# How come the smilie window doesn't show up half the time?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-the-smilie-window-doesnt-show-up-half-the-time/207189>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [October 13, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-the-smilie-window-doesnt-show-up-half-the-time/207189 "2003-10-13T14:38:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-the-smilie-window-doesnt-show-up-half-the-time/207189/1 "2003-10-13T14:38:58Z")

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I never change my preferences but half the time I don’t get the little smilie options normally displayed to the left of the message box. I also notice that when I’m forced into the nearly unbearably tedious task of encoding a given smilie in ASCII, it never shows up as a graphic in preview (or post) but I do get the smilie board after previewing. What gives?

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-the-smilie-window-doesnt-show-up-half-the-time/207189/2 "2003-10-13T14:46:48Z")

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The “smiley window” you speak of is only present if you click the Reply or Quote buttons, or after you preview. It is not present on the quick reply box. As for the smilies not showing up, make sure the box **Disable Smilies** is unchecked before previewing and posting.

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**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-the-smilie-window-doesnt-show-up-half-the-time/207189/3 "2003-10-13T16:36:39Z")

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Aha. So the smilies don’t auto-convert from ASCII in the quick reply box either? Because I’ve never checked/unchecked that box. Let’s test:

🙂

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**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-the-smilie-window-doesnt-show-up-half-the-time/207189/4 "2003-10-13T16:38:16Z")

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😛

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**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-the-smilie-window-doesnt-show-up-half-the-time/207189/5 "2003-10-13T16:41:10Z")

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Oh, I see. I used a capital “P,”