Smiley's People

"Smiley's people" is an article by Neal Stephenson that appeared in The New Republic on September 13, 1993, on the subject of emoticons or "smileys". The title of the article is probably a reference to the John le Carré novel, Smiley's People, although it is capitalised differently. The article contends that the popular use of emoticons lowers the quality of the written word in the context of online communication. While he has since recanted this view, there remains many others who agree with his original assessment citing the general lack of written sophistication in modern public online communication.

External links

• The original article
• Smileys: Fahlman 1, Stephenson 0 - Why Neal Stephenson no longer agrees with that article.