Quote Originally Posted by gRomoZeka View Post
If by "lately" you mean years than yes. :)

These are indeed smiles - we are often too lazy to add eyes and noses. The more brackets there are the wider the smile is (or sometimes it's laughter). Same goes for "(" and "(((" (sad and extremely sad).

They are very common, I often have to putmake/put in a conscious effort to use "standard" smiles while I'm on English-speaking forums. When I found out for the first time that people from other countries did not understand what those brackets meant I was surprised. )))
Similarly:
to put an effort into smth/doing smth
not to put any effort in/not to put in any effort
Afaik you need the "in" )):D