Now that MNHQ has given us a support emoji reaction can we have a laugh out loud one as well?

Because it was being used on posts where women were talking about trauma and abuse.

Coming from 'anonymous user' and/or recognisable trolls.

I’ve genuinely only used the laugh emoji when someone has written something witty. It was a way of saying “nice one” or “I see what you did there” in appreciation of them brightening up my day. I agree that whole-class punishments are shit.

Agree with this. Positive social interactions shouldn’t be off the table because there are cruel people who will misuse them to hurt others.

A return of our much loved and missed laugh reaction, coupled with a setting that lets those users who dislike them not see them seems the best option. And maybe a 'sensitive topics' area where they are not available.

maybe a thread requesting it on site stuff would work…

Some of us like laughing together. Some of us find having visible coloured emojis sprinkled across the board makes reading hard or impossible. Remember the dismay a week or so back at the new colour scheme.

A return of our much loved and missed laugh reaction, coupled with a setting that lets those users who dislike them not see them seems the best option. And maybe a 'sensitive topics' area where they are not available.

Some posters were properly upset by the use of 1 emoji, ‘appreciation’ as others have mentioned can be shown by the use of the heart

the removal of it was requested in December 2024 and it took mumsnet 6 months of monitoring before it was removed

maybe other options like having it allowed on certain boards should have been used but they decided not to do that

i don’t post emotional stuff, i have never had a laugh that wasn’t because i had said something funny, but i also don’t get the angst from some posters (not on this thread but there have been others) over its removal

I miss it. So what if someone laughs at me sarcastically? No skin off my nose.

I’ve spent the last 6 weeks pretty ill, with what turned out to be lung cancer. During this time of a lot of unwanted inactivity and anxious boredom, this board of clever, funny women have given me plenty of belly laughs to keep me sane along the way. If I heart your humour, it’s my laugh.

For the fragile of disposition, I’d like to point out that while my use of the heart emoji may have several meanings, depending on context, it’s never sarcastic!

"So what we're all adults" in response to someone saying it was used to bully is actually implying how others should react. Feel free to talk for yourself clearly going forward.

TBF if I received a laugh emoji response on a serious post I’d made my first thought would have been that someone had fat thumbs and had clicked it by mistake!

Agree, this could have been a good way of doing it. I do want to say I am genuinely shocked at, and sorry to hear about, the horrible use of the reaction buttons that people here have described. I know I shouldn't be, it's the Internet, but why do people do that? I just can't get my head around it. People can be truly awful but they can also be wonderful so I suppose it's about how you cultivate that supportive space, which I think Mumsnet can be very good at, whilst also protecting it.

See, I think that would have been a perfect solution! Posters who are writing about something sensitive could have the option to turn the reactions off, or even to turn off just the laugh reactions so they can still receive hearts and flowers.

I also get the impression that there are people who disapprove of humour on principle, and I find them scary, as I would in real life. I don't particularly like most comedians, but do appreciate those who tread lightly.

I can see the value of having a 'sensitive' topics page without emoticons, or of having a option where a poster can choose not to see them, but for those of us who do not choose to post that way, and did find the 'laugh' supportive and enriching, banning it everywhere seems very heavy handed.

Maybe some people have designs on thinking of themselves as stand up comedians and it catered to that?

Or maybe some people just have different views. That doesn't make them wrong, or mean that we lack humanity. I like reactions, you don't 🤷‍♀️. Maybe you should be more tolerant of different opinions.

Nothing seems to get through to them, for some reason. Their obsession with needing some laugh reaction (I'd be happier if all 'reactions' were removed, there is no need for any of them) stops them from seeing reality. Not even how it was abused, as we all warned Mumsnet it would be. They didn't listen, we were proved right, so it had to go. Posters on here who had genuinely traumatising situations were mocked. Some on here lack even the base level humanity to understand that.

I can have empathy for other women, and also think it was a useful feature. Mumsnet could have made tweaks to how the system was set up, instead of just removing the function entirely.

People have suggested here that reactions could be made public, or reportable, or they could be turned off on certain topics like bereavement and pregnancy loss. Lots of options.

Women are posting (or have posted on other threads in the past) that they have written about serious illness, suicide, being widowed, child deaths and other things and that the laughter emoji has been given (privately) and that it upset them a lot.

I’m not a regular poster on this section, it comes up in Active so sometimes I read, sometimes I post, but I don’t deliberately seek it out if you see what I mean.

But I have to say I’m gobsmacked at the lack of understanding and support for these women. Some of you have said you’ve received that emoji too and it didn’t bother you. But can you not find a scrap of empathy for other women?

Yes I guess it is quicker to use.

I get lots of thumbs ups and sometimes wish they were public to shut up the occasional poster who whinges on and on because they take exception to something and can't let it drop. I tend to just not answer now, though that feels rude.

No.

Because it clogs up threads with emojis. It was useful to just have a quick laugh react button to show appreciation.

I regularly received hundreds of laugh reactions to my posts and gave hundreds out too so you can see how it's useful.

It is funny, but not in a way that makes me think the user was a very nice person.

There is something really small about needing to be so catty in such a secretive, cowardly way. If you think a poster has said something stupid, just be big enough to say so - and give other posters a chance to check you.

But I genuinely don't understand why you can't just use the laugh emoji? Same effect, no?

You need to get out on the streets with your placards. You and your army of head girl laugh objectors,

Down with this sort of thing!

TBH if I had ever received a 'laugh' reaction to comments which made it inappropriate/sarcastic (which I never did), I would just have assumed the poster made a 'fat finger' error.

It's an incredibly feeble way to be unpleasant to someone. Really laugh-out-loud feeble, worthy of a sarcastic laugh emoji all of its own.

I think that perhaps the people who worry about this use of a private reaction must have been influenced by their experience of it on platforms where reactions are public.

I dont think equating the loss of a baby and autism is quite the same (2 autistic.children here).
Particularly a recent loss or first time talking about it.
It was also used when people were suicidal. Its fine to say you can ignore it, but if you were on the edge it isn't that easy.