Our Little Friend, the ROLLEYES OF SCORN

later12

:rolleyes: <

---

him


Is he necessary? What does he ever achieve apart from inflaming or irritating rational debate? The issue came up yesterday on the Most Annoying Thing About Boards thread.

As this is primarily a discussion board, and discussion boards will inevitably attract trolls or people looking for a vacuous argument, I think it may be a little counter productive to arm their palette with rolleyes, a response as abrasive in real life as it is online.

Some posters appear particularly fond of this emoticon, and even resort to it as the sole response to a reasonable, thought-out argument.

I can understand the use of smileys and the other, more benign emoticons, in that they can actually help to create a less hostile posting environment. But the sarcastic/ scorn emoticon does absolutely nothing positive as far as I am aware, and is a lazy and unhelpful response.

Is there a case - or indeed a way - of disabling this emoticon, at least from some forums where it might be inappropriate (maybe politics, humanities, and the more serious forums?), or does the rolleyes have much support?

Quazzie

later10 wrote: »

:rolleyes: <

---

him


Is he necessary? What does he ever achieve apart from inflaming or irritating rational debate? The issue came up yesterday on the Most Annoying Thing About Boards thread.

As this is primarily a discussion board, and discussion boards will inevitably attract trolls or people looking for a vacuous argument, I think it may be a little counter productive to arm their palette with rolleyes, a response as abrasive in real life as it is online.

Some posters appear particularly fond of this emoticon, and even resort to it as the sole response to a reasonable, thought-out argument.

I can understand the use of smileys and the other, more benign emoticons, in that they can actually help to create a less hostile posting environment. But the sarcastic/ scorn emoticon does absolutely nothing positive as far as I am aware, and is a lazy and unhelpful response.

Is there a case - or indeed a way - of disabling this emoticon, at least from some forums where it might be inappropriate (maybe politics, humanities, and the more serious forums?), or does the rolleyes have much support?

:rolleyes:

P. Breathnach

later10 wrote: »

:rolleyes: <

---

him

Is he necessary?
...

Of course he and his co-smilies are necessary: there are many people on boards who have difficulties with writing English, and they need helpers.

I have a useful faculty: an inability to perceive smilies.

RoundyMooney

He was gone, some years ago, and we brought him back.

He isn't the problem, those who use him inappropriately are.

AckwelFoley

Sometimes a :rolleyes: says a 1000 words

phasers

I love that little guy!

Sand

I like the :rolleyes:

Sometimes people post complete nonsense, and the :rolleyes: offers a wonderfully efficient way to express a reaction without having to waste much time on a hopeless case. People always consider their own arguments (and arguments they agree with) to be reasonable and well thought out. Others might see an incoherent mess from which nothing can be salvaged.

It also saves the original poster time too - they dont have to bother defending their argument from a reply which is just :rolleyes:

Everyone wins.

Gordon

later10 wrote: »

Is there a case - or indeed a way - of disabling this emoticon, at least from some forums where it might be inappropriate (maybe politics, humanities, and the more serious forums?), or does the rolleyes have much support?

If you use firefox you can download browser addons that allow you to disable certain images of your choice. This topic seems to come up every 9 months or so, might be an idea doing a search for all the historic discussions about this to get an idea of what others think of the idea maybe?

tbh

If you disable the image, all those sarcastic posts that use it suddenly become very pleasant.

mike65

If people only knew when and how to use Master Rolleyes he wouldn't be an issue. Sadly
most don't and send out the wrong signal.

I'd happily see him removed and replaced by <snip>

Hal Emmerich

Since we are on the topic of smilies...

:cool:<---> Can we change this fella for a proper "cool" one because this just looks like the roll eyes one with shades on.

It's crap. I actually really hate seeing it around.

craggles wrote: »

When you click on a thread you've already read it should take you to the page you left off at

And if this is possible it would be great.

Nodin

We also need the eating popcorn one....

Insect Overlord

Rolleyes and the Cool guy are great! An option to hide smileys would be an interesting solution though, for posters who don't like them.

FlutterinBantam

Nodin wrote: »

We also need the eating popcorn one....

yeah good idea, and a dry and dusty humorless one, like an apple left in the sun for a few weeks.;)

And maybe a 'flogging the same auld horse one' or a 'bleeding heart corona'

let's see how that one would pan out?

A caricature of a tramp in a squat worrying about the situation in Tibet whilst shivering in a cold water walk-up.

Or maybe a well heeled individual ignoring local deprivation whilst concentrating on more 'sexy' 'causes' somewhere out foreign, where their personal bile can be vented.

