I've stopped using the basic smiley as I think it looks like someone actually laughing and seems to dominate the text nearby
:) or :smile: gives 
- far too happy for the job IMHO
:D seems fine (it is the same as :smiley: 
) and :grinning: 
also available
:( which displays as :frowning: 
looks equally excessive like :) to my eye. :anguished: 
available as an alternative.
No Beer Emoticon ... I'd probably get away with using 
when thanking Tara, not sure how Graz would feel though?!
and, Good News!, no need for a Snipped ICON as second-poster should get notification, in real time, that a new post has been made in the thread already.
Just chucking out thoughts as they occur to me ...
- trying to find a suitable Avatar based on TEST or QA ("Q&A" seemed like a suitable pun on Test and Question and Answer!! but then I thought that was probably WAY too cryptic!!)