Errors when quoting smilies

I've noticed lots of posts that quote text which includes smilies:

Anyway, how often do you "go down"?
Quite often it ends up being quoted as something like:

Which isn't the desired effect! It's the name of the smilie image, not a link to the smilie.

I thought I knew how to repeat this, but when I select a block of text with a smilies in it and cut and paste it, I just get the text without any smilie or any .gif text.

How do the .gif names get put into the text by accident by other people?

I suppose we just have to live with this little problem, or put the smilies into quotes manually, using the correct 'text' symbol for each one?!

I know, alien gets all technical over a few missing images - but I think it looks messy!

but somehow it appears YOU actually know the answer .. in your first example you correctly "quote" a smiley.

And you don't want to share it with us evidently.

That's just mean!

Ooops .. or is it a quiz? :$

Yeh I agree it does look messy
But like Maaph said I think you have proven it can be done.
So going to share the secret or not?

P.S Thanks for quoting me you meany

Come on Mr alien, please spill the beans, that's something that I've noticed too.

All I mean is that if you put a quote in your own message:

But, when you cut and paste someone else's text, with smilies already in it, they don't come out properly - either they disappear completely or you get the .gif text instead of the image...
Obviously there is no direct way to get back from an image to the text...wait a mo, are some people not showing any images in their browser? Is that the answer?

I just wondered how people manange to get this effect:


Which I can only 'fake' by typing the text in!!!

I think I'm just about to answer my own question! Hopefully!!!

Edited: no I can't

There is a little checkbox under the reply text box called "Enable emoticons?", I have that checked by default.

I did a few experiments, with the checkbox set or not set, and also with the option to turn on/off images in posts in my "Board Settings" in my profile, but I can't get it to write .gif in the message!

You see I did the fatal thing: Read The Freely-available Manual!
(but it doesn't seem to help)

Here is the problem in action: from witchypoo quoted by zwackel:
Bladenight discussion archive

@alien, I'm so glad you hold conversations with yourself, we'll be calling you yamyam soon...