Auto-magically & retroactively have posts that are only ±1, &c, converted to reactions & hidden/deleted

[TPS]

To fix issues like #18 recently not loading because of death by 1300 (❕:bangbang:❗) 👍s (& then having to be refiled in #604 to work-around), GitHub should now automatically & retroactively find all posts everywhere that consist solely of +1 (👍, +100, 💯, +∞, {?}, multi-/mega-👍s, & related should count, too — bonus points for "me, too" & equivalents), -1 (& related), &/or all other supplied reactions, convert them to reactions on the top/previous non-reaction-only post (repo owner's choice), & then hide/delete from view or thread outright. (Also, if any, reactions on said extraneous posts should be outright ignored!) It'd instantly solve such subscription-spamming (does anyone sane need e-mail notification on these posts?!), as well.

To give credit where due, @eddiemonge proposed this way back in April 23, 2015 & @andreynering on March 30, 2016!

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↓ Don't just react & don't +1/👍-only post: Contact GitHub supporting this, also, & report back! ↓

[TPS]

👍❤️

[TPS]

If this is ever implemented, the intermediate post should evaporate & convert to reactions on original post. 😜

[TPS]

Response from GitHub:

Thanks for reaching out. Yes it might be nice to go back and clean up all the +1 comments etc. and convert them into reactions.

I can't make any promises, but I have definitely added it to the feature request list and will share it with the team for consideration.

Regards,
Daniel
@danayel
GitHub Support

[TPS]

@sergei-ivanov I'm honored by your support! 🙇

[TPS]

Another issue that would benefit enormously from this is #215! 😵

[The-Compiler]

I think there are two different issues:

• converting existing +1 into reactions (what this issue is about)
• preventing new +1 - either by introducing some UI change to nudge users to use reactions instead, or by not permitting posts containing exactly +1 at all.

[TPS]

@The-Compiler I suppose 1 could split this into 2 (i.e., pt.1="retroactively" & pt.2="auto-magically"), but neither part is particularly satisfactory on its own, & I think the same backend implementation could handle both more easily than just 1-or-the-other.

[TPS]

From @radek-holy:

@TPS, as you can see, there are people who intentionally use comments instead of reactions. They have their reasons. So I believe that if GitHub starts to convert these comments into reactions, they will start write such comments that would not fit the GitHub's regexp since their goal is to post a comment (and to express support), not just to express support. So, my question was more about those emails that are intended to work around this issue regardless of their content…

I'll reply here as not to spam #283: Practically, such non-content support 👍s are spam on the channel for everyone else who's subscribed (so is inherently selfish), & causes other problems as detailed above. I'd rather have those folks put the effort into a useful response/comment, xor just minimally react, not the degenerate-hybrid spam. Besides, all this conversion is to be @ the repo admins' discretion, as mentioned above.