[Phill4269]

The decoded message is quite clear with no gibberish!

Spoiler (Rollover to View):

All of the command groups must have spaces between them. The last line needs to be 4 groups with a space between.

[Agent Lex]

beglee wrote:

Spoiler (Rollover to View): (although there are 4 undecipherable emoticons at the end)

If you haven't been to the link, don't read!

Spoiler (Rollover to View):

They don't decipher to characters, they're commands in that language. They basically collect the characters into a set, count how many there are, join them into a single string and print.

[beglee]

edvedd:

Spoiler (Rollover to View):

Theres no gibberish in the middle (although there are 4 undecipherable emoticons at the end). I think the bit in the middle that you are referring to is the word "ASCII". Is that the part you are confused about? If so, see here

[edvedd]

Spoiler (Rollover to View):

It's a bit strange, how a part in the middle of the code message is complete gibberish. That section seems to intersect the message, although it doesn't totally mess it up. Why is it there anyway?

[The V.G.P.S.]

 

[X9Tim]

The V.G.P.S. wrote:

For those who are still struggling the following link may help; Spoiler (Rollover to View): http://address_removed_to_protect_the_innocent

The VGPS' clue is so complete, you will get the answer in a couple of minutes given this! (I kinda wish I hadn't looked )

A less helpful clue would be

Spoiler (Rollover to View):

In the substitution, some chars are not letters. And the order of letter frequency is slightly odd!

I think Arcy's comment "Well that wasn't nearly as hard as I expected..." completely confused me, as I think it IS hard!

[The V.G.P.S.]

For those who are still struggling the following link may help;

Spoiler (Rollover to View):

http://www.teuton.org/~stranger/code/emoticon/obfuscated.html

[beglee]

Here are the steps i used to solve this card:

Spoiler (Rollover to View):

I figured that the card was a substitution cypher, where each different "smilie" or "emoticon" is substituted for a different letter.

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I transcribed the smilies to Notepad, one after the other on a single line, e.g. 8(- 8[' B) -B) 'B]- 8]' ....

Spoiler (Rollover to View):

I replaced each smilie with a different letter using the replaceAll function, replacing each unique smilie with a different letter, e.g. replaceAll 8(- with A, 8[' with B and so on. This replaces the string of emoticons with a string of letters, ABCDEFG.... , which allows you to use the substitution tool in the next step.

Spoiler (Rollover to View):

Here is the substitution tool I used to help me decode the message, copying in the string of letters from the previous step.

Spoiler (Rollover to View):

Note: The location of spaces was unknown. Note: I only deciphered the very end of the message (excluding the last 4 characters, which are still a mystery) using information found on Wikipedia that I looked up after decoding the rest of the message.

[FairmontKing]

This is not my favorite substitution cipher tool, but it's useful for when you don't know where the spaces go:

Link

Use the 'substitute' function to quickly try different substitutions.

[Gladys Pool]

Okay, I got the answer, but still doesn't give me any help of deciphering the message? Would like to be solve this card as intended, anyone able to point me in the right direction?

[Sophiecat]

Gladys Pool wrote:

Can someone link the Smiley Dictionary they used for this, as I can't seem to find one with all of these on?

You don't need a Smiley dictionary.

Just look on Wikipedia at the history of Smilies and some of the people involved.

[Mikeyj]

back wrote:

I first heard of Mr. Suanion's plight from Sister Golda Flynnt after the sixth day prayer at noon. She knew his family and told me of the terrible accident he had suffered at Catbite Gorge, and also of his troubled past. I was fascinated by this man and endeavoured to find out more, and talked to his mother, who belongs to our congregation. Mr. Saunion was staying at Greycastle Hospital in the northwest of the city. I normally do not venture out that far, but his mother asked that I should pray for him, and worried for is spiritual health. "I know that he wouldn't want this, but we must try something. He's been in this... condition for five months now," she told me, in tears. I found him in bed, being monitroed by all kinds of machines and computers. A screen behind him showed waves and lines slowly marching along. Mr. Saunion seemed peaceful enough; he was healthy and clean, and anyone coming across him would think that he was merely taking a nap. As I knelt beside him on the floor, I began whispering a prayer of recovery, drawing from the teachings of the monuments at Rhat-Mamar. At that moment, I heard a buzzing. I looked up and saw the screen was full of discordant waves, flashing red with warning. There was a movement beside me, Mr. Saunion opened his eyes.

[Gladys Pool]

Can someone link the Smiley Dictionary they used for this, as I can't seem to find one with all of these on?

[ArcySparky]

Urgh.

~Arctakesouthispencilandnotebookandstartsthinking...

**EDIT**

Well that wasn't nearly as hard as I expected... perhaps I'm slowly getting over my dislike of substitution ciphers...

[echidna]

Sorry, Arcy, but

~echidnaregretstoinformArcythatitisexactlywhathe'shopingitisn't