Why does reddit hate emoticons?

https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/2172px/why_does_reddit_hate_emoticons/

created by [deleted] on 24/03/2014 at 01:54 UTC

27 upvotes, 20 top-level comments (showing 20)

Comments

Comment by Anormalcat at 24/03/2014 at 02:27 UTC

21 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Well i don't, Sometimes you really need to convey emotion, And you can't see people's ACTUAL faces

Comment by Mesamec at 24/03/2014 at 02:33 UTC

51 upvotes, 2 direct replies

ಠ_ಠ

Comment by DamnSkeeters at 24/03/2014 at 02:20 UTC

23 upvotes, 3 direct replies

I guess it just seems like obnoxious 13-year-old stuff that can get annoying. I mean, back when I had an iPhone, my friend would text me stuff like "Hey" and then 34 emoticons including the monkey and the smiling turd and it just takes so much longer and doesn't add to the conversation much. Now I have a Blackberry Bold (I know, I know) and every emoticon from a non-blackberry phone shows up as a box.

Comment by coolmuffin121 at 24/03/2014 at 02:24 UTC

10 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Comment by Optional1 at 24/03/2014 at 07:32 UTC

4 upvotes, 0 direct replies

I think its a matter of context. Sometimes it's very obviously a part of your style/humour/level of discourse, mostly though it just makes you look partially retarded :~)

Comment by kwongo at 24/03/2014 at 14:28 UTC

4 upvotes, 0 direct replies

I'm not sure, but I'm surprised your post didn't get downvoted to oblivion

Comment by eloski at 24/03/2014 at 03:43 UTC

8 upvotes, 0 direct replies

my highest rated comment was "Don't you squidward :D"... it's not like they hate emoticons, they just have to be used at the right time

Comment by Ensiferra at 24/03/2014 at 02:46 UTC

14 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Smiley here and there, especially within long blocks of text is nothing bad and won't send you to downvote Hell. But! Reddit is all about discussion and comments. Emoticons may express lots of feelings... But they are just worthless if you count content. If some random stranger shares the story of his life with you, even if it's funny in the end, "sticking out tongue" is not really what they expect as a comment. Posts containing lots of emoticons are downvoted, because they are harder to read and add almost nothing to thread. Excessive use of emoticons is also a sign that you are dealing with someone who may be too dumb or immature to express his feeling in other way. As I mentioned before, Reddit=discussion. And would you rather talk with someone who represents opposite point of view, but can formulate his arguments in elaborate way or see some frowning smileys? That's it.

Tl;dr: We don't hate emoticons. We hate lack of content.

Comment by lbstr at 24/03/2014 at 10:18 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡

Comment by Contranine at 24/03/2014 at 15:17 UTC

2 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Because they distilled the entire range of human emotion to a single word 'feels'.

Comment by SirLockHomes at 24/03/2014 at 16:24 UTC

2 upvotes, 0 direct replies

¯_(ツ)_/¯

Comment by Luv2Derp at 24/03/2014 at 19:16 UTC

2 upvotes, 0 direct replies

I don't think we do. I use them. Not for regular texts like "what time are we meeting for dinner" etc, but primarily for a chuckle with inside jokes with my wife- we have "hieroglyphs" for our inside jokes- can you feed the cats, did you pick up condoms, come to bed and get some etc.

Comment by MrGrieves- at 24/03/2014 at 06:42 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Comment by Raneados at 24/03/2014 at 10:17 UTC

2 upvotes, 0 direct replies

It doesn't, really. Emoticons, especially the more acceptable "meme" ones demonstrated in this topic, are very popular on Reddit.

The style and type of emoticon are pretty specific to internet communities. Tumblr will use a lot of winks ;)

Reddit will use a lot of the staring face or the like ಠ_ಠ

4chan had its triforce and other famous ones. (usually as an originator for many reddit ones)

Other places have their own, some as crude as a wiener 3===D~~

And some as game-specific as dancing Kirby (>'-')> <('-'<) (>'-')> <('-'<)

It's just what's currently cool and/or accepted to use wherever you are on the internet.

Personally, I use :V occasionally, but very few people on Reddit would know why.

In short, reddit only "hates" emoticons it thinks are part of places that the users would look down on, like maybe digg and tumblr. Emoticons and things like */me sits down next to you* are common elsewhere, but because of current societal acceptance, are not viewed favorably on reddit as a whole simply because people don't use them.

And I do wish the top comment wasn't an unhelpful emoticon.

Comment by [deleted] at 24/03/2014 at 05:58 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Because it's pictured as being immature. Apparently we should be typing like professionals writing essays where there are strict regulations on formatting :/

I always use them, it gives a hint as to the emotions in my head when you can't see them through text :)

Example: talking to a friend after she teases me:

I hate you

I hate you :P

It just makes sense to use it.

Comment by zombiexsp at 24/03/2014 at 06:46 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

It evolved through the way content on reddit was originally presented for the first ~3 years of existence. Any spelling errors, grammar errors, and just general informal writing was looked down upon. The "grammar nazis" on reddit used to be upvoted a lot. People would diminish another person's post/opinion greatly if it wasn't written well.

So today we still have things that carry over, but most of it didn't. The community still has grammar nazis, but they don't seem to like them anymore. And we still have well written posts albeit with much less praise. Emoticons are still too informal, but they will become way more popular as reddit evolves and becomes more popular in general.