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?

I always took it to mean your opinion is laughable/absurd or the post was literally funny.

I wouldn't ever see it as nasty or bullying.

Years ago on MN when Lundy Bancrofts book 'Why does he do that? was being fan-girled over, recommended on most relationship threads and held up as some kind of definitive work around male domestic abuse that couldn't be questioned...

There was yet another thread advertising it as a book that every woman should read and I posted a critique of the book as being really not great, with an absence of references and empirical evidence etc - with considered points - and said I was also concerned by the retreats he was hosting with vulnerable abused women and the at that stage, early reports of his predatory behaviour.

And a poster told me that people like me were the reason 2 women a week are killed by an intimate partner. As a victim of domestic abuse that was terrible for me to be accused of and I'd have much preferred a laughing reaction to indicate the posters opinion that I was talking out of my arse.

And I was fucking right. The book isn't well-written or backed up by any empirical evidence or research and the reports of him being a predator keep coming..

I always took it to mean your opinion is laughable/absurd or the post was literally funny.
I wouldn't ever see it as nasty or bullying

On a thread about the benefit cuts, a disabled poster expressed worry about it and said they felt suicidal. Someone put a laugh react on their post. No one can see those reacts apart from the person with the post. So it is personal, and it is bullying.
I did like seeing people calling out people who abused the laugh react in such ways. Call them out and shame them.

Bullying is a pattern of behaviour, not a one-off.

People may be twats online but unless it's repeatedly happening to the same person from the same person, it isn't bullying.

How do you think people were 'called out and shamed' for in your opinion 'abusing' the laugh react?

It's an anonymous forum with anonymous posters and the react function is only seen by the poster.

Who do you think has been called out and shamed? Have I missed some kind of react shaming thread?

You're my first, thank you!I've been dying to say,

"Way to go, sadfeels"

😂😂😅😍😂👀👌👋

If someone feels bullied, then that is how they feel.

The people being called out and shamed were not abused... it was literally just "xyz poster, why did you feel the need to put a laugh react on my post about my suicidal feelings?".

It calls them out. They were hiding behind the anonymous function of the reacts.

Of course everyone can feel whatever they feel, it doesn't mean them feeling bullied means they were bullied though.

And thanks to your post, I've just realised that you can press over the react bit and see the usernames of the posters who posted it. I thought it just gave you a number like on Reddit.

So even though this is an anonymous forum with anonymous posters and the react feature is only seen by the poster, it's always been possible for the poster to see who posted the reactions and could as you say, call them out.

So how are people thinking it was a backdoor secret way to be a twat or a bully?

When it never was secret and the reactor has always been identifiable to the poster? And therefore could be 'called out, named and shamed' which you said has happened?

They weren't hiding out being an anonymous react as it isn't anonymous. Not more than we all are here anyway.

The react is only visible to the person's post.
It is like a PM. No one else can see it apart from the recipient.

So to get a laugh react when you are expressing distress... will make you feel shit.

Awwwww, it gives me such a warm glow helping little ones feel all important and growed up. 😘

Honestly, I think anyone who is genuinely upset by a little laughing emoji probably needs to stay away from internet forums. I've had people laugh at my posts in an attempt to express their disagreement/tell me I'm being ridiculous or whatever, and I couldn't care less. It's an emoji ffs.

I can shrug it off on FB, as the reacts are public.

On MN, it is personal and private. It is like a PM with a LOL.

Surely it would be worse if the reactions were public? Then some of the really ridiculous posts would just get a load of people piling on to laugh, and the original poster would be publicly humiliated.

With the private reactions, yeah, they might realise that they had actually made a bit of a twat of themselves, but nobody else would be witness to that?!

I wouldn't care either. But that's because I'm doing ok. Some people come here for genuine support, when they don't know where else to turn.

The people trying to downplay this happening to a poster are exactly the type of person who misused it and caused it to get removed. Now they'll have to laugh publicly at suicidal people. They'll be less likely to do it if it can be seen by others and if they do they'll get called out. Good.

😂

Some posters seem to completely over-estimate the importance of posts being "public and seen by others" on a completely anonymous forum, where you can name-change for every thread anyway.

At worst, you are a twat on a thread, and other posters "calling you off" if you even bother to read their follow up comments. Does anyone actually care that Brenda from Slough thinks you are unpleasant?

It takes more effort to type than putting a reaction, but does it matter.

Now you see the same post repeated over and over again everytime someone post a 😂.

I think it would have been better to keep all the emotes, but make them public.

People seem to be able to survive on Facebook when they can see others reactions to a post.

You are joking aren't you? The type of performative emotion-farming engagement developed by Facebook has been a massive source of social disconnection, aggression and anger. One of the best things about mumsnet is that reactions are private so people aren't sucked into competitive performance for likes.

Straight forums are great. Algo-driven personalises feeds and engagement scores on individuals are really really not.

way to go, sadfeels 😂😂😅😂
(haven't used it yet today!)
🙄

Are we on the same forum?

MN which used to have "MN royalties" whatever the fuck that was supposed to mean and their girl fans falling over themselves to awe and congratulate them on their brilliance 😂

MN where people are having nasty fights over shoes on/off and the frequency of laundry, where anyone earning more than you is a CF entitled show-off, and my favourites, the bitter haters who are repulsed by anything remotely male.

There's plenty of aggression and anger and insanity on here, not sure a 😂will make any difference.

Yep and it's all out in the open. Everyone can see who is a dick.

😂

Thank you!!!

And also thanks for the new username ❤ sadly we can't change names mid thread any more, but I am very much looking forward to finding the perfect time to use it.😍😘😂

Yes, I think so too. Accountability.

There's already plenty of scope for people to be mean to each other on Mumsnet, or have a pile-on. And also plenty of scope for the opposite. You can see it on loads of threads. People do it by writing posts. Why is that better than doing it by using (public) emojis?

😂💜

Goodness - seems fragile to remove it.

😜🤓👀