Interesting task for the animators ,I would opine:D

El Weirdo

Hal Emmerich wrote: »

craggles wrote: »

When you click on a thread you've already read it should take you to the page you left off at

And if this is possible it would be great.

It is already possible.

Click on this icon next to the thread title.

Back on topic: Leave Rolleyes alone. Just make sure to use him correctly.

Dudess

Stuff like using it on its own as a response to someone's post just because you disagree or are unable to reply or can't be arsed responding, e.g.

Sand wrote: »

Sometimes people post complete nonsense, and the :rolleyes: offers a wonderfully efficient way to express a reaction without having to waste much time on a hopeless case.

is the issue, not the symbol itself. Using it when you're speaking about something in general is different to using it as a reply.

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

maybe a 'flogging the same auld horse one'

.

Overheal

bronte

Rollyeam wallace!
I don't know Op...personally I find the little winky bastard much more annoying than poor rolleyes. Anything's better than that mutant one eyed yoke we had for a while.

Earthhorse

Yes, the problem here is that some people don't know how to use rolleyes correctly which is something I just don't understand. :rolleyes:

later12

bronte wrote: »

I don't know Op...personally I find the little winky bastard much more annoying than poor rolleyes.

Yess, wee willie winky, I forgot about him; patronising little git!

... /ugh

Interesting thoughts so far, i'm surprised that some don't have a problem with rolleyes in all circumstances... personally I can't think of any adult conversation where rolleyes are appropriate but I take the point that I might be in a minority there, that's fair enough.

Perhaps I shouldn't have drawn attention to the fact that rolleyes do irritate me so. I can probably be expecting a lot more of them in future:pac:

later12

Sand wrote: »

the :rolleyes: offers a wonderfully efficient way to express a reaction without having to waste much time on a hopeless case.

Yes, possibly. But you could say the same for facepalms and I don't think they're appropriate either.

It reminds me of situations when children are advised to draw pictures to express their emotions, because they don't possess the vocabulary to express them verbally or in writing.

Sand

Yes, possibly. But you could say the same for facepalms and I don't think they're appropriate either.

It reminds me of situations when children are advised to draw pictures to express their emotions, because they don't possess the vocabulary to express them verbally or in writing.

True, Ive always seen :rolleyes: as a substitute for facepalms. But thats the point of them - if the appropriate response to a post is :rolleyes: then its usually a choice. A post that deserves a :rolleyes: doesnt deserve much more.

I completely understand that some posters may feel their words are pearls of wisdom, handed down from God, but that doesnt necessarily make it so. Sometimes people post something so utterly stupid that a well reasoned argument is wasted on them. Theyll be too stupid to understand it, and youll have lost 15 minutes of your life that you can never recover. A well placed :rolleyes: is extremely efficient in these cases. We are talking about arguments and posts that are so stupid that debunking them earns you a 2 week ban.

Of course, they must be used responsibly, or they lose their impact. My rule of thumb is that if I literally roll my eyes at a post - if youre literally thinking :rolleyes: , then it deserves a :rolleyes:

Earthhorse

later10 wrote: »

Interesting thoughts so far, i'm surprised that some don't have a problem with rolleyes in all circumstances... personally I can't think of any adult conversation where rolleyes are appropriate but I take the point that I might be in a minority there, that's fair enough.

I imagine many of us, like me, do hate rolleyes and the way it's abused but have come to accept it like death and taxes.

Sarky

Leave sarcastic and cool smiley alone, they're great for picking out the posters who only read about sarcasm and being cool in books.

Overheal

Earthhorse wrote: »

Yes, the problem here is that some people don't know how to use rolleyes correctly which is something I just don't understand. :rolleyes:

Are we giving lessons to people now on how to correctly perform their own facial expressions? Personally when I roll my eyes in the back and smirk at something ridiculous, and I want to convey that, I know how to do it.

Dudess

Sand wrote: »

True, Ive always seen :rolleyes: as a substitute for facepalms. But thats the point of them - if the appropriate response to a post is :rolleyes: then its usually a choice. A post that deserves a :rolleyes: doesnt deserve much more.

I completely understand that some posters may feel their words are pearls of wisdom, handed down from God, but that doesnt necessarily make it so. Sometimes people post something so utterly stupid that a well reasoned argument is wasted on them. Theyll be too stupid to understand it, and youll have lost 15 minutes of your life that you can never recover. A well placed :rolleyes: is extremely efficient in these cases. We are talking about arguments and posts that are so stupid that debunking them earns you a 2 week ban.

