OK - Seriously what's with the smiley hate?
 

Ok - I'm seriously asking this because I don't get it.

Nancy said something to the effect of they're used to mask genuine feelings or something? I would go back and actually quote you Nancy - but I'm already typing this.

Now - I don't know about anyone else - but I find the smilies to be fun and I have never knowingly used one to mask any real feelings - or hide some felt aggravation that I was really afraid to let out....:shrug:

So - what's the beef with the smilies? I like them - again, I think they're fun and I always thought they were a nice little addition to my posts....

So tell me - I want to hear from all sides on this - what are your problems/or non-problems with the smilies??

i use them everyday and in almost every post.. i have no problem with them whatsoever :woohoo: :) :blob2: :wavey:

Yea!! And I have to admit, I love the blobs :blob1: :blob2:

Using too many in a single post is not only obnoxious but seizure-inducing, IMO. There are only so many bright colors I can handle at once. Some people are down with smilie overload (and for the record, I hate :blob1: and :blob2: ).

I understand completely what Nancy is saying -- some people use them in a sarcastic way, others use them in a joking manner, some actually use them to further drive the point of their post home. Fact of the matter remains, very few of us know each other off of this board (especially the new kids who may not totally know our posting style and the way we write) so If I say something and then post :mad: , I may be totally joking but maybe you've taken it literally. I can see where it can cause problems if the wrong type of person stumbled upon the post. JMO, of course. As far as masking, I certainly have never had an issue with throwing my two cents in :cool:

For the longest time they annoyed the hell out of me. :eek: I'm not sure why. :shrug: Lately though, I've kind of given in to their hypnotic power, I think I'm turning into a smilie whore. :nod: :lol:

No one likes a whore who doesn't smile. Oh, and your waving Golden Gate Bridge avatar is freaking me out.

The other day, I called Johnny Stew a bitch. Now, Brian knows I like him, and putting a little :xoxo: after the bitch just makes SURE that he knows it's all in fun.
I've been using the blobs more lately, too. I felt they were being neglected, and started feeling kinda sorry for them. :rolleyes: :blob2: :blob1: :blob2: :blob1:

I love the smilies I use them to express my emotion. I think its better then saying "LOL" or "HAHA" or saying "SHOCKED" or "WOO HOO".

Its a much easier option especially when they are staring you right in the face next to the post box.

Actually you're quoting David but I do agree with him. Sometimes someone will write a particularly mean-spirited post and put a little winkie in order to head your reaction off at the pass. "Why are you mad? Didn't you see my little winkie?"

However, I do not condemn the use of smilies. I use them myself quite often - a happy face here, a winkie there, an occasional sad or angry face. I actually think that when used genuinely, they're fine. Well, maybe not jumpy blob - he annoys me a great deal. I do enjoy using jumpy blob ironically or sarcastically, though.

Of course over-use of smileys will always be annoying. Rule of thumb: More than two smileys is usually excessive, unless you're using several for emphasis.

But hey, this is a message board, do whatever the heck you want. Love the smilies? Use them. There are worse things, and I doubt anyone will lose sleep over annoying me. Passive agressive smileys, on the other hand, are just plain disingenuous to the point of being cowardly. JMHO.

Ah - ok - sorry Nancy - I'd thought you'd said that....anyway - as you're one of the few Ledgies I've met in person - and I found you quite nice - I don't like the idea of constantly annoying you...that said, I also love smilies :)

And I gues usually I just live in my happy little happy land - because up until recently (when things started exploding outwardly) I actually had very little idea that people were hostile - there were tension etc....anyway - smilies have been getting some attention lately and I was wondering if there were people who actually and genuinely hated the smilies.

:lol: :laugh: :lol: :laugh: :lol:

me. I'm constantly laughing from my gut, and after I am done, I respond and use the purple laughie. When I giggle, which I do often as well, that gets the yellow laughie. when i snicker a bit, I write *snicker*. I think it's incredibly rude not to show someone who has just gone out of their way to say something funny, for my pleasure, how I looked when I was laughing at what they said. Simply the height of gauche.

I use them more than I used to...but I dont depend upon them to convey any meaning, I do that just fine with words...however, I too have found myself falling under their insidious spell :eek: note the glassy eyes, the stupified expression....priceless! sometimes they are the cherry on the top of a particularly delish post :nod:

btw: I think it bears noting that I have the planet's best smilies in my sig:

Admittedly, I could snap a webcam shot of myself every time I laugh, then post it, but that seems not only excessive, but time consuming. And, the sponteneity of the laughter really doesn't lend itself to that type of thing.

Actually, it's the Tacoma Narrows Bridge... just before it collapsed in the 1940s. I thought it look cool, I'll probably bring the jumping critters back after a while. :)

It does look cool. It freaks me out, too, but it's still cool. Now, smile, whore!!! :laugh:

I seem to recall some film footage showing an old sedan creeping across it while it was doing the mambo......it was part of a film I saw in grade school about natural disasters, and included that HUGE earthquake in Anchorage Alaska...
Nature is SCARY man....

