There’s a popular post going around that’s like “well tone indicators are helpful for people for anxiety because some people need stuff like “ /nm (not mad)” or “ /nbh (nobody here)” and I absolutely get it because I have an anxiety disorder but like. You can very much add that on the text of a message itself and it will be way more clear and accessible than expecting them to memorize this whole new fabricated code.
Which one do you think will be clearer, faster to understand, and more direct to the point:
“oh my god someone is pissing me off /nbh”
“oh my god someone (not from this server, don’t worry) is pissing me off”
or
“have you done the dishes? /nm
“have you done the dishes? don’t worry, im not mad, just wondering”
You can be mindful of someone else’s needs and talk to them in a way that is respectful and understanding of those needs. The key is communication. Expecting people to memorize a lot of abbreviations is like the contrary of accessible.
I still haven’t seen these tone indicator abbreviations in the wild, but it certainly doesn’t help that every time I see examples like this on tumblr, the abbreviation has a different, well-established meaning!
Like in this example, if someone said to me “have you done the dishes? /nm” I would read it as “Have you done the dishes? Nevermind.” Which is either absent-minded or passive-aggressive. It would never occur to me that it could mean “not mad”!
The best, though, is /pos, which supposedly means “positive” but is already well-established as meaning “piece of shit.” Like. If someone used that one on me that would be a very mixed-message.
For the love of all that’s holy, please stop trying to add yet another set of social rules I have to figure out and memorize; it is hard enough already. Just say the actual words that you mean instead of making me guess which of all possible meanings you intended with your abbreviations. If you mean that you are not mad, say that you are not mad. If you want communication to be clearer, then make it clearer; don’t add another layer of obfuscation. You are not actually making life easier for anyone outside of your secret code words club; if anything you are making it harder, and making communication worse.
(via propheticfire)
