Thanks to informative Ira for explaining how to make the little icons in messages. I'm going to use the smiley-face w/peace sign for my signature-- if I can make it correctly, that is:
>-

(I've got too much time on my hands today...)

I know, I know. Nobody cares. I was just bored.
>-

I care! I'm doing my best to bring the peace sign back into popularity. Let me try:

>-

I think this is more popular.

When somebody starts using those beer mugs for target practice I predict the peace sign will suddenly be all the rage.

I think a smiley as a signature is a terrific idea!

Me, too. I don't know what I would choose besides the peace sign.

>-

Or, you can custom-design your own. Here's mine:

<b>{:oþ</b>

I wish I could find informative Ira's explanation for how to add icons in messages. I typed in his name, MaureenB, and many many postings came up. Short of looking through all of them, I can't figure out how to insert any kind of icon under my post. I tried clicking on the &quot;help&quot; icon on the Fodor's page but i get Random House info instead.

Go to the icons page http://fodors.com/forums/smileys and pick the clip you want to insert, such as

Note that the character string next to this icon is <b>:o)</b>

Come back to the board and type the code into the text.

Done.

It's fun once you get started. And yes, let's bring back the peace sign. I hear teens and young adults say &quot;peace out&quot; to each other.

&gt;-

isn't it romantic?

Nope.

:-&quot;

Are those people dancing? I've been wondering about them.

Please don't use the peace sign emoticon on the Europe board. That is a rude gesture!

Oops!

My understanding is that it's rude or it's not, depending on which way the hand is turned. If the knuckles are towards the observer, then it is the equivalent of the single-digit sign the American President is so fond of using.

With the palm towards the observer, it is the &quot;V for Victory over the Axis&quot; sign contrived by Winston Churchill. Google <b>churchill v</b> [images] and you will see that he used it both ways, in the &quot;rude&quot; version for the benefit of the enemy, and the &quot;friendly&quot; version for home consumption.

hey Robespierre,
How do you get
<b>: o )</b>
without the spaces?

Love your sig btw!

You have to use the &quot;HTML numeric character codes&quot; to fool the Fodor's program.

If you run <b>charmap</b> on a Windows computer, you will see a chart of 256 possible letters, numbers, and symbols that can be represented in a web page with the notation <b>&amp;#nnn;</b> (where nnn is the number of the character). For example, a colon : can be created by typing <b>&amp;#58;</b>. So to write the clown code without spaces and in such a way that Fodor's won't convert it to the graphic, I enter

<b>&amp;#58;o)</b>

I didn't see where Ira gave the instructions. Would like to know.