Off topic: Perhaps it's just me, but I have a pet peeve about emojis in anything formal. Even before LLMs, I instinctively took a repo less seriously when README.md had emojis in every section. And now LLMs have popularized that style, it's the first signal for me to vibe-detect AI repos.
I do use emojis. I love them, actually, but only in message apps.
Affric 20 hours ago [-]
Emoji are fun to use because they make written communication more human… corporations or LLMs using them just comes off as insincere.
ErigmolCt 6 hours ago [-]
Emoji work well when they feel like a tiny bit of personality leaking through the text
bombcar 19 hours ago [-]
I only like emojis that HN doesn't yet filter.
Join me! 𓂺
9 hours ago [-]
11 hours ago [-]
frollogaston 18 hours ago [-]
I don't like to see them anywhere. They were cool for a while back in version 1.0 when there were a few that everyone knew and used in creative ways, before Apple* decided to make so many that you need a search bar. It's kinda like Pokémon. At this point I only get them in text messages from old people.
* yeah I know technically the Unicode Consortium, but Apple pushed it hard
stouset 18 hours ago [-]
Emoji (and their predecessor, emoticons) are IMO the greatest new feature for written language that has happened in generations. Eschewing them is certainly a choice you can make, but I personally think it's a poor one.
Authors can now bundle emotional sentiment in text communication. Not being able to do this in the past was usually just an annoyance but could occasionally turn out to be extremely problematic. Countless miscommunications have occurred due to recipients not correctly interpreting an author's tone, and we now have a tool that can help reduce or potentially eliminate those misunderstandings. It's early days, so we're still seeing teething issues: different emoji sets conveying subtly different cues and evolving social norms around their use. But they have incredible potential.
3eb7988a1663 16 hours ago [-]
However, the lack of standardization between platforms causes its own miscommunication. Some of the icons between Apple and Google can be interpreted in significantly different ways.
There is also the pistol[0] which depending on the platform is a water gun or revolver.
I explicitly called out different emoji sets conveying subtly different meanings.
frollogaston 16 hours ago [-]
Well Apple emojis are de facto standard, the rest follow. Even the stupid water gun.
frollogaston 17 hours ago [-]
We already had that ;)
Again emoji 1.0 was good. You can convey what you need with a small subset of that even. But even if modern computers were limited to emoji 1.0, I suspect they'd have been equally spammed to the point of losing meaning anyway.
17 hours ago [-]
hollerith 17 hours ago [-]
And yet you are here, a site completely devoid of emoji.
stouset 7 hours ago [-]
Because the social norms of this place currently discourage it.
I also don’t use contractions in formal writing settings. Does that make them bad?
hollerith 2 hours ago [-]
I think the site owner actively filters them out and has been doing so ever since you joined this site in 2011.
But no matter the reason for the complete lack of emoji, the fact that you like this site enough to participate here is evidence that emoji don't actually improve public discussion as much as you think they would.
There are many many sites on which you could have chosen to participate where emoji are common and can be used freely.
Auracle 12 hours ago [-]
You know, I would actually use little Pokemon sprite emojis, unlike the real thing.
ErigmolCt 6 hours ago [-]
Emoji themselves aren't the problem. It's more that context changes the meaning completely
geophph 22 hours ago [-]
Not just you!
thenthenthen 24 hours ago [-]
Or SSID’s
9dev 1 days ago [-]
> We mapped almost 1:1 to SoftBank’s set, though Apple chose to omit a few of the more risqué ones.
Which are these risqué emojis mentioned here? I don't think I have ever seen any that are even slightly graphic, which is probably why all the emoji slang conventions have spread like fire (Aubergine, Peach, etc.)
cryzinger 23 hours ago [-]
I was going to say that the love hotel emoji was the only one I could think of, but in the process of trying to find the emojipedia link (https://emojipedia.org/love-hotel) I found a Reddit thread that leads to a now-defunct blog post:
Its kinda odd how a lot of the major tech companies have self censored emojis like they are some savior of the planet for doing so.
For example the gun emoji by turning it into a water pistol instead of a real looking firearm handgun lol.
