[Coco] ASCII art in mail/news clients

[KnudsenMJ at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/22/04 4:44:13 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
robert.gault at worldnet.att.net writes:

> As a point of information, smileys as used by Mozilla do not put 
>  graphics in a message. The normal text ASCII :  ) is placed in the 
>  message (can be automated) and the e-mail program displays a graphic 
>  icon in place of the ASCII graphic.

An email client that automatically detects emoticon character sequences and 
substitutes a little graphic, is a sure sign that some programmers have way too 
much time on their hands, which would be better spent surfing 
rec.arts.startrek :-)

If their PCs had better backgammon or Spider programs, maybe they wouldn't 
have dreamed up "stationery" either -- what a mess!

OTOH, the little GIF with all the faces lined up is really cute, and a handy 
reference, and a challenge to figure out what ASCII goes with each one (did I 
mention too much time?).

>  As to whether they should be in messages, all too often messages tend to 
>  be abrasive in nature (because the vocal cues are missing) and a :) 
>  takes the edge off.

Well, sure.  I don't think anyone questioned the value of emoticons in email 
or news, just the need to convert them to graphics.  Or to have a graphics 
menu to insert the one of your choice.  Or whatever.  ;-)  Mike K.