Reading comments in different communities, I noticed that users hardly leave smilies. Why is that?

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    • pistachio@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      In msn messenger emoticons were what emojis are today. So to me emoticons and emojis are the same… i dont what to call the things op refers to… maybe ASCII emoticons?

      Edit: turns out im wrong https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoticon

      Edit: sort of wrong… emojis are also officially called emoticons

  • cerement@slrpnk.net
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    1 year ago

    second a few other comments, a lot of people conflating emoticons and emojis

    • emoticon: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
    • emoji: 🤷
    • emoticon: =>^.^<=
    • emoji: 🐱
    • Empricorn@feddit.nl
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      1 year ago

      Very true. Also, I believe you forgot to escape the 2nd ^ symbol? I think it should look like this:

      =>\^.\^&lt;=
      

      =>^.^<=

    • moitoi@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      It’s understandable. Back in the old old days, these 😱 were often called emoticons. The reason was that the chat software that people used to automatically replaced ;-) by 😉. The menu was the same and the name of this menu was emoticon.

      One of the most famous example of this is MSN Messenger.

      People keep the habit to call them emoticons.

  • Black_Gulaman@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    Usually I only use them when I personally know who I’m talking to. Because who knows how a random person will react to an emoji, misunderstanding their meaning, unintentionally or intentionally.

    I also sometimes use them to indicate how casual my post is and should not be taken too seriously.

  • Melllvar@startrek.website
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    1 year ago

    Emoticons are like swear words.

    I use them sparingly not because I disapprove of them, but to preserve their effectiveness.

    • TaldenNZ@lemmy.nz
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      1 year ago

      I have been sparing the almighty hell out of mine. When they drop it will be epic.

  • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 year ago

    All these people singing the praises of emoticons over emojis, and not a single XD to be seen. I know you’re old enough to remember the XD times! XD you cowards!

    • Fogle@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      They just take so much work to type or find when emojis look the same 😏 like it’s literally the same thing just coloured in a picture

  • AzureInfinity@leminal.space
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    1 year ago

    I find them obnoxius, just like inserting animated gifs and meme responses. If used in serious context it makes the whole post look cringe, using them to replace words is fit only for smartphone troglodytes sending character-limited posts/SMS.

  • chaorace@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 year ago

    In-group signalling. One of the many microhabits you need to acquire in order to fit in with the local culture and nothing more. As usual, people make up reasons to justify why their cultural proclivities are objectively right but these are without exception completely post-hoc.

  • cheeseburger@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    I think most oldies are embarrassed by them. I’m not though, but I only surf the world wide web from my phone, so perhaps I’m more hip 😎

  • vexikron@lemmy.zip
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    1 year ago

    Because lemmy users tend to be tech literate millennials or older, who were using the internet before it became a widely popular and used thing.

    We remember a time before emojis. And to us, there is art, and more meaning in continuing the old ways of using textual symbols in clever ways to convey an emotion.

    Emojis are a cop out, a cheap and easy way to do the same, invented for a mass audience that didnt want to do any thinking or be clever in any kind of way and wanted it all handed to them.

    I realize this may sound silly but I will die on this hill: emojis are for children and the technically illiterate, they are an appropriation of a culture spawned by some gen x and mostly millennials when the curious of us forged our own way onto what was at one point in time a frontier of seemingly infinite possibility.

  • Lvxferre@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    My hypothesis: Lemmy has an older userbase, and in general older people feel less of a need to express their emotions. They’re busier discussing the topic than highlighting their attitude towards it.

    • Maestro@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      My 80 old father-in-law spams emoticons like he’s a 15 year old girl. Cringe-worthy and hillarious at the same time 😂