Changing a reaction emoji - what happens to old reactions?

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AI-generated summary

In a discussion about changing reaction emojis in Discourse, Shauny asked what happens to old reactions (e.g., :clap:) if the emoji is later removed from available reactions. Arkshine tested and confirmed that removed reactions still appear on old posts — for example, :clap: remains visible even if no longer selectable — while the main like button displays the configured default (e.g., :heart:). Importantly, users do not lose their reactions [^1]. However, Moin pointed out a UX confusion: when a post has both historical and current reactions (e.g., 3 :heart: and 1 :clap:), both icons appear alongside the total count (e.g., “3”), which can be misleading. Shauny initially thought this was normal, but later agreed it’s odd [7]. Arkshine suggested UX improvements, such as marking historical reactions or making them optional to display. Firepup650 noted the issue was previously raised in the announcement thread and expressed a preference for showing historical reactions over defaulting to :heart:. [^1]: Applies to Discourse versions after https://meta.discourse.org/t/changes-to-which-reactions-are-counted-as-likes/294696.

1

If I have several emoji added to reactions, for example :clap: and :confetti_ball: and I wanted to reduce the number, so I remove :clap: - what happens to old posts that had claps on before?

Do they lose the likes? Does the clap fallback to a heart? Or does it stay as a clap emoji?

Thanks

2

I tested it for you. :smile:

The :clap: would still appear as reaction, and the main like button would appear as :heart: (or any icon you configured).

For example:

The image shows a computer screen displaying a user interface with a forum or message board post, featuring user reactions or emojis, and sidebar options including various categories and tags, likely from a website administration or settings page. (Captioned by AI)
The image shows a computer screen displaying a user interface with a forum or message board post, featuring user reactions or emojis, and sidebar options including various categories and tags, likely from a website administration or settings page. (Captioned by AI)1872×307 40.4 KB

The image shows a snippet of a social media interface with emoji reactions displayed under a post, indicating three likes, one applause, and a cursor hovering over the applause emoji. (Captioned by AI)
The image shows a snippet of a social media interface with emoji reactions displayed under a post, indicating three likes, one applause, and a cursor hovering over the applause emoji. (Captioned by AI)157×134 6.4 KB

You don’t lose the like.[1]

  1. Assuming you are using a version after this: Changes to which reactions 👍 are counted as likes ❤ ↩︎

3

It’s a little confusing that the reaction is now displayed twice - as :heart: and as :clap: - while the total count is still 3.

4

That’s quite normal with reactions, because there might be two :heart: and one :clap: so it shows one each icon and the number 3.

5

Thank you for testing this!! Perfect :blush:

6

But there are 3 :heart: and 1 :clap: at the end

7

Oh right. Yes that’s a bit weird.

8

Yes, I agree; it’s a little confusing. Maybe some UX to tell this is a historical reaction would help. I’m not sure if the old reaction should be visible by default (meaning we can see these changes on request) :thinking:

9

I had actually already brought up the ux issue on the announcements topic

If we had the option of one or the other to show, I’d prefer having the historical reaction over just a like.