usual troll posts.  Was that here or somewhere else?  It must have been ten years ago when we still got all crazy for Mac World and had a week of insanity and a gazllion post countdown thread.

The low amount of effort was one of the key properties that made it prone to abuse. Some things should have a little friction. That's why you you are prompted to put in some text when you flag a post.

Off the top of my head, I don't believe that list exist here.

nht said:

[...]

Maybe it was somewhere else but its amazing that a decade later the trolling is the same except with Tim instead of Steve.

We do see those patterns still, yeah.

We're deleting them where it's egregious, but we're not going to remove them when it makes sense. For example, there was a post about Apple transforming into a services company, and one of the replies was (essentially, I'm paraphrasing) that "they may want someone else at the helm because Cook is a retail guy". That's a perfectly reasonable and valid perspective on that topic, and a good point for discussion. There's no reason to remove a post like that, so long as it's not bundled with a bunch of other insanity.

Sometimes it gets murky when it's a perfectly normal post and then suddenly the last line or two is like "But under Jobs..." etc. We try and just use our best judgement there.

nerak254 said:

I wonder how many of them are already on Ebay? That's where mine is going.

You should send it to us. We'll review it  

photography guy said:

I'd like to suggest that you have a "Sign In/Register" button on the home page, and that when a user signs in, their badge appears at the top of every page, not just in forums or discussions. It's a minor thing from a technical standpoint, but it's a useful feature. And it's better for AI from a branding/profile perspective, because, if a user is not signed in or has not registered, they have a gentle, unobtrusive reminder on every page.

It's not a bad suggestion, it overlaps with some "plans" we have for 2017. Stay tuned : )

stangaddict said:

I really like this news site and will likely always come here for Apple news, but this is pretty bad in terms of positive slant. 

Apple missed the holiday season big time with this one. They touted an end of October release and over shot that date by a country mile. You rightfully point that out, but I'd hardly call this releasing in time for the holiday season. A handful of people who happened to order within a couple of hours of a release that was a surprise (December, not October) will luck out. However, there are going to be a lot of disappointed people this holiday season. 

You should listen to our Podcast for @nhughes thoughts on the shipping delay. In fact, everyone should go listen to the podcast. : )

dick applebaum said:

rogifan_new said:

Where I work employees don't get gifts for the holidays. I'd rather get nothing than a cheap t-shirt. I think last year Apple retail employees got Beats headphones.

My first job in data processing was with a Jewish toy company.  The celebrated both Jewish and Christian holidays -- the best!  Back then the big month for Christmas toy orders was August -- and then November for After Christmas sales.

My daughter had a job with a small company that had a party at the end of each month to celebrate their monthly performance vs objectives.   Rather simple affairs -- coffee and doughnuts...  But the real reward was that each employee received an envelope containing one or more $100 bills... that never showed up in their payroll check stub.

I didn't get anything from AI this year!

*runs away crying*
*slams bedroom door*

*Muffled sounds of heavy metal emanate from room*