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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think we should have the option to have the laughing emoji on our threads

109 replies

Petpeeveoftheday · 04/12/2025 19:47

Just that. Why can't we have an option to have the laughing emoji's on if we want and off if we don't?

I've some really funny ( not bitchy, just genuinely funny ) comments lately. I miss being able to laugh react to ones that amused me

OP posts:
Petpeeveoftheday · 04/12/2025 22:57

AromanticSpices · 04/12/2025 22:50

In some posts (and your OP) you're talking about the option to switch it on being applied to an entire thread - which means every individual poster on that thread would have to adhere to the OP's choice of having it on or off.

In later posts you talk about the option being applied to each post by each individual poster. I'm slightly lost as to which it is you mean, but if it's the first one then only people who want their posts laughed at would post on that thread.

First comment
Just that. Why can't we have an option to have the laughing emoji's on if we want and off if we don't?
I've some really funny ( not bitchy, just genuinely funny ) comments lately. I miss being able to laugh react to ones that amused me

2nd comment
I personally then reply to their comment to say it made me laugh or that I wished we still had the laughing emoji..... so it just takes up room in the thread 😅 it would be easier to just laugh react
I wonder if mumsnet could make it so we could choose to have it on or off like they do with polls or even have it so every user could choose whether their posts could be reacted to with the laugh emoji or not

Sometimes I wish I could vote on someone's post on AIBU but they have the polls turned off. It's the exact same. If that to you feels like that person has ownership of the thread I honestly don't know what to say to that 😅

  • That's why I suggested it could be either or both, people could enter particular threads knowing the OP had the laughing emoji enabled... although now I think it would probably be easier to just have the emojis enabled or disabled on our own posts
OP posts:
Tryingatleast · 04/12/2025 22:59

Yes to making them public, otherwise no, I had a poster who put laughing faces when I spoke of my dad’s death or ds’ mh. It was horrible

AromanticSpices · 04/12/2025 23:04

If that to you feels like that person has ownership of the thread I honestly don't know what to say to that

I said there WASN'T ownership of the threads.

Sometimes I wish I could vote on someone's post on AIBU but they have the polls turned off. It's the exact same.

When someone does or doesn't put an AIBU poll on their thread, that only ever affects the OP of a thread. You were talking about having the laughing reaction (either on or off) for the entire thread, for everyone that posts on it.

CandyCayne · 04/12/2025 23:07

I wonder if HQ could make it possible so we could all just go to account settings > Select reactions > Toggle on/off individual reactions.

So right now each poster has 4 reaction buttons but they'd be able to deselect the ones they don't want people to use.

ETA: Just to make it clear I mean we could choose for our own accounts, not other peoples.

Petpeeveoftheday · 04/12/2025 23:08

CandyCayne · 04/12/2025 23:07

I wonder if HQ could make it possible so we could all just go to account settings > Select reactions > Toggle on/off individual reactions.

So right now each poster has 4 reaction buttons but they'd be able to deselect the ones they don't want people to use.

ETA: Just to make it clear I mean we could choose for our own accounts, not other peoples.

Edited

You've said it far better than I tried to

OP posts:
Namechangetime99 · 04/12/2025 23:09

FestiveYoni · 04/12/2025 22:52

Absotutly we should just be allowed it anyway
I'm surprised the mail hasnt picked up that grown women have been banned from using the laughing emoji because some people uses it in a naughty way !!

And yet you can start a thread about a lack of apples in a supermarket and the vipers take over and suddenly turn that into some form of attack !
And that's allowed...because ...

When others can see that women or indeed men are being nasty twats on here, we can get involved and support the poster based upon the entire dynamic we are viewing as threads develop.

When we can't see the laugh emojis being used, especially when sent to vulnerable posters talking about being raped, we can't then advocate for the particularly vulnerable in the thread and challenge those arse wipes sending laugh emojis very cruelly.behind the scenes knowing they aren't exposed

There is a sense of feeling absolutely soul destroyed I imagine getting that when you are on your knees already.

