Support vs Laugh

[SafeSex]

AIBU to think that the new "Support" emoji is just as likely to be abused and used sarcastically as the abolished laughter emoji?

Do many posters want it back though? I would imagine most are pretty indifferent or agree with it not being needed because it is misused by some.

Every day on here I read posts from posters who want it back. So I'd say, yes, many posters do want it back.

I think that's a key point.
Other posters can challenge comments in public. But secret sarcastic reactions can't be challenged by others.

It wasn't anything to do with secrecy, any more than the existing reactions are to do with secrecy. By that token why do we need any reactions at all? It was just easy and quick, and didn't clog up the thread.

Anyway, I didn't start this thread to lobby for the laugh emoji to be brought back otherwise I would have said that in my OP.

Thanks to the - eight, so far - posters reacting with "Support" to my OP. Very amusing!

Well of course people can " see and judge " my comments!

And yes i am making value judgements about posters who are happy to put the welfare of other users to one side just so they can have this Emoji back when they have alternative ways to express amusement.

Even in your post here you are minimising the misuse of the laugh emoji. It is secret from the rest of the MN posters but it is not secret from the person who is being mocked.

You seem to have absolutely no level of understanding of the distress these misused emojis caused to some MN users. And you really show no indication that you even care. All you want is the emoji back.

Not sure I get this. Say I complain that someone shouted an ableist slur at me and I was feeling down. What would distinguish, to me, a sarky "support" response from a real one?

If I complain that I stepped on a bit of Lego and someone does a sarky "support" response.... I don't care because I'm not actually very upset?

I agree that in those examples it probably isn't relevant. But perhaps in a situation where someone is complaining about their annual income of £180K being too low, or that the house they've inherited is too large, or some other "my diamond shoes are too tight" scenario it might be more obvious people are being sarcastic.

Jesus, you can't really need it spelling out??

I'm assuming most of the MNers who keep harping on about bringing it back are the ones that abused it in the first place

Why is that insulting and ridiculous?

I think most MNers are very aware the emoji was used by quite a few posters to mock other sites users. And was deliberately used to cause upset and distress.

Surely it's safe to assume that decent people would not want to return to a situation that would enable this to happen again? Hence the natural conclusion that those who want the emoji returned are those who either don't care about the misuse or actually were responsible for the misuse.

Maybe the compromise is only having it for certain boards? Idk, I've found Reddit to be more supportive and informative for a lot of things, I know people who have been badly bullied here. Upvotes and down votes could help too, and a better block function

Yes. It was misused & I care very much. However 'whole class punishment' is not the answer. Deal with the people misusing it, don't take it away from everyone. Plenty of us were using as intended!

it's ridiculous & insulting to say we weren't. It's not 'a natural conclusion. At all.

Do we need a compromise? Or do we just need the people being nasty banned??

I think the post reactions shouldn't be hidden and everyone should be able to see who made them. The would probably reduce inappropriate use to some extent. I find it odd that we can't all see them.

It's all very well to say it should be dealt with.

But the fact was it wasn't dealt with.

Posters who had their serious posts mocked were encouraged to report it.
But the reporting mechanism didn't facilitate this at all because the only way was to report your own post, tick the Other category and explain in the Other Details box that you were reporting the inappropriate reaction and not the actual post itself. On one occasion they actually deleted my post and I had to point out it wasn't my post that was the problem. The moderator obviously didn 't understand that we had been told to report the inappropriate use of the emoji. When I questioned why they weren't following their own guidelines my post was restored and I was told action would be taken regarding the other poster. It certainly dented my faith in their moderation abilities.

And although when the misuse was reported we were told they would do some follow up with the poster misusing the emoji it was never made clear whether they actually did do anything or what that action was.

So yes it's a shame some malicious nasty people enjoyed misusing the emoji and spoilt things for everybody but I don't see how bringing it back would make things any better.

And as I've repeatedly pointed out it's easy, and actually more community spirited, to quote the amusing posts back and actually say that you enjoyed the post. Or tag the poster and praise their funny post. We managed for many years without the laugh emoji. It was only available for a short period of time. It caused a lot of distress. So why bring it back?

There were numerous threads and discussion about the emoji before it was withdrawn. There have been numerous threads on it since. I don't see why we are still discussing what turned out to be a negative experiment.

I welcome the Support reaction as a positive thing. I only hope the nasty malicious posters who misused the laugh emoji don't find a way to use this in a negative way.

Fully agree with @IvedoneitagainhaventI

Why not give it a chance instead of trashing it straightaway?

I'm sorry you were one of the ones who suffered from the nasty behaviour.

I agree the moderation is crap a LOT of the time. But we could fight to get that improved instead of giving into the nasty behaviour. It would be simple enough for MN to add a ' report category' of 'misuse of smiley' so no long (& misunderstood) reports would be necessary

i have been here since almost when MN started (& it was a MYCH better place), so I'm fully aware it was a short period we had the smiley & ironically I was against them being introduced.

However, I enjoyed being able to quickly use it to let the poster know I appreciated their humour without having to use the bloody stupid quote system that doesn't take you back to where you were in the thread. So you have to note the day/time of the post you quiote then scroll through the thread to find your place. It's daft. It's stops communication.

So again, I'm sorry you were hurt by people misusing it & you had to go through the crap moderation drama. But saying all of those (us) that would like it back must be one ones misusing it is incorrect & nasty.

I think it’s a shame that there aren’t the different options on the App. I can ‘thank’
but not ‘like’ or ‘support’.

Well, your assumption is wrong.

Perhaps shows why people shouldn't assume so much.

@AutumnCosy2025

Well it may be incorrect to say everyone who wants it back misused it.

But I think wanting the laugh emoji back just because you are too lazy to use the quote or tag option to tell a poster that you found what they said was amusing is the height of selfishness. Given you are totally aware that malicious posters misuse it. But hey ho what does that matter?

Given that in the latest changes to the site MN have actually hidden the report button and appear to be actively discouraging people from reporting posts I think it's highly unlikely they would do anything to facilitate the malicious use of the laugh emoji were it to be reintroduced.
And anyway even if someone reports the malicious and bullying use of the emoji the damage has already been done. The nastiness has already been absorbed by the recipient.

I just fail to see why any decent person would be happy to see other people being victimised on the site just because thearcane be bothered to use the other means of expression open to them..

Well if you aren't one of the people who misused the laugh emoji why do you want it back?

I'm giving up explaining it to you.

either you are beyond understanding it or are choosing not to. Your reply to this poster & your previous reply to me are both just showing you up. I'm leaving it at that.

Because, in my world, if someone say (or, on-line 'writes') something funny, it is nice to laugh (or on-line use the laugh emoji) to show them you think it was funny or that you appreciate them taking time to make the world a little bit better that day by writing something funny.