Fahlman entered the discussion with his now-famous post: “I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers: :-) Read it sideways.” He added that serious messages could use :-(, noting, “Maybe we should mark things that are NOT jokes, given current trends.”

From there, the smiley could spread across the emerging global computer network, and no one would ever misunderstand a joke online again. :-)

Is that last post of the article meant as a joke or not? I do not understand.