Disable smilies

[new.new]

Is there a way to disable smilies?
I'm NOT talking about the "standard" forum smiles, like these: etc...
I'd like to disable only smilies like these: etc... (i think they are the smilies used on some phones, or something similar)
Is there a way to do so?

[Kailey]

Not in a vanilla install of phpBB. Have you tried requesting an extension?

[EA117]

Those "smilies used on some phones" are actually accepted parts of the Unicode standard, and is how those users on all those different platforms are able to communicate successfully in a cross-platform manner. No different than how we've adopted "a Unicode character to represent the Euro symbol" and "a Unicode character to represent the letter 'A' "; there is also now "a Unicode character to represent a smiling face", "a Unicode character to represent a winking face", etc.

It seems like there would need to be some other behaviors created besides just "don't support those". Because what you're proposing is something different than what phpBB has done in the past. Your proposal isn't saying "if the user enters ":)", simply leave those characters as ":)", and don't replace them with "". Your proposal is "if the user enters ":)", simply discard that portion of their message." That's not what the author or the reader of that message is going to be expecting; nor might the message make any sense without knowing the user actually did enter some other characters that you decided to drop / discard.

What phpBB is doing with those Unicode standard emoji is making sure they display in a consistent manner across all platforms / browsers / fonts that a phpBB-based site might be viewed on. Rather than "on some platforms the images are small, but on some platforms the images are large, but on some platform the images are black and white, but on some platforms the images are tofu." phpBB's support is making sure these characters are consistently represented by the exact same image across all those platforms.

If we removed that code, the characters themselves would still be there; just with the random per-platform inconsistencies in their display. Same as how if we removed support for phpBB's own original "smilies" implementation, the characters ":)" are still going to be present in the user's message. Which is why I'm saying that what you're proposing is different, and is proposing that these characters shouldn't have even allowed to be part of the user's message at all. Because in this case, the Unicode character you don't want is the character the user typed.

So just realize "this is an attempt to reject industry standards", and isn't necessarily a good thing. Supporting Unicode emoji is what helps keep phpBB relevant and intuitive to your users who are simply using keys on their keyboard as they would in any other message. Even desktop Windows has a standard emoji keyboard entry (Win+.), not just the phone / mobile / Mac / iOS / Android systems. 😐

There, that's my lobbying statement for keeping the support. That said, I'm sure an extension can be created to produce whatever result you want.

[3Di]

There is a discussion still opened here about that - and how it can be accomplished: https://tracker.phpbb.com/browse/PHPBB3-15625

[EA117]

There is a discussion still opened here about that - and how it can be accomplished: https://tracker.phpbb.com/browse/PHPBB3-15625

Thanks 3Di; useful info. For clarity to the audience of this topic though, it's not being proposed that "resolution of PHPBB3-15625 would resolve new.new's request."

The PHPBB3-15625 issue just acknowledges the mechanism that was referenced in this discussion, where "phpBB is replacing those Unicode characters with images that will be consistent across all platforms." Because those images happen to come from a CDN-based source, and a phpBB installation that had turned off permitting use of a CDN for other purposes was not also turning off / disabling the Unicode emoji-related usage of CDN-sourced images.

This "wouldn't inherently solve the current request", and at best would serve as an example of "if we disabled phpBB's current support, the emoji characters themselves (the characters that were being replaced with those images) are still going to be there." If and when the replacement of these characters with consistent images is disabled, what we're left with is how those same characters are going to be displayed by the user's native platform. Meaning "whatever this Android/Chrome platform decides should be displayed for this Unicode character" and "whatever this Windows/Edge platform decides should be displayed for this Unicode character", etc.

[3Di]

This "wouldn't inherently solve the current request", and at best would serve as an example of "if we disabled phpBB's current support, the emoji characters themselves (the characters that were being replaced with those images) are still going to be there."

In fact, that's why I didn't move on, that's the problem I encountered back then.
The "markup" still remains, which solves a part of the stuff though, once you enable back the Emojis you don't have to reparse the posts.

