4 ms·

Your options are: 1) everybody uses them on their phones, they're in Unicode, consistent and compatible between devices and messaging programs. In the far flun

Your options are: 1) everybody uses them on their phones, they're in Unicode, consistent and compatible between devices and messaging programs. In the far flung future, researchers will be able to study their linguistic role in communication, confident in understanding what the characters were. 2) everybody uses them on their phones, they're proprietary fonts and codepoints (in the Unicode private use area if you're luck, just random data if you're not), there's no consistency between phone models, manufacturers, or cell networks. Future researchers can pound sand. We were at #2 pre-Unicode. It was a goddamn mess, especially in Japan. Lord knows why anyone would prefer it. There's no value in being a snob about what kinds of incredibly frequently used characters we think are Worthy of inclusion, imo.

gurkendoktor 10y ago
There's another option: 3) People who love colourful images will use stickers in Facebook Messenger, LINE, Viber, and soon iMessage. I'm sure WeChat has them too. It's basically like 2), except we've moved from proprietary codepoints to proprietary protocols. I don't mind characters like and or even good old ︎ (which has always been too tiny for its own good). These work in black and white, in different artistic styles, and they're a fairly limited set. But now we're going down the road where we get new stuff like tacos and unicorns every year. And even though Unicode is an industry standard, the pictures need to look like Apple's bitmaps to avoid confusion, and the Unicode standard changes so often that you have to manually keep track of who can already see and whose computer/phone/browser/messenger software is too old.
- nfoz 10y ago
  Interesting. Did you try to include some emoji in your comment? They did not get included: > characters like and or even good old ︎ (which
  - gurkendoktor 10y ago
    Oops, thanks. Well, that explains why I've never seen Emoji on Hacker News. And I've missed the edit window, so I can't fix my post. Should have been: > I don't mind characters like ((yellow smiling Emoji)) and ((thumbs up Emoji)) or even good old ︎((pre-Emoji Unicode smiley)) (which has always been too tiny for its own good). These work in black and white, in different artistic styles, and they're a fairly limited set. > But now we're going down the road where we get new stuff like tacos and unicorns every year. And even though Unicode is an industry standard, the pictures need to look like Apple's bitmaps to avoid confusion, and the Unicode standard changes so often that you have to manually keep track of who can already see ((upside-down smiling Emoji)) and whose computer/phone/browser/messenger software is too old.

gurkendoktor 10y ago

There's another option: 3) People who love colourful images will use stickers in Facebook Messenger, LINE, Viber, and soon iMessage. I'm sure WeChat has them too. It's basically like 2), except we've moved from proprietary codepoints to proprietary protocols. I don't mind characters like and or even good old ︎ (which has always been too tiny for its own good). These work in black and white, in different artistic styles, and they're a fairly limited set. But now we're going down the road where we get new stuff like tacos and unicorns every year. And even though Unicode is an industry standard, the pictures need to look like Apple's bitmaps to avoid confusion, and the Unicode standard changes so often that you have to manually keep track of who can already see and whose computer/phone/browser/messenger software is too old.

nfoz 10y ago
Interesting. Did you try to include some emoji in your comment? They did not get included: > characters like and or even good old ︎ (which
- gurkendoktor 10y ago
  Oops, thanks. Well, that explains why I've never seen Emoji on Hacker News. And I've missed the edit window, so I can't fix my post. Should have been: > I don't mind characters like ((yellow smiling Emoji)) and ((thumbs up Emoji)) or even good old ︎((pre-Emoji Unicode smiley)) (which has always been too tiny for its own good). These work in black and white, in different artistic styles, and they're a fairly limited set. > But now we're going down the road where we get new stuff like tacos and unicorns every year. And even though Unicode is an industry standard, the pictures need to look like Apple's bitmaps to avoid confusion, and the Unicode standard changes so often that you have to manually keep track of who can already see ((upside-down smiling Emoji)) and whose computer/phone/browser/messenger software is too old.