I'm like you Indie, unless I see obvious smilies I take the poster seriously. At least on this one, it's safe to assume it's a joke with all the smiley icons as Lostime said.
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I will say though and this isn't in reference to this thread. On a mental health site you're likely to see and read some unusual things. For example a person might be having delusions that their M&M's are singing to them - in their mind, they see it and believe it. If they post about it, then we should empathize and not laugh. If there's smiley's, then we can laugh and joke. Confusion happens when they write something that's not possible without obvious smilies, which makes me think they're having a hard time mentally. If I realize I've been strung along and left wondering what's really going on, this can be stressful for the ones who are empathetic.

The other day on the news they were talking about odd habits some people have and this one lady has PICA - she eats the stuffing out of her padded bras. Imagine if someone were to post this without first prefacing it with "I have a problems with ....." and instead just said "I eat bras for dinner". Would people assume it's a joke or wait and wonder if the poster actually needs sympathy and support. Bottomline is, why do we have to wrack our brains trying to figure out the motives behind a post - just be straight forward and honest.....grrrrrrr.