Reactions are here - update from MNHQ

[KatyMumsnet]

We’ve listened to your feedback! While many of you have enjoyed the ‘Thanks’ button, you also told us that you'd love more ways to express your feelings on the site.

Starting today, you now have the choice of four reactions:
‘Agree’, ‘Love’, ‘Funny’, and ‘Thanks’.

Here’s how it works:

• Select the ‘React’ button underneath the OP or reply.
• Choose the reaction that reflects how you feel about the post.
• Reactions are private and are only visible to the post owner.
• You can select one reaction per post.

We hope this gives you even more ways to engage with posts and share how you feel.

Let us know your thoughts or any questions in the comments below!

Evil? Bit OTT

They don't appear unless you hover over the 'react' button!

I totally agree! And why can’t people just agree openly instead of effectively PMing a little picture? I would think if you’re not robust enough to agree with someone openly for fear of “backlash”, you’re not robust enough for MN (and def not AIBU!) As PP said, personal attacks are deleted so people shouldn’t feel afraid to express their views. I feel we should be encouraging openness (is that a noun?) and free speech, and the freedom to challenge free speech if we disagree. We should be encouraging people (especially women) to be unafraid and to stand up and be counted.

Ignoring decades worth of advice on how to make sites accessible to users - in other words, deliberately choosing to discriminate against and restrict access for people who can't cope with the interference caused by coloured visual clutter, is evil.

Accessibility is a serious issue, whether it is letting people read text or letting people in wheelchairs into buildings.

I also feel it encourages lurkers, not posters which is not what MNHQ want? I don’t see them on the app but got an email to say I had lots of thanks emojis to one of my posts, many more than comments. Of course I appreciate it, I’m not ungrateful.And I understand people find it quicker to press a button than type a word, but isn’t that the whole point of Mumsnet? I want to say “discourse”, but it sounds a bit wanky.

This. I very much agree.

Wasn’t that the reason for the MN original emojis? Apologies as I can’t remember details but wasn’t it related to an issue with screen readers not being able to “read” them. Mind you, this was years ago, tech has moved on I suppose.

They do appear now. That's part of the change.

😂

@AngelontopoftheTree yes I can see who reacted now. Can't reciprocate because I'm on the app and have to go on mobile to check how I'm doing in the popularity contest 😜

Me too. I refuse to use non MN ones on MN.

I agree with @DeanElderberry
I'm actually finding this change upsetting.
Because of my mental health issues it's ATM making me feel very excluded and my intention is to log out of my account and not post again.

I can't remember how to get the Santa's hat version of MN emoticons. I thought you put an 'f' (for 'festive') in front of the word , but that isn't working for me. And weren't there halloween versions, which you got by adding 'h'? Or did I dream that?

As for getting upset about something so trivial as a 'react' update, I agree that is completely daft, but I think most posters are just shooting the breeze. Like any other thread, this a thread on a chat site. Chatters gonna chat.

Not the point of the thread (although I did prefer the thanks and don’t think I’ll be using the react ones), but has the ‘add post’ button always been on each individual post? It seems to make it a lot more likely that people will post without reading the rest of the thread, which is super annoying especially when there’s been updates since. Cancel the cheque!

It is fsmile etc. but needs to be in square brackets.

Yes I think you add an f don’t you?

ah yes, so it would be [ f smile ] but no gaps.

Remember this

I don’t get why posters are getting upset when we can literally add any emoji any time we like 😜😄🥹😅🤓😚🤩😚😖🥳😕

I don't know how to type them out, I just find them in the emoji MN button.
I like the one, as I think it displays a lot of what I think!

Halloween is thlsmile

I liked the thanks button too. Those new ones are awful.

Ah thank you @MerryChristmasYaFilthyBrusselSprout. They didn't come up as autocomplete suggestions, and I think I was just forgetting that they wouldn't appear until I posted or previewed.
Still can't get the halloween ones though

You can be as positive and sunny as you like, if you're going to introduce a range of emotions, you need to introduce a reaction that allows people to say they don't agree.

Testing:

Yay! Thank you @UndeniablyGenX .

Keep wanting to thank posters but then remember that the new tool will turn my thanks into a clattering clown show

The Halloween ones vanished this year. Spooky!

Surely we are adults on here (I think?) why does everything have to be controlled to the n-th degree?

HQ could add a clause into the Talk guidelines to say that Inappropriate use of the emoticons will be handled similarly to how other types of inappropriate comments are dealt with.

if someone wants to be callous they can currently use the 👏 and 😆 emoticons so what's the difference.

I came on here to say I really like the extra emoticons. I get a few of the "thanks" from time to time, and I give some to posts I like - it's nice to get a visible response from people and it saves space rather than creating a post saying 💯% or whatever.

Me too, love 'em, but then again, I'm very immature and childlike 🤭