I Hate Emoticons

[Tarlane]

first off, I hate you for bringing up "swordfighting".


second off, I love you for bringing that site into my life.

[small]now my plans of annoyance through funny images will be DOABLE! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH![/small]

I think the correct response is, first: You're welcome. Second: I'm sorry to everyone else.

 

[mexicola]

Considering text based communication lacks any body language or tone of voice components I think emoticons can help a great deal when you are trying to get your message across. For example "of course" and "of course " give the opposite meanings without you having to spell it all out and help to avoid confusion.

That being said I hate it when people overuse it. Peppering your text with emoticons is simply distracting and serves no purpose.

 

[zombiejoe]

Then this must annoy the hell out of you.

-_- @_@ ;-;

lol, yeah I can see your point, but they aren't too bad. Yet there is a better version of them.

http://www.myfacewhen.com/

 

[lacktheknack]

Emoticons are annoying and asinine, in short they suck. If you use an emoticon it makes me think you are a twelve year old girl or that you are so inarticulate you can't get your point across. Emoticons annoy the living shit out of me and I was wondering what the Escapist community thinks. But since a lot of you use them I get the feeling I'm going to be flamed and or banned for this thread since the mods probably use them and won't like my stance.

>Look at it. Doesn't it annoy the shit out of you.

First I was like :|

Then I was like.

Then I was all like

Then I was like O_O



Seriously, though, a well placed emoticon can be absolutely hilarious. Overuse can be a bit annoying, but no more annoying then overuse of internet lingo.

 

[plunderbunny]

I have nothing against them.
I don't see the problem with them as long as they're used in moderation and in an appropriate context.

 

[Aura Guardian]

I don't mind them. I rarely use them. What I do hate is seeing them in every sentence. That's when I get annoyed at them. My friend does that all the time. Every sentence at the end is an emoticon and not a interrogation mark for example. I told her to limit them since my a few people on my skype groups hates seeing them as well.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

What's the problem with emoticons? Used properly and sparingly, they're an important part of internet discourse; voice tone does not transfer well over text, at least not without writing multiple pages of it just to get the point across. Forum posts, even the really long ones, are a lot shorter form than that, and emoticons are occasionally useful. Think about it -- they prevent a lot of flamewars, because they can be the difference between an ad hominem attack, and a harmless joke.

Edit: Think about how books are written. They're full of little comments like "'Nice hat' he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm." Emoticons fill in the "his voice dripping with sarcasm" part a lot better than going Nice hat, or worse, *sarcastically*Nice Hat*sarcastically*. Doesn't "Nice hat XD" just work better?

How does XD convey sarcasm? I post like I write for my novel, "You are so smart," he said sarcastically. Or, if I am really feeling snarky " You are so smart, Jackass." But XD conveys neither of those emotions to me.

It conveys that you're joking, or at least not entirely serious. You could also use , but it comes across as a little bit sillier.

 

[Keepitclean]

I rarely use them on the internet because I can accurately represent how I'm feeling without them. When texting however, I use them fairly regularly. But it only seems to be to girls and only when they have used one first, weird.

I don't mind them but more than one per message is pretty annoying. On forums we can do this

Spoiler: mfw

 

[Mauso88]

I like them, like real emotions they can be infectious.

Try looking at the smiley face emoticons without wanting to smile back.

 

[WorldFree55]

I'm curious what this :X means? Anybody know?

 

[Mauso88]

What about a sword fight? --

I think its obvious that emoticons have to be taken to the next level. [http://www.myfacewhen.com/]

The Shocked Wall, right at the bottom of the first page really tickled me.

 

[The Stonker]

It can signal when something is being used as a "haha joke! Funneh" or "I WILL RIP YOUR ASS TO SHREDS!"
Since being ironic really doesnt get across the net, unless you know the person.

 

[The_Echo]

I don't like some of them (xD >.> T-T for example. Certain variants look better to me, like XD or >_>). But they're useful for portraying inflection or mood.

I tend to stay away from emoticons when I want to be taken seriously, such as when I post here. It's a different story among my friends and I, however.

 

[Drakmorg]

Yeah they're pretty annoying. I completely ignore them.
I always just read them out loud like they are being read by microsoft sam, convinces me that the user is more of an idiot:

"I'm so happy colon parenthesis"

see how stupid that sounds? That's how pretty much everyone who uses emoticons sounds to me.

 

[liamwazhere]

Yeah emoticons suck.

 

[Wicky_42]

Emoticons are a fundamental part of social conversation on the interwebs - otherwise you are seriously hampering your ability to express emotions, drastically limiting the variety of subtle and not-so-subtle inflections and spins you can put on the bare written words :/ The internet would be a bleaker place without them.