Yes, that trick helps to get rid of smileys. However the topic as I understand it was replacing the smileys with custom ones. The linked thread deals with that in post #5, but people still forget the IMO crucial bit. All of this will only affect you. I would think that custom smileys only make sense if both parties of the conversation see the same thing. Otherwise you may see a kiss where the other party will see only some strange punctuation. No trick will help you with that.