View Full Version : Avatars
Ahemm....
Now I know this will wrankle some...but I would love to be able to have avatars for forum members...
Where I am a moderator at philosophyforums.com, all members have avatars up to a maximum size of 100 by 100 pixels.
Paul ( the Administrator / owner ) says that it virtually costs nothing in bandwidth..and he has over 5000 members.
So...I reckon it would be a nice way to brighten a forum...
Most Avatars used on that forum are actually very beautiful to look at too..
What do you think Brad ?
Any chance for some "pictures" on the walls of our new home ?
Yoda...
i reckon it would take the cool clean look we have now and make it look like a trailer park.
i reckon it would take the cool clean look we have now and make it look like a trailer park.
I think your name does that...already...lol...
Yoda.
Ps...Carol will tip you off as to who I really am you olde munchkin... :p
hmmm...
sceptical I am that the post initial was indeed by Yoda himself requested :err:
more impact, may it have, if expressed in the way of a true Jedi master ;)
How about instead of avatars, Members get a..oh..75x35 pixel colored block under their names, it could have that nice soft sheen that the rest of the site has, using the colors from the Apple pro pages. User selectable which color.
okay...I know it's kind of lame, but it might add a nice accent to the site.:)
hmmm...
sceptical I am that the post initial was indeed by Yoda himself requested :err:
more impact, may it have, if expressed in the way of a true Jedi master ;)
'Mock me you will eh ?
At your peril young Mac+...at your peril... ;)
Yoda
Well, maybe it isn't a good idea, but here's a mock-up anyway :p
http://img12.photobucket.com/albums/v31/Wrao1/Forumidea.jpg
judge me not by my postcount wise master for my ally is cable internet :lol:
curiousuburb
2004-06-04, 01:38
personalized profile pictures for members available already there are.
clicking on username display they will. out of the way they are.
OT: coooool... extra wide posts only expand their own cell now... not bork the whole thread's width
OT: coooool... extra wide posts only expand their own cell now... not bork the whole thread's width
nice :)
DMBand0026
2004-06-04, 03:22
10000 Posts. Get crackin, you've got 9900 some odd more to go. That's a lotta posts.
:)
Ouch ... my head hurt trying to take in the sweep of the extra-size post....
There will be no avatars. If we ever allowed them, we would extend the privilege to moderators and administrators. That is at least a group that is small enough that avatars would be few and far between, we could make sure that they didn't interfere with the design, and would serve as a sort of badge of "authority" or something.
Maybe if someone hits ten thousand posts, we'll let them do it. Maybe.
thegelding
2004-06-04, 07:17
then i better make lots of useless posts....oh wait, i already do that
g
not a huge fan of avatars actually...but i'm old like skmdc...plus i have my photo up at my profile....don't need it on each post
ok, who the heck is yoda??....no fair changing user name from .com to .org
and if anybody answers that last question with: "yoda is a jedi master who first appeared in...." i will hunt you down like the nerdy dog that you are
i reckon it would take the cool clean look we have now and make it look like a trailer park.Exactly.
Now if only your username wasn't such an abomination to page layout. ;)
Avatars are just one more gimick distracting from discussion, the primary purpose of this forum.
Exactly.
Now if only your username wasn't such an abomination to page layout. ;)
it seemed to be at the old place, so it was split into two, here i've been reborn as one name. because it IS one word.
DMBand0026
2004-06-04, 11:51
ok, who the heck is yoda??....no fair changing user name from .com to .org
and if anybody answers that last question with: "yoda is a jedi master who first appeared in...." i will hunt you down like the nerdy dog that you are
Aquafire
Note the "Wit and Wisdom" custom user title.
So he's the same, but different.
Ok, who the heck is yoda??....no fair changing user name from .com to .org
and if anybody answers that last question with: "yoda is a jedi master who first appeared in...." i will hunt you down like the nerdy dog that you are
Dear Gelded one.
I was of Olde...the Aquafire...it is true...I once went by such a name...
Would you prefer it...over Yoda...?
Perhaps Carol may wave her magic wand over my name and rename me Aquafire...
( I belive in magic and pixies )
:D
As far as all these comments about avatar's taking away from conversation or needing an obscene post count to use one, I really must disagree.
Avatar's can help you recogize people and sometimes make it easier to find your way through a long thread, epecially if you're looking for a bit of tech support information.
