If you told us how you were inserting these 'new' smileys, we wouldn't have to ask Troll.....
TW
Yes, ALL of them! It will liven things up!
Yes, but just SOME of them! Don't overdo it
No, things are fine here as they are!
No, and get rid of the ones that are here now
I don't care. Smileys are too complicated for me.
If you told us how you were inserting these 'new' smileys, we wouldn't have to ask Troll.....
TW
"Thank God! there is always a Land of Beyond, For us who are true to the trail..." --- Robert Service
Some benefactor offered up this page earlier in this thread: http://www.appalachiantrailservices....=vB_Editor_001
Open it, save it to favorites, keep it open as a separate page whenever you're in a posting mood, then highlight the desired smiley and copy it, and finally - paste it into the desired WB post.
Try it a couple of times. It's only four clicks more than what we do already. Try it. You'll love it.
If people spent less time being offended and more time actually living, we'd all be a whole lot happier!
We could really use this one as well.............
If people spent less time being offended and more time actually living, we'd all be a whole lot happier!
They don't work in all forums, though...
See you on the trail,
mt squid
Except for ATTroll and BearPaw, few have said why they feel the smileys should not be added. According to the poll, 20 of you feel this way - your reasons?
I love the smell of esbit in the morning!
I have used a few of my favorites from elsewhere for some time. I had no idea that ATTroll had a problem with this - I know Rock and Dixi don't. Rock likes the smileys and is responsible for the extra ones already on this site. Dixi uses them frequently. Personally, I don't see it as as disrespectful YMMV
I saw it but thought you were saying it tongue-in-cheek. I know you joke around with us on a regular basis. As I see it, the 'fun' part of the site is what keeps the regulars with a lot of knowledge coming here. It gets boring real fast answering the same questions over and over and doing nothing else. This is why the strictly on-topic hiking sites don't have nearly the participation, standing or rating with services like Alexa that this site has.
I was half-kidding and half serious. I voted for no mo' smilies. Ain't needed, too distracting. Some similies do help clarify the intent of the comment, since we cannot see facial expressions. And some are overused and abused. Makes you want to say, "Bad smiley, bad!"
Last edited by Tin Man; 01-13-2008 at 13:50.
I want only one
a Sgt Icon that says "NO SNIVELLIN' TROOPER!!!!!!!!!"Or perhaps one that says:
"PULL YOUR DAMN PANTIES UP SOLDIER AND GET BACK IN THE GAME!!!!!"
.....Someday, like many others who joined WB in the early years, I may dry up and dissapear....
Some have used smilies from other sites in the past in a manner that's added something desirable. ms doolittle especially made good use of them last year in some threads in which I participated.
To see how people can get carried away with them, all one needs to do is go to hikinghq and look at what was being posted while WB was down.
I believe it's wise to limit the number of smilies in a particular post. Maybe already too many are permitted.
Although I voted against additional smilies, a few used carefully and maybe even a few new smilies wouldn't detract from the quality of posts here.
Limit what's available to only those on a menu here and the number per post and post them only when they add something.
It might also be a good idea to modify the software to not count smilies within a quote toward the total permitted.
There are a variety of reasons, but perhaps the best is the 'One picture is worth a thousand words.'
It was a little exhilarating at Hiking HQ to find so many available, and I think that in a troubling thread - we all were upset about the hack - they helped let off steam. I rather doubt they would be overused here, and they might make otherwise tense or upsetting posts easier to bear.
Troll, the day to say that WB is 'serious' only is past, particularly if you allow the policial forums: This is a boisterous, fun, serious, thoughtful, outrageous, gentle, wild group of people, and it would add a new and good dimension to allow more 'smileys'. And it may happen anyhow, as Bearpaw has shown.
Do it.
TW
"Thank God! there is always a Land of Beyond, For us who are true to the trail..." --- Robert Service
Actually I LIKE smilies, but I realized that as I was going on my smiley bender that I sort of WAS making ATTroll's point for him.
Warning: The catch is, I don't primarily come to WB for "serious" discussion. If I want to seriously discuss issues pertaining to the AT, then yes, WB is my preferred medium. But for general backpacking discussion, there are many other sites which are much more straight-forward like The Lightweight Backpacker, Backpacking Light, or even the often-maligned Practical Backpacking. For non-AT-info, they are much easier to search.
But after last summer when fire and injuries skunked me on my planned hikes out west on the Tahoe Rim Trail and John Muir Trail, the finest gear I had ever carried didn't help me finish those trails. And I found I pretty much was burnt out on gear. I gave notice at REI so I could hike on weekends (and wound up with the offer of just working weeknights - which is a great deal). So now I backpack at least one weekend a month.
And in the meantime, I remember, as Lone Wolf often said on my '99 thru-hike, "It's just walkin'". I come here because this is a place where I can laugh and socialize and sometimes offer genuinely helpful advice to folks who ask serious questions about the AT. This is sort of my "happy place" when I'm not on the trail somewhere. For me, the smileys are perfectly in keeping with the happiness I get from being here.
OK, I'll just try to gracefully leave now.
Last edited by Bearpaw; 01-13-2008 at 14:30.
If people spent less time being offended and more time actually living, we'd all be a whole lot happier!
Thanks for the clarification, BearPaw. I go to most of those other sites about once a week and catch up on what is being discussed there. It only takes an hour or so to read a week's worth of post there. I gave up on PBP because you can't browse there without signing in and I prefer not to do that as it seems to generate a lot of adware problems for my computer.
After reading this thread, I certainly don't want to see me accused of censoring what can and can't be posted on WB anymore. Sheesh, some of y'all really need to lighten up.
Maybe smiley-friendly forums or threads where any smilies can be posted isn't a bad idea from the perspective of WB users. It would allow us to explore new ways in which to use them and to introduce new smilies which might be added to our menu for general use.
While I enjoyed off-site smilies when they were permitted and used them myself, I don't know anything about their downside to which attroll has alluded. Maybe he would explain his objections in greater detail in non-technical terms.
Last edited by emerald; 01-13-2008 at 15:40.
SOG, With all due respect, sounds like a rant when you go on and on about smilies. The points have been made numerous times. Ease back a little.