A. wry but humorous comment?
B. bitingly sarcastic observation?
C. bit of self deprecation?
D. Other?
I am frequently tempted to punctuate humor with :rolleyes:. Long ago, however, when I used it that way, I got whole bunch of Dopers seriously ticked off, e.g., one guy came back with “Don’t roll your goddam eyes at me, BarnOwl!!!”
And of course I had to. Again. Since then I have invoked it rarely, if at all.
How about yourself - do you get a lot of grief when you :rolleyes: ?
If you’re going to reply with links to 1001 threads on this subject, I can only say in advance, I’m deeply sorry, but don’t know how to search on a friggin cartoon. :rolleyes:
If folk are annoyed by others tutting, indrawing breath, and rolling their eyes (usually in kind of a schoolmarmish disapproval) – they’ll be hacked off with seeing the :rolleyes: online, I think. Some here overused it, and it led to bitter battles over in the Pit.
Aimed at someone who isn’t a poster here, say at someone involved in an event in current affairs, the effect isn’t so personal.
I don’t use it at all. As your post points out, it can be misconstrued. Communication is tough enough face-to-face. It is even tougher via a message board. No sense introducing things that some view as offensive.
As I’ve said before, if people are offended by a mere smilie, for heaven’s sake, the problem is not the smilie. If it were overtly racist, sexist, etc., that’s an entirely different matter.
My apologies. I thought he was asking what I do and why - I hadn’t realized this was a debate. I withdraw my comments as I’m disinterested in debating my view with you. You may use whichever smiley you wish. I will continue to not use it.
