That's definitely not the only reason why you might be unwilling to explain why you disgaree, as that's obviously a false dilemma. Then again, this thread is full of them, so why stop now?

It actually is the only reason. You worry that your reasons might be debunked so you want to "shoot" the other side but not expose yourself. It's fundamentally unfair and it goes against the very structure of a debate.

If I don't know why you disagree how can I show you that you are wrong? You have to do a little better than just say you disagree cause if you don't say why you disagree, you are not actually disagreeing, you are just using the words "I disagree" as empty words.

But by all means explain yourself and tell me WHAT reasons you could possibly have to not explain why you disagree?

"I disagree" != "you're wrong".

I am being consistent. It's pretty clear that you don't know the first thing about how it's implemented there or how the userbase uses it to interact with each other, so how can you possibly comment on how inconsistent I'm being? For what it's worth, how comments are sorted and displayed are based on user preferences, but by default, likes/dislikes are not used to raise or lower the status of comments. They are sorted chronologically. I mean, if you're not going to take five minutes to see how the system over there works before you start commenting on how it doesn't apply to your implementation, that's on you.

I should also note that while reddit ettiqutette dictates how like or dislikes should be used, it's pretty obvious using the site that they are not how the userbase uses them. Perhaps you should take note.

@Bold With guys that are ideologically driven as VGPolygot is, who are trying their hardest to remove me and slimebeast from these boards it would be prudent to believe that people like them WILL keep track of those who liked our posts since they deem our beliefs to be dangerous. It's a pretty similar scenario where if you don't subscribe to ResetERA's concept of "social justice" and if they had a transparent like system showing who liked posts that shared similar opposing ideals like ours then the user will be persecuted by the community until the end of their days in that community ... 

What people are asking for is awfully similar to back when Nazi Germany existed and commanders decreed that the Jewish people wear an identification mark to make surveillance easier for them ... 

You're way too naive to see how the purpose of the transparent like system can be abused by the community. Writing a comment just explicitly reveals your position but having a transparent like system is just another explicit or implicit way to express your position ... 

With a like system, the user in question doesn't even have to participate in a thread and could turn up to be harassed in future discussions thus discouraging the usage of the like system as an implication to avoid discrimination ... 

Transparency DOESN'T promote honesty, it only serves to promote dishonesty because the users who use the like system are under surveillance and can't hand out a like unless they want to face a potential witch hunt from certain sections of the community without having even written a comprehensive post! 

OK, sure nobody is forcing the them to click the button but you can't deny that transparency makes it far easier for an aggressive community to track dissenting views ... 

Not being able to click the like button without having to be excommunicated or ostracized is somewhat self defeating ... 

Yeah but the user in question doesn't even have to be explicit about it or participate in the thread so that reeks of surveillance ... 

It just makes things far easier for certain sections of the community to exclude the users in the future and that can't be healthy for this community to produce one echo chamber after another ... 

Did you actually change it so the guy would stop acting like a whiner? This means on the next feature hes going to do exactly the same thing

I guess another solution would be if nobody has thought up of it is that we have separate like systems for the users who do want to be transparent or not ...

The interesting thing is a agree with what you are saying but ONLY in REAL LIFE. I consider websites like Facebook extremely dangerous because people put a ton of very real info there: Actual names, face pictures, family members, address, place of work, political opinions etc. How many times I have read in some forums people actually get threatened for something they said? And if you have all your info out there it would be downright dangerous. So your reasoning is not entirely wrong in my opinion but only in real life.... Over here we are anonymous to begin with.

Also if someone wants to harass me here, they have plenty of opportunity to do so with my controversial opinions, they really don't need to worry about which comments I like, to have an excuse to harass me if they choose to do so. I can't stop people from hating me if they choose to. Well the only way I can stop it is by simply never writing down my opinions then they wouldn't have any reasons to get on my case. But in that case why even make an account in a forum? Lurking on VGC to look at the charts and the video gaming news is enough.

I find it bad enough that in real life one often must shut up because it can be dangerous to freely express oneself so I don't wish to shut up in an anonymous forum just cause someone could get on my case. Also this is part of the fun of being on a forum, exchanging ideas, seeing who agrees with you and who disagrees and why. So about this like system I'll say this: I don't mind a transparent system where your likes are public, but if it bothers some people so much then I'm good too with a like system where only the author of the liked comment knows you liked his/her comment and the like can remain anonymous to everybody else.

I'm going to assume that you and everybody else who do not want a transparent like system would agree to this?

PS: I just liked your comment I'm replying to. So if someone wants to harass me cause I liked your comment, let them go right ahead and see what happens.

Better point would have been that digg died, we aint reddit and lots of websites use your system. And then slap a ban on him for being a troll