Irony, and its 'use' on the forum.

Edit: Link (failed) attemts at irony here, for me to grade. I want to talk with you about that that most nefarious of al conversation techniques, irony. “What is ‘irony’?”, you ask. For the answer, ‘follow’ this link. This technique can IRL be used to convey a ‘hidden’ meaning to words otherwise quite clear. Via ‘tone of voice’ or ‘a look’ it can be made ‘clear’ that what you are saying is not what you (really) mean. In fact oftentimes a person using ‘irony’ means exactly ‘the opposite’ of what he is ‘saying’. This can be quite confusing for the person that ‘irony’ is used ‘on’. Especially if said person is not a member of the ‘in crowd’, but rather a member of the ‘out crowd’, so to speak, while the speaker IS a member (of the in crowd, of course). Irony is in that form often used to ‘widen the gap’ between the said ‘in crowd’ and ‘out crowd’ members. It’s all rather snooty, really. Now, as I ‘said’, this is all IRL. “What about online (OL)?”, you may ask. That’s, actually, a good question. Because that’s where the difficulty lays, with ‘irony’. It’s unclear when it’s used OL and its use is diffuse. I have sometimes tried to use it on this forum, with differing success, I might ‘say’. I think I’ve seen others try to use it on the forum, but you just can’t be sure. Can you? Again, a good question. Yes you can be sure. IF ‘users’ of ‘irony’ are prepared to ‘take’ certain ‘measures'. I am thus prepared and so should YOU be. From now on I’ll try to use one of the following symbols to denote the ‘use’ of ‘irony’, if any. I will also try and make ‘members’ aware of such symbol(s), by using it as my ‘avator’. With this 'queste' to try to make the 'use' of 'irony' known to a whole 'new' group of members, I'll hope to 'stop' the spread of disambiguity on the forum. Will YOU do the same?* Discuss. *A good question.

Smilies offer no solution in themselves as they muddle the intentions of the posters. "Is he laughing at me?", is a logical question to ask when somebody posts, for instance this: '' smiley. This symbol, when known across the board, leaves no room for doubt. <------------------------------------------ If You were you 'ironic', please make use of the 'irony' symbol (the symbol), at least in this thread. That is actually the same approach. Perhaps the writer makes use of another 'irony' symbol. <---------------- Proper use of a smiley. That, realy, means a lot to me. Thank you. I'll think about it. But, 'sarcasm', although related to 'irony' and often created by being 'ironic' is IMO not as difficult to grasp as 'irony'. If not the joke at least the fact that the victim is the butt of a joke is often quite clear. The 'meanness' shines through, IMO, of course. No, that is IMTVE, the concept of 'irony' in the minds of many North Americans, but I call that not "irony', but 'schmirony'.