Even though funny proposal, it would start to be a UI problem if we keep adding emotes for reactions, like the suggestion for Github ones. Good emotes, but I think the list should not be long enough when using it. Unless it becomes a Discord-type one, where it shows most used at the top, then suggested and below that search for any emote you want 
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I like the idea and the icon as well (have never even noticed it before I have to admit) and I think it’s quite easy to understand (referring to the comment of @Mammi71):
The observer placing it: Hey, this could become some interesting debate, lemme get my popcorn, lean back and see what happens.
And for any participant: Yep, maybe it’s better I get some popcorn and cool down before replying.
Good choice. 
It’s a fairly neutral emoji and to me simply means “I have an interest in this topic and will see how things develop over time”. So for me it’s a thumbs up!
( cultural sensitivity )
The interpretation of 
emojis can vary across cultures.
What is considered humorous or light-hearted in one culture might be seen as disrespectful or inappropriate in another.
It would be advisable for the OSM Communications Working Group to make this decision based on the opinions of the Eastern culture OSM groups.
" Previous research suggests that people from different cultures weigh cues in the eyes versus mouth differently while interpreting emotions. In Western cultures, where overt emotional display is the norm, people weigh the mouth region more heavily when interpreting facial emotional expression in comparison with people from Eastern cultures. By contrast, in Eastern cultures, where subtle emotion display is the norm, people weigh the eyes region more heavily in comparison with people from Western cultures. Emojis are frequently used paralinguistic cues that convey emotions. Here, we report the results of an online quasiexperimental study in which emotion cues in the eyes and mouth regions of emojis were manipulated to test for differences in the perception of emotions among Westerners and Easterners (N = 427). Consistent with previous research, relative to one another, Westerners’ and Easterners’ ratings of the emotional valence (i.e., happiness/sadness) of emojis were influenced more heavily by the mouth and eyes, respectively. Thus, the present study adds to the literature suggesting cultural differences in the use of mouth versus eye cues to interpret emotions and supports the notion that these differences extend to paralinguistic cues such as emojis and, consequently, have implications for digital communication."
The thumbs up
I disagree . For real, I’m not aware that the thumbs up gesture is considered bad in Greece. It isn’t used much, but when used I never saw whiners/grumpy people about it. And I use it sorta a lot. It’s just another “good job/great” gesture.
About the popcorn emoji, I think regardless of cultural understanding, it’s also about how one will see it who is for example supporting the post’s opinion. I believe that emoji would be an additional reason to trigger people.
The icon looks like a 70s pack of French fries at McDonalds to me. It that what it is?
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Like others I’ve never seen it, and to me it’s not even obvious it is popcorn (mouseover helps of course) : and even then it requires familiarity with various memes etc. My guess is that this would be largely meaningless to older people. Emojis, unless really obvious can be challenging as one gets older and eyesight not as good : I don’t think this is a good idea on accessibility & diversity grounds. (AFWIW neither is {{vote|wat}}).
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Get off my lawn!
(it’s a joke, in case it’s not obvious)
My immediate reaction is whether I am counted as an “older person” at this point. The photo in my avatar is actually me, though it is from eight years ago just to paint a bit of a picture. It is certainly interesting that we have such age diversity on the project. I am always reminded of this each time somone pops onto a chat channel and says “I just micro-mapped my high school (that they attend).” Honestly if someone uses to mean “I like french fries” because they are older and don’t understand the slang usage, it strikes me that this would be a perfectly harmless outcome.
As it is, I’m not really sure how to use the 
emoji. I guess it’s intended to express caring, but when I use it, I mean “this person seems very irritated and it sounds like they need a hug.” So far nothing has broken due to my personal interpretation of that reaction…
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I think this is a bad idea.
I’m not for un-elaborated emoji reactions in controversial topics in the first place, because a healthy discussion is not a numbers game, and emoji reactions make it look like one. It makes it too easy to follow the crowd without critical thinking. Although there is also something to say for having a way to express “this is such a non-issue”, and to let the silent majority support reasoned viewpoints in an easy way. (But is not that way.)
Specifically, while funny for other bystanders, I believe a reaction is too easy to interpret as passive aggressiveness or ridiculing the message it is applied to, and causes unnecessary hurt for passionate parties involved in discussion.
Perhaps 
(shrug) would be a better idea. To me, it would signal a disinterest in engaging in debate, while still marking “I’ve seen this”.
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It’s completely meaningless to me. Without the label, I would never have guessed it was popcorn. Once I got that, I wonder what the guy means : maybe he is bored and is going to watch a movie instead of following the thread. Or perhaps he is hungry and is going to take a snack and that’s the reason why he will be AFK for a while …
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What also came to mind just now, are the ratings on comments at Slashdot: they have a score and a textual attribute. For example, you may find comments that are marked “5/5 Insightful”, “5/5 Interesting”, “4/5 Funny”, etc.
The forum software (Discourse) probably doesn’t support it, but a system with nuanced textual attributes kind of looks like an interesting idea.
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While is definitely hilarious, I would rather have 
and 
integrated. I think those would add to the quality of the discussion.
While we’re at it: Remove the thingy. It is very rarely used. Could someone run some statistic to see the percentage of all emojis that are not 
? That’d be interesting.
I do think that we should reevaluate the reactions, to improve the communication of the community. ( might be a bit too tongue in cheek though.)
Edit: Yeah, I you too…
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What does mean to you? (IMO it means “this is suspicious”, or “this is worth looking at”)
+1. plus, (possible) nonconsentual physical contact is… 
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That’s rather difficult over the internet, but have it your way
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Honestly never considered this, though it’s a good point and could be used in a harassing way. I’ve always used it in a “the author sounds angry and needs a hug” context for lack of a better use. It’s a weird reaction for this community kind of hard to use in a business/collaborative type context that we have here.
@forums-governance can we split the hug reaction topic please?
I would rather have
Unfortunately, almost every emoji can be offensive if used inappropriately. For example, responding with an emoji to a comment from someone with a visual impairment, or using the emoji for a critical HOT task aimed at stopping hunger in a disaster-stricken area.
While text posts can be easily moderated, it’s more challenging to moderate emoji reactions. Emojis can be easily misunderstood due to our different cultural backgrounds, which is why I’m generally against expanding their use.
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Even the commonly known is seen quite differently and not at all positively in some cultures.
I think more to the point, if someone posts something horribly offensive, and other people it, that’s an offensive reaction. This is not an argument for removing emoji, it’s an argument for being considerate and using them appropriately.
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Use cases for the reaction:
- A new open data stuff from some gov’t is available for import in OSM
- [Any post about
landcover,landuseandnatural=wood] - Yesterday the routing worked fine, now it doesn’t. Something has changed/stopped working.
- …
Some emojis are definitely more prone to abuse. But not having any emojis cannot be the answer.
Fair enough. But is this really a problem here? In my experience, the OSM community forum is generally a very safe space. There are heated arguments for sure, but people ge emotional about landuse=forest write a long paragraph about stuff. I don’t expect emoji abuse to be a problem like it is on other platforms with … different user bases. One could try it and if it gets abused, remove it again?
I do think that people on the OSM discourse are not as diverse as our community as a whole. We are all quite similar.
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Generally I believe we should not overrate the meaning of the set of emojis being available as reactions here. Of course every emoji can be misunderstood and in some rare cases one may even want to misunderstand what the user of the emoji wants to express by using it. And yes, different cultural background will result in different emoji preference. Nevertheless emojis nowadays are a normal part of conversation all over the world so they have the right to exist, like it or not.
In a forum with mainly factual topics like ours of course we could do without emojis … ok, let’s say and are fine, and that’s it …
… hmmm, let me add that 
and 
are helpful from time to time, may save a lot of words …
… not to forget 
and 
and also 
to show other emotions …
… and why not use 
or from time to time to express appreciation …
or even …
It’s hard to believe that someone might really misinterprete the meaning of these very common emojis, but to be sure to avoid any misunderstanding it would be easy to add a small table in the guidelines or the “First Steps” guide defining how these emojis are to be understood in our forum here.
And well, if this is a real issue, we could easily arrange for a vote which emojis we want as reaction and which ones we definitely do not want … 
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