from Hacker News

Ask HN: What is the "Like" in a context of social network web-sites?

by eimrine on 5/18/25, 6:25 AM with 2 comments

I teach math to a group of young kids who are too young to be introduced to a smartphone. They asked me what a "Like" is. I told them about the concept of "Internet Points", but I feel like I'm missing something, for example how likes affect the algorithmic feed (but there is a big chance they do not know what is the feed as well).

For example, HN has more than 1 kind of like: an upvote, a vote for the submission, and vouch action. But do you have a logic when to use them on HN and on other resources? Are there websites where "liking" something has a noticeable impact on the feed?

  • by jesuo on 5/18/25, 8:30 AM

    "Likes" are a hoax created to extract information from people using the economy as an excuse. They are the evolution of the technique of terrorizing the population by pointing to hell as evil, the other side of the same coin. The official version is that they are a quick way to show approval, interest, or support for a post, comment, photo, or video.

  • by lwo32k on 5/18/25, 6:41 AM

    I just tell kids its like a library. There are more books than there is time for anyone to read them all. Then make them think up rules/ways to decide what to read. Its fun to watch them coming up with systems that end up being very similar to what the algos do.