Hey micro,
I've been wishing for a "thumbs up" smiley/emoticon forever, so just thought I'd actually ask for it. Are any available for this forum software? If other smilies are available, I might have several in mind which I think would be a positive addition. (And I'm not thinking of all the blood and guts/potty kind of ones. I hate those.) I think smilies can help make a forum more friendly, especially the really well done and clever ones.

EG, these are some common ones that I see around other forums a lot:
, or , , , (this one cracks me up, implies anger but in a silly way), , , , this is the only dancing banana I have, but I've seen all kinds of them around , some kind of "waving", "hello" or "welcome" smiley, this is the only one I have , also something with a heart or kiss-on-cheek or sort of lovey kind (I have so many, I can't choose just one example, lol). Maybe other members have some in mind that they think might be a good addition (hopefully excluding the bloody/potty kind)?

If space is an issue, maybe we could exchange them for some that are hardly ever used (the geeky ones I've only seen used once, the ! and ? and arrow pointing to the right, I've used once or twice, but never seen anyone else use)? And I could help you search them out, if you tell me what to look for. (I have a lot of links to where I got mine, but still might have to do some searching.)

I do know that I can use my own smilies, and often do. But the thumb up is one that I wish for a lot (and don't have in my collection).

Thanks for listening.

Oh mai dog you just reminded me of my old Internet experiences. The secret is to use the Firefox addon https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8991

It doesn't have the preview all like in previous by categories but it has loads more smileys, from Deviant art too

Try searching "banana" and hit Preview

Emoticons are obviously good for the task of expressing emotion when words cannot. But at a certain point they become a gimmick. Gimmicks have their place, but I don't feel that adding them is a benefit to the forum. At the same time, I don't believe default selection of emoticons are broad enough and include odd and vague expressions. So I may review them to include a few others.