There should be a distinction made somewhere in here.. most people don’t use smileys for higher level writing ( for example; college work or the like. Essays, anything professional or scholastic, etc.. [although, I must add, I have used smilies in college level work .. and gotten away with it..]) because smileys are not appropriate in these places. However, in everyday online usage they are useful in conveying emotion.

Smilies are like slang, in a way. They convey something that could be conveyed other ways but would not necissarily have the same effect if conveyed in another way. ( nuances, nuances, lovely lovely nuances..)

It sounds to me that the main problem you have with smilies is when, as a reader, you can’t understand them. The basic set of smilies ( , . . . , etc..) aren’t that hard to figure out. The more complicated smilies should only be used when speaking with persons who already know them. Otherwise, it’s only civil to explain them first. It’s the same rule used in normal writing. You write to your audience. For example; I’m into anime.. I have friends who aren’t, so it’s just stupid for me to be typing -_-;;;; when I know that none of them understand what that means. o_0 the entire point of smilies is to convey emotion quicker than words can.

I think there are worse things out there than smilies. Of course I’m addicted to smilies, so I’m just a little biased… but how about trying to understand leet speak. O_O .. things like: #3110 #0[^] 4|23 j00? for Hello how are you? … or capitalizing every other word. That one is highly annoying. HeLlO hOw ArE yOu. While not as hard to read, try reading a paragraph typed that way without getting annoyed.. )

– CD ^_^

:-*