What happens to old emoticons?

[David..]

Hey!

If I update an emoticon with the same "trigger" ( :s for example) but with a different filename. What happens to all posts that already have the old emoticon? If that old emoticon gets deleted?

[Rheddy]

@David, they remain on your server (wherever your files are installed). If you're able to log into your server, you might have to locate them but you can delete them. Avatars, emoticons, forum skin image files can all be deleted if you choose without no harm to your community. With forum skins, make sure you have uninstalled the skin before you delete the forum skin images. But, I do urge caution, if you don't know what you're doing.

But, before you proceed, make sure you make a backup of your site before you start deleting.