I try to be tolerant of people who do such things, because I've been guilty of them myself. *shrugs and blushes* I don't use smilies any more than something like these:
or
... mostly because I'm well aware how irritating too many smilies can be.
However, the use of a medium like the internet, where the other person often cannot be seen, does sometimes require some way to indicate body movement (e.g. shrugging, blushing, making a face etc.) in order to clarify that one is kidding/shrugging/blushing/whatever. I see nothing wrong with doing this, provided that I do so with extreme moderation. Anyway, early last year I wrote a song about precisely that phenomenon, which I present herewith. *smile*
For some reason, some people on the internet seem to think that the rules of spelling and grammar don't apply to them. You know what I mean - people who say things like "i teh r0xx0r u teh s0xx0r i pwn u kool hehehehehheehe lolz!!!111!!!!!111!!!" While by no means wishing to denigrate them - I am sure that some of them are bright, intellectual people who could definitely do very well if only they put their minds to it - this practice seems to me to be rather fruitless, because neither I nor a whole lot of other people understand what on earth they're talking about. Whether it's called "l33t-sp33k" or some other name doesn't really matter when you can't understand what the other person means... and it is distracting at best, and maddening at worst.
Anyway, here is a song parody about these people.
I Am The Very Model Of The Modern Ungrammatical
(parody of "I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major-General" from "The Pirates of Penzance" by Gilbert and Sullivan)
I am the very model of a modern ungrammatical,
My spelling is atrocious and my puns are on sabbatical
I mangle all my tenses, punctuation I misplace a lot,
Like "For my doggie I am really gonna get some Winalot!"
Avoiding all alliteration always is my very aim,
And if I use vernaculars, I always know just whom to blame;
I don't avoid a cliché like the plague because it's not old hat -
<gasp!>
I also don't know grammar and misuse a word like 'this' or 'that'.
I always end my sentences with prepositions like - uh - with,
I always use abbreviations, for my mind is such a sieve!
In short, because about avoiding grammar I'm fanatical,
I am the very model of the modern ungrammatical.
I've mastered writing l33t-sp33k and I know what's meant by 'ossuaries',
But when I try to speak it, I can't even buy some groc-uaries.
I never ever gen'ralize, I always use profanity;
I'm more or less specific, it's appealing to my vanity.
I
always do exaggerate - a billion times if I need to;
I always mix my metaphors - and rhetorics? indeed I do;
I don't know what's a "passive voice", but it is what is always used -
<gasp!>
And foreign words and phrases are the things for which I am enthused.
So of all these so-called "sins" and "daft omissions" I will not repent;
An understatement's always best; to me it seems like Heaven-sent.
In short, although my l33t-sp33k seems to you to be impractical,
I am the very model of the modern ungrammatical.
These are some of the things I do online, but don't you worry -
You will never ever see me say that for them, I am sorry.