# Avatar not specified, but I get one in the grease monkey script **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [November 26, 2012, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155 "2012-11-26T14:53:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155/161 "2012-11-29T01:47:03Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > I know you’re not being a smart ass. I just think you’re coming at this from one angle and others are coming from another. I don’t have the magic explanation for you, I’m afraid. You might just have to trust that its not an irrational response, just one you don’t get. > All I can say is there’s a fundamental difference in one person looking something up and having a script make it automated to everyone using it, without explanation. > > Since I opted to not join having a _systematic_ avatar delivered to users, why should I have to do anything to prevent it? An individual I can’t do anything about, and don’t want to. This script made it systematic and the casual script user doesn’t which case is which (choice or script pulling it). They actually do, if you used the script then you would see why. But it’s irrelevant because even if they couldn’t it isn’t a personal affront to you, your online privacy, or any of the other horrors that are implied based on these responses (and incidentally I consider yours to be among the most rational of the irrational responses). Google wrote a script that can find everything you’ve ever posted or been quoted as posting here ([About 43,500 results (0.28 seconds](https://www.google.com/search?q=IvoryTowerDenizen+sdmb&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=zjZ&tbo=d&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&sclient=psy-ab&q=+site:boards.straightdope.com+%22IvoryTowerDenizen%22&oq=+site:boards.straightdope.com+%22IvoryTowerDenizen%22&gs_l=serp.3...13619.14752.2.15119.10.7.0.0.0.5.240.1440.0j2j5.7.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.qhYBZk94ALA&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=8d1658db6b0a7a0c&bpcl=38897761&biw=1017&bih=899))) - less than a third of a second to summarize seven years of activity here, and I don’t see everyone getting all uppity with Larry Page about it. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155/162 "2012-11-29T01:49:30Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#): > > They actually do, if you used the script then you would see why. But it’s irrelevant because even if they couldn’t it isn’t a personal affront to you, your online privacy, or any of the other horrors that are implied based on these responses (and incidentally I consider yours to be among the most rational of the irrational responses). > > Google wrote a script that can find everything you’ve ever posted or been quoted as posting here ([About 43,500 results (0.28 seconds](https://www.google.com/search?q=IvoryTowerDenizen+sdmb&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=zjZ&tbo=d&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&sclient=psy-ab&q=+site:boards.straightdope.com+%22IvoryTowerDenizen%22&oq=+site:boards.straightdope.com+%22IvoryTowerDenizen%22&gs_l=serp.3...13619.14752.2.15119.10.7.0.0.0.5.240.1440.0j2j5.7.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.qhYBZk94ALA&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=8d1658db6b0a7a0c&bpcl=38897761&biw=1017&bih=899))) - less than a third of a second to summarize seven years of activity here, and I don’t see everyone getting all uppity with Larry Page about it. “GOOGLE WORKS AS DESIGNED” …stop the presses! ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155/163 "2012-11-29T01:53:06Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …of course you can. However when I downloaded the script to see if I had an avatar showing Inner Stickler was being represented by an avatar that she was clearly unhappy with. She didn’t decide that. That wasn’t something she decided to do on her own computer. Now she’s had to delete that image. That is the issue. This has nothing to do with what you decide to do on your own computer. You’re getting your incorrect statements all mixed up again - Inner Stickler is a he, as far as I know, he uses the avatar script, and has assigned himself an avatar which has been his avatar for many months. IvoryTowerDenizen is a she, she does not use the script as far as I know, and is not happy, yet not completely off the fucking hook irrational about it, that she had an avatar selected for her based on a picture she posted to a SDMB thread with the caption “Here I am playing on the computer”. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155/164 "2012-11-29T01:54:18Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#): > > They actually do, if you used the script then you would see why. But it’s irrelevant because even if they couldn’t it isn’t \*\*a personal affront to you, your online privacy, or any of the other horrors that are implied based on these responses (and incidentally I consider yours to be among the most rational of the irrational responses). \*\* Really? Was that really necessary? Again with the implication that anyone who sees it differently is irrational and paranoid. Nice. :rolleyes: I’m trying to assume the best, but you’re making it hard with left handed compliments. And yes, you’ve proved again that you, as an individual, can search and discover every last thing I’ve posted. And again, that’s not what it’s about. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155/165 "2012-11-29T01:54:40Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > “GOOGLE WORKS AS DESIGNED” …stop the presses! _SO DOES THE SDMB AVATAR SCRIPT_ …stop the unjustified outrage! ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155/166 "2012-11-29T01:56:49Z")
I just want to say I love you guys. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155/167 "2012-11-29T01:59:15Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Since I opted to not join having a _systematic_ avatar delivered to users, why should I have to do anything to prevent it? …because you don’t want the script to assign an avatar for you? ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155/168 "2012-11-29T02:02:47Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#): > > If you have opted out by not participating then you have opted out. Period. If you don’t see an avatar by your posts or anyone else, you are successfully not participating. > > That doesn’t mean others who have opted in to view avatars don’t want to see something by your posts or anyone else, and the script allows them to assign an avatar to you or use something that you have uploaded here to share with the SDMB. > > Would you have the same objection if a doper kept a notepad by their computer and scribbled drawings that they then titled “Eliahna” and looked at when they read your posts? You can’t see the difference between a motivated user looking up or creating something relating to me and assigning it to me for their own use vs a script doing the same thing and displaying it to every user of the script automatically? I’ve long been aware people can attach any image they choose to any user in their own implementation of greasemonkey, and I haven’t objected to its existence. Knowing someone could look up my photo and link it so greasemonkey displayed my picture to them as an avatar didn’t concern me - to each their own. I just don’t want my profile automatically assigned an avatar. It makes it look like I’ve chosen to be part of the scripting project, when the opposite is true. It also attaches to my posts an image which I shared thinking it was one or more clicks away - or even entirely separate if it’s from some of the sources listed here. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155/169 "2012-11-29T02:08:36Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > …because you don’t want the script to assign an avatar for you? Please. Just because its something I would have to do doesn’t make it something I should have to do. I payed zero attention to the script because I didnt want to see avatars or assign them. That choice should be respected. If some individual makes the effort to assign me one that only he sees, whatever. Don’t make systematic and appearing like it comes from me. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155/170 "2012-11-29T02:12:10Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Really? Was that really necessary? Again with the implication that anyone who sees it differently is irrational and paranoid. Nice. I was a lot more informative and less critical the first time you expressed your point of view, and I do respect it. I just don’t agree with it and feel compelled to point out that if it wasn’t a photo that you posted it might have been a photo of a building or a car or a cat or a painting - its just something to display by your name. I explained how and why it makes perfect sense for anyone that uses avatars to select an image you shared directly with the dope as their custom avatar for you as opposed to any of those other things. I showed you the post from where that avatar came, and explained that you had at least 3 ways to remove it from the script if you wanted to including deleting the image which you apparently did so case closed. You could also tell the avatar script “don’t do that” which is an extra step that was taken just to appease the concerns of those who don’t participate but still want to exert editorial control over what those who do participate can do. That isn’t a required feature. it is a courtesy and a bending-over-backwards to try to accommodate all, even those who don’t participate but still want to vote on what others can do with their web browsers. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155/171 "2012-11-29T02:22:55Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Please. > > Just because its something I would have to do doesn’t make it something I should have to do. You’re actually lucky it’s something you even _can_ do. **Crazyhorse** had no obligation to add that feature – he could have easily argued that people running a browser script to modify a web page on their computer can put any image they want next to any name regardless of how the posters involved feel about it. Sure, you can think he’s a terrible person for writing such a script in the first place, and you can feel unfairly treated for having to type three words in your profile to opt out, but arguing that no one should have written such a horrible script is kind of moot. They did. End of story. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155/172 "2012-11-29T02:28:06Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > You’re actually lucky it’s something you even _can_ do. **Crazyhorse** had no obligation to add that feature – he could have easily argued that people running a browser script to modify a web page on their computer can put any image they want next to any name regardless of how the posters involved feel about it. Sure, you can think he’s a terrible person for writing such a script in the first place, and you can feel unfairly treated for having to type three words in your profile to opt out, but arguing that no one should have written such a horrible script is kind of moot. They did. End of story. Wow. You have a flair for hyperbole and drama. What you posted bears little resemblance to anything I said. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155/173 "2012-11-29T02:29:19Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Wow. You have a flair for hyperbole and drama. What you posted bears little resemblance to anything I said. I did only recently learn how to read, so I may have misunderstood your point. I thought you were arguing that while you could opt out of having an avatar next to your name, you shouldn’t have to. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155/174 "2012-11-29T02:29:36Z")
