h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Posting *is* more like having a conversation than writing a letter. I tend to use a smiley a a point when, IRL, I would pull an equivalent face.

Doesn't that give you a bizzare picture?

Needless to say, I rarely use smileys like

But like AGB I do have a smiley sig, used when appropriate!

I like smileys I can use to post a reaction to what I have just read, without saying anything.
Like my post 20.
I admit to overuse of this new smiley
I'm hopelessly addicted aren't I?
*wonders if there's a smiley addiction clinic*

Agreed. There are times when just posting is all you need!

- I'm sorry, but
anyone who is 'offended' by a little picture of a smiling
face has a serious problem!!

I think it's the amount of them that's bothering them

I must admit that my eye tends to glide over the smilies without noticing them. I think a single wink or grin at the end of a posting can be useful to indicate how serious or otherwise you are, but huge chunks of them slow the reader down. A picture is supposed to be worth a thousand words, but in this case, it probably takes about 10 times as long to interpret the smiley as it does to read the words. I couldn't be bothered. That's why I never figured out AGB's signature. It was just a load of pictures.

A little off-topic maybe, but it's my thread, so sue me.

The "Things That Should Be Invented" thread is still entertaining me immensely. So much misinterpretation and bickering. Mostly Harmelss ought to be proud. Whilst I don't agree with the statement that caused it all, I have to bow down to the sheer insidiousness of it.

Quite a spectacle. Thanks.

I think that, at a time when writing and language skills are being increasingly devalued, any tool which aids communication has its virtue. The internet community is one where abbreviations have almost become second nature to some, especially anyone who is not a confident speller (e.g. c u l8r, a/s/l) and this has become even more exaggerated with the use of messaging on mobile phones. I believe that smileys and abbreviations are like an internet shorthand or slang, and should be used accordingly.
By that I mean that, in a friendly, social thread or conversation they are acceptable, but in a more serious debate they may only be appropriate to convey and express emotions not immediately obvious to the reader (e.g. sarcasm) - they were, after all, originally called "emoticons".
They have, in my opinion, become part of our languages, and, actually surpass language in much the same way that a smile is a universal language.
As I said, I believe that any tool which aids communication is an advantage, but, as with any tool, if used too often their sharpness can be dulled. ()

Apathetic,

you think it is funny to deliberately upset or shock people?
I don't agree on that at all! I've had loads of discussions about a similar thing but that was about sexist remarks. I simply can't accept that anyone should be forced to be amused by something offending, even if this implies that the other person will think you have no sense of humor. "oh, but I didn't mean it that way" doesn't even help anymore at that time : the statement shouldn't have been made in the first place! It is NOT unhealthy to think about what you're going to say (or write down) befóre you write it down!..

I personally find it sadistic and tasteless to try and shock people like that. It makes me angry! (there should be an angry smiley here, probably...)

Well keep an eye on it because if it gets out of hand someone is going to get upset and the's not the purpose of h2g2.

Mel

Who said anything about "deliberately"?

As far as I can see the animosity on the "Things That Should Be Invented" thread was caused by a misunderstanding.

- "You think it is funny to deliberately upset or shock people?" You put words into my mouth. I stated that it was not the *intention*, but the *outcome* that I found amusing.

- "I personally find it sadistic and tasteless to try and shock people like that." Then I take it you were never a fan of Candid Camera? The intention of that was always to shock, and yet that is hailed as a hallmark of televisual comedy. I know that example deviates a little from a comment about eugenics, but all the same, it does you no harm to be shocked once in a while, just so long as the shock has no physical impact on the order of things.

- "I simply can't accept that anyone should be forced to be amused by something offending..." You ought to go into the business of Ghost-Writing. Again, these words were never mentioned by me or anyone else. You can no more force a person to laugh at what they fail to find funny than you can drink soup through a sieve.

And I do believe that this is a democractic online society. There is, of course, a border upon what you can and cannot say, but we are each entitled to our opinions. Some people are racist or sexist, both of which are clearly wrong, but they have their opinions just as the rest of us do.

Now for a more trivial matter. It's not 'Apathetic', it's 'The Apathetic', definite article and all that.

*round of applause for Feisor*
I must agree, my longhand skills have gone rapidly downhill.
In fact it's all I can do to sign my credit card slips
I hope nobody asks for my autograph in London next week.
I've never written Galaxy Babe longhand.

Hey! I don't put words in your mouth! It was a question! (In contrast with smileys, punctuation marks ARE necessary in any written text). And indeed : I often don't find hidden camera jokes funny. I also often consider them rude, inappropriate and plain mindless.

But you're right, every one has the right to have his own opinion, and so do the people who opposed to this IQ-limited-breeding thing. It is however quite insulting to have people laughing at your opinion. Since you seem to think the whole situation is laughable, it *can* upset people even more who think this subject is serious. I suppose I didn't put it right, saying 'to be forced to find something funny which is offending'.

And yes, I *do* mean 'deliberately' since there are only two possibilities : OR Mostly Harmless wrote this to be funny in which case this whole discussion might make him think a little more before writing something down like that in the future (this shouldn't hurt), OR he wrote it to deliberately write something shocking, so the reactions can be expected. In both cases the amount of reactions was to be expected, thus provoced.

Maybe I am not putting it correct, in Dutch I wouldn't have this language barrier...

dio mio, this is completely off-topic, sorry for that...

Maybe we could design a so that, if people DO inadvertently put their mouth into gear without engaging their brain they could recover gracefully, and maybe, The Apathetic, a gentle riposte to the originator of the tasteless post may have helped them realise their mistake, It may have been unintentional, albeit thoughtless and hurtful.

How about keeping the debate in the original thread guys, don't spread it about, I think we were discussing the uses of smileys in h2g2 and beyond!

I like the Idea of the foot in mouth smiley, I feel I could use it sometimes!

Mel

I didn't mean to encourage any vitriol.

Point made!!

That's ok sweetie!

Mel

You're using all those smileys just to spite me aren't you? Go on, admit it.

They're not smileys, they're renaissance hieroglyphs. There's nothing wrong with some of us wishing to maintain the traditional use of ideograms to preserve our ancestral link with ancient Egyptian culture. We don't mock you and your funny alphabet, do we?

LOL