Conference thebay::joyoflex

Interesting.  Smiley faces (or are they smiling faces?) seem to be 
network writer's way of saying, "Ignore any other reactions you may 
have had to what I just wrote except smiling and laughing; concentrate 
on those two."  They (the faces) are perhaps also included from the 
writer's nervousness---as an employee of DEC (or any other 
corporation), he/she does not want to offend anyone, especially 
those scores of unknown people who read with eager, glistening eyes.
The faces, the writer hopes, act as some kind of shield against the 
feared flame.  But of course, as scientists claim all over 
the world, SDI (Smiley-face Defense Initiative) is not perfect.

I wonder if I'll start seeing the faces on letters I get through US 
mail.  I really hope not.  Frankly, I prefer words.

-Rob

My understanding is that many of us who use smiley faces use them as a
substitute for the body language that would accompany any face-to-face
discussion.

I certainly agree with the main point of the original note that smiley faces
aren't necessary or even appropriate in all forms of written humor.

I do not agree that they are never appropriate, however.  It depends upon
how you view the medium of notes, conferences, and bulletin boards.  Is
it just a new way to deliver written communications?  Or is it a written
substitute for face-to-face discussions?  If the latter, body language
substitutes may be in order.

Bob

     After trying to follow Mr. Wiener's rambling, pompous dissertation,
     I can only conclude that the man has a PROBLEM!

     In particular:

     o  the man seems to have a warped impression that his opinions are
        truth because he KNOWS them to be so.

     o  in his various reference to _The Collected Works of...._ he
        ignores the fact that he had a prior impression that the works
        were, in fact, satirical.  Hence, the use of smiley faces
        would be superfluous!

     o  he indicates a sadistic pleasure in: "Even more fun that [sic]
        the original satire is watching all the dumb fish who swallow 
        it."  :-(

     I prefer humor and satire when you can laugh WITH your audience,
     not AT them!

     Roy

    162.0, in concert with the responses to it, is a prime example of
    why smiley faces are useful in this medium.  Little satire can be
    more bald-faced than .0, yet some people react to it seriously.
    
    Either that, or the responses are even more subtle satire, and *I*
    missed the point.
    
    Then again, maybe I don't even mean what you think I mean.
    
    From now on, serious responses to this note should be accompanied
    by a frowney face " :-( " so you know what they really mean.
    
    --Mark		?? :-) ??

Re:-1

Smiley faces - Frowny faces.  You sound a little Two Faced to me!


:-)
MartyJ

    Personally, I hate smiley faces. I think that a good writer can make it
    known when it is writing sarcasm or flat being facetious. The problem
    is that there are many people who assume that if you *don't* use a
    smiley face that you are in dead earnest. Lately I've been taken to
    using them despite my revulsion because it seems the only way to be
    unambiguous.
    
    	Sigh,
    	Jon 

    Gee, not to be disingenuous, but I've just recently gotten onto
    the Notes stuff, and couldn't figure what the hell these people
    were doing with the special characters at the end of either 
    meant-to-be-humorous lines, or at the end of i've-flamed-YOUR-ass
    lines. 
    
    Karl Moeller SWS Tucson
    (I bet you think 'Tucson' explains this reply)
    

.7> (I bet you think 'Tucson' explains this reply)
        
        No, not really.  Could you clarify?  ~/~
        
        Tom

Better Tucson than too late.

    Being secluded here in the desert, ringed by mountangs, Tucsonans
    have been accused of being unsophisticated. Only 50 miles from
    Old Mexico... oh well, I'll type more manana.
    

    
    
    			 / \
			| 0 |	   ^
			 \ / ____. |\
			     ____. | )
			 / \	   |/
			| 0 |	   v
			 \ /
    

It just occurred to me that our current use of punctuation is a relatively
recent invention in comparison to the age of written language.

I wonder if, a few centuries ago, people were criticized for using question
marks and exclamation points in their writing (or even commas, semicolons, and
periods).  After all, their critics would argue, if they knew how to write
well, such marks would be unnecessary. 

