> 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 :-)!
>

If you have a phrase - like Rinkwork rules - then the smile becomes the punctuation. So I would use C - Rinkwork rules :)
Or - I am tired :(
I think that in the same way that a period states "this is the end of the sentace" and an exclamation mark says "wow read this again" that a smiley says "yay - or - this makes me happy"
I would group all forms of smileys under punctualtion making other forms redundant!

> 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?

This one is tricky. But I would have to go with B - of course on the internet I would probably use hyphens rather than brackets.
>
> La"Proper behavior on the internet is covered extensively by E-mily Post"Zorra


Kess