A Smiley Tale
Created | Updated Sep 24, 2003
Once upon a time there was a radio series. The radio series became a 
. This begat another book - and another - and another - and another, which is quite an achievement for a trilogy!
The s - and their author - became popular. At the same time the internet grew and spawned web sites. The author of the s was an avid supporter of the internet or 'information highway' and decided to join the fray. After dabbling for a while he decided to combine his two interests and formed a site called h2g2.com.
When h2g2 first started there were only a few 
s living here; amongst them 
, and 
reigned supreme. But they were lonely and over-worked!
In time, h2g2 encountered problems. It disappeared for a while and emerged as part of a much bigger endeavour. Not all of its members approved of this metamorphosis, but the majority settled in to their new environment and many helped to develop the site even more, pushing for change where they saw change was required.
One of the most obvious changes was the explosion of s. The original few were joined by many more - spreading their sentiment throughout the land of h2g2. 
s and 
s fought wars and made peace, 
s, 
s and 
s 
around whilst 
s and 
s tried to keep everyone good.
s raised their 
flags. 
s and 
s flew to alien 
s or 
s and met with 
s, 
s or 
s.
The smileys could play and work at will. 
played with 
, 
s flourished, 
s and 
s tried to cure the 
, 
and 
.
s could now 
, 
, be 
, 
, 
or 
. They could let of 
then 
and say 
for being 
. A 
could 
for a 
or a 
and fall in 
. Maybe they would take a 
and go out for 
, 
or 
and grab some 
, 
or 
.
At Hallowe'en they could make 
and in the winter months go 
or build a 
and have 
fights. Later they could sit around the 
or 
under the 
. Sometimes this could lead onto more Adult behaviour. All in all, everything was 
and 
.
Then came a time when Big Changes were announced and the s were 
. Most tried to be 
and 
. A few were 
and 
but managed to be 
. When the Announcement came it was pretty 
. The s didn't need to be 
after all.
They want to wish 
to various members of the italics team who are 
off to pursue other careers, either with the BBC or 
and raise a 
and 
those who are staying. Of course some are 
and some have already 
because they couldn't help but 
and 
; . We at 
just want to say 
and, once more, .
