Yay, thats a good thing, right?
Please find a post where I argued against using the avatar functions built into vBulletin.
I was referring to the collective you. I’m like that old hermit who rails against society’s hubris when killer robots start killing everyone.
Well, rail if you must but I don’t think anyone here fits the description of against avatars and for an offboard user script. Anyone against avatars would have been just as happy, if not happier if no script had even been contemplated.
Sigh. This is one of the least hilarious ways to make this point that I have thought of yet.
If I understand you correctly, Crazyhorse, since I have not chosen an avatar, currently none will be displayed to those who have avatars turned on. If that is not the case please explain. Also, if you do in fact decide to turn this feature of collecting images from elsewhere back on will you find some way to let the members of the board know this? I think most of us are merely surprised to learn that this feature is not working as it was originally described.
Just as a side rant, I personally am really tired of being treated as an old fogey or an idiot because I don’t want a screen full of images when I am trying to read. I am just trying to read. I know this is odd, but there you are. I feel the same way when YaHooey gives me a video without warning when I am trying to read a news story. I want to have words when I want words and pictures when I want pictures.
And get off my lawn.
I see an avatar for you.
Nobody has ever asked that everyone be able to see avatars, so this rant is completely unfounded. It’s always been put forward as an option for users to either use or not use. Even if the board turned on the official avatar option for all users, you could still turn it off and view it how you prefer.
There are four variables here that are all independent of each other.
**- What you want to see (or not see) when you view the dope. **
Some like to see avatars. Some don’t. There’s no need for anyone on either side of the aisle to explain why or justify why they do or don’t. It’s a personal preference that shouldn’t be subject to the scrutiny of the peanut gallery, and doesn’t require the approval of anyone, pro or con.
**
- What others want to see (or not see) when they view the dope. **
Same as above. While one person might not want to see avatars, another might want to, and both are equally valid choices based on their own preferences. Simple as that.
These first two seem to be easy for everyone to understand. If you want to see avatars there is a script available to do so, and if you don’t want to see avatars there is no need to do anything at all; they are off by default and it takes an extra effort to purposely install a script to see them.
The next two variables, which are a natural result of the choices people make about the first two, seem to be where a lot of unfounded concerns crop up.
**- What you want to have appear by your posts to other users who see avatars. **
This seems to be a source of inexplicable concern for a few of us. If someone does want to see avatars and uses the script, usually they also select an avatar that they want to show to other script users. In some cases we have users who want to see avatars but don’t want to display one, and in at least one case I know of we have someone who wants to display an avatar so those who use the script can see it, but they themselves don’t want to see avatars and don’t run the script.
But in most cases, those who want to see avatars also choose one that they want to display to others who want to see them, and those who don’t want to see avatars don’t select anything to show to those who do.
The fourth variable, and the one that seems to inspire the most unfounded concern:
**
- What others who do view avatars want to see by your posts**
I have an avatar assigned to one poster that is a picture of an angry guy from the internet, veins in the forehead bulging and steam coming out of his ears. I have another that is a big ‘thumbs down’ that displays by the posts of every banned user on the entire site. In none of these or any other cases, do I have an obligation to ask these posters if they mind me assigning something to see by their posts. They haven’t specified anything else for me to see, and may or may not have any interest or even knowledge of avatars, but if they hear I have chosen to view an image next to their posts, sometimes their ears perk up and they want to start making editorial decisions about what image I have chosen to see and demanding to be notified if I choose to do this.
If Poster A has no avatar specified, Poster B still has every right and ability to choose anything they want to see when they view poster A’s posts. The avatar they select may or may not have anything to do with Poster A - it may be an abstract design, a photo of King Kong, or an actual image or photo of Poster A to which Poster A has provided them access.
So here we have a group of posters who enjoy seeing avatars, assigning avatars to those who don’t specify ones of their own, and are happily doing their thing while everyone else who isn’t interested in avatars happily does theirs. A perfect world!
If a poster who has no interest in seeing or displaying avatars themselves, then chimes in that they don’t like other posters who do have this interest assigning avatars to them, and want to be notified if it is done, and want to have editorial control over what those posters choose to see, that is out of bounds and not any of their concern, and this is where their interest in it becomes unreasonable.
An analogy might be: a group of Dopers decide to have a weekly lunch in their local town and get together in a restaurant. At these lunches they make a game out of naming dishes after posters on the Dope. The number 1 special is now known as the Crazyhorse to them, the number 2 vegetarian plate is now know to them as the kayT, etc. We don’t attend these lunches and we don’t have any interest, right, or ability to demand that they notify us if they are going to be naming plates of food after us at a private get together. We are however invited to join the get together any time and offer our own suggestions for plates we want named after us.
With all that said, here are the short answers to your specific questions.
The avatar that currently displays for you to most users of the avatar script if neither you nor they have chosen something else is here.