I'm going to need some better equipment. An auto cam that's constantly snapping away. Something like that. Otherwise it's going to be the laughies.

i personally LUV the smilies, i think they add a little something to show how you are feeling, sometimes in a comical way, sometimes more serious~ but either way i enjoy them, especially when you guys find different ones & post them such as the puking smileies & such :nod: :lol: :nod: ~

Aw, thanks! You were one of the first Ledgies I ever met, and I'll always remember you as an interesting and fun girl! :) <--- Look, a smiley! ;) <---- Look, another one! OK, I've reached my limit. lol

Internet language has evolved. That abbreviation is no longer to be taken literally. Its true meaning at this point is simply any type of amusement, regardless of verbalization. So your displeasure is a bit old-fashioned. lol (That amuses me).

ohh, stop being such a negative nancy when it comes to smilies (sorry nancy :sorry: )

Yes. How many people are really weeping when they put the crying smiley, or winking when they put winky smiley? How many people are nodding/shrugging/jumping - you get the drift. Smileys are emotional cues, not literal representations.

Yeah, it's a pretty famous film clip. When I was a kid we would sometimes have to drive across the replacement bridge... my brother and I would always end up freaked out on the floor of our parents' car! :lol: Driving across it still freaks me out.

No need. Just send a big cheque to.....

Smile like ya mean it
 

i think we should just stick to smilies!!! and i think you should start using them :nod: :woohoo:

why that would be to easy to do :blob1: :blob2: :blob1: :blob2: :]

you're right... let's work on that contraption that reads our expressions.. :wavey:

:eek: why?????

:nod: :rolleyes: :cool: :distress: :lol: I dont know what id do without them.

Really if someone asks me my true emotion on a subject just ask, so until someone does they are gunna get the :lol: :lol: :(

You know what? NO SMILIE FOR YOU!!!! :laugh: :p ;)

That's how I always understood they were for, too.

I can't believe we're all arguing about smilies...

How about a kiss?

:xoxo:

I agree its pretty sad lol

I think the smilies are great, however, I think I undestand what Nancy was trying to say. The smilies used on this board don't convey much emotion visually....some of them are sort of cartoony... I think a good example of this is the winky-eye smily....it works, but it doesn't convey that 'just between you and me' that a winking smily should be able to convey... There's really no smily here that says 'hmmmm?' or 'WTF?!?!?!?!' I'm not at all meaning to be critical, just merely making an observation. :shrug: I really like the shrugging smily, and the nodding one is gushing with the 'uh huh, I totally think so!' :nod:

Some new, additional ones would be nice, though...I'm sure we'd find a way to use them. :)

I want one that conveys looking side to side, sneaky like, then laughing. Like "I swear, really! then laugh" Also I think there should be one of someone getting sick to their stomach, but not barfing. Maybe sticking their tongue out? And then there should just be a funny "sticking your tongue out" one, the good ol' rasberry. You know, something between the mad one and the rolls your eyes one? Also I think there should be one that's giggling, with their hand over their mouth, like "teehee, naughty" with the eyes all squinchy, like "I shouldn't be laughing, but I am!"
I like the cartoony aspect, they mostly remind me of how I would look if I made that expression. The big green grin guy I especially identify with. There should be an alternate form of the Angel, too, a snarky one, with the guy switching his eyes from side to side. Like "who, me? hehehehe".
Okay, I'm a little overboard, but I love the emoticons. Wish I could design them.

Whenever I see the "cool" smilie ( :cool: ), it looks as if that person were actually thinking, "No ****, you brainless moron." It makes me very defensive & argumentative. It doesn't register "cool" to me -- it registers extreme disdain & superiority.

So even the damn smilies aren't foolproof ways of conveying emotions. I still say LOCK & LOAD when I see those damn things.

I personally love the smilies; I've often written in "where's the "so-and-so" smiley when you need it most?" when there hasn't been one to reflect my tone. And that is exactly what I use them for - tone. As we ALL know, undoubtably, email and posting can be dangerous. It is SO easy to misread the tone of a post. I find the little smilies help a lot. I'm not necessarily having a good old guffaw when I use the yellow laughing smiley, but it reflects the tone of my post. I've seen a few smilies on here that aren't part of the Ledge selection that I love. Someone added one one time that I laughed out loud at: it was a little smiley going "blah blah blah blah blah" It was hilarious. I also love the one on the BN.net board of the smiley banging his head into the brick wall. I wish we had that one over here. I think it would be a very popular smiley...

:nod: :nod: :nod:

By the way, this one :] is my favourite. I use it sparingly; only when the mood is perfect.

Have to say this: I don't think it's the smiley that makes a post hypocritical or shades something mean said. You do that with the words you use. A smiley may only emphasise it a little, but if it's the poster's intent to hurt someone without saying it in the open, you don't need a smiley for it at all.

I've nothing against them. Actually, with some posts without them I'm in doubt whether it's meant seriously or not, and I just wish there'd be that winky or grinning smiley with it. Because on the internet you miss all non-verbal communication that usually shows the intent of what you're saying.