Well, at least that makes sense. I just thought they were nearly random.
That having been said, I think it would be best to limit their use to one or two per post - and only when making a point.
The idea of emoticons (the technical geek-speak for smileys) is actually pretty good. The written word (especially informal electronic messages) can not convey sarcasm or a joking tone. The point of a smiley is to be sure to let the reader know the emotion attached to the email.
For example, one of the VP's at my former work emailed me about something and included a rather rude remark regarding one of the people I managed. I was pretty upset about it and confronted him. It turned out that he forgot to put a smiley at the end of the sentence, indicate that he was joking.
So, like the boy who cried wolf, use smileys when you mean to.
(And I'm still going to get rid of some of them, probably later this week.)
Poll