Smilies?

[Justin]

How much do you think smilies contribute to user activeness?

I say a bunch! I added some and it sparked activity :lol:

 

[Tecca]

They mostly add to spam activity, so I always keep my smilies to a minimum, and make sure most of them have some sort of theme. Basically, not a bunch of random smilies found on Google.

For my next project, I'm thinking of two things:

1) Completely get rid of smilies, since on many of my forums they are not used anyway. Many people seem to just use text smilies like: =)
2) Create custom smilies to match the theme of the website.

Not sure which I should go with.

 

[Antarctic]

I don't see how they can spark activity, they are just there to add something to your post, but when used too much, can just be down right annoying.

 

[Nebulous]

Smileys have nothing to do with activity. They are simply a way to express emotion without writing it out.

 

[hcfwesker]

I agree with Tecca. I can't stand when i goto an active forum, just to find there's a succession of smiley spammed posts. That's it, just a smiley,and no text.

I keep my smiley's minimal, and generic. With one smiley per emotion, i guess. There's no need for 8 different smileys with the same meaning ... like happy.

Some forums they work better for. But i don't think adding smiley's is what contributed to any boost in your forum, unless they're spamming smilies.

And, I'm not fond when i see the "Welcome" smiley when someone replies to my intro topic. Shows more laziness than actually saying "welcome" and posting it.

 

[birdy]

I agree a welcome should be a personal line of text not a smiley -I love smilies and my forum does suit them - I hand pick them and edit them too!