I don't think anyone is saying that smileys are the bane of the Internet, and that they should never be used. I hate most emoticons because personally- I prefer to convey my emotions through my writing. I think that emoticons and acronyms have dumbed down the Internet as a form of meaningful, intelligent communication. Do I use them occasionally? Yes. Do I use multiple ones in every single post? No way.
But, that's my writing style and my preference in what I read. Everyone should use as many smileys as they want. I tend to associate lots of emoticons with posts or statements that don't have a whole lot behind them in their argument, or with people who are posting just to post. They're blinding, too. Oww, my eyes. I just wonder if people realize how utterly stupid they look with a post that looks like this:
Yeah, what you said!
