Originally Posted by ronaldo

I was accused once of being hostile in a chatroom conversation by a moderator when I was really only joking and being sarcastic. Something he told me stuck. Text is two dimensional.

Because of that I use them frequently to express emotions that may not be clear otherwise...especially to people that don't know you well.

If the other person doesn't use them? I always give them the benefit of the doubt, so that doesn't bother me either.