I see ‘negative’ emojis as being a necessary semantic thing, once you’ve got more than just “yes” (which is what the heart basically is).
It’s like French si or German doch: the ability to agree with a negative question. Like, with English and its binary agreement, if you’re asked “haven’t you started yet?”, what does it mean if you say “yes.”? Does it mean “yes I have started, your presumption that I haven’t is wrong”, or “yes, your presumption is correct, I have not started”?
Similar sort of concept, I think, with the mythical Puke Emoji. When someone posts something which is broken, wrong, or sick, and you react with something positive, that can feel like you’re agreeing with the content, not the presentation of it as a bad thing. A negative react is a more unambiguous “I do not like this”.
It comes down to context, but this is a communication medium, and everything comes down to context.
There’s always ambiguity. If nothing else, sarcasm exists.
I interpret a heart, when it’s the only option, as “I appreciate you telling me this, whether or not I like what it is you told me”. Sometimes it also means “I like this thing you told me”, but it doesn’t have to.
Once you’ve got options, then you’ve got nuance: "Thank you for telling me this thing which is worthy of celebration ", or "thank you for telling me this thing which angers me ".
It’s like, the negative reactions are like si and doch: “I agree with you, this is bad”.
But it’s complex, as semantics and language always are.
I think the upshot is that the reacts have no intrinsic meaning, they have the meaning that develops from use and context. If the community uses them consistently in the sense of “Thank you for telling me this thing which reactions me”, then that’s the meaning they’ll have.
Oh, yes, I got this too.
Any post more than about five lines deep and the text you type disappears unless you scroll down.
(Easy on a laptop - use the down button. Don’t know how you’d achieve this on a phone).
Also on laptop, when ready to post, the only part of the little blue “post” button that works is the far left.
(Would that were real life, eh?)
ETA “Reply” button, not “post” button.
Tho, to be fair, the twatting thing was covered up!
True given the context. My go-to for recognizing grief and loss is the hugs emoji, with it also doubling for a strong recognition of adorableness/cuteness. A picture of newborn kittens huddled together in a basket? Hugs emoji.
", or "thank you for telling me this thing which angers me 
".
