18 Likes
i would be delighted if i could express my feelings about the comment you replied to as effectively in a dozen paragraphs as you have with one image, i bow to your eloquence,
10 Likes
Well, obvs, because an image is worth a thousand words. That is why humans only communicate in emoji now.
3 Likes
Sometimes images CAN convey as much as a whole paragraph of writing. Hell, Iāve read plenty of 500 page books, full of half formed ideas and conjecture, that say much less than a single image can say. Itās not just one or the other and it shouldnāt have to be. One isnāt necessarily superior to the other, theyāre just different.
Honestly, I get a little ornery when told how I should and shouldnāt communicate with others. Iām perfectly happy to abide by community standards in terms of no name calling, bad faith actions, etc, because I fully agree that they rarely help (except maybe in the case of bad faith trollies who arenāt here to talk, but to punch down) but images are communications as well as text. Our first form of written communications were in fact in images, not text (cave paintings and whatnot).
19 Likes
Unfair and inaccurate.
Itās unfortunate that not everyone can communicate effectively with mere images, but the irrational derision some people seem to feel is uncalled for, IMO. Before there was the written word there were pictograms. And while language has advanced since the dawn of ācivilization, a picture is often still worth 1000 words.ā
12 Likes
Sure, as long as itās not the same picture repeated over and over (or that responses are always images), I could get behind that 
The spice of life, variety is!
2 Likes
Okayā¦ now Iām just trying to annoy you! 
But seriously, plenty of us communicate here in both text (thoughtful and not to thoughtful) and in images, and there really are sometimes when a tried and true gif does the job better than any thing else. It communicates to both the (generally speaking) trolley that they arenāt worth much time and effort, and to the rest of our community the same thing.
16 Likes
Not an issue for me, on either count, methinks; I pride myself on my extensive collection of apt images.
That said, certain āfavoritesā are just par for the course when life itself often seems to be on an infuriatingly endless loop;
When thereās yet another gun massacre in the US: Alan Rickman flipping a table and Drew Barrymore screaming in enraged frustrartion are exceedingly appropriate.
When thereās even more nonsesensical/terrible news regarding this shitshow of an admin, the Khepra facedesk and the Kitty Foreman drinking gifs should be expected.
When thereās someone inevitably talking down to someone else needlessly, thereās Kit Harrington slurping, and when an obvious failtroll pops up on the scene, thereās Lucille Bluth to āwelcomeā them with a side-eye.
These have become trademarks of some the more witty mutants here, as much a part of the community āin-jokesā as looking at bananas or calling asshats āgentlemenā ironically.
12 Likes
Yes but that was a different image! So 
@Melz2 I actually agree that a problem with many of the discussions on cough familiar topics tend to have āfamiliarā arguments repeated over and over. I think thatās why community members can burn out over timeā¦ and rightfully so.
I mean, thereās only so many times and ways you can argue gun control (for example) before youāve kinda literally seen and heard it all?
This is also why I tend to prefer discussions where people are sharing real, personal stories rather than talking points. And that also implies discussions are getting a regular influx of new people, as well, rather than the same old folks saying the same old things.
5 Likes
One former longtime BBer did:
Iām pretty much there myself.
ETA: That same regular, one of the most relentlessly insightful and engaging people Iāve seen on the BBS, closed that particular comment withāwhat else?āa GIF.
9 Likes
insert regular THIS gif
Iām not quite getting why those who build and run this place, and presumably appreciate the presence of those who come back repeatedly, are denigrating this particular community-binding feature. Maybe because itās just not suited to their own particular tastes?
8 Likes
An eyeroll gif is not contentless. Itās a quick visual equivalent of āOh come on, thatās so, whatever (you can probably figure it out) that it doesnāt even merit an extensive verbal response.ā
Thatās not the thousand words pictures are sometimes said to be worth, but again, as evinced by the numerous likes that such lonely gifs often receive, they are not automatically a contentless comment.
26 Likes
Which is a pretty contentless response- itās essentially saying itās self-evident that they are wrong. Which if it were self-evident, they probably wouldnāt have said it.
2 Likes
/searches frantically for side-eye emoji
edit:
i have found it
ā _ ā
6 Likes
I have tons, all you ever need do is ask.
12 Likes
If you think somethingās not worth responding to, donāt.
Edit: Okay, yeah, Iām tempted to do that sometimes too. Thereās nothing inherently wrong with funny memes, and If someone comes on here spouting Trumpist slogans and gets eyeroll gifs in response, I doubt there will be any reports. But several users, including you, have a habit of responding to even mild criticism or disagreement with snarky gifs, and it does make it harder to have genuine discussion.
So, all that stuff in quotes, those words of hers, are not a response?
Hmmm, I think I see the problem here.
See my edit.
