GitHub could never quite decide whether they want to be a social network or not. The "Trending" page (which has been useless for a long time due to the ranking algorithm rewrite several years ago) is just one example of this indecision. The way users can vote on issues with "thumbs up", "heart", "rocket", and "fanfare" emojis (instead of simply "up" and "down") is another, and the ridiculous "achievements" on user pa…
> The way users can vote on issues with "thumbs up", "heart", "rocket", and "fanfare" emojis (instead of simply "up" and "down") is another Those emoji votes reduced a significant amount of the "+1" and similar low content comments which could take up significant space on a regular repo. We could look at other issue tracking systems such as Redmine. Pulling up a feature that's in the next release https://www.redmine.…
Now some people, to express support, react with "+1". Others react with "heart" or "rocket". How do you find the issues with the most popular support behind them? Do you sort by "+1" or by "heart"? On some issue trackers, one reaction type is preferred over another. On other trackers, reactions are mixed, and you find issues with 5 "+1" reactions and 40 "heart" reactions, and issues where it's the other way round. This is so hilariously bad that it almost feels like deliberate sabotage for laughs.
Imagine if HN, instead of upvotes and downvotes, had eight different ways to "react" to posts and comments, each with their own subtly different connotations. That's what GitHub implemented. It's something I would expect from a social network where people share photos of their cats, not from a system where software deficiencies are being discussed.