[Mick]

This is a typical case of "You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time". Users have been clamouring for emoji support for years to have others wanting to remove it.

You should try:

requesting an extension?

as suggested.

[new.new]

Maybe I was misunderstood, obviously i'm not asking to remove the support for these smiles from phpbb, i just want to disable them for my board.

Regarding the issue "If and when the replacement of these characters with consistent images is disabled, what we're left with is how those same characters are going to be displayed by the user's native platform", it would be solved by simply deleting these characters (replacing them with nothing). I tried doing it with word filters but it doesn't work.

[Mick]

You should make an extemsion request.

[EA117]

Maybe I was misunderstood, obviously i'm not asking to remove the support for these smiles from phpbb, i just want to disable them for my board.

Regarding the issue "If and when the replacement of these characters with consistent images is disabled, what we're left with is how those same characters are going to be displayed by the user's native platform", it would be solved by simply deleting these characters (replacing them with nothing). I tried doing it with word filters but it doesn't work.

You should make an extemsion request.

Agreed on the extension request.

new.new, it's understood and agreed that you're just trying to turn it off on your own board. Where I said "if the support was removed", I too just meant "when you turned off the existing phpBB support for this on your board." Just "removed" from the perspective of someone writing a message or reading a message on a board where such a setting is in effect.

I'm still asserting "this is different" than simply turning off phpBB smilies support, because "the Unicode emoji is the character the user typed." That wasn't decided by phpBB; it was decided by the user writing the message. Meaning:

By default if a user writes ":)", phpBB will turn that into . If you turn off smilies support, the user's message still contains ":)", not "nothing" or "simply deleted these characters." The user's communication is intact, but "not graphical." Saying "I don't want the graphics" doesn't impede the communication.

By default if a user writes ":smile:", phpBB will turn that into the referenced Unicode emoji of 😄. If you turn off that support, the user message still contains ":smile:". The user's communication is intact, but "not graphical." Saying "I don't want the graphics" doesn't impede the communication.

By default if a user inputs the actual Unicode emoji character "😄", phpBB will replace that with an image so that it displays consistently instead of randomly across all platforms. If you turn off that support, the user's message still contains "😄", just now being displayed however their browser / platform / Android / Windows / iOS wants to display it, which may or may not still be successful or clear to the reader, and may still be "graphical" against your wishes.

It's that extra step you just cited, "simply deleting these characters", where I'm saying on behalf of users, "please don't do that." The sarcastic becomes un-sarcastic, because you removed the indication of it being sarcastic. The light-hearted diplomatic response becomes serious and accusing, because you removed the indication of its nature. Because you're not saying "I just don't want the graphic version of the communication" as was true in all the other cases just listed; you're saying "remove part of the user's message."

It can still be addressed in the extension that is created, which is what I meant when saying "It seems like there would need to be some other behaviors created" besides just "turn off the support." You need to prevent the user from entering these characters to begin with, so that they know what their communication is limited to, and understand what's happening before it happens. Not just "strip them out when displaying the message later."

[Lumpy Burgertushie]

and, why on earth do you want such a thing? what possible harm is there in allowing people to use smilies or emojis etc.?


robert

[3Di]

You need to prevent the user from entering these characters to begin with, so that they know what their communication is limited to, and understand what's happening before it happens.

AKA a bunch of lines
https://github.com/phpBB-Studio/DateTop ... hp#L86-L91
https://github.com/phpBB-Studio/DateTop ... t.php#L125

Not just "strip them out when displaying the message later."

Even easier, one line
https://github.com/phpBB-Studio/DateTop ... r.php#L588

[new.new]

Thanks for your answers.
I understand EA117's point, it's not good to simply delete a part of the message.

So i have 2 options:
1) leave the caracters but don't convert them to images
2) show an alert if a user tries to post a message with emojis

I see you posted some code for both solution, but i don't understand how to use it, can you explain more clearly how to use that code?

[3Di]

can you explain more clearly how to use that code?

You should make an extension request and see if someone has the will to take it up, the logic is already there.