What d'ya mean, it's only a smile?

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

I find that the tongue smiley is the cheeky one as opposed to the silly one, and should be used only when you know the person you are directing it towards.

And definitely looks sad as opposed to, uh, frowny?

There are only 2 smileys I've never used, those being the 2 red ones. I am never angry or embarassed when on the Downs!

[Elennar Starfire]

I generally use : ( and : confused : to indicate levels of upset-ness. A mild upset doesn't require the sad smilie, it seems too strong. Therefore I use the one that seems to be merely perturbed rather than about to weep.

I use ; ) for silliness, or otherwise unintended to be taken seriously. : p is cheeky and teasing. As their meanings to me are rather similar, I may have trouble deciding which to use.

: rolleyes : usually indicates minor embarrassment or that I think something is stupid. : o is for more serious embarrassment.

: D and : ) are for happiness, again, which I choose depends on how happy I am.

: eek : is shock, : mad : is anger, and : smokin : and : cool : I don't use often.

[dancing spawn of ungoliant]

When I read your impressions of the smileys, I come to think, how many people I may have offended by using them.
To me : rolleyes:, for example, means a) I'm acting/ I have done something silly/stupid b) the thing I'm talking about is silly c) sarcastic d) something else depending on the context. But I'm always using that smiley with friendly thoughts i.e. I don't want to offend anyone.
I use : ( to describe sadness but I very often replace it with : confused: since it looks less devastated.
And finally this one . I for one use it quite lot. Since it seems to be smiling while sticking it's tongue out, I think it's a friendly smiley. I use it to describe same feelings as I use : rolleyes:. Phew, what a mess! I apologise if I have offended any of you...I'm quite sure I didn't do it on purpose (<-- Now this smiley tries to tell that I'm unsure if I have done something stupid)

[HerenIstarion]

um, that's the point - when you point at , little label announces it is 'sarcastic'. Maybe the best of solutions would be to remove labels and let the context do the trick?

[Elennar Starfire]

That doth seem logical, indeed.

[Lhunardawen]

Indeed. I normally use when I'm trying to mock my own post (stupid as that sounds), but when I read my post it turns out to make me sarcastic. And it's hard to be sarcastic here in the Downs, because you never know who you might offend.

[Evisse the Blue]

That's a good topic, HI!

Indeed these smiles pose a bit of a problem: they are too restrictive (that coming from one, who, admitedly, has quite a weakness for smilies as diverse and funny as possible). But, I realize this is a serious forum and should live up to its reputation by not having an abundance of smilies and icons. The problem comes indeed when one is misunderstood in the use of smilies, and the entire message is therefore misunderstood.

BW argued that the meaning of the smilies is decided by the context, but more often it's quite the opposite way around. For instance, (hypothetical example) if I see a message that argues the importance of canonical-based fanfic, followed by the stick out tongue smiley, I'll obviously assume the person actually intended to say the opposite. But if I see it followed by the ambiguous smilie who rolls his eyes, I'm left not knowing what to assume: either that the person is mocking his/her own post, or that she/he rolls eyes at those who might think otherwise, or maybe that she/he is feeling very ****ed.

I've almost never used the sarcastic smiley, I much oftener settle for this one: : p, who (in my acception) means that I'm making light of the situation, and that what I said shouldn't be taken too seriously. This same meaning I attribute to this smiley here: (regardless of how it looks like someone getting poked in the eye ). Speaking of : D , for me it has a clear message of being very amused, laughing, or making a joke. While this one: may indicate a more moderate level of amusement, but I always use it as a sign of approval (towards a post, a point of view), or friendliness, to atenuate what might be taken as a harsh remark, or just to accompany the routine of the quiz room's overused phrases like 'correct', 'your turn' etc.

So, what's to be done?
Remove labels is a suggestion, but I must confess that I didn't pay too much attention to these labels; I do let the context spell it out for me, but most of the times I seem to reach a wrong conclusion as to the nature of the message, the person's disposition, and so may other people when reading my 'smilied' posts.