So when it's out there and others see it, decent people with a spine will absolutely challenge it. Sometimes people send laughs because they are immature and can't articulate well in debate. Even that is grating. I can articulate/ debate with the best if I have to and it really was putting me off to be honest.

Making them public seems a great idea to tick all boxes. No one is going to be such a bitch to send a laugh emoji to a vulnerable poster talking about abuse, bullying, rape if they know others will see and challenge them. Those using it passive aggressively because they lack intellect to articulate and debate publicly will also think twice. That is not a bad thing. It is not quite censorship as you are insinuating. I am a free speech advocate. I would like to engage in debate with alternative views and people who think differently. When people who lack intellect and flexibility to debate publicly rely upon low level childlike behaviors ( laugh emojis) then we are eroding the chance to engage in debates publicly, challenge our thinking and expand worldview. MN has actually been great in helping me challenge my views myself.

If people are too reliant on sending laugh emojis to undermine your point rather than constructively debate then it's just lowering the intellectual tone to be honest.

CandyCayne · 04/12/2025 23:10

Petpeeveoftheday · 04/12/2025 23:08

You've said it far better than I tried to

Yes, I didn't think you meant that others on the thread couldn't use them towards other posters.

You just choose the reactions you want people to be able to use towards you personally.

Herewegoagainandagainandagain · 05/12/2025 00:08

BIWI · 04/12/2025 21:13

So clearly you’re someone who wants to be free to mock other posters?

MNHQ were very clear that they’d been monitoring how the laugh reaction was being used for quite some time. So it definitely wasn’t a minority of people who had an issue with it.

You have proven my point, you comment is only clearly and manufactured in your own mind. If I have something specific to say I will say it.

Herewegoagainandagainandagain · 05/12/2025 00:13

Petpeeveoftheday · 04/12/2025 22:34

I genuinely miss it. Telling someone in a comment that I found their comment funny just takes up room on the thread, it would be simpler to just laugh react to it

Absolutely agree, nothing worse than threads filling up people quoting a post over and over with lol or 🤣 emojis when an emoji on the post does the job so much better. It puts people off responding and means those that did post something humorous and don’t get a response don’t know if it fell flat and are discouraged from posting something funny again. It’s like it’s forbidden to have a laugh on here which we all need sometimes.

Isittimeformynapyet · 05/12/2025 01:42

Namechangetime99 · 04/12/2025 22:43

I like this.

It was annoying when some dick would add a laugh emoji to the most serious of comments/ threads. I saw this alot and although I'm a huge free speech/free debate person, using this when you have a really vulnerable poster desperate for support is low level twat behavior. Therefore, yes to the opportunity to see who has emoji'd!

I don't understand how people could "see it a lot" when the reactions were private. What am I missing?

breezyyy · 05/12/2025 01:45

AwfullyGood · 04/12/2025 20:20

I still can't believe that we live in a world where it had to be removed.

It's an emoji ffs!

We have to be controlled lest we use it unwisely.

Such is life now.

Monty27 · 05/12/2025 01:46

Annoys me seeing someone quoting a great long thread and simply posting a laughing reply.
Zzzzzzz

breezyyy · 05/12/2025 01:48

Monty27 · 05/12/2025 01:46

Annoys me seeing someone quoting a great long thread and simply posting a laughing reply.
Zzzzzzz

Annoys me when anyone quotes a huge, long thread tbf.

Namechangetime99 · 05/12/2025 01:50

Isittimeformynapyet · 05/12/2025 01:42

I don't understand how people could "see it a lot" when the reactions were private. What am I missing?

I didn't articulate that well - I personally experienced it in protest to a comment on serious threads / topics. I personally have received many laugh emojis on posts that are certainly not funny.

It leave a very unpleasant taste tbh. I much prefer a public debate where all can see.

I recall a few threads where posters would name and shame in a follow on post. For example ' name poster and ask why they keep submitting laugh emojis.

Isittimeformynapyet · 05/12/2025 01:51

AromanticSpices · 04/12/2025 22:50

In some posts (and your OP) you're talking about the option to switch it on being applied to an entire thread - which means every individual poster on that thread would have to adhere to the OP's choice of having it on or off.

