This is a lovely set of observations and thoughts.

I was active and moderately popular on twitter for a few years and found that the notifications that pinged up when someone liked or RTed a post made the whole thing look and feel as addictive as a slot machine.

As a recovering alcoholic who has struggled all my life with compulsions, I find this is a very dangerous dark pattern.

There was a massive dopamine rush from making the kind of posts that work well on twitter. The feedback was immediate and on some occassions could go on for days. Then, in a pattern every addict recognises, the emptiness returns and you keep pulling the lever again and again and again hoping for another hit. More money for Jack. Less life force for me.

I have carried out various experiments with likes on twitter - building browser extensions to hide them for example.

I think, fortunately or unfortunately, they have a genuine value. A like can be a nod of acknowledgement from a friend, a reassuring hand on a shoulder, a smile, an "I want you to know that even though I have nothing more to add, I read your words". I'd argue that the majority of human communication is non-verbal so in an exclusively verbal/written environment, these gestures, like emoticons, can convey real meaning although they can also be insincere. They can serve value in discovery as well. That friend of a friend who is a bit too shy to introduce themselves might open a conversation with a like on something you said.

I prefer to use words to convey these things but sometimes a nod or a like or a smile is easier and less intrusive.

@rich do we really want to build an environment for people who play banjo? ;)

I'm joking of course (some of my best friends, etc) and your point is an excellent one. The friend of friends mechanism works really well in reducing the scope for conflict but we are all complicated beings.

I think of @mix discovering common ground with someone whose behaviour is abusive and who has been blocked by many people here as they both share experiences of fatherhood. What mix has done and is doing is wonderful. This is the work that brings people back into the fold and builds peace. Yet it also brings conflict because an abusive person brings disharmony into spaces where marginalised and oppressed people want peace and safety and many quite rightly would rather the troublemaker be banished. There's a conflict there, one that in human terms can be solved with different levels of intimacy and well demarkated spaces and one in technical terms can be solved in a similar fashion.

In my life I have friends from a broad spectrum of beliefs and lifestyles, some of whom at first glance would believe they have nothing in common or might feel habitual antagonism towards one another. SSB definitely veers towards one end of that spectrum at the moment. I am confident that it can handle greater diversity and that any technical changes needed to make that process smoother will be handled thoughtfully.

My take is that I will never block people whose values I disagree with as long as they act considerately. If they start, for example, spamming the feminism channel with antifeminist memes with the obvious goal of causing upset then I will block them without hesitation - banjo player or not.