Automatic emoticons

[EssexEagle]

No idea whether this has been discussed before, and you may well think I'm making a fuss over nothing, but anyway...

I do get a bit annoyed by posts on this forum where text has been automatically interpreted as an emoticon when it shouldn't have been. You then have to try to interpret what the poster meant (this usually happens when they have copied and pasted the contents of a file or some output from a terminal).

Although there is a "disable smilies" option, some users seem either not to realize it exists or just not notice that they've got erroneous emoticons appearing, or possibly just can't be bothered with it. Therefore, I would suggest the "disable smilies" option to be switched on by default. Or would that be too annoying for people who use smilies very often?

[cariboo907]

I think the biggest offender is 8), or 8), if people would preview their posts, these mistakes would all but disappear.

[RTrev]

I think the biggest offender is 8), or 8), if people would preview their posts, these mistakes would all but disappear.

I'll cast my vote with the OP. I don't like it when the software decides it knows best what I "really meant". I would never include a graphic image in a text message. Previewing doesn't really solve the problem, either. I might actually want a colon, dash, right paren, but I can't use them because the software will screw them up. <g>

[Tristam Green]

I think the biggest offender is 8), or 8), if people would preview their posts, these mistakes would all but disappear.

++, preview button exists for a reason. This is coming straight from the (fingers!) of a poster who messes up tags all the time if attempting to type them straight:

Meaning, if I want to spoiler something I'll type the beginning tag as [spoiler] but the ending tag as [/quote] for some dumb reason :| If I don't preview, not only does my post not make sense, but I also end up inadvertently ticking off anyone reading it.

[EssexEagle]

preview button exists for a reason.

Yep, I know, and I use it :) But plenty of people seem not to...

[Elfy]

nor do people use

I rarely use preview post as I tend to quick reply

[cariboo907]

I had to do it in oder for 8) to display correctly.;)

[magtrask]

As a new user I can say its not as easy to avoid them as you'd think. The problem for me was in "quick reply". It doesn't give you "additional options" where you can disable them. I found you have to reply using "quote text" to have the option.

[cariboo907]

I fairly rarely if ever use quick reply (I guess I'm not that much of a hurry) :).