I was smacked as a child and I turned out fine (I think)
However I can never imagine smacking my own children when I one day become a mother.

This made me laugh so much at work 

A firm smack on the arse does a kid good.

It brings them fear and to learn what is wrong the hard way. Grounding a kid or just taking something away from them won't do that much compared a good smack on the arse.

Call me old fashion.

It is up the parent to control the amount of fear they want to give them. It is all about self control.

I don't think childeren should be smacked, regardless of the "crime", childeren will be childeren and if they can't stop other then by hitting them? I think you need to try a different approach of dealing with the situation.

Personally me and my fiancee are expecting our child in September, and I can't imagine myself hitting/smacking my child at a certain age to learn it to not do certain things.

I'm obviously not an expert, and I wont contribute to "smacking/hitting"  myself.

I like to look for other alternatives to get to your child to learn that somethings are not ok to do.

I was smacked as a child, so was my sister and we're OK.

If you hit your child now its seen as child abuse, and its been that way for a while now.
I don't think I would hit a child of my own, there are other ways to discipline.

I remember the days my parents would chase my older brother around the house with a bar of soap when he would swear at them! 

I think this is an issue that has no winner. Both sides make good points and both sides do work under some cases while fail under others. I'm sure there are instances where children who were spanked/smacked as children grew up to be more violent while children who weren't spanked/smacked grew up to be more mischievous and disrespectful. I also think the opposite is true for both sides.

i was mentally and physically abused so bad i almost died a few times and i have rly bad back and neck problems bc of it and cant have no pressure on my neck or it feels like im being choked.   

  smacking children is now officially illegal in New Zealand but it still happens. Newspapers still report regularly of children being abused by adults in various forms.

I was smacked/beaten as a child and to a certain degree it has made me a stronger person, not physically but emotionally. Clean police records at my age are not often seen - not even a traffic violation. In fact out of the 13 children raised by my solo parent mother (not all 13 are "blood children") there is not one of us that has been in trouble with the authorities. then again i was brought up in a generation that was taught to respect our elders. I think that emotional abuse is just as harmful, even more so as it has long lasting effects.

I freely admit to smacking my children on the backside - very rarely and only if they had done something that  would endanger themselves or another person/child. Things like running out on the road etc. Two out of three children have grown into respectable adults that input into society in a constructive manner. The child that *went of the rails* has drug and alcohol addiction problems - was this because of a smack on the backside? that is a question I will continually ask myself.

Do i believe in beating a child senseless NO I do believe that emotional abuse is longer lasting and more harmful. Most of the *bad* side of abuse is due to lack of support systems for parents that are under stress and lash out at the children - this does not make it right BUT unless intervention is made before escalation the needless suffering will continue.