I don't think I can disable smiley emoticons in these posts. (edit: so I can if I choose to edit the post afterward. I shall remember this if I ever want to use smileys but not the emoticons.)
As to the sig image comments, I totally agree with you. I gladly lament not being able to show mine as long as it keeps the 8-bit crap-tastical things and other crap out of sight. And the filesize is small -- even my linked banner exceeds it, I believe.
Anyway, on a semi-related note, I have finally gotten around to watching more of the show and can understand why it has the appeal it does to folks. I feel bad for not giving it a proper chance before.
Yeah, I hear you. I fucked around with a banner for a little while before just hating that the file size properties had me sacrificing quality enough that I didn't care any more