Emoticons

In the world of the written text, emoticons are a necessary evil to communicate tone. I have lost count on the number of misunderstandings and hurt feelings that have resulted by people not being able to interpret an author's humorous tone.

(:3=

Goo goo gajoob.

I think they contribute to the "L33T-5pe3k" of today which in turn degrades ppls actual communication skills.

I love em :-D

love 'em
love 'em
love 'em
when i'm in the mood for them

the other times i don't care

they're kool when ppl don't go overboard. too many is too much

I've found that I can avoid their use, by drafting & redrafting my posts until it reads right, and the varied use of punctuation & grammar. It's suprising how easy it is to use ! effectively to express emotion! I can feel a rant brewing, so I'm finishing here!

That's a good point GD-- but randomly placed exclamation points and other punctuation easily tend to halt the flow of normal reading and can easily cause people to have to re-read or even just confuse them (especially when the writer tnds not to ever capitalize anything but for emphasis). However, careful consideration of your words does a world of good.

One thing that always makes me skip reading a post in A2K is bad grammar or punctuation. I understand that typos happen (and make a few myself), but anyone reading back their post before submitting them can spot if it 'just doesn't look right'.

At the risk of alienating myself from people who are less literate (or simply more lazy) than me (for whatever reason), if someone can't be bothered to type their opinions properly, I can't usually be bothered to read it.

You read before posting?

I type, hit enter, and head off to other vistas.

Hmmmm - I am not big on emoticons, generally, except in chat - to tease people, sort of - but I am an extremely over liberal user of dashes and exclamation points. Sigh.

I love emoticons. I think that they convey affect that you cannot perceive through body language, as you can in "real" life. I think that emoticons are important in internet interactions to prevent misunderstandings.

Note the difference in meaning when emoticons are used:

I don't think you know what you are talking about! :wink:

I don't think you know what you are talking about!

I don't think you know what you are talking about!

See what I mean?

One emoticon that we don't have on A2K which I would really like is one that is available on Hotmail. It is picture of a head, with a hammer hitting it. I could find a lot of use for that one!

Rock on.

Any illegal aliens in here?

Well, phoenix, it seems the emoticons you used can easily portray sarcasm and not only your intended purpose.

I started out hating emoticons, and have modified my stance enough to use them on occasion. I still much prefer words.

On typos and other matters: I always reread and often miss them. I reread a second time after posting and, appalled, often edit. It has been a learning experience about my own brain slips (here for hear, e.g.) Some very very smart people here screw up with typos in haste, and that might make me like them even more. Sometimes I edit later on upon review - when I have apparently posted with my tongue in a knot.

I appreciate posters who use correct grammar, but then I also appreciate posters who don't have the grammar knack.

(re. typos: I had re-read my master thesis a couple of times, some others did so as well, it was even done by a profesional corrector before printing ... and on the way back from univeristy, after having it presented there, I found two really nasty typos on the first page of the preface.)