In later posts you talk about the option being applied to each post by each individual poster. I'm slightly lost as to which it is you mean, but if it's the first one then only people who want their posts laughed at would post on that thread.

I took it that the OP was thinking things through, like a work-in-progress thing. That's how the thread developed after other people responded to it.

Isittimeformynapyet · 05/12/2025 01:53

Namechangetime99 · 05/12/2025 01:50

I didn't articulate that well - I personally experienced it in protest to a comment on serious threads / topics. I personally have received many laugh emojis on posts that are certainly not funny.

It leave a very unpleasant taste tbh. I much prefer a public debate where all can see.

I recall a few threads where posters would name and shame in a follow on post. For example ' name poster and ask why they keep submitting laugh emojis.

Ah ok, Thanks. Sorry you had that experience.

MannersAreAll · 05/12/2025 01:58

I liked the laugh emoji, however given that it was used in a thread where the OP felt suicidal (and used on their post) and in one where a poster was talked about their dead child I totally support MN scrapping it.

It wasn't used in a 'mean' way. It was used in a vile way.

breezyyy · 05/12/2025 07:14

MannersAreAll · 05/12/2025 01:58

I liked the laugh emoji, however given that it was used in a thread where the OP felt suicidal (and used on their post) and in one where a poster was talked about their dead child I totally support MN scrapping it.

It wasn't used in a 'mean' way. It was used in a vile way.

That’s so terribly sad and cruel and goes beyond understanding what makes some people tick doesn’t it. It’s the fact that, again, due to some cruel or exploitative people, we all have to succumb to being monitored.

Squishedpassenger · 05/12/2025 07:18

EchoedSilence · 04/12/2025 21:20

No I'm just fed up of MNHQ listening to the chosen few.

They are probably bound by general rules from.advertisers and the like about how nasty this place is allowed to be.

Squishedpassenger · 05/12/2025 07:19

There's a thread right now about a boy who was patted down by a female teacher around his genitals and he's still traumatised by the event. I imagine some people would use it on posts about his feelings in their attempts to minimise and dismiss what happened to him.

FestiveYoni · 05/12/2025 07:38

@Namechangetime99 no one talking about rape and being laughed at should have to rely on other posters defending them .
Surely mnhq can see the odd poster who put a laughing emoji on a rape thread and simply ban them

Namechangetime99 · 05/12/2025 10:18

FestiveYoni · 05/12/2025 07:38

@Namechangetime99 no one talking about rape and being laughed at should have to rely on other posters defending them .
Surely mnhq can see the odd poster who put a laughing emoji on a rape thread and simply ban them

I'm not so sure. It is now apparent to most that people can go to the depths of cruelty on SM.

People will laugh at dead children, people will say someone deserves to die. People still mock parents who have dead children.

I would like a reasoned decent person in my corner when in the depths of despair personally. I also would chime in with eagerness to support a vulnerable poster I saw being undermined, mocked and piled on.

Edit - apologies, I see what your post meant. The visible emoji option that I like the idea of would out these people when MN is not able to immediately jump on it. It's a way of helping moderate ourselves the dross on here.

DoNotDisturb67 · 05/12/2025 10:22

You’d think so… unfortunately there is a lot of people these days offended even by their own shadow 💁🏼‍♀️ don’t worry you can still reply with laughing emoji even if the actual reaction was removed. It’s probably only matter of time before using emojis in txt box will be removed as well.

breezyyy · 05/12/2025 10:30

DoNotDisturb67 · 05/12/2025 10:22

You’d think so… unfortunately there is a lot of people these days offended even by their own shadow 💁🏼‍♀️ don’t worry you can still reply with laughing emoji even if the actual reaction was removed. It’s probably only matter of time before using emojis in txt box will be removed as well.

Yes it’s done and gone.

Our freedoms are being systematically removed tiny bit by tiny bit on an infinitesimal scale.

OilyRoundTheCogs · 05/12/2025 10:59

EchoedSilence · Yesterday 21:20
No I'm just fed up of MNHQ listening to the chosen few.

I'm pretty sure that those going through bereavement, miscarriage, fertility issues or the loss of a child don't consider themselves "the chosen few"