in general, someone who can tolerate the flash when the chat refreshes probably should be able to tolerate the blinking smilies, tho the combination may be too much for some people.

and this person should be taught to turn off animations, which are everywhere.

i went into a chatroom once. the refreshing triggered a long seizure and i figured out that i can't chat.

thanks for considering the problem that some of us have, you are definitely covering my back. or my eyes, i suppose, to be more accurate.