Have you ever noticed.......

[aureantes]

--that the clearest sign of thinly-veiled hostility/viciousness in an online argument is the profuse use of "^_^", ":)" or especially ":P"-mode emoticons in a conspicuous 'attempt' to disarm or lighten the mood? Particularly when chiding another person who happens to have scored a hit or made a valid point that one wishes to evade.

I first really noticed this on a Starsky & Hutch fansite (won't name it) where the owner had "tried her hand" at a fanfic which turned out to be both technically and dramatically abysmal (to be precise, it made me groan with literal pain to read it)....she didn't want to listen to the honestly-intended and constructive criticism of her group members, and tried to evade admitting her objective imperfections atall by being dismissive of the whole genre of fan fiction as merely a way to "have fun", not anything intended as "serious" writing. Which, of course, is a sizeable insult to anyone who writes fanfic on a dedicated and "professional" level (particularly since it's impossible to do it for a living). Her responses on that thread were peppered with BBCode emots of ":D" and ":)" and ":P".....her tangible attitude beneath was seething with irritation that people on her group would have the gall to criticise her writing.

I find that quite fascinating. Personally, if I use emoticons when I'm engaged in debate, I'm likely to use them with open sarcasm, rather than pretend to a mood that isn't honest and is only trying to change the field of discourse by pretending inoffensiveness.

You know, kinda like when some inept roleplayer'll "punch you playfully" in the arm.....? :-|

Comments

[athenaltena.livejournal.com]

I have noticed that, and though I tend to use "^_^" I use it sincerely, though I have seen some of the passive-agressive variety used. When I'm serious I tend to drop them altogether to make a point that I'm serious, but that's somewhat how I am in real life too.

[aureantes.livejournal.com]

Yeah, same here.......the most that I'll use emots in argumentative/debating conversation is >:), :-|, and O:-), if that atall....and we know that those are hardly attempts to cover an attitude....