This was bugging me the other day (like I have nothing else to think about). I consider myself a bit of an English fanatic, but rules for smileys are not covered in textbooks, so I thought I'd ask here. When you type a sentence and end with a smiley, do you punctuate before the smiley, after the smiley, or not at all? For example:

A) RinkWorks rules. :-)
B) RinkWorks rules :-).
C) RinkWorks rules :-)

Putting it outside of the period seems to make it apply less directly to the sentence, whereas putting it inside looks dumb, like the guy has a wart on his chin.

And what if you use an end mark other than a period? Such as:

A) RinkWorks rules! :-)
B) RinkWorks rules :-)!

And what if the smiley is in a parenthesis? Would it be:

A) (Rabbitlord is PINK AND FLUFFY ;-) )
B) (Rabbitlord is PINK AND FLUFFY ;-))
C) (Rabbitlord is PINK AND FLUFFY ;-)

A and B both rather look like they have double chins. And the mouth of the smiley is technically a parentheses, so does that negate the need for a closing parentheses?

La"Proper behavior on the internet is covered extensively by E-mily Post"Zorra