My favourite blogging software, WordPress, and my favourite blogging site, WordPress.com, by far the best in the world, seemed like they could simply do nothing wrong. The WordPress team are the most capable folks out there, design the best sofware, keep improving it with each passing day and always listen to their users though most of us are free users!
As most of us bloggers would agree, WordPress is simply the best blogging software available on the planet!
Now for the first time, unfortunately, they have put a wrong foot forward. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m talking about the new WordPress smilies. One fine day, WP decided to replace the fantastic old smilies with an ordinary bunch of emoticons that can be called as frownies. In my humble opinion, these new smilies are not half as good as the old ones. The old bunch were a set of simple, cute, emotive faces that were extremely expressive!
Unfortunately, WP has decided to completely replace the old ones with the new bunch. Take a look at the two and decide for yourselves:
This is the lovely old set of smilies (animation doesn’t work since this is a screenshot) taken from this page…
…and these are the ones that have replaced them…
smile
grin
sad
eek
shock
???
cool
mad
razz
neutral
wink
lol
oops
cry
evil
twisted
roll
!
?
idea
arrow
mrgreen
Since most commenters here use WordPress or comment on WP blogs, let’s have a poll on WP smilies:
Thanks in advance for voting! Please let me know your opinion on WP smilies by leaving a comment below.
July 19, 2009 at 11:18 pm
true Raj..
Me to noticed that and wanted to write about this..
I hate these frownies.. smilies are way better than this
July 20, 2009 at 12:16 am
[...] are about to make a business has surely googled your name or your business name on the Internet. Frownies, not smilies! – analienearthling.wordpress.com 07/19/2009 My favourite blogging software, WordPress , and [...]
July 20, 2009 at 11:36 am
100% I like the old ones….
and yes WP is the best , but then if you want to map your domain they ask you to pay!!
July 20, 2009 at 12:20 pm
I loved the older
much better! In fact i loved the whole older bunch much better! 
Btw, where are you these day? No seen around much!
July 20, 2009 at 12:23 pm
I meant : roll : up there! With rolling eyes… they have changed it to
… stupid people!
July 20, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Kanagu,
Yeah…I don’t know why WP decided to replace the old ones with this new bunch
—————————————————————————-
Vishesh,
WordPress needs to make atleast a little money to pay for their facilities, servers, development costs, salaries etc. I mean most of the great WP features are completely free and WP doesn’t even use advertising (except for those who land through search engines). All the other free blogging sites keep bombarding you with ads and WP doesn’t!
I know that payments for mapping one’s domain name to existing blogs can sound a bit strange, but WP needs to ensure they are able to cover their costs and make atleast a small profit, right?
—————————————————————————
Sakhi,
The new smilies (frownies) for “eek”
& “shock” 
are the same, as are the ones for “razz” 
& “roll” 
and the ones for “evil” 
& “twisted” 
It’s completely baffling!
Hehehe… I went on absence without leave
Actually, it was commitments in real life that prevented me from blogging more frequently 
July 23, 2009 at 2:22 am
I CAN’T BELIEVE MY EYES!!!
The old smilies are back! Hooooooraaaay!
Of course, now both the old and new smilies in the post seem to be the same, since the old ones are back again!!!
I wonder if the great folks at WP happened to read this post and its comments (despite only 3 votes being cast, all in favour of the old smilies) or if the new smilies were just a trial and were dropped since they were not liked.
In any case, this just goes to confirm what I wrote in the first few lines of this post – WordPress has the best team and software out there, they keep improving their software with each passing day and more importantly, they listen to their users!
Three cheers for WordPress! Thank you, folks!
East or West!
WP is the best!
August 6, 2009 at 9:56 am
yippppppppppppeeeeeeeeeee!
And am glad that you are back
August 7, 2009 at 10:16 am
Thanks!
July 24, 2009 at 8:56 am
The old smileys are back and everyone is happy once gain.
July 25, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Yes, Leafless, we’re glad that the old ones are back!
July 30, 2009 at 10:30 pm
They replaced the new bunch with older ones pretty fast. That is what I call a customer responsive company! WordPress.org is even better Raj. They have a great community, and almost every plug-in you can imagine is there – There is even a Forum Plug-in!! which I have used in my site.
@Vishesh: If you want to map your own domain and put ads, WordPress.org is the way to go. It is an excellent blogging platform, and totally free of cost!
Personally, I don’t like the idea of monetizing my personal blog. That’s why I have started another blog, which is on a particular vertical, and I would be putting ads there soon.
Destination Infinity
August 7, 2009 at 10:21 am
They sure are responsive, DI. I like the features of WordPress.org and when I get my own domain, I’ll definitely host it using WP.
August 13, 2009 at 1:55 pm
WP is the best!!!!!
The picture is awesome, love it!
I usually use only one simple smile – but you are truly a master of these things
September 13, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Thanks! Hehehe… I do make use of a lot of smilies
And yes, WordPress IS the best, there can be no doubt about it!