Ok, I can see how they might enhance communication, although I've said elsewhere something to the effect that a poster could be nasty but hide behind a smiley. I realize, too, that it's a matter of opinion as to whether they're useful or not, but it's a fact that they've messed up at least one usage of proper English, and who knows what else is lurking, just waiting to jump out and smile at us. (Kind of like a cute-faced pit bull that suddenly decides to bite your leg.) It would be ironic(al) if a semiotician writing about emoticons has his or her published text altered.