I think what's being said, though, is that we're all members of the community here, freely giving our work to be used as part of the community, thus handing over 'ownership' to the mods. the smilies are, I think, meant to give the board more of a comfortable, unique (for lack of a better word) feeling. Like, they're something unique that the members contributed, and as such the boards become more personalized, more like a, well, community. So yeah, it's up to the mods, cause we gave up out work to them. No one took our rights, we gave up our pieces willingly.
Didn't mean that to sound as ranty as it might come off. Just voicing my thoughts on the matter. I'd say, though, if you want custom smilies for your boards, I'd, like, ask around, see if any of the members can contribute anything. That way you'd have a more unique site anyway.
