Bud smiley

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A Bud smiley is a smiley placed at the end of a flame (veiled or blatant). The term was coined by Citadel users after a favorite drama generating technique of Bud Fields, the sysop of Heinous BBS.

Examples

"You are a moron and what you just said is completely stupid. :)"

"I hate you and want to see you die. :)"

Explanation

What is the purpose of the smiley face? Is the poster trying to soften the blow?

One might think it is used to imply that the poster is joking or being sarcastic, but the true Bud smiley does not signify anything of the sort, since the poster is sincere in making the negative comment. Rather, a Bud smiley is appended to the post in a usually unconscious gesture by the poster to appear less aggressive than he or she is actually feeling and behaving. "I'm not REALLY being a jerk, even though what I just said was really mean."

Sarcastic use of the Bud Smiley acknowledges the aggressive content of the post and is used to signify "I'm being a jerk and I know it."

The Bud smiley is the online equivalent of "kidding on the square," named by Al Franken in his book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them:

Later, at the after-party given by Bloomberg News, I went up to Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of Defense and the architect of the Bush preemption doctrine. "Hi, Dr. Wolfowitz. Hey, the Clinton military did a great job in Iraq, didn't it?"

He looked at me for a couple seconds, then said, "Fuck you."

Which I thought was funny. I think he was "kidding on the square," a phrase I hope will catch on. It means kidding, but also really meaning it. People do it all the time. "Kidding on the square." If this book does two things, I want it to get "kidding on the square" into the lexicon, and I want it to get Bush out of the White House.

History

Coined by users of Citadel BBSes including ISCABBS and Heinous BBS from 1990 to early 2001. "Bud" is a reference to the prime propagator of the Bud smiley, "Bud Fields", longtime ISCABBS user and head "wizard" on Heinous BBS.

This term is still in use among users of Eschwa BBS, Utopia Dammit! BBS and others. Often in a flamewar, users will break out the Bud smiley to this day, appending </bud smiley> in an homage to Bud, who was b& from most of the BBSes last Thursday.