Markdown uses underscores for italic, which is why they also need to be escaped with backslashes.
Although I know this, I cannot remember where I need to escape. So I just have two custom autocorrections: shrug which yields the regular (and broken on Lemmy) ¯_(ツ)_/¯ for general use and shrugmd with the markdown variant for the use on e.g. Lemmy: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
In the end it’s:
shrug: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
shrugmd: ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Technically correct, but back, when Reddit allowed 3rd party apps, I did get the occasional “Hey you lost something” comment, as some apps had a broken markdown rendered that wouldn’t display it without.
Also it can have side effects if you use an underscore in the same paragraph or use it twice in a row, as it then suddenly can render as italic.
¯\_(ツ)/¯ Not sure how Lemmy reacts, though ¯\_(ツ)/¯
