I disagree with your answer to both these questions.
We never needed something before it was invented. That’s what inventions do - change our tool set. No one in the 19th century said “If only we had a form of transport to replace our horse and buggy.” Then Henry Ford came along and his invention created a need.
On the second point, it’s not universal for all, obviously, but several Dopers have said that the avatars help them recognise the poster. I’m in that group - I have a good visual memory. I remember Jasmine now in a way that I did not, pre-avatar, and that’s a good thing - I like associating your posts with your avatar, and in fact makes it more likely I will click on a thread showing your avatar.
The fact that avatars may not help all posters doesn’t mean the answer to your second question is a straight “No”.
More generally, as Dinsdale said upthread, there are those of us for whom tinkering with computer stuff is not really interesting or worth the effort. You’ve got no idea how long it took me to put my pipes-hummingbird-skeletal mosquito up.
What in the world? No, opening Paint, clicking save is easier than taking a piece of paper over to a scanner then opening your scanner software and clicking scan, save image.
I find that curious. While I recognize your name, I don’t believe we’ve directly communicated much. Apologies, but your avatar is one of the least easy to see. Something black and white. What is it? Someone/something playing a banjo or guitar? Or something completely different?
Oh hell - I clicked on it, and slightly larger it is a dog. I see it now, but would not have guessed before. (And - honestly - didn’t even look closely.)
I said above that I deal best with words. You might want to try the same. Or please point out to me where I said ANYTHING that could be interpreted as “complaining about them so much” or wishing anyone else didn’t use them? If you chose to interpret my post in that manner, I suggest that is an unreasonable reading, based on something about you rather than anything I wrote.
I couldn’t care less whether anyone uses an avatar or not. Doesn’t make me think any more or less of them. Now, OTOH, when someone goes out of their way to mischaracterize something I posted…
No worries. I put virtually zero effort into choosing an avatar, it was just one of the first small PNGs I saw on my computer.
Like I say, since it is not aimed at representing my personality in any way, just a visual placecard, it doesn’t bother me whether it’s a recognizable thing or not.
But if it bothers people I will change it to something that is more clear at smaller sizes.
I was confusing you with @elbows who has a light green avatar with an ‘E’, and you have a similar light green avatar with a ‘D’.
Genuinely – I’m not playing mind games!
But it certainly proves my point about those of us who find visual information important. I was simply remembering what someone with a light green letter avatar had said, and not registering the names so much.
There really does seem to be variance in the display of the avatars. Dinsdale and Elbows both report that the avatars are just smears of colours. That’s not what I’m seeing. Mijin’s avatar is quite easy for me to see and recognize, on both my phone and my laptop.
Yes, noticed that you removed your avatar, and now have a slightly darker green avatar than those two - who both dislike avatars and both claim they are too small to see.
I liked your pink Heffalump avatar. I think it’s one of the best on the board, so I hope you’ll reconsider.
So I see your avatar, and it looks like some kind of cartoon or video game character. Maybe there is a character w/ your username? But I don’t read comix/play vidgames.
Well, not a smear. But without pulling out a ruler, I doubt the avatars on my computer screen could be more than 1/2"x1/2". They get larger when I click on a username, but I RARELY do that.
The more complicated they are, the more effort I would need to put into them to try to figure out what they are. And - as I said, I put essentially NO information into them, as they provide NO information I find useful or interesting.
