Although I agree with your observations, and that the whole concept of emojis doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, but the only two available emojis for expressing dissatisfaction are both ambiguous.
The confused emoji, for example, could either mean that the person genuinely doesn’t understand the post in a confused way or that they are discontent in a way that isn’t literal confusion. Similarly, the sad emoji could indicate that someone is saddened by the content of the post, or it could be interpreted as them viewing the poster in a negative, pitying way.
I’m not going to make any judgments about how and when people should use them or what permissions they should have, as you already discussed, but I do think these two emojis rarely capture a person’s true intended response. A simple and traditional thumbs-up and thumbs-down system for expressing approval and disapproval would be much clearer, more to the point, and more effective without beating around the bush.
Even the laughing emoji is often misused. I frequently see it on posts that aren’t funny at all, meaning the person using it can't actually be laughing at the post, nor is it necessarily meant to mock the poster. Sometimes, people just use it to show they liked the post or that it made them smile, but not laugh. Again, this could easily be replaced with a thumbs-up or a by adding a simple smiley face to the choices of emojis for better clarity.
In conclusion, most emotion-based emoji options on AN tend to be vague and open to interpretation. A more straightforward system with clear, to-the-point reactions would be much more effective, eliminating confusion and making interactions more intuitive and other people's reactions much easier to comprehend.
I think that by only providing these vague emotional reactions, there’s an intentional effort to avoid confrontation. However, the lack of clarity and directness ultimately leads to greater misunderstanding rather than preventing conflict.