Emoticons are a good way to show emotion in an e-mail while remaining professional

Question

anonymous · Answer

=8cO That's certainly asking for an opinion :-). On the one hand, emoticons hardly lend a professional tone to an email  :-/. On the other, 8cD they may be less offensive than other ways of indicating, for example, a joke.  Email can be 'read' by the author as having a light tone, and by the recipient as abrupt or rude - "Leaving the cash register unattended- smooth move" sounds really condemnatory. "Keeping a close watch on the cash register?  ;-)" the 'wink' indicates that the sender's not truly angry.

e.mccormick · Answer

When they discuss professional, they mean business like and formal.  Does an emoticon sound business like and formal to you?