About Respect

We want to try something different from thumbs up or thumbs down — a way to respond to someone's work that takes it seriously, even when you disagree.

The highest compliment on My Local Press is respect from someone who disagrees with you. It's the signal we take most seriously.

The four reactions

Under a story you'll find four icons. The first two — a smile and a frown — are a pair: Agree and Disagree. You can hold one or the other, not both, and clicking neither says something too. Skipping the pair is how you stay neutral.

Agree means "I see it the same way." It's your perspective on the piece, not a vote on whether it's true — we're not polling for truth, we're letting a community show where it stands.

The other two stand on their own, and stack with either stance or with silence:

• Respect — the hat. "I respect the craft that went into this," whatever you think of the message.
• Made me think — the thought bubble. The piece stayed with you after you finished it.

Disagreement is counted alongside respect, not against it. Disagree plus Respect is the combination we value most — earning respect from someone who doesn't share your view is the hardest thing a creator can do, and we think it should count for the most.

Percentages, not counts

Next to each reaction you'll see a percentage, not a tally. A count mostly measures how big a town is or how far a piece traveled. A percentage measures how the people who read it responded — and that reads the same in a village of 400 and a city of 400,000.

When only a handful of people have responded, a percentage would say more about chance than about the work, so it stays hidden until there's enough signal behind it.

Where your click matters

Your feed is your own: your readers, your support. Respect shapes what we surface across the network.

What rises is the work people respect even when they disagree with it.