But I don't like that it sends a notification, and appears as a full post and can be replied.

Would be nice if it was just displayed as a little emoji or a small bubble in the interface.

I also agree that likes wouldn't be good, but I also kinda wanna be able to say "Oh cool" but I don't wanna send a full notification just for that.

So I've been debating sending an empty post instead whenever I wanna acknowledge something but I have nothing to say. I'm not set on that, I'm not sure it would be good anyway.

i don't like how the empty post taking up so much space, and disrupting the flow of the feed in the first place.

what about having a "cool" bar that fills up? like:
cool : ■■■■■■■■

but also dunno it feels like the like/dislike or yes/no or agree/disagree feature will make this platform feel more like reddit and i don't like how that feels tbh

how about putting more effort and drawing a doodle, or just saying "i agree" as a text lol