Reaction emojis- why has mumsnet removed the laughing reaction?

[Onlyharmony]

Has anyone else noticed that it's gone?

Some posts are genuinely funny so I like to react to them.

I also suggested once we have a wow face and a sad one.

Does anyone use them much? What reactions would you like to see?

No one is stopping anyone using a laughter emoji. They are still there to post as a reply if you want to. You've lost nothing. You don't need to laugh secretly. Just put it on a post.

There you go then. You were still able to use a laughter emoji.

and that's when threads get clogged up with unnecessary posts.

Short and sweet emoji is so much more efficient.

It'll be fine. Don't worry

Maybe not, but it certainly isn't just a disagreement

It's not about anonymity, it's about visibility and accountability. If something is worth saying it is worth saying out loud. Posters who use backchannels (DMs, PA laughing) to dig at others are adding nothing to the discussion or the MN community.

Sure it might not "matter" or be a "non-issue" in that people can just ignore it, but no one is forced to use MN and if people feel that backchannel nastiness degrades the quality of their experience and undermines what they value about MN then they may just stop coming at all, and that is bad for MN. So MN have reason to take their users' feedback seriously.

I am on balance glad it has gone although have used it myself a couple of times. The reason for me is not because anyone sent me a laugh on a sad post, but because when I am on MN on my phone, as I scroll messages my finger seems to always go over the "react" button and the line of emojis comes up time and time again. The laughing one was the most eye catching in the line and it felt really jarring to me to see it popping its jaunty face on the screen when I was reading about something like a bereavement or illness.

I think it's interesting that this may have been removed because of bullying. Personally, I found it a helpful response to a person who seemed to be intentionally misunderstanding me. Before that emoji, if someone seemed to be trying to be provocative, I would just ignore them. The laughing emoji game me a way of saying "I see your comment, but I'm not playing that game with you".

I used to prefer it when people posted laughing emojis on posts as it draws your attention to funny posts you might have missed. I didn't used to see it done in a mocking, bitchy way much as people that do that would prefer to do it secretively as they know they are being cunty.

Good i had someone do a laughing faces on everything i wrote for weeks

People do it on facebook too. They use emoji reactions for all sorts. How do you all feel about those?

There they have an anger one as well.

Or do you not use them as much as they are not anonymous?

Social media wants our reactions otherwise they wouldn't be there.

I guess I'll just laugh in my head at a witty post like a normal person. 🤣

Well that's very deliberate then and odd.

Ignoring stuff you don't like works both ways, you know. I'd suggest that those who cry 'bully' if anyone laughs at them are singularly ill-qualified to tell others what to ignore.

They could SO easily have just concluded the person is an arsehole / found the phrasing absurd, not the sentiment / hit the wrong button.

But, no, they have to make so much extra work for MNHQ that everybody loses the facility to quickly share amusement. Way to go, sadfeels.

Never mind, I'm sure you'll get over it.

Someone you've never met emoji-laughed at something you wrote.

I'm astonished you're so very easily upset, and even more astonished you'd go crying to HQ about it. Sometimes (possibly most times) that stranger may have misunderstood you, or you un/intentionally used a witty turn of phrase, or they simply hit the wrong button. Or they're just a bit of a twat - but you don't know them and they haven't posted an actual reply. Shrug and move on, perhaps?

😂

😂

I liked using it when someone cracked a particularly good joke so that they knew it was appreciated without me clogging up the thread with emojis.

Sometimes I did also use it on posters that were clearly trying to incite a pile-on against the OP. Frankly if you’re going to 🧌 and be obnoxious you have to expect that people will laugh at you.

I'm not sure posters being nasty to prove that some posters can still be nasty is the win they think it is, but it's definitely showing that forcing someone who wants to be nasty to do it openly changes how that poster is perceived.

Personally I think this is much better. I'm enjoying watching the melt down.

(I am expecting a PA reaction here obviously, don't let me down!)

As there aren't any negative reacts (rightly, imo), it's one way to convey disagreement if you found the OP's position absurd. I don't think I've ever used it that way, but I am aware some people have found my amusement offensive.

FFS, I hate the 2020s! This is all reminiscent of the Great MN New Year's Eve Debacle, when the board was shut down because drunk people were being sarcastic about celebrities on the telly. I don't believe it's possible to get through life without hurting someone's feelings or having our feelings hurt, and the effort to avoid it at all costs is unwise.

Happy to oblige 😂

Laugh/Wow/Sad are used frequently on FB to bully people.

It's fair enough not to have them on here. The reactions are a bit pointless anyway. Just talk to each other if you want to say something.

FFS! No one is saying you can't hurt someones' feelings if for some reason you feel they need to be hurt, just now you have to do it in the sunlight and own it.

MN have every right to set the site up the way they think will best preserve/create the type of environment they want it to be, and if they felt the issues being caused by the private laughing reaction outweighed its benefit to the site then fair enough.

I used it for things I found funny and I'll miss it, but I'm not going to get all butthurt about it.

😂

Damn you gave me a quandry there - I agreed with your post then worried you'd take that as a dig since you's said the reactions are a bit pointless 😂.

Anyway, I agree :)