tone tags are helpful indicators at the end of your sentence or paragraph to let others know the intent, meaning, and tone of your words. sometimes, it's good to put the tone tag(s) at the start as well as the end to make sure people know what you mean and prevent misunderstanding better. but please, don't use tone tags as a joke. that defeats the purpose of them.
when a sentence you type may be confusing to others trying to tell whether it's genuine, a joke, negative or positive, etc- it's a good time to use a tone indicator or two. you don't need to use a lot of them, just a few. like if you're telling someone that something good happened, you don't need to use /gen, /pos, and /cel. you could just use /pos! some tone tags are combinations of other ones, like /lhj for example. if someone is confused at your message even when you use tone indicators, or because you used tone indicators, you can elaborate to help them and/or redirect them to a tone tag info site like this!
a lot. you don't have to use all of them, but there's a ton of tone tags to help you while you're talking to others through text! if you're confused by a tone tag someone uses, don't feel bad. there are way too many to memorize and some are harder to find the meanings for. you should just ask them nicely what tone tag they're using. you can and should use any tone tag that will help people understand you.
it's really hard to tell the tone of any statement or question, especially online, so that's why tone indicators are great to use! anyone can use them, and they can be useful for everyone. plus, it isn't hard to type them, they help others, and save you from needing to explain. don't make fun of tone indicators or disrespect others for wanting to or wanting you to use them. keep in mind that, when you use tone indicators, sometimes you'll have to explain what tone indicators are. not everyone will know about/use them and that's okay!