Emoticons in the Workplace 258
Platonic writes "According to the New York Times, the Emoticon has become much more than something the kids do after school. The little guys seem to have found their way into the workforce: being used by stock brokers and even the U.S. Military.
From TFA: 'I mean, it's ludicrous," said Ms. Feldman, 25. "I'm not going to feel better about losing hundreds of thousands of dollars because someone puts a frown face to regretfully inform me.'"
Shocking! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Shocking! (Score:5, Interesting)
Being of the first generation to grow up with chat rooms, IM and SMS, I find it entertaning that I don't use
Wierd
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=)
kbye
Re:Shocking! (Score:5, Funny)
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Hey, we were using multi-channel chat rooms on timesharing systems in the late 1970's. That's what the MULTI environment was for on CDC Cybers.
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Being online didn't come into popularity until around 1992. Smilies were part of BBS culture long before then.
And yes, I rememember *grin* or
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Interesting, where are you from?
Not around here they weren't. I started BBSing in 1985, heavily in 1987, but didn't get into Fidonet until
I'm quite certain of the date smileys became part of my "online lexicon" because I remember where I was when somebody said "turn your head, sideways, dumb-ass".
Too bad you can't google for
> The term "emoticon" came around a lot later, and I suppose
> it's more descri
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I don't remember using
HTH. HAND.
Re:Shocking! (Score:4, Funny)
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You mean being of the first generation to grow up without TymeShare, BBSs and Usenet. One of the neat things about being really young is the illusion that your generation invented everything. (Although this doesn't explain Al Gore)
Medical conversations (Score:3, Insightful)
Mrs. Smith, you have a tumor on your leg and need an amputation
or Mr. Jones, your ESR is 10
I actually don't talk to patients with e-mail, as it is too hard to misconstrue, or patients take small facts and run with the idea. I have been using computers for 25+ years (Apple II -> Linux), so it's not a comfort issue. Physicians are mixed in this issue, some say it saves much t
Re:Shocking! (Score:4, Funny)
UR RATEZ WENT UP BY 22%!!! ZOMG WTF!!!
ON TEH BRITE SIZE OUR PROFITZ R UP BY 33%!!! LOL!!!
HAHA I HAVE YOU ALL UNDER MY CONTROL NOW! (Score:5, Funny)
damnit
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Emotions are not mutually exclusive from work (Score:5, Insightful)
Ms. Feldman needs to STFU and GBTW. (Score:2, Insightful)
So? (Score:2, Insightful)
Even with the ":D", your words above can be taken as insulting. I don't know about you, but I've been insulted to my face while the insulter had this nice smile on their face.
You're right. (Score:2)
Ms. Feldman surely wouldn't expect a stone-faced monotone from a person informing her of a lost deal in person....would she?
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it has been my experience that it is far easier to be insulting to people by email. as an IT support type, i have gotten a number of insulting emails, often something along the lines of "get your ass over here and fix my..."
even the most vitriolic of senders becomes remarkably pleasant in person. they are always appreciative when i show up in person. the fact that i am close to 300lbs and us
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oh, wait.
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Re:Ms. Feldman needs to STFU and GBTW. (Score:5, Funny)
( o )_( o ) ... opps, Freudian slip.
A future copy of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, that slipped through a worm-hole, had this to say about Ms. Feldman...
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(I hate perky people.)
Re:Emotions are not mutually exclusive from work (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't know about bonding, but I've found myself using emoticons on Slashdot more and more often. The problem I found was that too many people were reading an ultra-serious-- or even accusatory! --tone into posts that were intended to be light-hearted and friendly. Sprinkling the post with
Of course, there will always be those who either miss the purpose of the emoticons or willfully ignore their purpose in communicating tone, but I have found that it clears up the majority of misunderstandings before they occur.
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Re:Emotions are not mutually exclusive from work (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Emotions are not mutually exclusive from work (Score:4, Insightful)
"Proper" writing often requires a great deal more of proof-reading and rewrites than most people are willing to put into a quick post to a forum or an email to a friend. Thus emoticons are less of a "cop out" and more of a useful shortcut in communicating.
Why should I want to offend someone who I'm trying to have a pleasant conversation with? Part of intelligent discourse is to address sensitive issues. If you don't keep your tone soft, you may run into a hard wall when emotional investments in the topic are brought to light.
