Comments | spazztichero: Editorial: User Icons are Powerful

spazztichero

Editorial: User Icons are Powerful

Aug 04, 2008 11:55

Alright, I am a student of rhetoric. Specifically, I am a student of digital rhetoric. What does this mean? This means that I probably look at things with a much more critical eye than most. Perhaps I am right, and perhaps I am looking too far into something. There is a happy medium in there that I am trying to master and that some of my ( Read more... )

Comments 6

icons have meanings hametsunosaturn August 5 2008, 03:10:56 UTC

I completely agree, on the topic of icons being important. I've actually deliberated multiple times which icon to use, which would be most appropriate for the comment and which would be the most fun. What message am I trying to send when I use this particular icon? Am I referencing something? Am I making some inside joke? Am I conveying a sentiment or an emotion?

I think they are very potent sometimes and in this particular case, I find it very disconcerting that he used that icon from a past relationship and attributed it to his wife. Now I can't help but be curious as to whether or not she knows the original meaning of it or what the reason he chose to use it is. It isn't his default icon... And if it's meant to be a love-related icon, why has he not updated it to something less specific?

Hmm... Very interesting.

Re: icons have meanings spazztichero August 6 2008, 07:16:43 UTC

Very interesting indeed!

I deliberate often as well. It was worse when I had a paid account and a ton of icons. Fortunately, my default icon is general enough that I can reply from emails without worrying, but sometimes a specific icon is called for. It is amazing to me just how much a simple icon can convey. It can sometimes say as much as the whole post! Or at the very least, it adds a certain tone to the post every bit as much as the tone of voice adds something to what is said.

Re: icons have meanings hametsunosaturn August 6 2008, 16:00:44 UTC

I'm glad I'm not the only one that considers whether or not to reply via e-mail because of the default icon. I've switched over to the actual post just to use a specific icon.

And an icon can certainly say a lot. I've actually deliberated which icon to use at times, because sometimes using the wrong one can be really jarring. For example, the use of this boo icon when I've got nothing to boo. Kinda awkward, isn't it?

angel_vixen August 5 2008, 04:15:13 UTC

It's not painful anymore, though I'll admit I get a tweak every now and then over the fact that he and blackpaladin tend to announce at every turn that they have a) gotten over me, really!!, and b) found something newer, shiny, and more candy-like. It presumes I care, and therefore makes me twitch ( ... )

spazztichero August 6 2008, 07:25:36 UTC

So the icon has history even beyond being for Angel-centric posts? It has gone from love to rant to...er...whatever it is now? That just makes it all the more interesting. Seriously, that icon should have been deleted and forgotten long ago. And as to their insistence that they have gotten over you..."Methinks the [dude] doth protest too much" comes to mind. You seem to inspire crazy obsessiveness to the point of irrationality! I wonder what he has turned that icon into in his head. The thought actually seems quite scary, as it could verge on the insane.

But then, now I probably really am looking far too into a simple icon ( ... )

angel_vixen August 6 2008, 17:42:00 UTC

I truly couldn't tell you, because everything changed (my view on life, his view on life, etc.) after we broke up.

And you are not the only person to say I inspire irrationality/obsessiveness. killernurd has even gone so far as suggest that I am a polarizing force at times.

AngelVixen :-)