[BillHiggin]

Perhaps only annoying, but it bugs me a lot to see attempts at lists get distorted when using the common list numbering system of lower case letters followed by closing paren marks. i.e.
a) works fine
was typed as "b" ")" but will show as a smilie
c) works fine again

Smilies are cute, but this one gets in the way of reasonable posts. Can it be fixed?

[helene_t]

b

) was written as "b[" "CODE][" "/CODE])"

No sr that doesn't work either, tag pairs must have some content between them to get parsed.

b) was written as "b[" "FONT=Arial])[" "/FONT"]

That does work, though.

[matmat]

a]
b]
c]

[TimG]

b) what if you simply don't enable emoticons?

[Gerardo]

• test
  
• test
  
• test

[LIST=a]
[*]test
[*]test
[*]test
[/LIST]

[muggle]

This works too

b) test

b[COLOR=black])[/COLOR] test

[jdeegan]

Get a life

[mycroft]

A smiley looks like this :-)
Sometimes like this :)

I don't know what those stupid graphics are, but they should be buried in a landfill somewhere, and the electons not recycled.

If they move, or wink or anything else but sit there as a blot on the landscape, they should be hung, drawn and quartered before getting the landfill treatment.

Unfortunately, the limitations on language in these forums (indeed, probably limitations on the English Language itself) can not properly encompass my contempt for those ... things.

Turn off "Enable emoticons". Please! As an added advantage, you won't have to worry about a), b) or c).

Michael.

[barmar]

Sorry, mycroft, but you're a luddite. The smileys you describe are an artifact of text-only systems -- they couldn't do any better. When graphical systems like this were implemented, there was no reason to continue using crude representations when real smiley-faces could be displayed. They're still allowed in input, for convenience, as well as automatically translating messages from text-only systems. This occasionally causes glitches when the character sequence is ambiguous, but there are workarounds and we live with it.

However, I agree with you that animated emoticons are annoying, just as animated avatars and advertisements are, since movement distracts you from what you're really trying to look at (in the case of advertisements, that's exactly why the advertisers do it).

[mycroft]

They're ugly, they're stupid, and the break the flow of text in a way that :-) doesn't. Apart from that, there's nothing wrong with them that a good Terminate With Extreme Prejudice wouldn't solve. Oh, and as I said above, "ugly" is an understatement - but I can only express my true revulsion to the little vermin with Carlin-speak.

Yeah, I'm a luddite. I even admit to it. That's because I work with computers, and 90+% of the new stuff for the punters in the last 10 years or so is designed primarily to have fun for the writer at the expense of information transmission.

I'm also a massive introvert. Facebook and Myspace turn me off in ways you can't even imagine - not least because they're havens of "GIF smilies on steroids". What can I say?

Michael.

[han]

♥ Michael!

[cherdano]

I don't like smileys at all but unfortunately there are non-British native speakers reading this forum who need an advance warning to ever recognize a joke as a joke. A graphical smiley that they notice before even reading a post is just about good enough for that.

[barmar]

I'm also a long-time computer professional. And I was also put off by them when I first started seeing them. But I'm also realistic enough to understand that since computers and GUIs became part of mainstream culture, our archaic preferences carry little weight.

Most computer users have never used text-only systems, and they would consider the traditional emoticons as ugly as you consider the graphical ones. I've been on systems that don't have graphical smileys (e.g. some webmail systems), and users frequently ask how they can get them. Most people just expects them as a matter of course now.

Complain all you like, but it's too late to put that genie back in the bottle. I'll bet you also cringe every time the mainstream media uses the word "hacker" to refer to crackers. Sorry, but that's just the way it is now.

[mycroft]

Exactly, Barmar. But if you don't do a little windmill-tilting, then they'll run right over you with more of the same (of course, "most people", when it comes to many web applications, maybe shouldn't get what they expect. That path leads to virtual-crap-throwing Facebook apps).

I don't, actually, cringe. I hate it, because some of my best friends are hackers - in the true sense of the word. But given all the "stupid computer tricks" in entertainment, I'll concede them the one wrong term in exchange for "all alien computers are not only susceptible to Earth-computer viruses, they all have 3.25-inch, IBM compatible floppy drives."

And I still think that they're ugly and useless. Of course, I heavily block what images hit my server - maybe I should just put my fingers where my mouth is and block 'em all at the source.

Michael (Old Fogey, and proud of it. At least when it comes to computers. Unfortunately, still almost the youngest bridge player I know).