This is a silly topic, I know. 
Been reading up on "writing for the web" and noticed that not one of the articles I read mentioned anything about using smileys. They've become a bit of a phenomenon on the web, being used all over the place, especially on discussion fora (to state the obvious) and yet it looks like no one has passed any ruling on this. 
Question: What would you say is the most grammatically correct way to use smileys?
I'm talking about placing before/after punctuation, in/out of brackets etc.
// scanning crowd for mmi
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Busy posted this at 04:45—15th January 2002.
He has: 6,148 posts
Joined: May 2001
Is there a correct way?
, 
in here can be done like any of these
, 
, 
, 
, :->, :> and sad face is any of these 
, 
, :<, :-<
I used MSN a while back and even their smileys list was done with several ways
On MSN the
most smileys I've seen the eyes ":" are usually at the left, I wonder if its a left/right handed thing
(: Smile, it confuses people
<?bhb if(broken){ echo("It wasn't me
"); } ?>
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Some people are like slinkies, they dont really serve any purpose but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs ...
Abhishek Reddy posted this at 06:26—15th January 2002.
He has: 3,284 posts
Joined: Jul 2001
Sorry, didn't notice the ambiguity in my question.
I was referring to use of smileys within text... like how normal punctuation follows certain rules (commas separate clauses etc.).
abhishek.geek.nz
mmi posted this at 07:52—15th January 2002.
They have: 452 posts
Joined: Jan 2001
hey Abhishek - I'm guessing you can't find references to this cuz..., there's just not much t' say - I found one source that noted,
one thing I do is leave enough space around a smilie to "let it breath" - e.g., [as I said before
] instead of [as I said before :rolleyes:] - can you think any specific instances you'd be unsure of? - importantly, imo at least, rules are a means to an end - you want the reader to absorb what yer saying and not stop to question some formatting
and btw, I don't believe "etc" should have a period after it unless it ends a sentence/phrase - such as this, that, etc. - when contained within parentheses, just leave it (as in this, that, etc).
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mmi posted this at 08:04—15th January 2002.
They have: 452 posts
Joined: Jan 2001
http://www.geocities.com/enchantingangelheart/smile.html
http://www.angelfire.com/hi/hahakiam/emoticon.html
http://www.randomhouse.com/features/davebarry/emoticon.html
http://www.windweaver.com/emoticon.htm
http://www.graficonn.no/hjemme/andree/definitions.htm
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merlin posted this at 12:45—15th January 2002.
They have: 410 posts
Joined: Oct 1999
well i have very strict rules for myself using smilies.
and always without the nose.
- after the text i'm referring to
- letting enough space around it (like mmi mentioned)
- using them in braces is possible
- punctuation comes first
- i usually only use the very common ones like