Comments on: The Web smiley's motto: Grin and bear it

For 25 years, the emoticon has been a mainstay of Internet culture. But are there frowns in its future?
Photos: Emoticons for every mood

[Rhyno#1]

Slow News Day

this could have been communicated in 3 paragraphs or less

[chk42]

Agreed

Or even better, the article could have simply not been written :)

The article is completely speculative. It's really a history of the emoticon (which would have been fine as a fluff piece), couched as a "Scary! They're going away!" shock piece.

I clicked on it because I was wondering what could possibly be said on the subject. Sadly, I got my answer: nothing of substance.

[zed]

despair.com

I'm surprised that the author didn't mention that despair.com trademarked the frownie :-( a few years back.

[CESSNA150SKYPILOT]

Writing IS dead

Judging by most of the responses I see net-wise, writing has all but died. Rules of grammar? Fugetaboutit! Orthography? You gotta be kidding! I don't know if it's because people are in a hurry to get their thoughts on screen, or if they have no thoughts, or if nobody cares. I would be more inclined to take feedback seriously if thoughtfulness became the emotive force of the day.

[vagarob]

Grammar

You should check your grammar....

[c|net Reader]

Writing is Dying

In this age of teaching children that effort is enough and that results are unimportant, grammar, orthography, expressivity, clarity, and more suffer. Given the informality of chatting, e-mail, and instant messaging, the use of crippled data entry tools, poor education, and the rush to participate in ever more inanity, is it a wonder that writing today is so poor?

What bothers me most is the lackadaisical attitude about it. Few today *care* to improve. The mere idea of correcting a mistake can unleash great incivility or disdain. There's no need for perfection, as your own, "You gotta be kidding," will attest, but one should set one's ideals high and strive continuously to improve.

[Razzl]

emoticon dictionary ; )

In order to impart an everlasting value to this string of comments I'm including here the emoticons from an old AOL ad before I ceremonially tear it up to heal the faded spot on my bulletin board:

:-D laughing, ':-) raised eyebrow :-|| very angry :-[ angry :<) snobby :-) happy :-/ skeptical ;-) happy with wink :'-) happy with tears :-@ scream :-| indifferent :-o surprised :-0 very surprised :-* kiss |-0 yawn 8-0 shocked :-( sad :-C very sad :-X lips sealed [:] robot %-) confused 8-) glasses.

[Razzl]

So THAT's the problem...

LOL (abbreviations are an annoyance for another article)! My list didn't print completely because the software took the "/" for a command. Oh well, you got the idea...

[ifoster]

c-oo c--j

c--j c-oo o--7o

[minitrue]

anyone remember the x-face protocol?

avatars for e-mail. Since the eighties.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Face