Yeah! Gifs!
Can we appeal this decision to the great MMM himself? ;-)
It was their decision in the first place.
Mr. and Mrs. MMM both thought emoticons were too cartoony and silly, so they didn't enable them when setting up the forums.
I'm sure it can be changed, but we've managed 2+ years without them so far, so I don't see a huge pressing need.
Though when I viewed this thread in Tapatalk, it did change the wink-face to an emoticon, so that's one solution for you. Also, I'm sure a browser extension (greasemonkey type thing) can easily change whatever you'd like.