research.microsoft.com — Ever wondered where the first :-) came from? Well now you do. Microsoft research has been nice enough to post the dialog."The contents of the "joke" thread on the CMU CS general bboard that led to Scott Fahlman's invention of the smiley are below. This was retrieved from the spice vax oct-82 backup tape by Jeff Baird"
Oct 16, 2005 View in Crawl 4
nicepaulOct 16, 2005
Does Scott Fahlman get royalties for every smiley typed? Do you think he's rolling around in a big pool of money as we speak? Or just a big pool of smileys...
muguguyOct 17, 2005
I, for one, welcome our old :-) overlords.
moderntenshiOct 17, 2005
Wow, a rather civilized and organized BBS, with correct grammar, spelling and everything! My how the net has declied into the AOLOLer speak . . .
yawgm8thOct 17, 2005
i use::) smily:( frowny:/ meh:D very happy:o ooo:O wow...:* kiss:p that's silly:Q salivating:< pointy face (cat face)
Closed AccountOct 17, 2005
And here are some boobs ( o Y o )
dumbtechOct 18, 2005
:-)
swampthingOct 27, 2005
Dude, I hate to rain on your parade, but I know that myself and many other people were using the :) for smiles as far back as the late 1970s on the Internet, computer bulletin boards, and during People Chat on Quantum Link computer service (now AOL). I even used :> for a Swampthing mischevious smile waaaaaaaaaaaay back before 1982. Back then, they weren't even called "emoticons" and the follow-up known as :-) came MUCH later. Bottom Line: IT DID NOT ORIGINATE IN 1982 AS THE ARTICLE CLAIMS. It's QUITE funny to think they actually claim credit for something that was already in place for YEARS before that! Perhaps next they will claim they invented the "Internets?"
swampthingOct 28, 2005
"Anyway, ah the memories. When I first saw it in 1985, I replied "WTF is that?". Yes... "WTF" was in use far before :)"Give these egotistical dumbasses just a bit more time and I'm sure they'll claim they invented "WTF" as well as "RTFM" and many others.