I personally have enjoyed it and all the friendly banter and reading all of the contributions. The hobby of bird watching should be a broad church (not that I have ever been much of a church-goer!) - so maybe the moral is that there is room for all - from the serious lister to those freer spirits. However, whether there is actually any room for those birders who wish to "reveal" themselves in public and for those who wish to watch from their front row seat is still very much open to debate!
As Bill says, like imaginary buildings and made-up film/song titles, emoticons are just a bit of fun and will soon be forgotten
But it makes you wonder just why some of them were ever created(well it does me ) It can't have been for speed. It takes less time to type tv than all that clicking, copying & pasteing, or even typing colon teevee colon. As for providing clarity,hopefully context would help you to tell if the author was refering to a mechanical broadcasting device or a cross-dresser
Oh, and if ANYONE can explain (cow two) they can have my front row seat for Mr. Rigbys' forthcoming appearance on Edinburg town hall steps
disclaimer: no emoticons were killed, injured or randomly distributed in the making of this post CCIX
I'm afraid I'll never be able to match you when it comes to wit and repartee or creative use of emoticons but, when it comes to being an embarrassing uncle I'm sure I win hands down!
Just ask my three nephews
Steve
-- Edited by Steve Suttill on Friday 20th of March 2009 10:16:07 AM
Personally, I would rather read an entry on any of the forums that made an attempt to have a bit of a story, a sparkle, wit and a different angle on them and emoticons are part of making that post. I do not keep lists and personally do not enjoy reading someone else's list - to me what makes birding interesting is - birds/birdwatchers behaviour and their antics, facts and figures and all the many other interesting things that there is to observe whilst birdwatching. I love reading all the different posts - but especially those that show birds and birdwatching from a different angle and those that make me laugh.
Sure one persons definition of a wit might be another persons "embarrassing uncle" - still better to try and fail than not to have a go at all! Far be it for me to tell in particular two other forum users what to do and what not to do - but lighten up guys! - don't want you becoming the Statler and Waldorf of the forum do we?
Now if I'd used emoticons in this post you would have been able to tell what the "serious" points were and what was "tongue in cheek"!
Keep atlasing,
Embarrassing Uncle Bill.
-- Edited by Bill Myerscough on Friday 20th of March 2009 09:59:53 AM
Am I wrong?, but it seems to me that Steve Suttill is at present making a bid to be number one emoticoner. Still lovin' it, how can these little things be so funny? Cheers Ian
Hello If there's a sheep above it worked.Geoff, you need to highlight the name of the emoticon, including the colon at beginning and end. Then copy and paste it onto your post.Cheers Dean.
Ian,cos it,s dark and raining ,and she,s watching dancing on ice(all of it) I have to confess that i can only use the 24 on the left,the 'more emotions' button shows me all the wonderous tricks that bill uses but I can,t persuade them into my posts,I,ve left clicked right clicked double clicked copy print saved and sprinkled fairy dust,all to no avail,so it,s over to you bill to unleash your secrets and give us the duffers guide to using big league of emoticons
Been laughing out loud recently reading Bill's and now Geoff's posts containing more and more imaginative use of emoticons. Love it. Waiting to see which of the gentlemen will be first to compose a complete post containing emoticons only!, is there an emoticon for "king of the emoticons?". Looking forward to being entertained further by the elite of the emoticoners Cheers Ian