Emoticons are always going to be less clear than words can potentially be, because they are limited while words are not. There are many thoughts and ideas that you could not communicate clearly with emoticons, while the same is not true with words. (Of course, you could argue that there are some things that words cannot express either, but none that emoticons cover). They are also much more open to interpretation than words are, by their nature.

I’d agree that sarcasm is usually not well understood or communicated online; I just don’t think emoticons do much to alleviate that, if they can be so easily misinterpreted.

i think your definition of “just kidding” is also off. it generally means that you were “kidding on the level.” when someone says, “nathan is a rrreal jerk…just kidding.” they probably actually do think i’m a little jerkish, i’m just not fully a jerk. plus, they don’t want to hurt my feelings, so they mask their freudian slip.

so i’d say that emoticons aren’t the root of the confusion. instead, it is the use of sarcasm in general that plagues communication in online environments. not saying what you meant is what was so unclear.

They’re meant to provide additional meaning / context to a statement, but since they can obviously be misinterpreted just as easily (or more so) as normal words, what’s the point? I’d rather just say what I mean in clear language.