If you put the smilies in cold print they don't work very well. With the graphics and without the text, they can convey emotions quite effectively and in a lighthearted manner. That's what smilies are for. Smilies are much less effective if the reader is humor-impaired or searching for every potential insult.

I've never used those smilies nor have I seen them used, but the boobies might have been fun to have for the Kyla Ebbert thread. @:-)

The nice thing about a smilie is that the word isn't there at all, and the picture just makes you grin. You have to be a tough customer indeed to get angry at a smilie.