I Hate Emoticons

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I find them annoying and they make me picture the poster as an idiotic 12-year-old (a 12-year-old who happens to be an idiot, that is). I don't know why. Still, I do get their point:

In normal face-to-face conversation, more than half of the information conveyed is non-verbal.

If I remember correctly that's actually 90%. 90% of the information you are trying to convey is lost in pure text form. Isn't that nice?

They can be used to express emotion or tone, a lot better than any other method I can think of in text based communication. [...]
After all, which seems like a stranger response to, say, my girlfriend informing me she can come visit me this weekend? "I am happy" or " ".

Emoticons may be more convenient, but if you are even a bit eloquent you shouldn't have any problems with not using them. You could say something like "Now I'm really looking forward to this weekend." I mean, I am terribly lazy and still don't use emoticons. They are never necessary, they just make things easier. And look stupid. Well, most of them, anyway.

Having said that, I wish there was a better (and convenient) indicator for the use of sarcasm.

See, when I see "Now I'm really looking forward to the weekend." the period looks like the guy isn't all that excited about it; if you type it as "Now I'm really looking forward to the weekend!" it shows excitement, but it's the kind of excitement that implies cheering, not the kind that shows someone is happy that their girlfriend is coming over. However, if you type it as "Now I'm really looking forward to the weekend =D" the exact mood intended is conveyed in the text. Sure, 12 year olds use emoticons, but when used properly it doesn't have to make you look like one. That's like saying 12 year olds use microphones when playing games online, so anyone using a microphone looks like a 12 year old -- or like saying 12 year olds play videogames, and adults shouldn't, for that matter.

Edit: Also, that 90% figure is a well known case of hyperbole. If it was 90%, written language wouldn't work at all.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Messed up the quote, twice.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Snip because I messed up the quote

Edit: And clicked quote instead of edit. It's times like this I wish there were a delete button on these forums :/

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I will display my stupidity (or ignorance) here, what on earth does ':3' mean? I'm not sure if I want to know though... It might be kinder to not tell me..

It's a kitty face. It can be used for a lot of situations, especially for ones that ^.^ would also be appropriate for -- well, those situations and certain pervy comments. It's kind of an anime thing.

 

[Innegativeion]

They are an integral part of having a real discussion over the text.

I mean, just look at all the emotion pumped out by my reaction to this thread.

=l

(the neutral face and kirby (u^_^) are my favorites btw)

 

[Twilight.falls]

I only use emoticons to clarify what emotion I am trying to convey in a sentence.

"You're just bad at this game "
-I'm making fun of someone but in a friendly way.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Only when used in excess or inappropriately, but they can be useful in expressing tone over the Internet which can't be done ordinarily since it's just text.

 

[zehydra]

No.

They don't.

OP, get a grip.

 

[Jack Rascal]

I will display my stupidity (or ignorance) here, what on earth does ':3' mean? I'm not sure if I want to know though... It might be kinder to not tell me..

It's a kitty face. It can be used for a lot of situations, especially for ones that ^.^ would also be appropriate for -- well, those situations and certain pervy comments. It's kind of an anime thing.

Oh that's much better than what my imagination came up with

 

[Nouw]

Sometimes I need a good dose of them to portray my emotions. A '' shows that I'm fairly light-hearted about the subject and if it wasn't there I'd end up either giving the wrong/an ambigious message or die-trying to word it.

I tried to stop using them but my posts became a tad dull and ambigious. No one wants that do they?
[sub]God I love the >.>, damn you Sacman![/sub]

 

[rokkolpo]

I like them.

Nothing gets over the message like a good old smile

 

[PeePantz]

I will display my stupidity (or ignorance) here, what on earth does ':3' mean? I'm not sure if I want to know though... It might be kinder to not tell me..

It's a kitty face. It can be used for a lot of situations, especially for ones that ^.^ would also be appropriate for -- well, those situations and certain pervy comments. It's kind of an anime thing.

It always looked like testicles to me.

 

[AngelicSven]

>:3



>.!

No sweat.

 

[DirtyMagic]

God, I also hate them! >_<
In all seriousness though, how can you not love:

\m/(^_^)\m/

Or for that matter...

(>^_^)(>o_0)>

Surprise buttsecks!

 

[Dr. wonderful]

I love them.


But of course, some make me mad. D:<

 

[Rockchimp69]

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.

FLAME FLAME FLAME

Just kidding, well sometimes they can help get the more subtle tones across, e.g. sarcasm. Which is quite hard through text, but other times I see your point.

 

[Hashime]

I also dislike all of them. Also, for the most part I don't know what they mean and I read them as letters, ex. "XD" as X D, the letters.

 

[Spade Lead]

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.

 

[Bugerion]

I use xD and most although people don't seem to understand what means which I find kind of weird

 

[Cowabungaa]

I can live with people using them apart from 1

:')

The happy crying face FUCK OFF it annoys me so much

It basically means "Oh god you must be kidding me, that's so freakin' sad/stupid/retarded." Sort of like a facepalm.

Maybe so but where I live the frequency of its use is irritating, people literally use it after anything
'oh my gawd I went to the shop and bought some hubba bubba :')'

UURRRGGGHHHH

Yeah that makes very little sense. Difference with most non-verbal communication, is that a lot of it goes neigh-automatically. Quite different with emoticons, and if you spam them too much their message fades away and people get annoyed.