FabSwingers.com forum: Conveying meaning online

By *uke_silver OP Man
over a year ago

London

Sorry for the generic title - but I basically want to talk about ways to avoid shooting yourself in the foot while messaging online.

This is something I faced today, and I'm smarting, so some of this may be raw and read like a rant, but the topic is serious.

As someone who prefers communicating verbally (I didn't know how much until I was on fab), it can be a pain to communicate via text messages here. The outdated features of fab don't help either:

1. You have no ability to edit/delete messages, so if you missed a word or even a comma, you have rely on the interpretation of the receiving party to be favourable. As a corollary to this, people can also assume you missed a word even when you didn't (and words are powerful, just one can change the whole meaning of a sentence).

2. A limited selection of emojis (and not all of them standard so it's not clear what each of them means). This is something I face generally as I'm not a big emoji user anyway - but the fab selection is particularly limited. Has anyone made a list of what each of them means? I'd be grateful if they could share it with me.

But yeah, what are some tips and tricks you use when messaging on fab (or elsewhere) to convey meaning properly. Keep in mind, many people may start off assuming the worst on fab due to unfavorable interactions with others before, so making a good impression is doubly important.

Do most people use it on their phone (I exclusively do)? I've heard about things like composing the text in a separate app and then copying it over. Does that help?

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By *lexm87Man
over a year ago

Various

Why isn't there a button to note that I like this post?

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By *uke_silver OP Man
over a year ago

London

"Why isn't there a button to note that I like this post?

Another feature fab hasn't implemented!

Seriously though, it's a very bad feeling when people assume the worst, isn't it?

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By *icecouple561Couple
Forum Mod
over a year ago

East Sussex

https://m.fabswingers.com/forum/lounge/1379460

This thread lists all available emojis

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By *icecouple561Couple
Forum Mod
over a year ago

East Sussex

I suggest thoroughly proof reading before sending if your messages are routinely misinterpreted.

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By *uke_silver OP Man
over a year ago

London

"I suggest thoroughly proof reading before sending if your messages are routinely misinterpreted. "

In my case, they aren't (routinely I mean). It was just this once but the topic is for anyone in general. Even once can be bad if you take it like I did!

And thanks for the link, will check it out.

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By *icecouple561Couple
Forum Mod
over a year ago

East Sussex

"I suggest thoroughly proof reading before sending if your messages are routinely misinterpreted.

In my case, they aren't (routinely I mean). It was just this once but the topic is for anyone in general. Even once can be bad if you take it like I did!

And thanks for the link, will check it out."

I think we've all fallen foul of our written words failing to convey our original intent. I don't think there's a lot anyone can do about other people's interpretation of what we've written either.

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By *hav02Man
over a year ago

Glasgow/London

Everyone has fallen victim to this, but ultimately i think if someone misinterprets and starts hurling abuse, then you're better off not meeting someone that has a wrench up their ass

Besides, always proof read

Some people are just awful with texting to the extent I can't tell if it's their technology or intellect at fault

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By *uke_silver OP Man
over a year ago

London

"Everyone has fallen victim to this, but ultimately i think if someone misinterprets and starts hurling abuse, then you're better off not meeting someone that has a wrench up their ass

Besides, always proof read

Some people are just awful with texting to the extent I can't tell if it's their technology or intellect at fault"

The technology should always help make it better for everyone but I'm not sure it does on here. The message text box has a fixed height, and there's no preview option on DMs, so you have to proof-read an editable field.

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