Liking / reccing - is it engaging enough? [View all]

I've been bemoaning the loss of conversational back and forth here, as in olden times. I almost always received replies and engaged in interesting convos after posting.

At first I thought it was due to a lot of new members, with whom I had not established a relationship of sorts here. Then I assumed it was my tedious posts. I've been missing the dialogue! I've been feeling less part of community here. Some of my OGs are MIA, too?

Then it occurred to me AHA! I wonder if the new "like" (rec posts) function has usurped actual conversation? You know, I can just engage, now, by liking / reccing a post. Sure enough, on my last post, there were 7 recs. So, I know it was read and acknowledged in some way by other members.

While I do like the new rec post function as a shorthand, I also wonder if something isn't lost as well as gained?