Any user of the script can change that to anything else they want if they choose.
You can choose anything different that you would prefer to show to users of the script instead, by following the instructions in the avatar script thread about how to choose an avatar. You can also choose to have nothing display to the users of the script by default by following the directions in that thread and provided by spinky above in this one. None of these choices however can prevent users of the script from assigning something to you based on their own preference, sharing it among themselves, etc. It isn’t reasonable to expect notification or any editorial control over that choice if they make it.
I think you misunderstand. I do not care what other users choose to display as an avatar for me. I did not know, however, that the picture I have in the SDMB gallery was going to display by default to other users as an avatar. (I assume that’s what it is.) I was surprised and wished this fact had been explained earlier (if it was I missed it). And I do appreciate knowing it now and also how to change it if I so choose.
You did say you had turned off an option which I thought was this. What option did you turn off.?
The option that is now disabled added additional default avatars for some posters not already in the portrait gallery by selecting image links they posted to SDMB Picture threads, Dopefest photo galleries etc.
In this case had that option been on it would actually find the very same image for your avatar. Thisgoogle search is representative of what the now-disabled feature might have searched for.
I’m sorry if I misunderstood your rationale for asking. Like many posts here my answer to you was actually to all readers, taking your question as an opportunity to explain the situation to you but also others who might have the more unreasonable concerns that I mentioned.
Thank you, Crazyhorse for disabling that and for clarifying. I have no idea if your avatar program was trawling my pages to find a pic for me or not. I don’t care if you assign a pic to me but I certainly didn’t like the idea of it searching the internet to find one it deemed apropos! I guess I’m glad I never post any current pictures of myself. 
Just FYI, I clicked on the search you did for kayT and subsituted my name. Nothing personal on there, though I did see other doper’s pictures, and…one of Anjalina Jolie? Please, by all means, use that one.
This sounds like a contradiction.
If you don’t care what other users choose to display as an avatar for you, then how can you care if they all choose (by virtue of all of them running the script) to display the picture you have in the SDMB gallery as your avatar?
I think there is a difference between Crazyhourse choosing a picture of, say, a radish to be my avatar on his computer and a picture popping up for everybody else when I thought I had no avatar. If you see no difference then never mind.
ETA thanks Crazyhorse for the clarifications. Glad to be your radish.
No one has argued this position so your continued vehemence on the subject is baffling.
That’s exactly how I pictured you anyway! 
But you actually have posted some pictures of yourself here over the years, and received rave reviews by adoring readers which can be found by doing slightly different searches. The default avatar finder might well have found one of those when it was active (and I’m sure it would be met by adoring avatar users, too)
It is something that has been argued in past threads about the same subject, and they all sort of blur together after a while. But I was answering specifically:
It indicated to me that there is a sense that posters who aren’t even interested in avatars should be notified if those who are seeing avatars that may include one for them.
And when you said:
That is essentially saying the same thing by electing yourself to be the notifier, presumably because you felt there is a desire to be notified among those you were addressing.
I understand the distinction you are perceiving exists, and I’m trying to alleviate the concern as best I can by explaining those are actually one in the same in terms of what it means to you or anyone who isn’t seeing or caring about avatars.
Instead of having the script select a default avatar, if I posted a thread that said “this is my choice for an avatar for kayT, and this is my choice for Inner Stickler”, etc. and others said “oh I like that one, I’m going to paste that into my script too” it would amount to the same thing and should still be just as uninteresting to you if you aren’t interested in avatars. Having avatars that are presumably of interest to the majority of script users built-in just saves a lot of back and forth copying and pasting of cumbersome URL’s and what would amount to actually more attention given to the subject than just letting the script quietly assign one, which they or you are always free to change at any time.
Among the other images that same search found there was, alas, no radish, but a couple of photos of some nice looking cats, an avatar that you or someone else using your username from here posts with at a dope-related message board, and a few other images that may or may not even have anything to do with you, but might still wind up being someone’s selection.
I wouldn’t wish anyone that doesn’t want to see avatars to be forced to see them or install a script that they don’t want. But I do encourage anyone who, despite this lack of interest, still has an interest in what avatar displays for them to those who are interested in them, to select one for themselves instead of worrying about it.
And for those with no interest in either side of the coin its presumably working out ok for them to just not care one way or another and to not do anything at all.
What bothers me is that I once posted some pictures of myself on this board, and now people can, without even running your script, imagine those pictures every time they see my posts. There really should be a way for me to opt out of what other people imagine when they read my posts.
I imagine you as a spiny skunk. Kinda cool really.
When I imagine your photos it always includes images of a dancing penguin in ballet shoes wearing a tophat. I don’t know why - don’t judge me!
You are actually one of the few whose avatar is exactly the way I already pictured you from your username.