A note to Michael B-C:
Just wanted to mention, I've never commented on a post using a "dislike" (thumbs down), as you did regarding my first post on this thread, since it seems rude to me. Also, it isn't at all specific. Far more helpful would be to say why you disagree.
You may not have agreed with my post, but I wasn't being rude, and I took the time to thoughtfully lay out my argument.
Anyway, I think it's unfortunate there even is such an option. It's certainly lacking in constructive good will, and doesn't encourage honest debate.
Of course, now that I've brought this up it's quite possible I will see at least one person here (supported by many "likes" no doubt) vehemently disagreeing with what I've expressed here. Yes, already I can imagine its being pointed to me out in copious detail the virtues of the "thumbs down" feature: how fair it is, how useful, to the point, how it's not at all offensive (except, maybe, if you are too sensitive), etc. Yes, I can practically hear a veritable ode being recited to the thumbs down feature. So, maybe I'll give it a crack myself (spare others the effort):
Ode to the thumbs-down feature
Ode to the thumbs-down feature
Its color a disapproving red,
Its thumb directed downward,
In Caesar's time: I'd be dead.
Actually, as some here may already have read about, in Caesar's time thumbs down actually meant "swords down." It meant the gladiator left standing with his sword should
spare the life of his combatant (thus, plunging his sword into the ground), this as decided by a judge who usually based his decision on what was being expressed most enthusiastically by the crowd.
Here's an interesting little history on how somewhere along the line we were misled, and what was once thumbs down became thumbs up, and vice versa:
But ancient Rome aside, I do think it's more hospitable and helpful to explain one's opposing point of view than to resort to the thumbs down gesture. Hopefully at least some of you will agree, but either way, I do think this is a credible point of view I'm sharing here.