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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kreynolds" data-source="post: 275590" data-attributes="member: 2829">Not asking for it implies that I don't need it, nor do I seek it. I have no need for it in this matter. When someone rubs me the wrong way, I deal with it myself and I don't seek community support on it. Granted, it helps to have it, as the situation tends to be smoothed over much faster, but that's another matter entirely.See, I have this problem. When someone pops off at me, I pop back. I know I shouldn't waste the time, but in a few special cases, it's almost worth it. I don't ask for an apology because this is just a message board. It's not like my pride or personal feelings are gonna be injured for more than a minute, after which I realize, "Hey! It's a frickin' message board. Why should I care about getting an apology?". Answer? I don't. It's a message board.Now, when I'm in the wrong, that's different. I apologize in the end. It's the least I can do for the person on the other end that had to put up with me. But do I seek one? No. I could care less.How did this all get started? A malfunctioning emoticon. Why are they there? To convey emotion. What emoticon did I use? The wink. Why did I use the wink? Because I wasn't serious. How can you be sure that I wasn't being serious? Because I wouldn't have used the emoticon if I was serious. How can you tell when I'm serious? I don't use an emoticon.So, it's an established fact that the emoticons are there to convey emotion, and quite possibly to diffuse an explosive situation before it gets outta hand. When do they fail? When people ignore them or when people abuse them. How can you tell when an emoticon is being abused? You can't, unless you look at the posting pattern of the person using the emoticon.I use them to convey emotion, which is why they're there. I use them to make sure that someone knows when I'm joking. If someone ignores the emoticon, it's not my problem. If they think I'm misusing it, it's not my problem. I know what I was trying to convey, and I used an emoticon to enforce that. Everyone here, and I mean everyone, can agree that at least half of my posts would look far far worse if I didn't use emoticons. I just don't sugar coat anything; I tell it like it is, which is why I use emoticons so much. If I don't use an emoticon, it's either because the current post needs no conveying of emotion, or it's because the emotion behind the post is just blatantly obvious. I've never used the "mad" emoticon, because generally, if I'm mad, it's pretty obvious in the post.All I can do is try and keep my cool when someone behaves poorly because they ignored an emoticon, and in most cases, I can keep my cool just fine. But, there are a few where that's very difficult, and this is one of them.If you get it, great. If you don't, oh well.</blockquote>

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