Should they go at the beginning, or the end of a sentance? Perhaps it's relative to what you're saying? There's little reasoning behind it - but to me, it seems correct to put sad, happy, or sarcastic faces at the end of a sentance - whereas a shocked one belongs at the beginning. Are there any official regulations? If not - I feel we should form some... Seems there's a rule for every thing else - why not make facism complete? Then again - now people have started mentioning that "rofl" etc. are not interchangable with punctuation - where do emoticons lie? Do they replace a full-stop, exclaimation mark, or question mark? I think the latter two are mandatory, regardless - but I know I'm sure guilty of not putting a full-stop. On that note - does the emoticon belong before, or after the punctuation? (Assuming you answered yes to the above.) Perhaps - even - the emoticon in itself is an entirely new sentance, and deserves to have a full-stop after it, aswell. I can't decide.. Will anyone/thing help me? (Short of getting a life...) Thanks. P.S. I purposely avoided using any in this post, to avoid controversy.