I hate emoticons in general...

Emoticons mean different things for different people!

I frequently used that smiley as an indication that I am being a smart ass or am not being serious.

:P

This. Holy shit, exactly this.

No matter how many times someone explains that they meant nothing malicious by it, the feeling it evokes is instant and bitter.

Surprisingly you're not the first person to say that you feel insulted when people put down ":P"

I have never had a good experience with colon-p . I certainly would not interpret an actual person tossing their tongue out their mouth sideways as a good sign. In fact I would prefer not to see tongues at all!

heh, my friend who uses this ALL the time got me used to it... though I prefer a playful wink ;) though while we're at it, why make the emotes sideways when you can do this ~_^

i only use emoticons if my conversation partner is using them to adapt to his style of typing. but by default, i don't use emoticons at all

Oh man, I feel the same way about :p. It feels oddly condescending. I've tried using it a couple times to warm myself up to the idea but I always end up like, "I'M SUCH AN ASSHOLE"

thank you for this helpful infographic

I've always had this problem with :P.

:P I understand that with. Though strangely :b doesn't feel the same to me? I have no idea. I'll admit to using :b , usually to try and show i'm being tongue in cheek about something due to sarcasm not communicating well over text.