Take Chernobyl as an example. Discussing the actual number of deaths is an emotionally charged issue. Simply stating that the actual death count was vastly exaggerated by the media and that only a few dozen people died will get you a response to the effect of "you heartless bastard!" before you can even get to the issue of the thousands of victims who had to be treated for thyroid cancer. "Softing" one's speech to the point of clinical analysis combined with with a "warm" understanding of other's feelings can help you get farther in a discussion of the issue than immediately offending them, unintentionally or otherwise.
While some don't see the point of such emotionally-charged discourse, I've found that there are often solid reasons at the heart of such emotion. These reasons can often help in shaping a clear, balanced opinion rather than immediately taking sides.
Re:Emotions are not mutually exclusive from work (Score:5, Funny)
The actual death count at Chernobyl was vastly exaggerated by the media
Re:Emotions are not mutually exclusive from work (Score:5, Interesting)
An... amusing take.
Now let's see that again:
An... amusing take.
And again:
An... amusing take.
Once more:
An... amusing take.
Interesting how it goes from light, to dry, to wry, to negative, isn't it?
FWIW, I was thinking more along the lines of:
"One of the key issues to understand about Chernobyl is that the media greatly exaggerated the death rate. Make no mistake, there *were* thousands of people who contracted thyroid cancer, but the vast majority were treated and are still alive today. According to the international research body setup to study the effects of Chernobyl, the actual death toll was (thankfully) closer to only a few dozen individuals.
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You need to be careful how you terminate sentences, quoting etc with emoticons.
That just looked as if you said:
the actual death toll was (thankfully) closer to only a few dozen individuals.
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Some people jus
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Maybe they are used by people who are sick of being misunderstood constantly.
How do you get sarcasm across in a post? is that really any better than an emoticon?
I have often seen people mod down sarcastic posts or respond aggressively to a post that clearly had no ill intent. You can be the best writer on the web and it still only takes one idiot to misunderstand what you wrote. An emoticon is protection against such idiots.
Re:Emotions are not mutually exclusive from work (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Emotions are not mutually exclusive from work (Score:4, Interesting)
I consider myself a fairly sharp writer -- not author material, perhaps, but easily in the top percentile when it comes to expressing myself through written word. However, it seems I have a knack for coming across as a smart-ass in my informal communication. A main complaint about me in my WoW guild (I'll wait for you to stop laughing. . . okay.) is that I seem like a total dick in guild chat. But the same people who say that will add that I'm the "nicest guy" on Ventrilo.
I really can think of no way to correct that without talking to people as if they're children -- congratulating them on the smallest of accomplishments, peppering my words with
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Often enough, half the skill in delivering a good joke is in the visual clues one gives (especially when you're being ironic) and in the written medium (especially short articles) without emoticons, all those visual clues are lost.
For example, it's one thing to say:
- Slackware is clearly the easiest, most user friendly Linux distro.
and another to say
- Slackware is clearly the easiest, most user friendly Linux distro
Re:Emotions are not mutually exclusive from work (Score:5, Funny)
<tone xmlns="http://smileysarebad.com/xsd/tone">
<facetious>Hasn't XML, in its infinite glory in all applications, already given us a method that's a little less lame?</facetious>
</tone>
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<voice-impression>
<Teal-C>Indeed. Though is it not overly verbose for regular communications, Mr. Mensch?</Teal-C>
</voice-impression>
The world is not yet ready! ;[ (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The world is not yet ready! ;[ (Score:4, Funny)
#;o)>
Re:The world is not yet ready! ;[ (Score:5, Informative)
Inter-team communications within company, light to no use of emoticons, some slang (if teams in same country)
Intra-team, emoticons, abbrv, AFK, BRB, etc. slang. vastly more acceptable.
That'd be the rules where I work and they seem to work quite well.
-nB
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You may want to re-read some of those communications without the smileys, and see if they take on a more ominous tone.
Meh. (Score:5, Insightful)
It's an informal style, so sure, where informality is allowed, sure, why not? If you feel comfortable dropping your boss a joke email, then there is no reason you shouldn't throw in a random emoticon in routine correspondence, but I would seriously recommend against using the "unhappy face" to deliver any sort of bad news, or adding in random emoticons on anything resembling official correspondence, or anything that might get passed on up the line.
It's just not professional.
