I bow before your magnificence!
Worked like a charm on vb2.26 in both IE6 and NS6.
Has an unexpected side effect though: Guests now see the code only and not the smilies. Same thing happens with Invision board so it's obviously some quirk. It's not a problem.
My members are gonna be so happy with this, because they can use smilies now without the baleful glare of those who hate 'em making them feel guilty. This is so cool, thank you! <beams>