Is it just me or does it appear to anyone else that despite many articles attracting lots of comments, they do not attract as much "like it" votes?! Is this a tactical thing (in terms of winning the top prize/ scoring points) or is it we are all in too much of a hurry commenting or admiring the photos? I guess i'm not too good a not liking articles/posts as there isn't much i don't like/vote for. Should there be a didn't like it button? Personally i liked the star rating scheme but i don't think many people were using it. I think its good to have some sorta rating mechanism because it lets the author of the post/article see if he/she is improving/impressing or not...anyone else have any thoughts on the matter?

Thanks for your thoughts Seamus. I'm kinda thinking aloud here:-). I just thought that the comments were not adding up with the like it votes (if that makes sense!) and wondered what anyone elses take on it was! Like you I enjoy how user friendly the site is to use, and how easy it is to post an article.

Or maybe, like myself, they do not realize that the “Like it” option has to do with the monthly contest.

A word of clarification. We do not use the number of "likes" and comments as an absolute judging criteria, even though the sum of these interactions is taken into account by the jury as a "popular vote". Our contest rules say:
"User commentary and ranking gathered by the competing entries will be considered by the jury."

...thought that adding a comment was as good as a vote...

It certainly is. The advantage of comments over likes is that they obviously provide more input to everyone concerned than "liking". I often think myself of a "like" button as a mini-comment in a rush. Of course you can feel free to use both to double the effect :). I guess that using your personal style is the way to go.

The like button is a fairly new function at iModeler. An aspect of its use may be the placement of the button, we have considered moving it together with the comments stream. Everyone's further thoughts on this would be appreciated.

George. The monthly competion is for builds submitted to "Headlines" within that month. Previous builds submitted are only considered within the month they first appear on the site. The model does not have to be a new build, it only has to be added to the site within each particular month. I hope this helps 🙂

@frank-cronin

One question I do have though is why or how does the avatar appear sometimes and at other times does not? Every time I hit the button only the number changes, but my avatar doesn't show along the others. Not that it is a big thing but the avatar lets the contributor know who hits the button along with the comment.

This is actually a bug. The counter works correctly when you press the button, but the avatar line will be upadted only after you re-load or re-visit the page.

I have reported this to the developer
/M.