As someone who spends a large chunk of his life on IRC, mainly due to working with the various communities on IRC, my quality-of-IRC (QoIRC?) is pretty important. Although typically blissful in my day to day bumblings, one increasing trend seems to be sweeping IRC communities like a dose of diarrhoea at a festival…
…winky smilies – 😉
They annoy me. IRC has enough ambiguity without someone deliberately enforcing it. Some people use winky smilies *all the time*. Now, translate this into the real world (that’s the point of smileys). Imagine winking that much. Imagine walking to the bus stop and saying *”cold out today!”* ;). Imagine going to a shop and responding to a question with *”no I don’t want cash back”* ;). People would think you were nuts. It is just isn’t normal, and we need to put a stop to it. The world of online emotions is perfectly supported by 🙂 🙁 😛 and :D.
