h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Please can we have a Railgun smiley!? You can go here (A706312) if you want to see those I've made so far. The only problem is they don't look perfect (but that's the best you can do with the creator system I used) and they only work in Guide ML, so not in conversations (). Please help.

My browser makes them look a touch, erm, abstract. I'm not sure what conceivable productive use a could be put to - I'm not 100% sure I like the idea...

Whoami?

With respect, what good's a or Smiley?

I don't know. Just my opinion! I prefer more *peaceful* smileys - do we really want to encourage the use of (virtual) weapons on h2g2? I'm not sure...

Whoami?
*buried in a mountain of potential Smileys*

Yet you have , and other alcoholic smilies, when Alcohol is just as much a killer?

Besides, the Railgun is clearly a "sci-fi" weapon. It would be like saying Action Man encourages violence. If you're sensible, there's not harm.

I know there's no harm that way - but I wouldn't like it if someone pointed one at me during a conversation!

I point them around all the time! Never does any-
*BLAMM!! Wargamer's Railgun fires, blowing a hole in the celing.*
... I wonder, could I start this posting again?

Not now, you can't.

What? I'm not allowed to laugh at my own jokes?

AS the saying goes, if you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?

No. No guns.

I can see gun smileys going down a bundle at Hungerford or Columbine...

What, not even starter pistol-type guns, with a little flag that says 'bang'? That would be useful, either when you want to start a virtual race, or someone says "oh, just shoot me now". A little flag that says 'bang' is hardly violent....

I can't see that the site would suffer from a total ban on guns. God knows, there are enough of the beastly things in the world.

We've got a 'joke' bomb on the list, but we're not interested in having a gun in conversations. We have already turned this down once I believe. And as Sam says, the pen is mightier than the sword, so how about a ballpoint instead?

One can hardly class a starter pistol as a weapon

Besides which, guns are not 'beastly things' they are useful tools, which serve a number of purposes, and can bring much pleasure. I suggest you direct you ire towards the *people* who use them to do 'beastly things'.

Sorry Mina, that was a reply to FM's posting.

Oh come one, this argument, that 'guns don't kill people' is fatuous rubbish, typical of the NRA mindset. Guns are primarily tools for killing other people and animals. People who set out to kill others find it far easier to do it with a gun than without one. Their mere presence in society is a gross liability, and I *don't* like to be reminded of this on h2g2.
But perhaps you do have a point. If my five-year-old daughter were to burn our house down, then I suppose I should punish her, not the stupid adult who left the matches and paraffin lying around.

I never said guns don't kill people, they obviously do. That doesn't change the fact that their uses stretch beyond robbery and murder.

Hunting, target shooting, the armed forces, all legitimate uses of guns.

Yep, it's easier to kill someone with a gun than without- on that principle, would you like us to return to the stone age? wait, no I can still bash someone over the head with a rock. That's just as effective as a gun.

I don't believe their presence is society is a 'gross liabilty'- but we are all entitled to different opinions. I don't appreciate being accused of spouting fatuous rubbish, however.