The history of emoticons has been an interesting one. Since the dawn of the smiley face, :), we have been able to express many different emotions based a few simple ASCII characters such as using the colon, :, along with an additional character such as: D, X, S, <, >, (, P, O, to show happiness, silence, displeasure, sadness, happiness, more sadness, disgust, and surprise. One emoticon, :3, has had an interesting past of being a playful, nonchalant, almost mischievous undertone in how it can be interpreted. It's left to you, the user, to interpret how these two characters can be read. One may feel it is a sense of curiosity, another, a feeling of mischievous behavior. Either way, it's the aspects and feeling of being a cat. Otherwise known as the "Smiling cat smile."

     Recently, a Skype update has changed the "Smiling cat smile," to one of of an actual icon of a cat.This removes all ambiguous meaning, becoming just a cat licking its paw. It animates, over and over, a completely different tone. There is no interpretation left for the user, no imagination for how the writer wished to portray it in their own context. Surely a simple alter should be simple to do, to revert back to. Perhaps this is a money concern, where a company pays to have their animated cat used so they get a piece of the ad revenue pie? Of course, these people have never experienced a sarcastic smiley face. So, please, revert back this change. :)

Let us experience colon 3 for what it is, not a graphic designer's representation of it. :3