Of course, they must be used responsibly, or they lose their impact. My rule of thumb is that if I literally roll my eyes at a post - if youre literally thinking :rolleyes: , then it deserves a :rolleyes:

Meh, stupid can be subjective - there are some who'd claim a well-thought-out, well-written post on a particular topic is a stupid post simply because they disagree with it, it's not in line with their politics, etc. While disagreeing with it is their entitlement, simply responding to it with a rolleyes is just pathetic - and it often appears as if they know it's a good point and are unable to reply/can't bring themselves to acknowledge it's a good point... which does them no favours, despite how superior they're feeling.

Earthhorse

Overheal wrote: »

Are we giving lessons to people now on how to correctly perform their own facial expressions? Personally when I roll my eyes in the back and smirk at something ridiculous, and I want to convey that, I know how to do it.

No. It's something we should start doing though. :rolleyes:

Fago!

is the most annoying imo. followed closely by

Eoin

later10 wrote: »

Interesting thoughts so far, i'm surprised that some don't have a problem with rolleyes in all circumstances... personally I can't think of any adult conversation where rolleyes are appropriate but I take the point that I might be in a minority there, that's fair enough.

Perhaps I shouldn't have drawn attention to the fact that rolleyes do irritate me so. I can probably be expecting a lot more of them in future:pac:

I'm in the same camp; but as Gordon suggested, I just adblock it so I never have to see it.

I don't mind any of them to be honest...

pickarooney

bluewolf wrote: »

I don't mind any of them to be honest...

blue, eyes pointing upwards, mouth curved up to the right... of course you like Rollex the Unimpressed :rolleyes:

Can we remove sticking out tongue 2 so pac can move up a line and make the smiley box much more anal-retentive-friendly?

Miss Fluff

I think it was Overheal who, back in 2008, valiantly led and fought on behalf of all the Rolleyes Refugees and had them reinstated in Boards some months later. Gotta love the little feckers, definitely my favourite (and I'm not putting a Rolleyes after this in case people think I'm being sarcastic, I do actually love 'em)

Steve

Miss Fluff wrote: »

I think it was Overheal who, back in 2008, valiantly led and fought on behalf of all the Rolleyes Refugees and had them reinstated in Boards some months later. Gotta love the little feckers, definitely my favourite (and I'm not putting a Rolleyes after this in case people think I'm being sarcastic, I do actually love 'em)

No - actually, I won him back in a raffle and that's legally binding..

He stays.

:D:D

stovelid

Nothing wrong with it in principle, just when it's misused or worse still, used in lieu of actually taking the time to express your point.

Overheal

stovelid wrote: »

Nothing wrong with it in principle, just when it's misused or worse still, used in lieu of actually taking the time to express your point.

people will still do that without smileys though.

looksee

Why are there two sticking out tongue smilies? And how is pacman different from grin? A typo just produced the interesting word 'snidies', there's a thought for rolleyes.

later12

looksee wrote: »

And how is pacman different from grin?

I think pacman has a more tongue-in-cheek, cheeky, or flippant quality to him, whereas the smily has a more cheesy, corny tone - the kind you might get in a sickly text message from a particularly naive montessori teacher, or your twelve year old sister

/cynical

-Corkie-

There used to be a poster in Motors who would use 3 or 4 rolly eyes in every single post. I havent seen any of his posts in ages thank god. Any of the regular Motors posters will know who I am on about..

Gary ITR

Can we have this one

-Corkie-

Onkle wrote: »

Can we have this one

The TDI crowd would be jealous of that..

El Weirdo

I think we should have a thread like the Pedant's Log in Spell Czechs where we can point out all the posts that use rolleyes incorrectly.

oscarBravo

El Weirdo wrote: »

I think we should have a thread like the Pedant's Log in Spell Czechs...

"Pedants' Log", actually.



(Sorry, couldn't resist...!)

El Weirdo

oscarBravo wrote: »

"Pedants' Log", actually.



(Sorry, couldn't resist...!)

Touché. Although, I will argue that it was a typo.

Blobby George

Quazzie wrote: »

:rolleyes:

:rolleyes:

Tallon

Blobby George wrote: »

Quazzie wrote: »

:rolleyes:

:rolleyes:

:rolleyes:

Insect Overlord

Tallon wrote: »

Blobby George wrote: »

Quazzie wrote: »

:rolleyes:

:rolleyes:

:rolleyes:

We need to go deeper.

WindSock

Insect Overlord wrote: »

We need to go deeper.

Awwww.