I agree with expanding the smilies.... some nice ones I know from some of the Wine boards where I post would be:

soapbox smilies
sick (puke) smilies
preacher smilies
machine gun shooting smilies
wine drinking smilies

We got an update to FT, but no new smilies.

Unfortunately they weren't on the drawing board.

This is one of those things that we can't seem to resolve.

We just talk and talk and talk about it......

Don't make me write an OMNI goodbye letter over this...

So smilies are dead, how about the avatars then?

Are they ever going to make it outside the new Social Groups thingie?

I wouldn’t say that new smilies are dead. I prefer to say they’re on life support and we haven’t decided to revive them or pull the plug.

There has been no decision or even discussion as to avatars migrating out of the social groups. Perhaps we can wait and see how well-behaved folks are with the ones they select for the social groups and go from there.

They are more like

______^♪_____^♪____________<beeeeep>♪♫__________♪♫ _________♪♫_________♪♫

Gone, dead like Elvis

We will have to resort to ASCII art and cave wall paintings.

Time to dredge up that troll smilie that you and ScottC worked on.

For the life of me, I can't find that infamous piece of ASCII art

I don't think it was me though

Are you referring to this?

If that's it, I had nothing to do with it

I count 324 posts on this so far. During well over two YEARS! It started when I was on Talkboard, and has got nowhere fast in the past year.

Re-writing the US Constitution would take less words.

Can I suggest that someone on TB put forward the following two motion(s) and see if it gets a seconder.

If not lock this thread. This totally minor and trivial matter has been dragging on for an eternity as Cholula mentions above. No-one's fault personally, but it needs some action or closure.

I move that Flyertalk enables personal member avatars.

I move that FlyerTalk adopts extra - and animated - smileys/emoticons

===========

So someone on TB please - either make a motion on these. or if no-one will second it, simply have this thread closed, as you are clearly not interested in moving on this.

Even if the TB approves it, Randy as always has every right to ignore it, reject it, or flick pass it to his techies to look at further.

These range of outcomes do NOT stop Talkboard actually DOING something on such a ridiculously trivial suggestion.

These are incredibly minor matters in the big scheme of things at FT.

I do not think either need change, but the TB might have other ideas.

I get no vote in this, but I personally think the current set of 15 smileys is perfectly fine, and is certainly better than we had when I first started here.

Of the 15 the one I think gets abused the most is this one following, and FT would not be any the poorer if this one was removed or replaced -

I own an active BB myself, and personally like and encourage avatars, and indeed insist all members have them. That is not here.

However on FT I feel sure they would certainly be misused and abused - as other "enhanced" member features in the past were misused and abused, by a tiny trouble making segment of FT members.

Those members included some VERY senior current members, who may well not want to be reminded of their deliberate mischief that caused this feature to be removed from all members.

Randy I can bet remembers those members involved, and I am sure also remembers he needed to disable that feature due to the trouble they caused and the massive food fight they caused.

I am referring here to the "Reputation" feature, and leaving negative - and visible "dings" for other FT members they disliked. 'Gang-banging' certain members in a very orchestrated pattern to drive down their "Reputation" rating.

(Full disclosure I never left any ratings for anyone, and turned off my 'Reputation' feature the moment it was announced, as I could smell it would cause a riot down the track knowing what some FT'ers enjoy doing.)

Which was a terrific little disruptive 'game' for some here, when it was hidden, but then Randy blew their cover by making them all public with no announcement - so all could see left "negatives".. and WHEN - and for whom.

As Randy pointed out earlier in this thread, even the current smileys can be abused by members if they wish to make a point:

Duplicate post .. server "hanging".

Your second suggested motion is not workable, since it doesn't actually provide any details of what smileys we think should be adopted. And I don't support your first one.

My guess is if you read Randy's reply it will not occur anyway.

However, that minor point aside, leave the detail it to the techies to decide what is or what is not possible or suitable - if you wish.

All TB needs to do is put "can we have more smilies" to a vote - or ask to lock this thread.

However if you were a TB member with some initiative and some will to see this succeed, YOU make a motion outlining what smileys YOU suggest .. if you get a seconder it goes to a vote.

Please do not tell members what will NOT work when you have no idea ... either MAKE it work -- or bury the carcass with some dignity - that is all TB are being asked to do after YEARS of inaction

If you actually DO something now, other than saying what is not possible, this incredibly trivial matter after 2.25 YEARS, dies a death - or gets approved .. one or the other.

Smileys made a complete laughing stock of a much earlier Talkboard, and as we all wise folks know, history has a very bad habit of repeating itself if folks do not learn lessons from it. @:-)

Glen