Let me break this down as simply as possible. If a script-user sees an avatar picture next to someone’s name, without the script-user having chosen to put it there, most script-users would conclude that that picture was chosen by the poster in question. With the way the script is set up, in many cases, this is a false conclusion. If you are making it look like I chose a particular image, when I did not, then you are misrepresenting me. I should not have to do _anything_ to say that I do not wish to be misrepresented. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155/175 "2012-11-29T02:30:29Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > I did only recently learn how to read, so I may have misunderstood your point. I thought you were arguing that while you could opt out of having an avatar next to your name, you shouldn’t have to. It’s the embellishments that change the tone and color of what you claimed I said. It was rude and unnecessary and nothing I posted deserved such an obnoxious reply. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155/176 "2012-11-29T02:32:02Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#): > > _SO DOES THE SDMB AVATAR SCRIPT_ …stop the unjustified outrage! …google is a tool used to search for things on the internet. Avatar systems typically display images the user wishes to represent themselves. Your system did that perfectly well: but it also did something else completely different that is not how they expect avatar systems to behave. As far as I’m aware yours is the only avatar system that trawls through internet posts and displays the images that it considered to be the best fit. Most people don’t use your script to google people. Stop pretending the two are equivalent. And I did get IvoryTowerDenizen and Inner Stickler mixed up: my apologies. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155/177 "2012-11-29T02:39:23Z")
I was an “early adopter” of the avatar userscript, and I am in agreement with \*\*Crazyhorse \*\*on this issue. Installing the script is a modification I’ve made to my browser to allow me to see avatars next to poster’s names. As long as I’m not “being a jerk” on the boards about it (by posting that I’ve assigned troll avatars to certain posters, for example), then it’s really nobody’s business what I’m seeing on my screen. Long before Crazyhorse’s crawler started finding images for some posters, I was already going to the SDMB portrait gallery and assigning some of those photos as avatars. The crawler just automates that and makes it much easier for me. There are even some posters who have assigned themselves avatars that I’ve overridden on my copy of the script so that I could assign something I deem more fitting. So what? And for those complaining that something you posted online is being used for a purpose you didn’t intend? Welcome to the internet! As I understand it the userscript is outside the purview of the mods and admin of this board (aside from allowing and moderating discussions like this one). So while anyone is free to voice their displeasure with the way the script works, no one is under any obligation to change it. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155/178 "2012-11-29T02:45:58Z")
> [@Greasemonkey script to add your own SDMB avatars](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greasemonkey-script-to-add-your-own-sdmb-avatars/598062/16): > > Absolutely. It should be an opt-in thing where nobody is added to the avatar list by default simply by posting an image to your gallery. Maybe a checkbox or something at the gallery side? (not that I would wish feature requests on you, but that might be one way) > [@Greasemonkey script to add your own SDMB avatars](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greasemonkey-script-to-add-your-own-sdmb-avatars/598062/17): > > I think just as a matter of courtesy, and that it might prevent someone from posting an image to the gallery if that meant it would automatically become their avatar. Crazyhorse, how did we get here from there? ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155/179 "2012-11-29T02:48:01Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > You can’t see the difference between a motivated user looking up or creating something relating to me and assigning it to me for their own use vs a script doing the same thing and displaying it to every user of the script automatically? > > I’ve long been aware people can attach any image they choose to any user in their own implementation of greasemonkey, and I haven’t objected to its existence. Knowing someone could look up my photo and link it so greasemonkey displayed my picture to them as an avatar didn’t concern me - to each their own. I just don’t want my profile automatically assigned an avatar. It makes it look like I’ve chosen to be part of the scripting project, when the opposite is true. It also attaches to my posts an image which I shared thinking it was one or more clicks away - or even entirely separate if it’s from some of the sources listed here. It never looked up anything regarding you or assigned any avatar to you. You have a self-selected avatar uploaded to your user profile here and that is what is displayed by default to users of the avatar script. That has been the case since the first day the script was available and has remained the case all this time. The default-avatar “issue” was never relevant to you. There is a whole crap load of “ME ME ME” in this thread. Some script users viewed some avatars that were automatically given to them by the script - about 500 out of 140,000 users here. Immediately people are crawling out of the woodwork to express their severe dissatisfaction that \*they \*were affected by this and they don’t like other people seeing an avatar that the script selected for them. You weren’t, and it didn’t. Neither was anyone else who has posted in this thread except IvoryTowerDenizen and kayT as far as I remember, and I have honestly tried to allay their concerns and make myself available to answer any questions they have. They - but not everyone else on the boards. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155/180 "2012-11-29T02:49:34Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > Crazyhorse, how did we get here from there? When Arnold was being asked to do work and make changes on behalf of avatar users it was a reasonable approach to the problem. Now that it is handled entirely by a server dedicated by one doper and a script written by another it is no longer an issue. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-not-specified-but-i-get-one-in-the-grease-monkey-script/642155.md?page=10)