egafd.com

I thought one of the cardinal rules of netiquette was not being OTT on spelling and punctuation.

Mart

by the way, you don't require a comma after brackets!

I'd say the problem a lot of people have with those "linguistic and technological developments in their own century" is the fear that they don't allow for the complexities of full expression and communication, and thus needless mistakes and misunderstandings can be made. Didn't some girl cause mayhem a few weeks back with a joke bombscare text because she hadn't made it clear it was a gag? Yeah, I know, it happens in all forms of communication all the time, sadly.

I supose as the technology expands and moves forward, so do the changes in language it has brought about, no?

Yes, you're right, though I think the girl may have said it was a gag gone awry afterwards to try and defend her actions. Some would find this plausible, others wouldn't. Incredibly stupid all the same.

"A bit like d:-) is an abbreviation for 'thanks for your email, it made me happy, regards from your baseball cap-wearing friend'".

No, that says "Thanks for your e-mail. I can't be bothered to reply properly, so here's a dumb symbol you're supposed to immediately know the meaning of instead". Why not just communicate with numbers? If an e-mail makes you happy or sad, rate it out of ten and cut down on the extra work involved in pressing the other three keys.