WOW THEY SURE CAUSED COUNTLESS LIVES TO BE SAVED W THAT ONE SINGLE MOVE!
pc86 22 hours ago [-]
It's virtue signaling - nonsense from the same people who unironically say things like "lived experience" and "emotional labor." It shows they're part of a particular group, so they're Good, and if you're not, you're Bad.
mft_ 9 hours ago [-]
I disagree - I think it might be more about predictable-hassle-avoidance.
The media landscape is all about creating sensation, trying to find an edge from something a politician said or a corporation did to generate a headline and some clicks. And as we know, companies like Apple are heavily scrutinised because they’re even better at driving clicks.
So I think Apple is incentivised to look for things which in a reasonable world wouldn’t even register, but which might cause some minor sensation they’d have to deal with, and snuff out that risk beforehand.
Cider9986 22 hours ago [-]
Stickers are for you. Plenty of uncensored content and as soon as you send one from one of your packs, the recipient can start using them anywhere as well.
It is free PR so corporations lap that kind of thing up.
pimlottc 1 days ago [-]
That's a good question. Comparing the Softbank emoji from June 2008 [0] and the initial batch of Apple emoji that shipping in iPhone OS 2.2 (Nov 2008) [1], it doesn't look like there are any missing at all, it's a perfect 1:1 mapping.
Maybe edit rather than omit? Apple changed the people kissing with actual lip contact, the 1910s-looking cancan dancers, and the stink lines on the poop.
stringfood 1 days ago [-]
long eggplant and a smaller Pinching Hand emoji were probably the first to go
1 days ago [-]
holistio 1 days ago [-]
There is still no walnut emoji. Blonde-haired, black-skinned pregnant man? Yes. Walnut? No.
By the way, Walnut Creek is less than 100 miles from Cupertino.
I love walnuts.
CGMthrowaway 20 hours ago [-]
I'll bet you could find a place named after most any nut within 100 miles of Cupertino.
1 days ago [-]
ErigmolCt 6 hours ago [-]
Also "petty, small change" is exactly the right scale for a walnut emoji campaign
Jtarii 1 days ago [-]
Gotta love websites that hijack basic browser functions, in this case forcing smooth scroll on.
embedding-shape 1 days ago [-]
Seems to be some sort of design agency or similar, it's basically internet-law at this point that those always fuck with the scroll movements of your browser, for some reason.
frollogaston 18 hours ago [-]
Yeah I felt that and left so fast, forget that
hollerith 18 hours ago [-]
Gotta love browsers that let websites hijack basic browser functions.
hbn 1 days ago [-]
I love the pregnant man emoji, I use it all the time after a big meal
asdff 24 hours ago [-]
No more gun emoji. Humanity could not be trusted with the cartoon revolver emoji. Take your squirtgun, citizen.
j1000 1 days ago [-]
Also no thief emoji or pirate emoji. Can someone enlighten me why we don't have it?
dagmx 1 days ago [-]
Simply because nobody has successfully pitched the Unicode group to add one.
Anyone can pitch new emoji, they just have to go through the fairly easy but strict formal process.
blanched 1 days ago [-]
Alex Schmidt, a humor writer (formerly of Cracked and others) did this process for the bison emoji. I enjoyed his “miniseries” about it: https://www.bisonemojipodcast.com/
basch 1 days ago [-]
does the reverse notebooklm exist yet that turns podcasts into longform journalism?
blanched 1 days ago [-]
Not that I know of. And I generally prefer written pieces to podcasts :).
I was looking for a pirate emoji like 5 minutes ago. I'm sure it's not the first time but I'm super surprised that still isn't in there. Seems so obvious.
frollogaston 18 hours ago [-]
Well there's a pirate flag
wvbdmp 1 days ago [-]
What’s next, a cowboy emoji? A ninja emoji? But seriously, as much as I like emojis, I kind of feel like they should stick to emotions. Maybe other intangible things. They’re hard to convey verbally (and succinctly), simple concrete nouns are good for a bit of fun and for UI icons, but really not very useful if we’re being honest. Unless you’re texting with a lizard, or my lazy elementary-school niece who shouldn’t really have a phone anyway…
customguy 21 hours ago [-]
If we add 26 more emojis, one for each letter, we could use them to spell out all sorts of words - emotions, objects, anything!