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Agreed . . . mostly. Informal written communication doesn't carry inflection, tone of voice or body language. More formal writing can get around these with tasteful word choice, punctuation and structure, and lends itself to being interpreted in a more professional sounding tone. For intra-office instant messengers, smilies are hard to avoid using. People tend to IM very short questions, declaratory statements, etc--it's not appropriate (and won't be read any way) to send a book so they get your full me
Re:Meh. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Meh. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Meh. (Score:4, Funny)
Mr. Johnson,
Your employment here at MegaCorp is terminated, effective immediately
Director,
Human Resources
Re:Meh. (Score:5, Funny)
Mr. Johnson,
Your employment here at MegaCorp is terminated, effective immediately
Director,
Human Resources
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I'm in my late 20s and so supposedly of this gener
Legal again (Score:2)
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The story you cite is from 2001.
Evidence the story is seriously dated can be found in the byline, as well as in this snippet: The firestorm of controversy even led to an entire newsthread discussing the lawsuit on the highly respected tech-news site Slashdot,...
Very true. (Score:5, Funny)
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+5 Insightful (Score:4, Informative)
Though I have to say that the only thing more annoying than seeing Comic Sans in an email is seeing one of those hideous background templates. No, I don't want to see your email decked out in roses. No, I don't want to read your email in blue text on black background. No, I don't want your 4pt font that matches your "professional" faded background. Black on white, 10-12pt font works fine, thankyouverymuch.
---Email Luddite (Score:2)
Anything else is just making my life more difficult...The whole point of email in the first place is quick, simple communication. If you need more than that, pick up the damn phone, or do a face-to-face.
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While I agree with your sentiment, I can't agree with your analysis. Email is often used for longer communications where styling is required. For example, I may need to send information about several database tables. Lining up the text/description or data works best with a rich-text table. Especially when there's not quite enough information to attach a Word or Excel document instead. Similarly, a picture is worth 1000 words. When I
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Reintegrating RL Cues (Score:5, Insightful)
Apparently yes. I, for one, welcome our "naïve tweens on AOL Instant Messenger finding out after-school soccer practice is canceled" overlords.
Re:Reintegrating RL Cues (Score:4, Informative)
In an informal context, sure, a few emoticons are acceptable. In a formal situation, you need to take the time to make sure your writing accurately conveys your opinions and feelings, even if you have to spell it out more than you would in person.
The only times I really feel the need to use a smiley is when I'm being sarcastic or ironic, and that has no place in formal communication anyway.
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In an informal context, sure, a few emoticons are acceptable. In a formal situation, you need to take the time to make sure your writing accurately conveys your opinions and feelings, even if you have to spell it out more than you would in person.
I think it's safe to say emoticons are more useful in a context where you are communicating with someone where you have not established any other previous relationship, i.e. someone you may not have met before or may know only from exchanging emails. Without the other channels of information to draw on, it would be better to include them to establish your style of conversation/writing. I don't tend to use them myself, mainly because I generally only communicate directly with people I know and who know me,
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Clever, working the "penis and testicles" emoticon into your last sentence, there. Thought no one would notice, did you? You sick bastard.
"I'm not going to feel better ..." (Score:2)
imagine my surprise (Score:5, Funny)
IM IN UR PORTFOLIO
SHORTING UR GUGULS
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I probably would have laughed, but I try to keep things personal between me and the people I'm paying. They remember your name and face better if they have something out of the ordinary to remember you by. Consider yourself lucky!
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We regret to inform you that the site you listed has is a lame rip of a different meme known as "caturday". We politely request that you do more research on the subject to determine the original source(s) before posting some lame, style-biting site.
-- The Mgmt.
wish i'd had that kind of cash (Score:2)
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On a more serious note...
Others have stated that emoticons are used to display emotion, and clarify things. But the simply -presence- of the emoticon is a sign in itself, and it clearly says 'I'm not taking
In IT (Score:2, Insightful)
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Dear sir,
I formally inform you my apprecciation on your choice of IM systems.
Yours,
Keeboo Booboo
Ps.:
Not always about being "cute" (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Not always about being "cute" (Score:5, Insightful)
It is perfectly possible to convey humor, sarcasm, or irony with text, plenty of authors did so well before the electronics age.
That said, there are two solutions, if it is an informal and won't be distributed, include the damn smiley. If it's serious or formal (even if you're making a sarcastic comment to your boss,) take the time to make sure your email conveys what you want it to convey. If you can't express what you want in type don't.
The standard cop out that something doesn't translate well to text is bull. Jonathan Swift didn't complainabout how hard it is to write effective satire, nor does Garry Trudeau for that matter.
