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X redesigns water pistol emoji back to a firearm

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Re: X redesigns water pistol emoji back to a firearm

#71
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like you've got so much to do

I do! And we're hiring! x.com/jobs

This is the funniest comment you've ever written on this website. Glad you've got time to engage with us during your busy day!

Re: X redesigns water pistol emoji back to a firearm

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The change to the water gun was for ideological reasons. This is returning to the original. Without being the project manager, you're speculating on the amount of focus this had.

It's not a git revert. It is active effort to create a new emoji. There's zero cost to leaving it alone, there's material cost to changing it. Last time I checked, that's a bad way for a company that nearly went out of business to prioritize.

Well, I guess we'll just see how it pays off for them.

It's already making buzz so if it was an hour of work, I'd say the marketing effect alone was worth it.

Re: X redesigns water pistol emoji back to a firearm

#73

Is it me or does that emoji look a little more like a Ruger SR9 than a Colt M1911? I mean... it's not exactly a SR9 either, but it's definitely not a 1911 as the twitterrer implied.

yeah its a pretty bad job. i never held a gun in real life and they kind of scare me tbh

Re: X redesigns water pistol emoji back to a firearm

#74

The fact that the emoji was "censored" to begin with is weird to me. But the internet is weird and now people will be getting banned from X for using gun emojis to promote political violence.

I found it alarming that the meaning of previous texts between many people could be altered by simply changing the glyph of an emote. And noone voted for it, all companies effectively in charge of these emojis (Google, Apple, etc.) decided for everyone that it was for the best. What will they change next, who initiated and coordinated that effort, and why, are all important questions. I'm very much against it. It's t…

There was a famous case where emojis didn't line up between iPhone and Android, if I remember correctly - http://grouplens.org/blog/investigating-the-potential-for-mi... or similar

Some were really bad and would change the meaning of a message, things like showing a broken heart instead of a heart.

Re: X redesigns water pistol emoji back to a firearm

#75
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lmao you really think this took me more than 15 minutes to do?

Still 15 minutes fixing something that wasn't broken instead of generating revenue or cutting costs ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Edit - and another 10 defending the decision on HackerNews forums

A strange concern. All those superfluous hours wasted at a private company? Those billionaires will be fine without someone defending their money.

Oh and wait until you hear about the Google Doodle...

Re: X redesigns water pistol emoji back to a firearm

#76

A hundred years from now people are going to have a very... interesting time trying to figure out what meaning was intended by the use of these characters at the time a text was written. Personally, I think putting a huge set of pictograms into the Universal Character Set was a mistake and that emojis should be deprecated immediately, and this is the #1 reason why: the meaning of a text should not normally change bas…

>A hundred years from now people are going to have a very... interesting time trying to figure out what meaning was intended by the use of these characters at the time a text was written.

Is this any different than for words? "Retarded" used used to be the polite way to convey intellectual disability, until it slowly turned into a pejorative. Same word, different meaning.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemism#Lifespan

Re: X redesigns water pistol emoji back to a firearm

#77

I grew up with the argument that video game violence causes real violence. At the time, conservatives were keen on censoring violence, blood and gore in movies, video games and TV shows. It was the liberal establishment that defended artistic violence and sexuality. Now it seems like the pendulum swung and liberals seem keen on promoting squirt gun emojis, meanwhile some of the most popular video games on the market…

I'm not convinced this is a liberal vs. conservative thing in the first place. It seems like a straightforward continuation of the trend: depictions of violence are popular in some circles, yet disreputable in others, so big corporations looking to serve both markets have to find awkward, stodgy compromises to try and keep everyone happy.

Re: X redesigns water pistol emoji back to a firearm

#78

I grew up with the argument that video game violence causes real violence. At the time, conservatives were keen on censoring violence, blood and gore in movies, video games and TV shows. It was the liberal establishment that defended artistic violence and sexuality. Now it seems like the pendulum swung and liberals seem keen on promoting squirt gun emojis, meanwhile some of the most popular video games on the market…

Every side is pro censorship, just when it suits them the most. Look at all the book bans across conservative states, for example.

Re: X redesigns water pistol emoji back to a firearm

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's zero cost to leaving the emoji as it is. The designer of the new version claims he's still working on it , so I don't know how you can say it's not a "focus". It's a waste of time and money for purely ideological reasons.

The change to the water gun was for ideological reasons. This is returning to the original. Without being the project manager, you're speculating on the amount of focus this had.

The original change was for ideological reasons and this change is for ideological reasons too. Both are same stupid waste of time.

Re: X redesigns water pistol emoji back to a firearm

#80

The fact that the emoji was "censored" to begin with is weird to me. But the internet is weird and now people will be getting banned from X for using gun emojis to promote political violence.

There is nothing stopping you from uploading a picture of a gun and putting it in your post. Why is an emoji any different or more dangerous than letting people upload pictures?
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