26 emojis? You could do the entire bestiary from the original Rogue with that!
holistio 1 days ago [-]
Or you're texting with people whose native language uses a logographic system.
ErigmolCt 6 hours ago [-]
Representation emojis and object emojis are solving different problems
helterskelter 23 hours ago [-]
We got the mpreg emoji instead of a chainsaw, which makes me feel like we need an emoji lobbying group for things like sex, drugs, sawed-off shotguns and jury nullification.
carrozo 1 days ago [-]
still no Guillotine Emoji either, although not for a lack of trying.
If the author is reading this, the hyperlink to the book in the first paragraph is broken. Looks like it's attempting to direct you to an absolute url that was meant to be relative.
<a href="https://books/face-with-tears-of-joy">
ErigmolCt 6 hours ago [-]
Cultural impact often comes from boring product work done carefully
amelius 1 days ago [-]
In case anyone is actually interested in the emoji:
I do use emojis. I love them, actually, but only in message apps.
Join me! 𓂺
* yeah I know technically the Unicode Consortium, but Apple pushed it hard
Authors can now bundle emotional sentiment in text communication. Not being able to do this in the past was usually just an annoyance but could occasionally turn out to be extremely problematic. Countless miscommunications have occurred due to recipients not correctly interpreting an author's tone, and we now have a tool that can help reduce or potentially eliminate those misunderstandings. It's early days, so we're still seeing teething issues: different emoji sets conveying subtly different cues and evolving social norms around their use. But they have incredible potential.
There is also the pistol[0] which depending on the platform is a water gun or revolver.
[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistol_emoji
Again emoji 1.0 was good. You can convey what you need with a small subset of that even. But even if modern computers were limited to emoji 1.0, I suspect they'd have been equally spammed to the point of losing meaning anyway.
I also don’t use contractions in formal writing settings. Does that make them bad?
But no matter the reason for the complete lack of emoji, the fact that you like this site enough to participate here is evidence that emoji don't actually improve public discussion as much as you think they would.
There are many many sites on which you could have chosen to participate where emoji are common and can be used freely.
Which are these risqué emojis mentioned here? I don't think I have ever seen any that are even slightly graphic, which is probably why all the emoji slang conventions have spread like fire (Aubergine, Peach, etc.)
12 years ago - Apple removes beer, wine, love hotel, and other emojis from insertion palette in Messages app https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/2qqaya/apple_removes...
The blog it links to is dead, so here's an archive link: https://web.archive.org/web/20150312182931/http://blog.getem...
For example the gun emoji by turning it into a water pistol instead of a real looking firearm handgun lol.
WOW THEY SURE CAUSED COUNTLESS LIVES TO BE SAVED W THAT ONE SINGLE MOVE!
The media landscape is all about creating sensation, trying to find an edge from something a politician said or a corporation did to generate a headline and some clicks. And as we know, companies like Apple are heavily scrutinised because they’re even better at driving clicks.
So I think Apple is incentivised to look for things which in a reasonable world wouldn’t even register, but which might cause some minor sensation they’d have to deal with, and snuff out that risk beforehand.
https://signalstickers.org/
0: https://emojipedia.org/softbank/2008
1: https://emojipedia.org/apple/iphone-os-2.2
By the way, Walnut Creek is less than 100 miles from Cupertino.
I love walnuts.
Anyone can pitch new emoji, they just have to go through the fairly easy but strict formal process.
The show notes for episode 2 have good references (no fun commentary though): https://www.bisonemojipodcast.com/show-notes
https://www.carrozo.com/guillotine-emoji
https://emojipedia.org/apple
Interesting tidbit:
> Emoji support required iPhone OS 2.2 and a SoftBank SIM card.
What exactly do you think the "GenAI" trained on?
https://logandark.net/files/328S6690-9Q368809-16843Q53-RR2SN...
I miss Steve Jobs