# What is the nature of a personal insult?  The ol' rolleyes smiley.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-nature-of-a-personal-insult-the-ol-rolleyes-smiley/528989>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [February 14, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-nature-of-a-personal-insult-the-ol-rolleyes-smiley/528989 "2010-02-14T20:53:52Z")\
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**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-nature-of-a-personal-insult-the-ol-rolleyes-smiley/528989/37 "2010-02-15T06:53:39Z")

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Moderator opinions notwithstanding, I would consider a statement such as

> [@Olympic luger killed in training run](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-luger-killed-in-training-run/528780/60):
>
> Look, I don’t know what the fuck your deal is with me and sports threads, but you can shove your rolleyes up your ass.

to such a small, insignificant thing as a smiley directed at me to be a crude reaction better suited for the Pit. In fact, I was going to report it myself, but I saw that you had already been warned. I agree with **Gary** , **Czarcasm** , and **Xash** that your warning was merited. Not that my opinion counts in cases like this. If a little smiley bothers you that much, why don’t you take **Omniscient** to the Pit? It’s what I would have done if I had thin skin. But I don’t. I have learned in my years on the internet how to ignore responses like the eyeroll. I don’t use them myself, but I don’t take them as a personal attack on my honor, my father’s name, my country’s flag or anything else worth defending. I mentally dismiss them, then I move on. I don’t give them more significance than they deserve. You say you didn’t mean a personal insult, but I see crude language and a venting of anger out of proportion to the perceived offense. I would have been more bothered by that than by somebody virtually rolling their eyes at me. IMO you deserved to be warned for this.

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