Not only are the links gone, but the numbers of likes given and received are gone from our Profile pages too. It never ceased to amaze me that with all the strong disagreements I've gotten into around here, I still had over 12,000 Likes received and right around 11,000 given as of the last time I was in my Profile. It never meant to me that I was necessarily well-liked, but rather, that I was good enough at presenting my views and making a cogent argument that even people with whom I sometimes disagree(d) (which is literally just about everybody who's ever been here) managed to Like my posts from time to time. Some sites have a "reputation" score for each poster. Not sure how they earn a high score, but assuming it's with Likes or Thumbs Up links or some other input from participating readers, I can't imagine what harm to the site it could provide, and think it actually helps to tell newcomers at least something about who's posting "good stuff" and who most likely ain't. Someone who's got a ton of posts after being here for several years and they only have a couple of hundred Likes is now on the same "reputation" plane of someone who has put enough thought, research and articulateness into earning many thousands of Likes. Hardly seems fair, but I've got no say in it other than to choose to be here.........or not.
Blues
