Icons, as you know, are serious business.
Thanks to the mouse on wank_report.

smallblackangel posts a rant to bad_rpers_suck, as you do.

Yes, my character IS using the default layout for his LJ. Why? Because he doesn't give a fuck about the specific layout his online journal that he won't really use much anyway has. No, I will not make it "prettier" because you feel as if my lack of SUPERSPESHULAWESOME layout makes it seem as if I don't "care" even though I just spent two hours filling out your term paper length application.

A perfectly cromulent rant!

The trouble comes in the comments, where puzzley, who is-- this is important to note, mostly agreeing with the OP, says:

However, if you were playing from those old games where the characters are 2D sprites and thus not very expressive at all, it's understandable that they'd ask you to turn to doujinshi for better faces.

And smallblackangel says:

Icons are not important.

...that's about it.

Things go pretty asplodey from there.

Highlights include, but are not limited to:

Honestly, RPing without prose is what I consider lazy shit. The beginning of comment spam caused a serious downturn of RP on LJ.

First off. You, sir/madam (meaning puzzley, lest anyone get confused) are coming off as either a) Batshit crazy b) lazy as hell c) horrifically uninformed or d) a Troll. I'm not quite sure which.

And the one comment in the flood that actually makes sense:

It's all about personal preference. I'm reading all this and seeing a nice little divide--people who prefer the quick, reactionary style that LJ RPers have mostly adopted, and the more formally written style of most forums. That's where the argument lies--icons are nearly essential to one style, and frivolous to the other.

Including dictionary quotations, smallblackangel shouting "Fallacy!" like the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia cast shouting "Intervention!" last week, and the TOTAL ABUSE OF ALL CAPS.