Not trying to pile on, but since I started the last thread suggesting we get more standard smileys (the yellow ones instead of the larger blue ones), I feel compelled.
I am personally done with society taking good things (cheering, smiling, celebrating, etc) and making them into "Sodomite-only", or "inappropriate-only", things. No: we Catholics have PLENTY of reason to cheer, and to smile, and so forth. I know some people don't like emoticons, and
you can turn off smilies in your settings, so you never see them! Yay! I would caution that given that the meaning of a post is often tempered with an emoticon so the intended meaning is clear, I'd think twice before turning them off.
Do we misuse them at times? Sure. But I don't imagine anyone here is trying to evoke feelings of lust in commenting something like:
We got new parishioners today! :rahrah:
And so forth. But if they bother you, turn them off in settings, or avoid posters who use them prolifically. (HIDE button: nobody knows you've hidden them, and the posts are merely collapsed. You can undo HIDE, as well.)
I'll use this smiley to convey I mean well, but note, these blue smileys are still creepy to me:
:smile: