Remove emoticons for commenting

[rho]

Title:
Remove emoticons for commenting

Area:
Comments, images

Summary:
The little emoticons that you can choose to include with a comment are really showing their age. They should be removed entirely or, failing that, updated.

Description:
I'm fairly sure that the little emoticons that can optionally be attached to comments haven't been updated at all since I joined LJ back in 2001, and it sure does show.

They're already fairly well hidden. They're not available through quick reply at all, and through the regular comment interface, the only indication that they exist at all is a tiny greyed out smiley.

Personally, I'd like to see them just removed entirely. They look ugly, add a bit of extra clutter to the interface and the code, and don't really serve much of a useful purpose. What I presume was their intended purpose has now been largely superseded by people having and using a wide variety of user icons.

If we want to keep them, though, we should at least completely replace them all with newer graphics.

Poll #1605 Remove emoticons for commenting

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 63

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
43 (68.3%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
11 (17.5%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
5 (7.9%)

(I have no opinion)
4 (6.3%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Comments

[zarhooie]

See smiley.

[zarhooie]

I marked my answer as NO NO NO NO NO but I would be ok with adding to or updating the smileys. I don't like the idea of making them go away entirely.

[zvi]

 

[yvi]

[denise]

 

[yvi]

We are all so funny around here.

[musyc]

I didn't even know those existed until a couple of years ago, and I've had my LJ since '01. Seems like unnecessary code to me.

[yvi]

I just used one for the first time - didn't even know where to click. I have had a LJ since 2003, so yeah...

[msilverstar]

I hate those things, especially when animated

[torachan]

I don't really care whether they go or stay, but if they stay, I definitely say update them. They really do look old.

[eruthros]

+1

[cimorene]

Yes.

[kyrielle]

+1

[marahmarie]

This.

(Sorry, I know this thread is old but firecat and I have been discussing these lately. I voted "with changes" so this is my "please comment" comment).

I would rather the emoticons stay but with altogether updated graphics, myself.

[jeeps]

signed!

[syderia]

Yeah, at the very least update them...
(Although I've only just discovered that you could do that, so deleting them wouldn't be a problem for many users)

[(Anonymous)]

well, I just learned they exist, so I guess losing them wouldn't matter too much. I'd rather they were updated though.

[fizzyblogic]

My "with changes": I quite like them, but completely agree on them being outdated. I'd love to see them revamped rather than deleted. (I wouldn't mind terribly if they were, but it's sort of cute to have something extra to express things.)

[cheyinka]

Yes, this - I voted "shouldn't" because I'd rather still have the outdated ones than lose them entirely, but I wouldn't mind seeing them updated (as long as there was still a gold star among the updated ones!)

[turlough]

+1

[sky]

+1

And it would be nice to be able to access them from quick reply, too.

[lassarina]

Exactly. (I love getting gold stars when I say something smart. YES I AM STILL IN THIRD GRADE IN MY HEAD.)

just for you (n/t)

[cheyinka]

 

[ninetydegrees]

+1 for having them removed.

[gchick]

Delenda comment smileys!

[eruthros]

It just occurred to me to ask something else relevant here -- are the comment smileys screenreader-friendly? I don't get any alt text when I roll my cursor over them.

If they're not screenreader friendly, then empty comments with just the comment smileys are meaningless to people using screenreaders; I would continue to use just +1 or comment. If they're going to be updated instead of removed, could this be fixed?

this comment's little comment-icon has alt text of "Lightbulb" in Firefox

[cheyinka]

Firefox shows alt text for them for me, but not title text.

[queenbarwench]

I actually had to post this comment to work out what you were talking about. They should definitely go.