... as in ";)". It doesn't work since the last update. I bet a1k0n broke something. He always does. Time for a pay cut I say.

I think its not the ')' but the ';' what causes the problem. You can use a ':)' smiley in msg but not a ';-)'.
The ';' is a delimiter-char for stacking commands into an alias, i.e.:
alias d0 "set rcontrolresponse 1.000000 ; bind v d1 ; echo 'Dampers 100%'"
The /msg is just a command that can be stacked too, therefore it must 'know its end' which is ; for commands.

I bet its not a bug, its a feature(tm) :-)

You are right, its the ; The ')' is rejected because it tries to understand it as a command. Silly me. Anyway, this is still problematic. You average noob will have a hard time wrapping his head around the whole alias concept.

just quote the ; and everything will be fine

no:
/msg Fluffbunny hello, you're dead now \;-)
doesn't work (yep, that is to quote the ;)

*shuffles off on a commandline*

*me kicks Spider* :P
try
/msg Fluffbunny hello, you're dead now ";"-)