A more common typographical tool is *asterisks* and _underscores_ as a way of emphasizing in environments that don’t support proper bold or italic. But asterisks also look like tiny stars, and early internet denizens seized on their decorative potential as well, especially when combined with the fanciful swoop of the ~tilde~. In the plain text of late 1990s and early 2000s instant messenger status messages, sparkle punctuation would range from ~*just one*~ of each all the way up to ~~~~~~******~~~~~~so many sparkles~~~~~~******~~~~~~; ~*~*~*~alternating~*~*~*~ or ~**~~*~~in
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