The emoticons didn't work for me either after the transition a couple weeks back but now they do!
(at least I think that will show!) I think it takes several posts to get them working, kinda like the bug that reared it's ugly head yesterday only after "a while"! You just need to post more, I think. (I'm just kidding, but the rest of the post is true)
MAME Cab PC: i7 4770@3.4Ghz (passmark 9945), 12GB RAM, Win 8.1/64, GeForce GTX645 (passmark 1898); Shiny new laptop: i7 4800MQ@2.7Ghz (passmark 8586), 16GB RAM, Win 8.1/64, GeForce GTX870M (passmark 3598); Old laptop: i5@2.3Ghz, 8GB RAM, Win 7/64, Intel 3000 graphics