I've not liked them since their introduction to the board. But I'm in the minority, I've not posted much in the last year and as much as I could rail against them they are here to stay. Those who've been around a while know that my *raison d'etre* used to be attempting to shoot down anyone daring to use them! Much delight was wraught from my anger and, to tell the truth, I grew to love the attention.
I've apparently mellowed and though sometimes I still grit my teeth when they're used, I can abide them... usually. Still, I can't bring myself to use them and I hate when someone posts something funny and in my opinion detracts from his or her wit by following the line with a smilie.
For those that use them:
Do you feel they actually help in board posts? Do they help you express your thoughts? Or do you use them as "zingers" so readers know you intended to be wry, witty, funny, etc.? Do you feel your sarcasm is lessened when it is followed by a smilie?
(Now let's see who the first joker will post a smilie for the sake of posting a smilie!)
I can of course only speak for myself, but I tend to use the “smack” smilie to indicate that I have done something utterly boneheaded and am currently performing self flagellation to make amends. The actual smiling smilies I only use when there could be some question about whether my post is serious or lighthearted, although for anyone who has caught any of my previous posts, my meaning should be fairly apparent. The others I never use.
I just want you to know that the temptation to sit here for an hour and write A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS using nothing but smilies was almost overwhelming.
I rarely use smilies - but a prudent use of them can make an effective point. I agree that they are overused (as well as animations on websites - I’m really sick of those).
Another thing I’m not too thrilled about - message board “signatures”. If someone has made a few hundred postings and each ends with “A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush” (or whatever else) - doesn’t that grow old really fast?
I use them rarely, but sometimes, they just fit the bill (particularly that green one with the shit-eating grin.) I like the roll eyes one when it’s used to convey someone’s opinion about something that they themselves are relating, as opposed to being used in response to someone else’s post - MOST of the time I find the latter use to be just insult-without-effort.
On the other hand, I’ve always loved your sig line, ChiefScott, and I will admit that whenever I see it, I try really hard to remember not to smilie in your threads.
Hi Chief. The one thing they are really useful for, and the only reason I use one occasionally, is when I realize the limits of this textual medium leave me with a reply that I realize might possibly be construed as snarky when it’s really meant as a gentle gibe. Sorta like a situation IRL where you might wink when you say something.
You’ve pegged it - they are very useful for when you’ve said something which might be construed by extremely sensitive posters as hostile – but you’re just kidding, so you throw in the little
I tend to agree with the Chief. You’ll notice the absence of smilies in my posts. I find words to be a more effective means of communication than little blue faces. To the best of my recollection, I’ve only used one emoticon on this board on one occasion when I felt it was the best response.
I like smilies as they were originally construed – not so hooked on the self-inserting gifs. It was always a challenge to come up with something original, witty and befitting the occasion using just a couple of characters.
I use them cause there are quotes I find interesting and I’m proud of my site and want to show it off. I appreciate the links to people’s pages cause I like to check out interesting posters’ pages. Or if they’re like Esprix, his sig is a useful reference to important threads.
I use them as surrogate faces. Honest-to-goodness, when I make a smart-ass remark, I’ll slap on a smart-ass grin. So the smilies are just my stand-ins.
I hate when they’re overused. I occasionally post to a board based in the area where I’ll be moving next year. Those people have a gajillion smilies and they use multiples frequently. In fact, I’ve seen threads that are little more than a “conversation” using smilies. <shudder>
I don’t use them that much but I think they are as important for context (sometimes) as being able to hear someone’s tone on the telephone or see their body language in person. With only the typed word, it’s easy to infer a slight when there was none or miss a dig when there was one. But excessive use, especially the same one, is just stoopid.
I find myself posting smilies in two cases.
One, is an addition of the to a text that, while spoken would have been quite obvious (face expression, intonation), and in writing can leave doubts as to my intentions. Sometimes this extends to situations when I’m not sure the person I address is at all capable of grasping sarcasm of any sort (it does happen, unfortunately), so before they think I’m the prince of darkness incarnate, I secure myself with the stamp. Lame, i do realise, but it spared me a lot of trouble explaining my intentions, on many occasions.
Second case, is… well, just mimicing a face expression, if I feel like it. I used to put these things in words is absolutely shocked, is presently laughing her butt off, beams, but people were weirded out by that. pffft.
But I can understand your irritation, for I too had a period of time when I deliberately banned smilies from all my posts at a certain forum. It was after a huge insident, when some teeny-bopper would go around every single friggin’ thread, and when she found something even mildly amusing she’d just leave a laughiing smiley at the end of it. No words, just a smiley. At the end of the day, the whole thread summary page had this one person as the last poster, and the whole chronology went to hell. All you had was that goddamned laughing smiley EVERYWHERE. I flipped out. literally. I said that’s a disgrace, that she should stop at once or I’ll skin her alive (virtually). Nobody backed me up on this, they all thought I was overreacting. So in order to show them how irritating it can be, I spend the day responding to every single post made with a laughing smiley.
sigh.
They still didn’t understand. They just wanted to kill ME.
Anyway, that’s my smiley love/hate situation.
btw. I usually dislike animated smileys. I prefer punctuation.
As for signatures. Well. tigers. and bears. y’know.
I hardly go a week without seeing a several-post exchange, sometimes a bit heated, that could have been avoided with one smiley in the first post. But there’s rarely a reason for more than one in a post, or even one in one post per thread. And I agree that the rolleyes is just insulting (as IRL).
and this one: 
:rolleyes: 
:wally