Rolleye smilies in GD

I feel that contempt doesn’t have a place in GD (which I admit that I don’t visit often because the topics I like to argue over are more suited for CS) or anywhere outside of the BBQ Pit. If an argument is making you contemptful, maybe you ought to step away or rephrase your response.

Of course, perfect world, blah blah blah. If everyone presented perfectly formed arguments, then nobody would be moved to be scornful.

I agree. The rolleyes smiley has no place in proper debate; it’s the equivalent of shouting ‘poopyhead!’ at your opponent, which, even if he is a poopyhead, is pointless at best.

:rolleyes: im in ur thred, stiflin’ ur debatez :rolleyes:

Serves to do what? In what way does adding a picture of a green cartoon man rolling his eyes do any good for anybody? Posting the same little picture that everybody else can post, I’m sorry to say, is not an entirely satisfactory remedy for a lack of clarity. As far as I can tell, it’s just a generic way to call somebody stupid; in which case its use is inappropriate and a little bit cowardly.

(See? I’m expressing contempt!)

This isn’t a face-to-face medium of conversation; nobody’s waiting on your response. If you can’t find the words to express something, you have the option of saying nothing. If you’re only able, in certain situations, to either A. “blister the paint” with invective (thus detracting from and adding nothing to the debate) or B. say nothing (adding nothing but neither detracting anything), in what way is a rolleyes a solution to that conundrum? Because it puts you on record as having called somebody, or somebody’s argument, stupid? You don’t get any points for it, and nobody’s counting votes. It’s not like the idea that some threads are hard to respond to properly is foreign to me – I hardly ever post in GD for the two reasons you listed. But at least I’m not going out of my way to let everybody know I have nothing to say.

Since you can’t make personal insults about people in GD, using a :rolleyes: is the next best thing.

**stutteringjane ** could use a whole row of eyerolls and head smacks in the Global Warming thread.

I agree, but I think “fuckwit” has no place in GD, even if it’s expressed in some other way. If you can’t rebut someone’s argument, you can say nothing. Putting in a little smilie that shows you can’t rebut the argument, but still feel superior to the person you’re responding to, is just asinine.

I’m reminded of the YouTube rant, on smilies:

“I didn’t learn to read and write so I could communicate using a system of crude pictograms.”

Hah! You want the words? Some of you can’t handle the words. Sometimes, I throw a double-barreled blast, only to have the target act as though I’m being vague.

Growf on ya.

Unfortunately, an attempt to Fight Ignorance often tends to be taken personally by the ignorant.

It would not mean that I can’t rebut the argument…it would mean that the argument is unworthy of any considered response. Try arguing with somebody like Magellan01 or **Valteron ** sometime and you’ll see what I mean.

If you aren’t going to give a considered response in GD, maybe you shouldn’t be giving a response at all.

If there’s nothing to say, there’s no need to say it.

In person, yes. On a board, failure to respond to nonsense is normally taken by the spewer of the nonsense to be a complete victory for his position; no rebuttal given because no rebuttal possible.

That bubble does need to be pricked.

And yet, magellan, to pick one idiot at random, will never be convinced. He will take anything as a complete victory for his position, since his position seems to be “Let’s see how long I can keep this argument going.”

If you want to argue with the likes of him, fine. But if the most you can muster is a rolleyes, you’re not arguing. You’re just pulling faces.

Won’t someone think of the lurkers?

Interesting that you think it equates to calling somebody stupid.

Nice of you. I don’t have contempt for pretty much anybody. With the possible exception of Bush.

If I use it, it will be in response to someone who has responded to a post of mine. So your point is moot.

It indicates that I am frustrated or annoyed or seriously unimpressed with the poster’s remarks and wish to express my displeasure/disbelief/incredulity/other negative impression but haven’t any desire to spend the time it would take to ratchet back my urge to ‘blister the paint’ to provide a flowery equivalent of ‘that is one of the most inane ideas I have come across in recent times’. It is shorthand for ‘that is ludicrous to the degree that I don’t wish to waste a portion of my life responding to it further’.

But if you enjoy feeling superior because you flap your fingers more to convey the same thought, go right ahead :smiley:

(ooo I just bet you hate the grin, too)

Oh my Gawd!
Like, really?

LOL!

:rolleyes:

Ha!

Well, if I say something to somebody in real life, and they roll their eyes at me, that’s how I interpret it. What interpretation do you intend when you use it?

Contempt for the argument. I didn’t agree with what you said, so I used words to express my disagreement, was the idea. Reference to OP.

Is it? Seems to me that, if they’ve responded to you and all you have for them is a rolleyes, that’s not any different from any other use of the rolleyes. Because you haven’t actually said anything. Put another way, if they were waiting on your response, they’d still be waiting. Unless you rolleyesed them and then responded, in which case, again, what purpose did the picture serve other than as an insult? And if the person really is enough of a tithead that you really need to tell them “you, sir, are a tithead, you fuckbird, you,” you can do that. Just not in GD.

But we’re talking about GD here. The whole point is somebody’s presenting an argument, let’s hash it out on the merits, right? In theory, at least, it’s not supposed to be personal. If the idea’s dumb, the point is to tell’em why. If you don’t have time to explain to the person why the argument’s so ridiculous, what are you doing there?

“Stupid,” in other words? And, again, why respond at all if your only sentiment is “This merits no response,” unless you feel like the other poster needs to know that you think they’re dumb?

You are correct. The important point here is that I feel superior because I flap my fingers more. My post to the effect that I post infrequently in GD because I am unable to keep contempt out of my replies was a ruse. Obviously I overestimated its cleverness.

(Actually, the grin’s fine; although I don’t really use any of them. I could use it here to indicate I’m not really getting all worked up about this and that it’s all in good fun, for instance. It’s the opposite of the rolleyes.)

Let me type through the tears your words have caused and point out something that you seem to have overlooked. That is: if either side in a debate is unable to convince the other of its position and the discussion continues and continues, both sides are responsible for its length.

Kinda obvious now that you see it, huh?

You’re welcome.