I also use a couple of linux forums with avatar's and the only result is that I can easily recognize people who have provdided good advice in other posts Ive browsed through.
I'm not sure why you guys are so against avatar's, it's another way of enhancing user experience, something that we of the cult of mac are supposed to be all about.
As for only moderator's or people with a high post count having avatar's, well that's just elitism and separates the community and may give the impression that those with avatar's are somehow more knowledgable than others.
When I visist a new forum with avatar's, I can start immediatley recognizing people because of their avatar and begin to immediately feel I'm part of the community rather than remembering all the cryptic usernames all over the web.
I noticed another thread that talked about trying to get more users on appleinsider.org, I personally agree with getting more users over here but I dont think denying features that are pretty much standard on other boards or elitism is going to help, then again it's just my opinion.
eventhorizon
2004-06-04, 21:42
Exactly.
We've had a history of keeping Avatars off of the forums for a long time, and it won't be changing anytime soon. The arguments in favour of it have been brought up before. We've found that the forums that enable avatars create clutter and produce an experience that aesthetically conflicts in a negative way with the layout and scheme of the rest of the site.
We don't even have any plans to give Moderators/Administrators avatars. The only reason I mentioned it was because we tried it at .com for a few days, and of course, everyone wanted their own Avatar, which we weren't about to do.
So call it Elitist on our part, but recognizing someone by their username and/or title will have to do for now. Not everyone who creates an avatar is going to make a pretty one, and I'm not about to deal with that.
NosferaDrew
2004-06-04, 22:09
When I visist a new forum with avatar's, I can start immediatley recognizing people because of their avatar and begin to immediately feel I'm part of the community rather than remembering all the cryptic usernames all over the web.
I like reading when I visit forums, not look at silly blinking pictures.
Besides, on other forums, people change their avatars all the time. Then you have to look at the username to see who it is.
No thanks.
This place looks clean and uniform. It's nice that way.
My comment about elitism was in reference to some having avatars and others not.
As for flashy animated avatar's that could easily be fixed with a simple rule posted right next to where you would browse for your avatar "No animated avatars" its really that simple and if someone disobeys, their avatar could be moderated.
People changing avatar's, personally I use the same avatar across multiple boards, I like the idea of having one identity on the net, others feel differently, it's supposed to be about choice, speaking of which, I dont see why a preference couldn't be added to either show or hide avatar's, make it default to "off" and then only the people that want them will see and use them.
DMBand0026
2004-06-05, 00:37
If everyone had one it would kill the speed of the forums too, as well as looking hideous.
We've had a history of keeping Avatars off of the forums for a long time, and it won't be changing anytime soon. The arguments in favour of it have been brought up before. We've found that the forums that enable avatars create clutter and produce an experience that aesthetically conflicts in a negative way with the layout and scheme of the rest of the site.
Come on LoCash..this is not that olde forum...
It is a new forum....
If you want to see an example of how 'fitting' avatars can be, please be my guest and visit
http://www.philosophyforums.com
Avatars help to identify each of the posters and gives something of a personality to each handle...
They use the same forum layout as you do for these pages, without any headaches and they allow all members to change avatars as they see fit. In consequence, some do, some don't and some simply don't use avatars at all.
Being a Moderator there, I can tell you, there has only been one time where two posters had a barney over the same avatar....lol... ( we kicked them out for being idiots )
As I have stated...there are over 5000 current members...and the calibre of posting is generally very good as well as remarkably tolerant.
There are probably many reasons for that, amongst which I would have to say that avatars might have something to do with the overall "feel" of the place.
Why ?
I put it down to giving the posters another inner source of pride and connection which makes them less likely to trash the joint...
Respecfully
Yoda
Looking through this thread it reads like Aquafire has lost God and found drugs :p
NosferaDrew
2004-06-05, 01:46
I think he continues to try because it ups his post count.
itsnotgoingtohappen!
Actually looking at the forum reinforced my decision to not want to implement avatars here. We never had avatars at .com because every mod/admin thought they were a horrid idea. The mods/admins here at .org continue to feel the same way. I think profile pictures are a step in the right direction; they provide an identity for an individual without pushing them on the reader.
