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smiley faces
Jeffrey
Veteran
I have the sense that smiley faces are sometimes used as a 'dislike' button. Does anyone else agree? Or am I just paranoid?
1
Comments
People are funny creatures. Hands up who noticed?
People use, display, avoid their emoticons and emotions in different ways.
Taking emoticons at face value as @how suggests, is hard because we are not face to face and people interpret, project and generally filter through their hindrances/present self/understanding. Strangely through the internet, if a negative connotation can be found, people will find it.
So best to find the best interpretation even if not apparent.
In other words project the best meaning on a post . . .
. . . so good to be deluded again . . .
In the case where someone intends their smiley face in a disrespectful way, that kind of pathetic behavior deserves to be ignored. Really, think about that. What is what THEY are thinking going to do to you? Crawl out of the computer screen
If someone is childish enough to offer their criticism in such a cowardly way, it is a communication UNworthy of your notice.
Since we are social beings, of course it matters to us instinctively that others of our species regard us with decency and respect. Ill-will, instinctively, can mean danger (so it goes in our more primitive brains) so it's natural to be concerned, it's what our brain does automatically. Except that . . . in this day and age, and especially via the internet, such ill-will behaviors are like bad smells rather than anything REALLY dangerous. We have to override our instinctual fears that rejection means abandonment by the social group, which is really a fear of death.
It might be a bit paranoid, but there are characters who (for some reason) get a charge out of HOPING their ill-will affects you.
Gassho
On my picnics to the hell realms, I love to bring a supply of trolls for the demonic hordes. You know what those devils do, munch the screaming and hollering lesser morsels but completely ignore the trolls . . . now that is wikid . . . :cool:
Silence too is an answer
Sufi traditional saying
What I wish for is that the smilies were revamped - made slightly larger, each with a clearer message/expression.
As for being juvenile, I've never met anyone anywhere who did not speak words face to face without SOME emotion, be it humor, seriousness, sarcasm, confusion, etc. Since here, we have only words on a screen, we need emoticons as a means of giving our words that emotional tone....
I'm a member of a huge fiber arts forum, and they have 'agree', 'disagree', 'love' and those sorts of buttons to push beneath each post. So you can offer your experience crocheting with energized yarn and have a variety of people agree or disagree with your experience. I got so distracted by those buttons I went into personal settings and deleted them from my visual experience. I got to thinking more about what could possibly be disagreed with than the content of the post.
But here on NB, those same little buttons don't distract me the same way, for some reasons. Neither do smilies, for the above reasons.
Certainly all these non-text communications are subject to the projection of the sender and receiver. That's true for all sorts of communication. @Jeffrey requested a 'reality check' which is the best and only thing to do when you want to be sure you are getting the intended message. Alas, the nuances of text based communications.
Gassho
Those features perhaps make a more comfortable experience for new Buddhists.
I think for a more formal, intellectual, mature experience, there are other forums to use.
This site is more for the new Buddhist in us, regardless of years of experience. Buddhists being people instead of people being Buddhists.
Mis-understandings can cause too much drama....whether here
or IRL.
No one here I dislike. I get the impression most people are good hearted, some have not yet developed the confidence that they can be Buddhas. They can. Trust me, it is the smart option. Just as we trust, not blindly, that others can mean well.
Even trolls are sentient . . .
If I dislike what I or others say because it is too direct, too ignorant, too advanced for the spiritually foolhardy, beginner or elite, then I will intervene.
After all just because they are not out to get you,
does not mean you can not get them
as the Boddhisattva said to the Buddha :wave:
Ooooo... I got on my high horse there! Sorry!