Try the new 'support' reaction

[LizzyMumsnet]

Many of you told us that while you enjoy using the ‘Thank’, ‘Agree’, and ‘Love’ reactions, there are times when you want to show empathy or care, especially when someone’s going through something difficult, without it feeling like you’re “loving” their situation.Starting today, you’ll see a new reaction available on the site called ‘Support’, represented by a flower icon.Here’s how it works:

• Select the ‘React’ button underneath the OP or reply.
• Choose the ‘Support’ reaction (or any of the others) to show how you feel about the post.
• Reactions are private and only visible to the post owner.
• You can select one reaction per post.

The full range of reactions is currently available on the website only (not in the app). We hope this gives you another meaningful way to connect with others and show care when it’s most needed.

Let us know what you think or if you have any questions! We're actively looking in to the issues being reported regarding ads and pages freezing so please bear with us on that!

I miss the laugh emoji

Just bring the laughing face back please.

I'm afraid we had to bin the laugh emoji because, sadly, it was being used sarcastically at times, which understandably people found hurtful.

What if we promise, no backsies… JK

Is the support one the flowers?

If you find an emoji ‘hurtful’, I’m not sure you should be using the internet. What if people have hayfever and find ‘support’ triggering. You could probably use the support button /bunch of flowers as sarcasm too!

Well so long as you're in a position to promise that for all MNetters... Yes support is the flowers one.

How about a chef's kiss or something for when it is a particularly amusing or witty? It just adds unnecessary posts if you have to quote it with a laughing face emoji as your reply, and then you lose your place in the thread.

How do you tell if a reaction is sarcastic anyway? Have you never heard 'thanks' or 'yeah I totally agree with you' being said in a sarcastic way?

I use the older flowers emoji quite a lot so this will be useful, although if I'm replying I will probably still use the normal emoji in my text.

I can never remember which is thanks and which is agree, and am always putting the wrong one which is annoying. I know on the laptop you can hover and see which is which before clicking but you can't on the mobile version. Maybe that's just me though.

I like it. The laughing emoji wasn’t needed, the love one fits for when I love a post because it’s funny.

Nice, thanks.

THIS is where we need the laughing face! 🤣

You see. We need the laugh emoji back. I have hey fever. I'll be offended if anyone sends me the flowers emoji. 😂

How can you justify that when you allow people to be snarky and vile to eachother all the time? It's literally what Mumsnet is famous for, but an emoji is too mean??

Hmm I don't agree that's what MN is famous for tbh. We would always remove instances of people being vile were they reported, and we encourage reporting. Though people do have different interpretations of what constitutes vileness...

The main issue was that it was often used to signal that someone thought a post was stupid, and because the reaction was hidden from everyone else, it felt more like a sneaky dig than open disagreement.

Honestly, @JustineMumsnet, I don't understand this.

A laughing emoji had to be removed just in case it might be "hurtful", and yet blatant disinformation and racism is allowed to stand, with posters being encouraged to "challenge on the thread" when they report stuff. It makes no sense.

Not 'might be hurtful' was hurtful in many cases. And blatant racism and disinformation really isn't OK. We regularly remove such posts.

Yes, but you leave many racist posts to stand, as long as posters have been careful to do just enough to sidestep the talk guidelines. They know exactly they're doing and how to bypass the moderators, who seem to follow a tick box approach instead of actually applying judgment and common sense.

Do you not think that the racist content is more hurtful than an emoji?

You've also made it harder for people to report racist content by tucking it away where nobody can see it. Fine for those of us who know where to find it, but new users who aren't aware that a "report" function exists will be none the wiser.

We remove racist content when it’s reported, and our moderation team is trained to consider both the language used and the intent behind it. That said, balancing free expression with protection from harm isn’t always straightforward in nuanced discussions and of course we are not perfect.

I’d agree that racist content is far more serious than a mean-spirited emoji, but it’s not an either/or. We’d always rather users flag anything that crosses the line so we can review it quickly.

I agree, and posts challenging people often get deleted for 'hurtful' word or personal attack.

If people don't like the laughing reaction maybe they should think before posting.

And people often post single emojis as a reply anyway.

The other problem with the laugh emoji was that it was always private - so no-one other than the OP would see it. So it was a much more personal ‘dig'

I’m glad it’s gone.

Hmm. I do accept that it's a challenging task to get the balance right, and of course, I understand that people will get it wrong sometimes. But being honest, I haven't seen a huge amount of evidence that moderators are genuinely considering "intent" when they are making their moderation decisions, and I reckon most posters probably know exactly how to post stuff which isn't "in the spirit of the site" without actually getting themselves deleted.

I take your point that it doesn't have to be an either/or choice. It's just frustrating that, despite multiple threads highlighting concerns about how racism (and ablism etc) are tackled on the site, nothing is ever really done to address those concerns, whereas action is taken to remove the offending emoji, which many of us miss for perfectly harmless reasons.

So in your opinion a laughing emoji is vile, but the following things off the top of my head that I've seen go undeleted (despite reports!):

Telling someone struggling with anxiety to get a grip.

Sneering at a woman in a crap or even abusive relationship for being stupid enough to get in the relationship in the first plCe.

Asking someone if they're unwell or dim because they don't understand something first time.

Calling someone's clothing frumpy and ugly because you don't personally like them.

Calling someone chavvy, fat and common for liking completely normal things like food and TUI holidays.

Are all completely acceptable? But a laughing emoji is just too much to bear?

On the other hand it was useful to see which posters were mocking you but didn't feel brave enough to do so openly.

But I can imagine it being hurtful when the post is personal.