Could smiley faces be tomorrow's punctuation in its formative stages?

Bob

    !
    

    Bob might very well be right.  After all, regularised spelling is
    less than 200 years old, and punctuation in anything like the form
    we know it goes back only to the Renaissance.
    
    Should we convene an ISO committee <grin>?
    
    					=maggie

    
    
    
    ... do you not mean 'regulariZed' spelling ?

    No, I really did mean to use an "s":  I have regularised MY spelling,
    too <grin>.

    Re: .15  Alzo, Mr. Moeller, zome of uz are Englizh, and we zpell
    properly!  :-)
    
    Jeff.

    How's your ***SMILEY** face? And the ***REST*** of you?
    
    You can draw all the smiley faces you want to, as far as I'm concerned.
    (How come nobody ever draws other parts of the anatomy?)
    
    What is becoming more common is the use of ***ASTERISKS** to emphasize
    a word or phrase. Even **DAVE BARRY** (***HIMSELF!!!***) uses
    asterisks. Usually the word within the asterisks (the ***ASTERISKISED***
    word, if you prefer) is capitalized.
    
    Do you think this practice is **USEFUL**, **APPROPRIATE**, and more
    than a passing ***FAD***?
    
    Do let me know what you ***THINK***.
    
    BS

Zippy the Pinhead has been saying things for years in **boldface**.

    Hey, who should we compleainn to in NOTESland?  Back in the days
    of NOTES-11, I could use  escape sequences galore to do bold,
    blinking, etc.  Some really baroque stuff got into WHOAREYOU.
    Of course, it looked really weird on my VT62!
    
    I generally use _adjacent_ underscores for italic/underscore
    and *asterisks* for bold.  Or as the mood goes.
          fred

    I'm really sick (or, if you prefer:  ****SICK***) of smiley/
    smiling faces. How about other parts of anatomy?
    
    (|) 
    
    BS
    


P1p
P[0,0]
P[350,240]
T(A1)
W(I1,S1,S"a")
C[+100,-100]W(S0)W(I3)C[+100,-100]
W(i2,M15)
P[]
3333W(S1)C[+25,-25]P[]
77771111
C[+25,-25]W(E)C[+10,-10]W(V)V[]W(I3,V)V[]
P[]44444444W(E)C[+10,-10]
W(R)V[]W(S0)C(A180)[+45,-15]P[]00000000C(A180)[+45,+15]
P[]44444444
77776C(A180)[-85,+0]
S(M0(ad)1(ay)2(ab)3(ar))
@:AS(M2(ay)T15)@;
@:BS(M2(ab)T15)@;
@:C@A@B@A@B@A@B@;
@C@C@C@C@C
\

More from the usenet (many headers removed). Warning: a couple are a teensy
bit offensive...



From info-cobol
Re:   the last whole smiley face catalog :-)

Awhile back, you may remember some discussion about "smiley face
codes".  Well, here are some new ones, culled from netnews
(done@teklabs, rew@hao, ksf@security, msg@houxl, and futrelle@uiucdcs).

[:|]      submitter is a robot (or other appropriate AI project)
:>)       submitter has a big nose
:<|       submitter attends an Ivy League school
:%)%      submitter has acne
=:-)      submitter is a hosehead
:-(*)     submitter is getting sick of most recent netnews articles and
            is about to vomit
:-)8      submitter is well dressed
8:-)      submitter is a little girl
:-)-{8    submitter is a big girl 
%-)       submitter is cross-eyed
#-)       submitter partied all night
:-*       submitter just ate a sour pickle
-:-)      submitter sports a mohawk and admires Mr. T
:-'|      submitter has a cold
:-)'      submitter tends to drool
':-)      submitter accidentally shaved off one of his eyebrows
            this morning
8:]       submitter is a gorilla
0-)       submitter wearing scuba mask
P-)       person submitting is getting fresh
|-)	  submitter is falling asleep
.-)	  submitter has one eye
:=)	  submitter has two noses
:-D       submitter talks too much
:-o	  submitter is shocked
  ___
 /   \
| RIP |
|_____|   submitter has recently died