It is my humble opinion

[The Man]

that the easiest way to spot a bad poster is if they use an emoticon after a joke.

Now, yes, I am firmly against the use of emoticons in nearly any circumstance becasue it shows that you can't creatively express yourself with words...but alas, it goes deeper than that.

My proprietary statistical modeling shows a significant correlation (.87 r squared) between people who tend to post an emoticon after a (n attempted) joke and just generally being unfunny as measured by conventional metrics.

So someone posts.

"blah blah blah, this is my joke :lol:" = just really really bad. Desperate for someone to acknowledge them. Since it probably won't happen, they do this. Possibly to point out "Hey everyone, I am joking here" in which case they are underestimating other posters' intelligence and/or protecting from some backlash in case someone takes offense "gee guys, I was just trying to have fun. Can't we all be pals?

Or "I'm angry" :mad: making the post redundant.

Those are some examples which I hope will clarify the hypothesis.

Again, the model shows a significant correlation between the people that tend to do that, and the people who just, in general suck.

Feel free to post your comments on my findings.

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Now, which people will follow this post so predicably with an emoticon?

I would bet my soul that 60 jumps all over that comedy gold! Rooner, header and are givens. GIP would, but probably only if he's one of the first. Maybe one of the other broads like Bite . In fact, I'm pretty sure the entire thread will turn into to "let's do exactly what he said annoyed him because "there's no way he would possibly have guessed that. We'll pull the old switcheroo on him. Hopefully, when I reveal my secret message, it will be a wonderful learning experience for all.