+1 Interesting!  (Slashdot has had an even more nuanced reaction system since the 1990s.)<p>What&#x27;s different now is the visual representation - reactions as emoji.<p>And speaking from experience (the TapestryMaker social network platform has had emoji-based reactions for a couple years) it really does change the quality of the discussion.  Especially on phones, one-click responses are a lot easier; so giving people a big one-click vocabulary makes conversation much richer.  And having it representable visually rather than textually changes the image&#x2F;text balance which for many people really improves their overall experience -- even though people who prefer text may not see it that way.