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http://money.aol.com/inc/gener...90001 he obviously didn't get enough hugs as a child

Or all of the hugging that he did receive cut off the air supply, killing off small pieces of his brain one day at a time. HA! One more emoticon out there in the world.

ummm.He is actually a SHE. And SHE either has way too much time on her hands, or was stuck and couldn't think of any other topic for her article.It sure seems to me to be a crappy way to make a living, if you have to resort to writing articles and comments about emoticons.oops, I guess I just did too. (hee hee)

She can say whatever she wants about emoticons, but I like them and I do not plan to stop using them. I do try to keep them to a minimum though when an e-mail must be serious and I'm trying to be professional moreso than "friendly." I like receiving e-mails with smilies though, even from people I am working with, just because it makes the tone of the e-mail clearer, IMHO. Sometimes things expressed as text on the screen can sound stiff or angry even when they aren't meant to be. A smiley helps ensure that the correct tone is received.

Quote, originally posted by MRCN RCE » http://money.aol.com/inc/gener...90001

Interestingly enough, I thought that the intent of article might have been very succinctly summarized with a smiley emoticon at the very end - meaning that I took her style to be that of satire.In her second paragraph she writes, "I hate the way they reduce the gloriously complex geography of human faces to a few crude lines and dots. I also resent their imputations of insensitivity." Yet email, by its nature, eliminates the "complex geography of human faces". It also removes from the reader the full sense of a writer's communicative ability, and therefore, introduces ambiguity and confusion.On the other hand, I totally agree that emoticons have no place in business correspondence, generally speaking. There may be some sectors (ex., software and gaming development) where emoticons are appropriate, but most business correspondence requires a formality that written language alone should address. This is the same reasoning that abbreviations, acronmyms, and onomatopoeia are also not recommended for business communications.Here's a rule I've embraced on editing my business emails: I imagine I'm in a courtroom during a lawsuit involving my company (either as defendant or plaintiff) and my email is produced as evidence in the court. The last thing I want the judge or jury to see is that I was or grrr or , IYKWIM.

at first I thought , then idk, wth? then I was all hmm, ugh, and finally woot! so I agree with your point.

Joat!

Yeah, I don't mind emoticons with co-workers. But anyone that I have to contact professionally outside of my company I won't do it. A lot can be said in the tone of the words you use!