A Computer Science Professor's Accidental Invention of the Emoticon Has a Surprising Backstory
In 1982, Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor Scott Fahlman suggested using
and :-( as markers to distinguish jokes from serious comments on the university’s bulletin board software. While he is often credited with inventing the emoticon, the true story behind its creation was far more collaborative and nuanced.
The origins of the emoticon date back to three days earlier when computer scientist Neil Swartz posed a physics problem to colleagues on the university's "bboard," which was an early online message board. In response, Howard Gayle sent a facetious message titled "WARNING!" claiming that an elevator had been contaminated with mercury and suffered "some slight fire damage" due to a physics experiment.
Despite clarifying posts noting that the warning was a joke, some people took it seriously, sparking immediate discussion about how to prevent such misunderstandings and the "flame wars" (heated arguments) that could result from misread intent.
To address this issue, Swartz made the first concrete proposal: using a star (*) in the subject field of any notice which was to be taken as a joke. However, multiple Carnegie Mellon computer scientists weighed in with alternative proposals, including Joseph Ginder suggesting % instead of *, Anthony Stentz proposing a nuanced system using * for good jokes and % for bad jokes, and Keith Wright championing the ampersand (&.
Meanwhile, some users were already using their own solution, including a group on the Gandalf VAX system that had been using__/ as "universally known as a smile" to mark jokes.
It was Fahlman who finally synthesized the best elements from the ongoing discussion: the simplicity of single-character proposals, the visual clarity of face-like symbols, the sideways-reading principle hinted at by Hamey's {#}, and a complete binary system that covered both humor and seriousness :-(.
Fahlman's proposal was significant not because he invented something entirely new but because he proposed the right solution at the right time in the right context. His text-based emoticons spread across Western online culture and remained text-character-based for a long time, eventually giving way to emoji.
The story of the emoticon's creation is one of collaboration, creativity, and the power of human ingenuity in the face of technological limitations.
In 1982, Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor Scott Fahlman suggested using
and :-( as markers to distinguish jokes from serious comments on the university’s bulletin board software. While he is often credited with inventing the emoticon, the true story behind its creation was far more collaborative and nuanced.The origins of the emoticon date back to three days earlier when computer scientist Neil Swartz posed a physics problem to colleagues on the university's "bboard," which was an early online message board. In response, Howard Gayle sent a facetious message titled "WARNING!" claiming that an elevator had been contaminated with mercury and suffered "some slight fire damage" due to a physics experiment.
Despite clarifying posts noting that the warning was a joke, some people took it seriously, sparking immediate discussion about how to prevent such misunderstandings and the "flame wars" (heated arguments) that could result from misread intent.
To address this issue, Swartz made the first concrete proposal: using a star (*) in the subject field of any notice which was to be taken as a joke. However, multiple Carnegie Mellon computer scientists weighed in with alternative proposals, including Joseph Ginder suggesting % instead of *, Anthony Stentz proposing a nuanced system using * for good jokes and % for bad jokes, and Keith Wright championing the ampersand (&
.Meanwhile, some users were already using their own solution, including a group on the Gandalf VAX system that had been using__/ as "universally known as a smile" to mark jokes.
It was Fahlman who finally synthesized the best elements from the ongoing discussion: the simplicity of single-character proposals, the visual clarity of face-like symbols, the sideways-reading principle hinted at by Hamey's {#}, and a complete binary system that covered both humor
and seriousness :-(.Fahlman's proposal was significant not because he invented something entirely new but because he proposed the right solution at the right time in the right context. His text-based emoticons spread across Western online culture and remained text-character-based for a long time, eventually giving way to emoji.
The story of the emoticon's creation is one of collaboration, creativity, and the power of human ingenuity in the face of technological limitations.
. but for real though, it's wild to think that one of those epic internet meltdowns was actually a precursor to our modern emoji days 
. I mean Scott Fahlman is like the unsung hero here, just trying to help people not get their emotions twisted into a flame war 
. and can we talk about how ridiculous some of these early suggestions were? like % instead of *? come on! 
. anyway, it's awesome to see where our ancestors took those humble beginnings and turned them into the 
we love today 
.
! i mean, who would've thought that an "accidental invention" by a prof would become this big deal 
and Fahlman's solution was pretty genius 
. i still kinda love using 
. I mean, think about it, we've come a long way since those early days of text-based emoticons 
meanwhile, other ppl were already experimentin with their own ways to mark jokes on the bboard... its wild to think about how much of a collaborative process it was 
. And who knew that people were already creating their own emoticon solutions on other systems? It just goes to show how innovation often comes from unexpected places 
i mean, he did sum up all the good ideas from everyone else though 
online back then...anyway, glad someone finally gets credit for the original idea 
even if it was kinda a team effort 
it was always a joke fest but also super frustrating when people took each other seriously lol anyway, who knew that scott fahlman's suggestion was actually the culmination of all these other clever ideas floating around? 
who would've thought that something as simple as an emoticon could be born from a physics problem gone wrong on a bulletin board 
.
and btw did they even test it on Gandalf VAX before it spread to the masses 
from single character props like 
.
. I guess you could say that Scott Fahlman was just the cherry on top of a great team effort 
Like, Scott Fahlman basically took all these crazy ideas from his colleagues and mashed them together into something that's now used by everyone on the internet. 
. I mean, who needs 3 different proposals from multiple people to come up with something as simple as two characters? And what's with all these variations of the solution? Like, didn't they just wanna use something that would work and spread easily? It seems like a bunch of overcompensation to me 
. And it's fascinating to see how it all came about through a collaborative process, rather than some grandiose revelation