Here's an exotic comment by Not-An-MK:
What are Smilies?
Smilies, or Emoticons, are small images which can be used to express a feeling using a short code, e.g.
denotes happy, while
denotes sad. The full list of emoticons can be seen in the posting form. Try not to overuse smilies, however, as they can quickly render a post unreadable and a moderator may edit them out or remove the post altogether. The board administrator may also have set a limit to the number of smilies you may use within a post.
I have a new respect for our board administrator and the Two Smiley Rule.
ONLY TWO!
I would NOT want my message to be obscured or otherwise rendered unreadable.
(And THEN I got the red pencil on the 2 smileys I wanted to put---because
THE ADMINISTRATOR ALREADY PUT IN TWO! That's gotta be called "Trumping Smileys.")
Still friends......
MB