That 'big grin' emoticon.

[jandl100]

Hmm. When you do the traditional big grin, a colon : followed by a capital D it comes up with this .
Which I don't think is very appropriate, and often enough does not go at all well with the sentence it is included in.

It seems to be usually used when a big grin is appropriate, but what you get is a ROFL image. Which isn't. Appropriate that is.
Sometimes it can come across as sneering when all you want to include is a pleasant grin. Sometimes you think, 'yeah, that was quite amusing, but why is the poster falling about laughing?'

It makes many posts come across the wrong way, is what I am trying to say.

... see, it looks wrong doesn't it!

How about changing it, guys?

[Beechwoods]

I can do this - that particular emoticon shortcut was from before my time but its easily changed

[Marco]

Good point, Jerry - it's something I've often thought myself. What should appear is the green emoticon that accompanies this post.

That's a wee job for Nick, once he's finished doing the 100s of other 'wee jobs' he's got!

Marco.

[MartinT]

Beware that it would change all historical postings, though!

[Marco]

Yup, but not if at the same time a separate code were created for the 'ROFL' emoticon, to differentiate between it and the 'big grin' one, which anyway is what needs to be done

Marco.

[jandl100]

Beware that it would change all historical postings, though!

In a lot of cases that would be a good thing!

It wouldn't do any harm, at worst, as a big grin should be a decent substitute for ROFL anyway.

And it would remove the many instances of 'inappropriate' ROFL.

Win, win!

[Alex_UK]

and what about the poor old "laugh" emoticon - he's definitely big, but he hardly ever gets a look in!

I personally use " : D" quite a bit, but only when it IS ROFL, as I've just got used to it - I use : lol : more. Maybe we should all follow Chris (TGW) and hardly use them ever!

[MartinT]

I don't mind emoticons, as long as they are used to supplement the text by indicating body language, not as a replacement for proper English

[Marco]

Ditto

I find the wink smiley particularly useful for emphasising irony - a difficult thing to portray successfully sometimes on forums, by using the written word alone (as the author's intended meaning can so easily be misconstrued), and with sometimes unfortunate results!

Marco.

[jandl100]

and what about the poor old "laugh" emoticon - he's definitely big, but he hardly ever gets a look in!

Ah, now that one I almost always find offensive.

I feel someone has moved up real close and laughed in my face. Not nice. Not nice at all.