Staudey it would be nice to have a choice of common ones
Indeed. As a Plasma user, I have the Emoji Selector utility, and other DEs probably have an equivalent, or can install one. But that solution also involves more steps: locate the utility, launch it, select an emoji and click to put it in the clipboard, close the utility and finally, paste it in the message.
Thanks for including those links to previous threads. I'm sure I read them at the time, but I was left with the impression that this was not permanent. Obviously, my recollection was flawed--I've been waiting for a fix. That's a bit of bother to insert one character into a message. I'm sure many wouldn't bother with that.
But it's better than trying to remember which emoji to ask for with the present system.