Granted, profile pictures must be sought out and are not available in every thread. Still, I don't particularly like the added clutter that avatars provide. It is another focal point in each post. Avatars are often distracting to the reader, and when you have a bunch of people that are not making offensive avatars, but are not what one might call an artist or designer, it is mildly irritating. We may experiment with them at some point, but not while we're still fixing things.
I did, however, add an automatic vBulletin promotion for this board. It's called the "Wit and Wisdom Modification", and you achieve it once you reach 10,000 posts. This promotion gives you the ability to have avatars. 9,990 to go ;)
DMBand0026
2004-06-05, 02:12
See...like I said. It's all about 10,000 posts.
youshouldalllistentome
Just do that in the future, it'll save everyone a lot of trouble. ;)
If everyone had one it would kill the speed of the forums too, as well as looking hideous.
Bahhhh Humbug ! ....Ever heard of G5 or Xservers...
Poor old Philsophyforums use Pceee's and they chug along mighty fine.
We may experiment with at some point...
Creaking into the 21st century...;)
You know Locash, one of the great things about Mac and why Apple became a force to be reckoned with..was its ability in the GUI graphics/visual design arena...
Shame we can't celebrate it...by using avatars.
One final point...
When I first discovered Philosophyforums, I too thought that the Avatars were garish and mind-bending distortions... But I got over it in a couple of days... and when I became accustomed to the various characters attached to their avatars, it become something akin to seeing their faces...
wit and wisdom modification
Hehe...Locash your a wit....
Can't say you haven't given me a goal to strive for....:D
thegelding
2004-06-05, 09:01
People changing avatar's, personally I use the same avatar across multiple boards, I like the idea of having one identity on the net,
i use the same name on all boards...and i have one identity on the net...all without avatars
but then, for some strange reason, the name "thegelding" is never taken...
ick, not sure the site would want an animated avatar that represents my name
but maybe it is just that i am an old man...seems to me that you don't need an avatar to let people know who you are...you just need to post at the forum for a while and that should do it...
though i did enjoy looking through aquayoda's site
g
I visited the philosophy site too and, personally, I didn't think that the avatars really added much. In fact, I prefer our clean uncluttered look here. In this instance, I feel that less is more. ;)
Windswept
2004-06-05, 10:03
When I first arrived at .com, I missed avatars. But now, when I visit my last board before AI, I find them annoying.
Or...maybe it's just that I find the people there annoying. It's amazing how the presence of just *one* person one loathes can ruin the experience of an entire board. And this particular guy posts in every single thread. Just no escaping him. shudder.
curiousuburb
2004-06-05, 12:16
UI design consistency (and relatively clean, elegant execution of such) has always been a hallmark of Apple. Custom icons were possible with ResEdit or nowadays with CandyBar, but the vast bulk of the system wasn't skinnable because it broke continuity with the HIG (http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/OSXHIGuidelines/) and added unnecessary complexity.
Avatars scream "Microsoft Plus Themes" to me. (`Bogs down the system, but Wasps are cool`)
Blinking for the sake of bells and whistles, rather than actual intuitive icon info.
If you'd like to simulate this in a public room in iChat, (which does offer custom user pictures, but you've got to add the buddy to d/l theirs), you might add all of the users who've provided IM links. Users who aren't in your list all appear with the generic AIM dude icon (and limited colours for balloon text).
I could see an argument that the value of custom icon in an environment like Chat might aid readability, but mainly because with a large number of people posting, the text goes whipping by, and due to the limitations on message length, continuity of content is borked already.
On a bulletin board primarily driven by text without forced interleave due to silly character length limits per post, connecting an author with their complete (being generous perhaps) thought is far less challenging. With better user control of reading speed, editing ability, and a goal of clean UI, avatars seem less necessary.
In relation to the IM icons beneath usernames, and the unique mix of which icons, custom member status, and info in additional data fields folks have chosen to fill in, I've noticed a break in the visual rhythm of the left column already. Some users have coloured or multiline signatures distinct enough to recognize as well. One could argue that you might begin to recognize users by cues like these just like an avatar, but I tend to prefer to look at the always unique name if I find the post interesting enough to want to reply to or file for later reference.
*goes for more coffee*
thegelding
2004-06-05, 14:07
want a reason against avatars?? go to my profile photo...do you really want to look at that with every post i make??
g
want a reason against avatars?? go to my profile photo...do you really want to look at that with every post i make??
g
the one on the right is not too bad looking...... ;)
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