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I’m not sure I understand this comment. Emojis are a form of communication. Communications can and are evidence used in court. If someone drew pictures related

I’m not sure I understand this comment. Emojis are a form of communication. Communications can and are evidence used in court. If someone drew pictures related to guns, and then was accused of a gun crime, that evidence would be used. If someone communicated non-verbally to someone by drawing their finger across their throat and then pointing at the person, who later alleged they were attacked by that person, that would be evidence. Emojis are simplified pictograms used as shorthand to communicate, like acronyms or initialisms are simplified representations of multiple words, like someone saying “RIP to you for what you did” could be a threat. If someone sent an email threatening someone else, the court should not present that email incorrectly as raw HTML code. If a WhatsApp message was sent with text bolded for emphasis, it shouldn’t be shown to the jury in plain text. So I don’t understand this derisive attitude towards "emoji evidence."

toast0 11mo ago
> If someone sent an email threatening someone else, the court should not present that email incorrectly as raw HTML code. If there was no text/plain alternative, showing the HTML would be acceptable evidence of their crime. Sentencing guidelines for sending mail without a text/plain alternatives aren't established, but I think 1 year for the user and 10 years for the software developer is fair.
josefritzishere 11mo ago
I am just despairing the state of the species. We're communicating through comic pictograms like we're reverting to a neolithic state.
- xboxnolifes 11mo ago
  Pictographic communication continued into, and separately came about, far more recently than the neolithic era. And history isn't a linear movement of only progress. There is no obvious reason to think the pictographic communication is a degradation of communication.
  - WalterBright 11mo ago
    > There is no obvious reason to think the pictographic communication is a degradation of communication. Phonetic alphabets evolved from pictograms, not the other way around. For example, A is an upside down bull's head. Pictograms are definitely a degradation.
    - xboxnolifes 11mo ago
      Why is using alphabets and pictograms a degradation? Explained in a way that is something other than "pictograms were used long ago so they are bad". It also seems that the assumption is that alphabets were an improvement in every way. Why is this a given?
      - WalterBright 11mo ago
        Because you cannot look up a pictogram to divine its meaning. There are a million words in English. You can trivially look any of them up. > "pictograms were used long ago so they are bad" Please don't put words in my mouth that I never wrote. Pictograms evolved into phonetic alphabets over and over in history, because phonetic alphabets are objectively better. Take a chapter from "Lord of the Rings" and redo it with pictograms. Good luck with that.
- 542354234235 11mo ago
  How is using comic pictograms as one of the many ways we communicate some sort of reversion? We use different vocabularies when talking to different audiences, for instance I speak much more casually with friends than with my boss. We often specifically use vocabulary and word choice to provide context to the nature of the conversation. Like using formal and respectful wording to highlight professionalism, or using casual slang to highlight a joking or lighthearted tone. As we have moved more informal conversations to written form (texting everyday with friends is a lot more casual than sending paper letter correspondence through the mail to friends), we have added ways to provide tonal context that is lost by not hearing someone’s voice or seeing their body language. Adding “LOL” or “haha” to indicate your statement is meant to be a joking tone, for instance. Emojis are just another way to do that and to reinforce the casual nature of the communication. Someone might use the turtle emoji when messaging their girlfriend about how long they have been waiting in line to give the message a cute playful tone, where they wouldn’t use it when talking about a production slowdown in a message to their coworkers. Its fine not to like emojis, but it is eyerollingly pretentious to act like it is some indication of the de-evolution of society.

toast0 11mo ago

> If someone sent an email threatening someone else, the court should not present that email incorrectly as raw HTML code. If there was no text/plain alternative, showing the HTML would be acceptable evidence of their crime. Sentencing guidelines for sending mail without a text/plain alternatives aren't established, but I think 1 year for the user and 10 years for the software developer is fair.

josefritzishere 11mo ago

I am just despairing the state of the species. We're communicating through comic pictograms like we're reverting to a neolithic state.

xboxnolifes 11mo ago
Pictographic communication continued into, and separately came about, far more recently than the neolithic era. And history isn't a linear movement of only progress. There is no obvious reason to think the pictographic communication is a degradation of communication.
- WalterBright 11mo ago
  > There is no obvious reason to think the pictographic communication is a degradation of communication. Phonetic alphabets evolved from pictograms, not the other way around. For example, A is an upside down bull's head. Pictograms are definitely a degradation.
  - xboxnolifes 11mo ago
    Why is using alphabets and pictograms a degradation? Explained in a way that is something other than "pictograms were used long ago so they are bad". It also seems that the assumption is that alphabets were an improvement in every way. Why is this a given?
    - WalterBright 11mo ago
      Because you cannot look up a pictogram to divine its meaning. There are a million words in English. You can trivially look any of them up. > "pictograms were used long ago so they are bad" Please don't put words in my mouth that I never wrote. Pictograms evolved into phonetic alphabets over and over in history, because phonetic alphabets are objectively better. Take a chapter from "Lord of the Rings" and redo it with pictograms. Good luck with that.
542354234235 11mo ago
How is using comic pictograms as one of the many ways we communicate some sort of reversion? We use different vocabularies when talking to different audiences, for instance I speak much more casually with friends than with my boss. We often specifically use vocabulary and word choice to provide context to the nature of the conversation. Like using formal and respectful wording to highlight professionalism, or using casual slang to highlight a joking or lighthearted tone. As we have moved more informal conversations to written form (texting everyday with friends is a lot more casual than sending paper letter correspondence through the mail to friends), we have added ways to provide tonal context that is lost by not hearing someone’s voice or seeing their body language. Adding “LOL” or “haha” to indicate your statement is meant to be a joking tone, for instance. Emojis are just another way to do that and to reinforce the casual nature of the communication. Someone might use the turtle emoji when messaging their girlfriend about how long they have been waiting in line to give the message a cute playful tone, where they wouldn’t use it when talking about a production slowdown in a message to their coworkers. Its fine not to like emojis, but it is eyerollingly pretentious to act like it is some indication of the de-evolution of society.