# Avatars: Yay or Nay? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 14, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353 "2008-05-14T22:47:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![Mark\_Ryle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@Mark\_Ryle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Ryle)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/321 "2008-05-21T19:31:23Z")
[QUOTE=Loach] The rule in question is only two lines long, it isn’t that hard to understand. It was put in place to stop linking to jack in the box links and one in particular. Jack in the box links are a very specific type of internet animal. This is not one of them. [/QUOTE] There is more to the animated GIF in **elmwood** ’s link in Post# 238 than I knew. I shut it down immediately on the second image, the screaming man. From **elmwood** ’s Post# 265 I realized there were four more images to follow. It’s true I overreacted. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/322 "2008-05-21T23:38:50Z")
I vote no. (And yes, I know they can be turned off.) ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/323 "2008-05-22T01:29:07Z")
Under one condition: I get to approve all of them. And assign the rest. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/324 "2008-05-22T12:35:57Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] Under one condition: I get to approve all of them. And assign the rest. [/QUOTE] Oh good gravy, no! All the ones you assign will be screen-shots from _Showgirls_ and _Starship Troopers_! ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/325 "2008-05-22T13:52:27Z")
[QUOTE=Slacker] Deep, profound conversation like [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=9698320#post9698320)? And no, there’s nothing at all wrong with that post or that thread - I’m just scratching my head at the notion that people who like avatars on messageboards are some kind of master race of troglodytic half-wits. Give me a break. [/QUOTE] Aw come on, avatars could have really enhanced that thread, and made it so much more NSFW. Mmmmoissst. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/326 "2008-05-22T13:55:54Z")
I’m willing to bet if there’s a rule restricting avatars to images of medieval/fantasy/RenFaire themes, British comedy skits, or SDMB cliches like death rays and the like, Dopers would be marching on the CL HQ _demanding_ them. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/327 "2008-05-22T15:46:03Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] I’m willing to bet if there’s a rule restricting avatars to images of medieval/fantasy/RenFaire themes, British comedy skits, or SDMB cliches like death rays and the like, Dopers would be marching on the CL HQ _demanding_ them. [/QUOTE] I voted no, but I’d still totally love to have a “Gotcha Ya!” avatar. So yeah, you’re probably right. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/328 "2008-05-22T21:54:43Z")
Just in case, I’m making my looping gif animation of an airplane on a treadmill right now. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/329 "2008-05-22T22:28:26Z")
Why not just do a few weeks of an “avatar trial” to see how they work out? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/330 "2008-05-23T00:42:35Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] Why not just do a few weeks of an “avatar trial” to see how they work out? [/QUOTE] Kind of like we discussed about [120 posts ago](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9814331&postcount=209)? I think that would be a great way to do it. We could run some time tests and measure some thread sizes, then give everyone a few weeks to build avatars and do it again. That would also show pretty quickly what kind of avatars people would pick. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/331 "2008-05-23T01:22:38Z")
[QUOTE=InvisibleWombat] That would also show pretty quickly what kind of avatars people would pick. [/QUOTE] These will probably be the first four. [1](http://www.imagepup.com/up/pmHJ_1211505702_avatar1.jpg) [2](http://www.imagepup.com/up/EnK8_1211505711_avatar2.jpg) [3](http://www.imagepup.com/up/s2Sn_1211505737_avatar4.jpg) [4](http://www.imagepup.com/up/4guv_1211505722_avatar3.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/332 "2008-05-23T01:37:11Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] These will probably be the first four. [/QUOTE] Why do they have to be so big? ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/333 "2008-05-23T01:45:09Z")
I like the idea of avatars. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/334 "2008-05-23T01:56:51Z")
They’re 80x80. IMHO, that’s as big as I’d go; it’s the max on my site. Smaller than 64X64, and photos become too pixellated to clearly recognize for many people. Over 100x100, and it becomes overwhelming. 64x64 to 80x80 seems to hit a sweet spot of file size, recognition/flexibility. and tastefulness … at least IMHO. Also, you can get a lot of detail in 80x80 at 2K or 2.5K. Worst case scenario, if everyone posting in a thread has the largest size avatar, and there’s no members that post more than once on the first page, it’s only 100K to 125K of images. At 100X100, .jpg photo images need to be about 4K to avoid compression noise, so you’re looking at 200K. Assuming 2,000 active users have avatars, with an average size of 2K each, images would only occupy about three megabytes of database space; that includes metadata. I’ve been one of the most vocal proponents of avatars in in this thread, but IMHO the 10K to 20K avatars some boards allow is too much. Even 4K is pushing it. FWIW, I’m not a fan of signature images. I allow small non-animated [userbars](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Userbar) for paying members on my site, but few actually have one. Inline images: I could go either way for the SDMB, but if I was in charge here, I’d probably say “no”. On my site, they’re permitted, but they have to be located either in a member gallery, on an image hosting site, or a site that the user has direct control over. Image leeching is a suspendable offense, and accidential Goatse/Tubgirl/Lemonparty/Two Girls One Cup display is grounds for a long suspension or permanent banning. Checking the URLs of images where they appear,and verifying that images aren’t leeched without the consent of the site owner, could be too much work for the mods. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/335 "2008-05-23T02:02:47Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] Over 100x100, and it becomes overwhelming. [/QUOTE] Is this a subjective conclusion? Why your mileage more reliable than mine? ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/336 "2008-05-23T02:05:46Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] Is this a subjective conclusion? Why your mileage more reliable than mine? [/QUOTE] Note ther two occurences of “IMHO” in the paragraph. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/337 "2008-05-23T02:45:29Z")
I’m cautiously for avatars, because A) I have a custom-made one I like, and B) The poster recognition enhancement factor. FWIW/IMHO [http://clixim.com/redmeat/1slk\_x.gif](http://clixim.com/redmeat/1slk_x.gif) ETA = Those are my evil walrus bodyguards. They’re wielding bloody lead pipes. injokes from elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/338 "2008-05-23T02:47:46Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] Under one condition: I get to approve all of them. And assign the rest. [/QUOTE] How about let me assign them? Bet I could come up with some nifty ones from certain – hehehe — Southeast Asian websites. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/339 "2008-05-23T22:44:20Z")
[QUOTE=InvisibleWombat] Kind of like we discussed about [120 posts ago](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9814331&postcount=209)? I think that would be a great way to do it. We could run some time tests and measure some thread sizes, then give everyone a few weeks to build avatars and do it again. That would also show pretty quickly what kind of avatars people would pick. [/QUOTE] Sorry 'bout that. But then, pretty much EVERYTHING’s being repeated here again and again. Either way-they’re just avatars, people. Jeez. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/340 "2008-05-24T00:55:43Z")
Nay for reasons previously mentionned. People should be judged on what they write, in a text message board, your avatar is your name, and it is infinitely flexible. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353.md?page=18)