The style at the time :)

I first got on the Internet just as the shift from :-) to :) was happening, only geezers still used :-) and :) was the hip new thing...
- In my time we used ^^ and -.-

[]D ][ []\/[] []D ][ []\[]

It makes me sad that in many chat programs anymore, expressing joy or general contentment with "carat-underscore-carat" is no longer supported.
Alas, even here

^_^
Shows as "sup" between angle brackets. :(

I've of my faves was: \m/ (>_<) \m/

My fav is giving one of theses
-___-
and if they don't get the message
-___________-

(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
- ┬─┬ ノ( ゜-゜ノ)
- This was much later. At the time unicode was not supported throughout the internet, so we were limited to ansi/ASCII.

XD
- I can't stop reading it as equis de (the Spanish pronunciation)

:3

Oh God it's me... I'm old now.
I don't like the pictures... I always prefer to use text except for when something really disgusts me, then I happen to like "🤮 🤮 🤮 🤮 🤮"
- Oh God it’s me… I’m old now.
  it'll happen to you too!

( . )( . ) ?
- ( . Y . )
  
  ( . 人 . )

Kids today just won’t understand. T__T

I still do :/

*<:-)

@_@,

Nice humblebrag about still feeling emotions.
- Come to Lolland!

You can't take our emoticons from our dead hands! ((-(-_(-_-(-_-)-_-)_-)-))
- (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

i like emoticons and my hoard of different discord emotes :) i feel half mute when i can't express myself with either

Timeless. Emoji's take too much time and have less "soul".
- 😱😬🥺😭😭😭😠😡🤬💔
  
  (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
- 👻😵

Greetings from 1990s Japan.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) (*´∀｀*) ( ^ω^ ) ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡ (=´∀｀)人(´∀｀=) ε=ε=ε=ε=ε=ε=┌(;￣◇￣)┘ ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ (つД`)ノ (￣◇￣; )( ´_ゝ`)
- Faces of different people after the party drugs hit
  Summoning the most kawaii demon
  Homer Simpsons pulling wishbone
  Person organizing a line of dildos
  Pedobears
  People looking for missing glass eye of first person

I still miss the old :S from the msn days. Nothing really conveys the same emotion nowadays
- I used (and still sometimes use) o_O for the same reaction

...at the time? They're not still cool?
- I've never stopped using emoticons. :P
- Our telegrams are dictated, not read, and the messengers really can’t be trusted with punctuation. Get with the times old man.
- :(
- We got these now 😒
  
  Yeah, they standardized creativity out of textual expression.
- B^)

Whenever a sentence needs some indicator of humor or sarcasm, I reach for :p
- :þ supremacy
- I'll do a ;) most of the time for humor.
  
  That's taken as flirtation these days, FYI.
  Think about when you wink at people IRL.

This is cursed af :d

the day i don't :3 is the day i'm dead
- . >:3

Embracing it, putting an onion on my belt.

There's no emoticon for what I'm feeling!
-Comic Book Guy
https://youtu.be/gsQAQlDeXYM

Who am I to say that one can make a file in the home folder called .XCompose where you can easily input emoticons for easy access using the compose key ¯( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)/¯
- (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
  I am not putting up with that. I have to use an app on android
  
  On iOS, you can make keywords that transform into smoticons and ASCII art
  ⢻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠛⢻⣿ ⡆⠊⠈⣿⢿⡟⠛⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣎⠈⠻ ⣷⣠⠁⢀⠰⠀⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⠋⠛⠛⠿⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠀⢹⣿⡑⠐⢰ ⣿⣿⠀⠁⠀⠀⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⡩⠐⠀⠀⠀⠀⢐⠠⠈⠊⣿⣿⣿⡇⠘⠁⢀⠆⢀ ⣿⣿⣆⠀⠀⢤⣿⣿⡿⠃⠈⠀⣠⣶⣿⣿⣷⣦⡀⠀⠀⠈⢿⣿⣇⡆⠀⠀⣠⣾ ⣿⣿⣿⣧⣦⣿⣿⣿⡏⠀⠀⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡆⠀⠀⠐⣿⣿⣷⣦⣷⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡆⠀⢰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡄⠀⠀⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡆⠀⣾⣿⣿⠋⠁⠀⠉⠻⣿⣿⣧⠀⠠⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡀⣿⡿⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠘⢿⣿⠀⣺⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⣠⣂⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣁⢠⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣶⣄⣤⣤⣔⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
  
  The Japanese keyboard layout still has them (⁠✷⁠‿⁠✷⁠)
- Share your config?
  
  Mine is a hack job, mostly a placeholder really,I just took the most used from WinCompose of all places, but have at it.

B=====D~~~~ ( :
- :3
  
  ( . Y . )

Apparently in some other languages they just use ))) or some crazy number of parentheses, like )))))))
It shouldn't bug me as much as it does, but c'mon, it doesn't even look like a face!
- Chat prompts, like some IRC clients used to, suffix nicknames with a : to separate message from the name, so it could be they simply implied the "eyes" were already there.
  Bloodninja: )))))
  
  Bloodninja
  Oh this guy/gal knows the Internet Deep Tracks(TM)
  lol XD
- iirc one of the Asian languages pronounces the number 4 as "ha" so instead of typing things like "LOL" they'll just spam 4 to respond to something funny.
  The parenthesis thing is probably something similar. We've all got weird linguistic quirks; the digital era just dumps fuel on the fire.
  
  Thai: 555
- I sometimes use :))))) to express giddiness :p