English is my second language and the last thing I could ever picture myself doing was arguing English linguistics in public. And here I am, doing exactly that - doubting the way "LIKE" word is used by you know who.

So, is it me, or is "Like" actually used inappropriately as a noun as an expression of agreement/accent? We fell for it and also use "XX likes" here on BoonEx, but from what I read, when you use "like" as a noun, it is:

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"used with reference to a person or thing of the same kind as another"

• ( the like) a thing or things of the same kind (often used to express surprise or for emphasis) 

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- So, saying that "the article has 25 likes" would mean "25 other articles are similar to this", no?

- Also, when you click "like" and later "unlike". Unlike is also a real word, but never a verb. Only preposition or adjective, meaning "different", etc.

- Next, when used as part of social networking site "like" button often serves (and on Facebook too) as a method of subscribing or as a bookmark or as a sharing tool. In many cases people don't really like what they "like". 

- It gets ugly when you see translated versions - Russian in particular. Hard to explain, but trust me - it's pathetic.

Why Like

As saying goes "Internet has only two currencies that attract people - real money and self expression", so I can understand rationale behind choosing "Like" as a method of wooing quick/casual substitute for a comment and later doing it's job as social aggregator (often without people realising they've subscribed to something). People click "Like" because they actually like what they see, and let the rest slide. It may work wonders for a site with specific goals, but it may not be a good approach for us - software developers. We need a term that works universally and makes sense. 

Alternatives

Google is trying to make +1 work, which sounds good, but regrettably lacks any emotional ties. You have to know what this +1 is doing to even care. Made up terms like "digg" or "tweet" might work, but they are all extentions of their brands and are not an option for us. "Follow" and "Subscribe" sound right, but this kind of button often doesn't subscribe you to anything, and most importantly isn't nearly as gratifying for recipient as "Like" is. 

So, after deep and extensive research we came up with our own idea that we plan to use both here on BoonEx and in Dolphin 8...

+OK 

Looking at the meanings OK should serve you well (Unless you're from Oklahoma, in which case you could use "okay"):

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OK ¹ (also okay |ˈōˈkā|) informal

exclamation

used to express assent, agreement, or acceptance : OK, I'll pass on your message | OK, OK, I give in.

• used to introduce an utterance : “OK, let's go.”

adjective [ predic. ]

satisfactory but not exceptionally or especially good : the flight was OK.

• (of a person) in a satisfactory physical or mental state : are you OK, Ben?

• permissible; allowable : I'm not sure if it's OK to say that to a teacher.

adverb

in a satisfactory manner or to a satisfactory extent : the computer continues to work OK.

noun [in sing. ]

an authorization or approval : do you know how long it takes for those pen-pushers to give us the OK ?

verb ( OK's, OK'd, OK'ing) [ trans. ]

sanction or give approval to : the governor recently OK'd the execution of a man who had committed murder.

ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: probably an abbreviation of orl korrect, humorous form of all correct, popularized as a slogan during President Van Buren's reelection campaign of 1840; his nickname Old Kinderhook (derived from his birthplace) provided the initials.

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We added "+" to be able to do "-OK" and to avoid confusion with form submits. 

All in all, +OK seems to be just right:

- It does express approval/assent.

- It may be used even if you don't really "Like" what you're OK'ing.

- Gramaticaly correct forms are used according to their actual meaning.

- There's practically no need to translate. This is possibly the only word in the world people all nations know well, even when very young.

- It serves fine as method of following/subscribing. 

It looks just right to me. What do you think? Is it a go, or is my second language failing me?

UPDATE:

After some discussion in comments we think that PLUS and MINUS may work better.