Text too formal for emotion (Score:2)
It could be worse... (Score:2)
I don't know what she is complaining about. If they are using them in the military it could be a lot worse. Imagine the text message after the next friendly fire incident:
"Sorry we didn't mean to blow you up
I've found emoticons to be important (Score:2)
Sounds like a basketcase (Score:3, Insightful)
My guess is she got herself real pumped up and greedy over what was probably only passing interest expressed by some buyer. If she's enough of a looney to get this bent out of shape over an "emoticon", then I wouldn't put it past her to grossly overstate the importance or her deal and the notion that it spontaneously fell through at the "23rd hour". I'm guessing her buyer may have been spooked for reasons that had nothing to do with the property...
In the navy (Score:2)
Mature people don't use emoticons (Score:2)
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This predates emoticons (Score:2)
I often see the smiley emoticon used in this fashion, to defuse an insult or make sure the reader understands that what is said isn't meant to be taken literally, such as "You're such a jerk
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I only wish that there was a sarcasm mark (!)
I wuv you! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I wuv you! (Score:4, Interesting)
For instance, when I first joined this company, they had an employee (very nice, very good with customers) that absolutely refused to stop typing emails in all caps. After several customers had complained and every manager above them had had a talk with them, the owner had a talk... It ended in a screaming fit and I never did figure out if they quit or were fired. They simply could not accept that they were being rude, no matter how many times they were told so.
Informal usage only (Score:2, Funny)
Informal:
"wtfm8?"
Formal:
"Sir, I am absolutely flabbergasted that you would insult my intelligence with such inc
Re:Informal usage only (Score:5, Funny)
Formal:
"I should hope you mean drivel, good sir, for I am neither slobbering like a hound nor partaking in a rousing game of basketball!"
Informal:
"lol, lern 2 english"
Puctuation and grammer (Score:2)
Whats the consensus on punctuation and grammar in business? Are we all heading towards l33t speak? (shudder)
Anybody else seeing emails with no capital letters? (and yes, I have sent some myself before)
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Sarcasm (Score:2)
In one thread, a wisecrack about campus elevators was misinterpreted by some as a safety warning, so Dr. Fahlman suggested using :-) as a way to indicate jokes and :-( for remarks to be taken seriously
Sarcasm and certain witticisms don't translate well to text as Dr. Fahlman noted back in the day. A smiley or "!" at the end tends to deflect misinterpretation on the receiver's end. Example response(exaggerated for clarity):
F*ck you.
F*ck you :)
Sadly, I get several email responses like this a day. The presence or absence of the smiley determines the office exit I leave through at the end of the day :)
F*ck!
For the LAST time, they're SMILIES, not emoticons! (Score:2)
Hate to break it to Ms. Feldman (Score:2)
But I was using emoticons (we just called them "smileys" then... real computers didn't HAVE icons) on BITNET in the 1980s when her biggest concern was whether her My Little Pony or Care Bears collection got put on the top shelf in her room. They're not a recent phenomenon.
*grumble* damn kids need to get off my lawn :-(
LOL (Score:2)
However, suffixing a sentence with lol communicates quite a bunch of negative things about the other end.
Brando would be ashamed of her (Score:2)
Maybe she should've made them an offer they couldn't refuse [imdb.com]. Then she wouldn't have anything to worry about (except blowback).
Irony, anyone? (Score:2)
Alexis, perhaps you could understand that the mores of communication are constantly evolving. In the same sense that it used to be de-rigeur to have to wear a suit and tie to work, the pendulum overswung during the dot-com era to where NOTHING was ever formal, to now where business casual is the norm. It's the same with languag
bad news (Score:2)
You mean like:
Dear xyzxyz,
I regretfully inform you that due to an unsuccessful financial maneuver the company is now critically indebted.
oops..
Yours,
Looking For a New Job Joe
US Military use of emoticons (Score:2)
Am I the only one who thought of messages like
when hearing that the US military uses emoticons?
Emoticons == The New Punctuation (Score:4, Insightful)
Many flamewars have raged because someone missed humor or sarcasm.
OTOH, it is easy to overdo emoticons and they should only be used to clarify meaning. I can see use for smilies, but my imagination doesn't stretch so far as to conceive a situation that needs a frownie or others. When used redundantly, emoticons can be insulting: how else am I supposed to feel?
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Yes!!! I've been using emoticons for years!
!!!!1!1.