Taunting.

[TempestSurge]

I only tend to taunt after I come back from a respawn when an opponent gets a kill on me with the whole atmosphere of 'Haha you got me there.' with a good move/spike or something or I clumsily side B off the side of the stage and I taunt when I come back to show that I'm rarely, if at all serious.

Even if I do something completely awesome, I don't taunt after kills, especially when I have like over 100% damage and I'll wind up getting punished or suddenly have a stampede all charging after me lol.

Funnily enough my bro is the complete opposite of me. He taunts in the most impractical moments. In the middle of sudden deaths where he somehow manages to not get punished and this one time in 2v2 where he broke someone's shield and instead of attacking opted to instead taunt as Marth. And still manage to not get punished. That made me lol.

 

[Nixon Corral]

I taunt pretty much every stock. I don't mean anything by it, but if it gets my opponent on tilt, all the better. If they're bothered by a little animation, that's not really my problem.

Bottom line is, never, ever let your opponent get in your head. Least of all with button presses. If they're sitting next to you and saying upsetting things, that's one thing. A tap of the d-pad should not matter.

 

[Manakete[_]Lotys]

Really the option to taunt or not is up to the player. I don't mind it, unless it's Ness or Falcon. Hearing "O-kay" or any one of Falcons taunts just grinds against my ears.

 

[Ze Diglett]

Unless I'm super salty, I'll give my opponents the respect they deserve until they've shown that they don't deserve it. As soon as that taunt comes out or they change their tag to something that's obviously supposed to be rude, that respect is instantly revoked. Unfortunately, I have to take that step more often than I would like.
unless you're playing as ganondorf or ness, then i always taunt regardless lol

 

[Kapus]

I just taunt whenever the heck I feel like it, whether at the beginning of the match, in the middle of it or in the end. I dunno why people take it so seriously. If you don't like it when I taunt, go ahead and hit me. I'm probably wide open.

 

[TerraCaty']

Woahthisisstillgettingrepliedto
The option to taunt is in the hands of the player and honestly it is fine to taunt especially if it's more of an affirmation than an insult.
But lets be real here, not everyone uses taunts mutually or to reply to impressive play or to greet someone ESPECIALLY online.
A large amount of the time taunts are used in bad sportsmanship, and honestly at least for me that kinda makes it better when someone does use taunts in a friendly way.
I've come to terms that not every taunt is grounds for salt and actually have started using mutual taunts.
And if it is grounds for salt I'll probably just punish it.
Also be real you KNOW some taunts do get on your nerves more than others and some of them are hard to listen too or look at
I'M LOOKIN AT YOU ROSILINA NESS AND PIKACHU YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE

 

[I-B]

I only really taunt when I encounter someone playing the same character as me, or if someone does an introductory one first. I don't usually do it out of disrespect, except when the opponent is being disrespectful. Usually in those ditto matches when I'm usually open. Rude.

And those times when I encounter people that taunt after every kill, but there's not much I can do because they're clearly better than me, just annoys me sometimes. Some of those people even change their tag and make me want to beat them even more but what can you do really? Like, yeah, you killed me, great job, is that necessary?

Taunts get me salty sometimes. :|

 

[Swampertrulz]

Every time I got a KO as Lucina I use her "Come at Me!" taunt. It makes me feel good.

 

[Born in 1839...]

Depends on the character being played.
Playing as R.O.B. or Samus, etc.?
Power up a Gyro or Charge Shot, then move/dash elsewhere.