4 ms·

I'm pretty young, I just don't think cutesy pictures are an advancement in communication.

wehrkeoruw 7y ago
What's cutsey about them?
krapp 7y ago
They're an advancement in emotional communication on mobile devices. I agree that there are contexts where emoji may be inappropriate (definitely Github, I'd disagree about HN, because I think this place needs to lighten up) but they do clearly have utility for a lot of people.
- EpicEng 7y ago
  I hope HN never lightens up. It does seem harsh at times, but when you start letting short/irreverent/low value content through and you end up with reddit.
  - krapp 7y ago
    > but when you start letting short/irreverent/low value content through and you end up with reddit Many brilliant minds throughout history were also possessed of a keen sense of humor and a playful attitude which many HN users would consider infantile and puerile in modern culture. The implied inverse relationship between humor and "quality" of either intellectual or technical merit doesn't really exist, it's a cultural affectation, a taboo born out of the fear that humor breeds normality and normality brings the Eternal September effect. However, HN doesn't often attach the same stigma to hostility or banality as it does humor. As a result, hostility and banality tend to flourish and become a means of virtue signalling because they aren't considered to be inherently toxic, merely bad form. Maybe dang wouldn't have to spend so much time talking users down from ledges if the culture here didn't require people to take everything so damn seriously. And people have been complaining that HN is turning into Reddit since the beginning. There's plenty of content on Reddit of equal or greater quality than on HN, and plenty of HN users who also post on Reddit and elsewhere, and plenty of low value, low effort content here. Having that content also be humorless doesn't really add value.
    - dokem 7y ago
      This.
    - wehrkeoruw 7y ago
      People have been right since the begining, and no one wants to talk about it.
      - krapp 7y ago
        People talk about it all the time, or rather, they complain about it all the time. It's so common and tedious that there used to be a rule in the guidelines telling people to knock it off, calling it a "semi-noob delusion."
        wehrkeoruw 7y ago
        That's my point, it's literally got a rule telling us to not talk about it. We really should talk about it, though.
  - wehrkeoruw 7y ago
    Reddit is better than you. You're worthless, comparitively, and you need to learn to be okay with that.
eternalban 7y ago
Long before you and I were born, people typically only communicated orally. The alphabet wasn't really designed for spontanous communication. Countless emails were misinterpreted before the smiley appeared. But I do agree they are not strictly necessary for a "README" ...
- kazinator 7y ago
  Countless emoji-laden instant messages were misinterpreted this morning alone, along with countless emails.

What's cutsey about them?

They're an advancement in emotional communication on mobile devices. I agree that there are contexts where emoji may be inappropriate (definitely Github, I'd disagree about HN, because I think this place needs to lighten up) but they do clearly have utility for a lot of people.

EpicEng 7y ago
I hope HN never lightens up. It does seem harsh at times, but when you start letting short/irreverent/low value content through and you end up with reddit.
- krapp 7y ago
  > but when you start letting short/irreverent/low value content through and you end up with reddit Many brilliant minds throughout history were also possessed of a keen sense of humor and a playful attitude which many HN users would consider infantile and puerile in modern culture. The implied inverse relationship between humor and "quality" of either intellectual or technical merit doesn't really exist, it's a cultural affectation, a taboo born out of the fear that humor breeds normality and normality brings the Eternal September effect. However, HN doesn't often attach the same stigma to hostility or banality as it does humor. As a result, hostility and banality tend to flourish and become a means of virtue signalling because they aren't considered to be inherently toxic, merely bad form. Maybe dang wouldn't have to spend so much time talking users down from ledges if the culture here didn't require people to take everything so damn seriously. And people have been complaining that HN is turning into Reddit since the beginning. There's plenty of content on Reddit of equal or greater quality than on HN, and plenty of HN users who also post on Reddit and elsewhere, and plenty of low value, low effort content here. Having that content also be humorless doesn't really add value.
  - dokem 7y ago
    This.
  - wehrkeoruw 7y ago
    People have been right since the begining, and no one wants to talk about it.
    - krapp 7y ago
      People talk about it all the time, or rather, they complain about it all the time. It's so common and tedious that there used to be a rule in the guidelines telling people to knock it off, calling it a "semi-noob delusion."
      - wehrkeoruw 7y ago
        That's my point, it's literally got a rule telling us to not talk about it. We really should talk about it, though.
- wehrkeoruw 7y ago
  Reddit is better than you. You're worthless, comparitively, and you need to learn to be okay with that.

eternalban 7y ago

Long before you and I were born, people typically only communicated orally. The alphabet wasn't really designed for spontanous communication. Countless emails were misinterpreted before the smiley appeared. But I do agree they are not strictly necessary for a "README" ...

kazinator 7y ago
Countless emoji-laden instant messages were misinterpreted this morning alone, along with countless emails.