# Avatars: Yay or Nay?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353>\
**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:** 5\
**Page:** 19

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**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/361 "2008-05-30T22:39:10Z")

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I’d vote no. If anyone’s still counting votes.

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**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 31, 2008, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/362 "2008-05-31T01:59:44Z")

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[QUOTE=Liberal]  
Can I change my vote?  
[/QUOTE]

Only if you voted yes before.

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**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/363 "2008-05-31T20:14:32Z")

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[QUOTE=sandra\_nz]  
For the nay-sayers:  
If the board software provides the option to turn off the display of avatars (current vBulletin software allows you to turn off signitures, avatar images, and images), do you still object to them?  
[/QUOTE]

Si

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**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/364 "2008-05-31T21:22:54Z")

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I’d like to revise my opinion.  
IFF (IF AND ONLY IF) the ability to not see them is enabled, and IFF they are kept small, then I would be okay with it.

P.S. Personally, I think it would be cooler if we were able to assign avatars to others (instead of assigning them to ourselves). Think about it–it would be the easist way to Id someone when reading, and you can have the satisfaction of ascribing disgusting images to those you disagree strongly with, _and_ nobody’s forced to use them.

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**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatars-yay-or-nay/449353/365 "2009-01-20T16:26:08Z")

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I agree with many of the arguments against avatars but still feel it would help if there were some way to differentiate users beyond just their names.

This board is getting so popular that catchy names are in short supply. It can be hard to follow the different users in a thread when many of them have names that aren’t meaningful words\*.

Perhaps a system where users can choose from a set of built-in avatars, as some other forums do. Or if there were some kind of formatting options for the way a user’s name is presented (I’m aware this could affect the aesthetics of the site, but a very restricted set of options could be a good compromise).

- Funnily enough, my user name was intended to be gibberish: a word that I can use from forum to forum without it ever being unavailable. But it turns out it’s a japanese girl’s name :smack:

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