Forums » Suggestions & Development Discussion » Tiny emoticon-stopping request

So often around the site, someone will try to say something is not equal to something else, usually "IC doesn't equal OOC" to help clarify that delineation. Problem is that attempting to use the symbols results in an unintended emoticon.

= / =

without spaces is

=/=

I know there are was to turn off emoticons sometimes, though even where it's there, I'm pretty sure it's usually missed. Anyway, would it be possible to stop the server from putting that face in, either in the specific case that a second = is there, or just in general (so that to get the face, we have to use the colon instead of the equal)? I think there are so many instances of minor irritation that would fix.

This request reminds me of how it's hard to write the number 8 ) in a series of numbers without getting a little sunglasses smiley-faced man. So it's like...

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)

Haha...and when reread it after sending it, you're like "doh!" *facepalm* lol.

I've done it a few times. Doesn't bother me, and now I remember to use periods, but I can see how it might irk some people. It's especially funny (or annoying, depending on you're take on it) when you're writing something dark, like the steps to clean a crime scene, and it's like...

Use biohazard bags to dispose of items such as:

1) absorbant powder
2) shattered glass which may have come into contact a person's body
.
.
.
6) used tissue
7) personal hygiene products
8) syringes for illegal drug use
9) blood
10) bile

I have no idea why I wrote out such an example, but you can see how it could be awkward lol

Or...
Pokémon : Gale of Darkness which is a video game, and the always turns into, well,

Huh! I was so sure there was a toggle to turn emoticons on/off, but it seems it's only for character profiles. I'd like to see it added to PMs and posts!

I'd definitely like to see it added, too.

This issue frequently crops up in "chat" in particular.

As someone who also doesn't really like the picture emoticons by default, I'm super into having even a user-profile option to toggle emoticons off site-wide for my own posts and profiles. I know profiles allow you to turn them off, but it would be nice to just... have an 'always off' option for that instead of toggling it myself all the time I want to add text boxes to my profiles. :'D

Edit: Alternatively, make emoticons useable by giving them a starting AND ending colon. That way you'd have to type something like :smile: or :xD: to make them work without having people realise after they post that they've made a mistake because they accidentally put in things that default to emoticon images.

Good thoughts. Filing this away for the rewrite.

Can now confirm that at a minimum, auto-smilies from typing B ) and 8 ) will be eliminated in the rebuild. I think these are rarely used emoticons, whereas writing lists is not so rare. Moreover, if you still want them, you can get them by adding a nose, like B - ) for example.

Can confirm this because I just wrote this code, huhuhuhuhuhuh