Please bring back the laughing emoji

[LunaTheCat]

Dear Mumsnet .. please bring this back.. I miss it heaps !

Ah yes I never thought of it that way. I personally would rather someone actually makes a post saying what they feel they need to say to me. Rather than an emoji that only I can see it allows them to hide whilst being nasty. I very rarely report posts when I get shit because I have already read it and I see it as a form of protecting the person who's dishing it out . Think the emoji does simlar really.

Originally I said yeah wr should have it. But now I'm thiinking no its not needed. People can do an emoji within their post if they want to.

How do you know that? It's not visible to the rest of us when it's used as a reaction, rather than a comment.

There were numerous threads before the emoji was removed where pp gave examples of their experience of the inappropriate use of the emoji.

That's why I don't understand the purpose of this thread: there was a lot of discussion where people called on MN to remove the emoji. And MN stated their decision to remove it BECAUSE of serious concerns about the misuse.

So why start a thread to rehash all the same points of view?

It was being misused. In the incident I was told about someone was talking about very personal trauma and that emoji was used to completely dismiss and invalidate what she was talking about.

If it's so important to use a laugh emoji it's not such a hardship to quote the relevant post and post your reaction publically.

As usual the idiots have ruined it for everyone, just like they did with the name change option.

I knew nothing about it until I noticed it was gone. If the threads were numerous, it's odd I missed every single one. Which bit they were on? I only ever look at AIBU. I think when changes like this are made, a notice should be pinned for all to see. Some people spend less time on here than others and it isn't possible to read every thread anyway.

it would be better in the open
but you can use this

it was misused

Threads like that are usually posted in the Site Stuff topic. There's a whole MN world outside AIBU.

I don't get why the reactions aren't displayed like fb. So if someone makes a comment it could be seen 20 people gave it a thumbs up and supported the comment rather than all 20 having to write the same thing to achieve the same.

I agree with it being removed for the reasons you have said. But I didnt know anything about it until this thread and loads of others probably don't. Because you know about the discussions doesn't mean we all do.

I can't remember which other boards they were on but I certainly started one in Site stuff and that got a lot of replies. MN also commented on that thread.
Mine certainly wasn't the first on Site stuff.

Well I now always have Site stuff and The night watch on my list of topics that I follow for the very reason that I realised there was a lot to do with the mechanics and politics of MN that I was missing.

Besides which as I started one of the threads about this particular issue myself because of my personal negative experiences I obviously knew about it.

Let's be realistic, people who lack empathy to that degree and whose human sensitivities are so blunted will never have the guts to do that. They're cowards, like all forms of keyboard warriors, they hide behind the cloak of anonymity and see it as light entertainment.

I don't follow any topics at all. And you also know because you started one. I didn't start one or follow topics. As I say i understand why it's been taken down and agree with it. But just because you knew what was going on with it doesn't mean everyone does and this thread has bought more awareness. I was all up for bring it bsck at the start of this thread.but after reading posts I chsnged ny mind . And others possibly will to . So its not a bad thing to have several threads about the same thing. Plus ot will dye down anyway. Its not a big deal not to have it . People can put it on their post on the actual thread if they want to

Quite often, I have found that the people (repeatedly) 'enjoying' the use of the laugh emoji at my expense - ie using it to mock and jeer - not only hadn't aired a single post on a thread but had never posted a single comment. I don't mean name changing - their 'names' were just user and a string of numbers.

They were lurking around, never posting, just taking petty little shots at people like bullies throwing stones. I found it really upsetting, in a way I can't quite explain.

If people want to be nasty they will be nasty. Ideally everyone on here would be respectful and considerate towards eachother but this is the internet. People will still be nasty without a laughing reaction.

Maybe a feature that allows you to disable reactions as you write your comment for the people that don't want it. One for the developers!

If people want to be nasty they will be nasty.

I think they should do it in a visible way. That way, when they write a heinous response or break talk guidelines they can be reported and their posts removed.

Abusing the use of laughing emoji in the way others have explained, particularly that one @forensicdetective does sound particularly vile. I suppose insta users can disable comments when they predict a pile on and yes @ShiningStar3that might be interesting for users to have the option to disable reactions.

I mean Mumsnet saying what they were doing and why. As I said, no one has time to read every thread on every board, so an announcement in the form of a pinned post would reach everyone. I mainly come here for light relief and usually avoid moany posts so I wouldn't have seen those anyway.

Yes, anonymity definitely makes it worse

Could this not be easily resolved by making it so that anybody posting a joke or witty/lighthearted comment could either use a laughing emoji in their post or otherwise click in a box (a bit like the 'enable voting?' box, but defaulted to 'off') that says 'this is intended as a lighthearted or funny comment' before posting it?

Thus any post with the emoji in it or with the box ticked could have the laugh emoji enabled for others to laugh along and appreciate and acknowledge the humour; all other posts would not show the laugh emoji as an option.

Can any techie people say whether this would be easily doable or not?

Tbh as others have said MN managed for most of it's existence without a laugh emoji.
And actually taking it away was and is a big deal for those if us who were negatively impacted by the ridicule and bullying.
But I don't understand why it is apparently such a big deal for those posters who weren't impacted. They can still indicate that they find a post funny by simply quoting a post or tagging the poster and posting the laugh emoji for everyone to see. It's hardly time consuming and so the facility is still there.

In a world where every business is desperately scrabbling around for new and interesting revenue potential why don't MNHQ make the emoji available on a 'cost per use' basis? . Doesn't Reddit have something similar?

<only half joking>

Actually, I hadn't thought about just tagging the poster. That makes it less tedious for other people just reading. However, surely that's open to misuse too? Some people are just plain nasty and, sadly, the only way to be absolutely safe is not to post about sensitive things.

Yes but it's not done in that cowardly, sneaky, underhand way that can be very unsettling to the recipient.

And the trolls are much more likely to be shouted down which in turn provides support for the party that might really need it.

Yes please.
Hilarious posters on a thread last, but I can't be quoting each and filling up the thread with 😂😂😂