The forum software does not parse old school smileys :-(

[prof7bit]

these are the ones that are commonly used by people older than 40 years

:-)
:-(
;-)

it will parse only the new style smileys:

[Matthew N. Wright]

Code:

                          oooo$$$$$$$$$$$$oooo
                      oo$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$o
                   oo$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$o         o$   $$ o$
   o $ oo        o$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$o       $$ $$ $$o$
oo $ $ "$      o$$$$$$$$$    $$$$$$$$$$$$$    $$$$$$$$$o       $$$o$$o$
"$$$$$$o$     o$$$$$$$$$      $$$$$$$$$$$      $$$$$$$$$$o    $$$$$$$$
  $$$$$$$    $$$$$$$$$$$      $$$$$$$$$$$      $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
  $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$    $$$$$$$$$$$$$    $$$$$$$$$$$$$$  """$$$
   "$$$""""$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$     "$$$
    $$$   o$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$     "$$$o
   o$$"   $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$       $$$o
   $$$    $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" "$$$$$$ooooo$$$$o
  o$$$oooo$$$$$  $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$   o$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
  $$$$$$$$"$$$$   $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$     $$$$""""""""
 """"       $$$$    "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$"      o$$$
            "$$$o     """$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$"$$"         $$$
              $$$o          "$$""$$$$$$""""           o$$$
               $$$$o                                o$$$"
                "$$$$o      o$$$$$$o"$$$$o        o$$$$
                  "$$$$$oo     ""$$$$o$$$$$o   o$$$$""
                     ""$$$$$oooo  "$$$o$$$$$$$$$"""
                        ""$$$$$$$oo $$$$$$$$$$
                                """"$$$$$$$$$$$
                                    $$$$$$$$$$$$
                                     $$$$$$$$$$"
                                      "$$$""  

[greyhawk]

[CIYAM]

Although I am well over 40 I've had no trouble adjusting to the shorter smileys (but it is a pain when you like to use parenthesis and just happen to end up with a number at the end whose final character is an .

[Logik]

Forums also have no telnet port open and I can't seem to find the IRC channel

[greyhawk]

Forums also have no telnet port open and I can't seem to find the IRC channel

I can't find my way around without gopher and veronica!! 

[CIYAM]

Gopher - wow - I do remember using that at least a year prior to the first version of Mozilla that I ever used (which was also before it was called Navigator).

[greyhawk]

Gopher - wow - I do remember using that at least a year prior to the first version of Mozilla that I ever used (which was also before it was called Navigator).

I still like browsing more than searching. I guess it's what you grow up with.

[Matthew N. Wright]

Gopher - wow - I do remember using that at least a year prior to the first version of Mozilla that I ever used (which was also before it was called Navigator).

I still like browsing more than searching. I guess it's what you grow up with.

I still like dial-up BBS more than internet forums.

[wumpus]

Although I am well over 40 I've had no trouble adjusting to the shorter smileys (but it is a pain when you like to use parenthesis and just happen to end up with a number at the end whose final character is an .

Hehe, indeed, that's also with instant messengers, I always end up with weird smileys when pasting source code and such.

[prof7bit]

Although I am well over 40 I've had no trouble adjusting to the shorter smileys (but it is a pain when you like to use parenthesis and just happen to end up with a number at the end whose final character is an .

Hehe, indeed, that's also with instant messengers, I always end up with weird smileys when pasting source code and such.

Thats why the syntax of the original smileys was carefully designed and architected in such a way that they would never collide with any source code snippet of any known or possible future programming language (not even with lisp or perl) or any other character sequence that might ever occur in any meaningful written text.

[myrkul]

Although I am well over 40 I've had no trouble adjusting to the shorter smileys (but it is a pain when you like to use parenthesis and just happen to end up with a number at the end whose final character is an .

Hehe, indeed, that's also with instant messengers, I always end up with weird smileys when pasting source code and such.

Thats why the syntax of the original smileys was carefully designed and architected in such a way that they would never collide with any source code snippet of any known or possible future programming language (not even with lisp or perl) or any other character sequence that might ever occur in any meaningful written text.

And what if a future programming syntax (we'll call it "SAD") required blocks of code be bracketed like this:
:-(
 some code;
 another line;
)-:

Hmm?

(fwiw, I get annoyed by the accidental collisions, too, and three character smileys would avoid that.)

[deepceleron]

The forum supports old-school hamsters, therefore your argument is invalid.



Plus, your argument is invalid. 25 year old smileys:
http://youtu.be/l7KwdqyyUO8?t=24m25s
http://youtu.be/l7KwdqyyUO8?t=48m46s

[prof7bit]

Plus, your argument is invalid. 25 year old smileys:
http://youtu.be/l7KwdqyyUO8?t=24m25s
http://youtu.be/l7KwdqyyUO8?t=48m46s

There were only 40 characters per line on these old home computer graphics chips, therefore the need for compressed smileys arose. And later it became mainstream only due to unlucky circumstances and the sudden unexpected rise of mobile phones and sms.