I have no real objection to this feature being available for those who want it, but would it be possible to opt-in on the display side? So if people would rather see text emoticons everywhere, no matter what the author of the content has put in, they can do so. Rather like style=mine for journals.

And if this isn't possible, could we please keep the emoticon graphics small, as montuos suggests, and not animated. I sometimes hang out in discussion boards where animated emoticons are available and they are really irritating. Yes, there are browser-side solutions, but still⁰....

0: pun not intended :P