# Can we get 'how to enable avatars' added to the 'FAQ - Technical issues for Posting' sticky? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 22, 2012, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033 "2012-07-22T10:51:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033/121 "2012-07-24T17:41:18Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > What if you eat paint? Then after a while you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the two anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033/122 "2012-07-24T17:43:03Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Until that program grabs the profile picture and uses it as an avatar, it is still only a profile picture. There is no contradiction in that sentence. Bwahahahahaahahaha… Comedy gold. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033/123 "2012-07-24T17:48:06Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Bwahahahahaahahaha… > Comedy gold. [_Do_ try to keep up.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15307562&postcount=104) ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033/124 "2012-07-24T17:54:29Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > if the SDMB wishes to differentiate between the “avatar” on the profile page and an “avatar” attached to individual posts, how might they do so to avoid confusion in the future? The naysayers are vindicated! Avatars do cause problems if you try hard enough to find one! ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033/125 "2012-07-24T17:58:17Z")
> [@spinky](#): > > The naysayers are vindicated! Avatars do cause problems if you try hard enough to find one! I don’t know how you made that wild jump from my simple question but, whatever. ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033/126 "2012-07-24T18:03:27Z")
You just spent about 10 posts or so insisting that we shouldn’t call these avatars, and as far as I can tell, your only reasoning is that it’s some kind of burden to have two separate things that are accurately described by the same word. I decided to poke fun at you by suggesting that your ridiculous sidetracking argument is one of the hypothetical problems that the naysayers said avatars would bring. It’s not as funny now that you’ve made me explain it. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033/127 "2012-07-24T18:06:31Z")
[QUOTE=Czarcasm] However, if the SDMB wishes to differentiate between the “avatar” on the profile page and an “avatar” attached to individual posts, how might they do so to avoid confusion in the future? [/QUOTE] Talk about your first-world problems. It might take an extra post of clarification to avoid the descent into chaos and anarchy. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033/128 "2012-07-24T18:09:27Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > And do you know who _else_ was born on April 20? Clint Howard? Crispin Glover? Carmen Electra? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033/129 "2012-07-24T18:09:33Z")
> [@Sarahfeena](#): > > Talk about your first-world problems. It might take an extra post of clarification to avoid the descent into confusion and anarchy. Your over-the-top exaggeration has really clarified matters. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033/130 "2012-07-24T18:11:09Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > Why would you have to? > > “Hey Bob, what’s the deal with your avatar?” > > “Which one?” > > “The one in your profile.” > > “Oh, it’s from A Fish Called Wanda.” > > “Cool.” Right after “The one in your profile,” Bob would have say “WTF? You meant my profile pic?? Why’d you say avatar? Don’t you know the difference?” ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033/131 "2012-07-24T18:12:59Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Your over-the-top exaggeration has really clarified matters. Thank you. You actually were the one who did that, when you asked the question as though it was addressing an actual issue. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033/132 "2012-07-24T18:13:18Z")
In the words of Michael Vick, I have no dog in this fight. I can only hope that one day our children (or theirs) will settle this matter once and for all. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033/133 "2012-07-24T18:14:20Z")
> [@tapu](#): > > Right after “The one in your profile,” Bob would have said “WTF? You meant my profile pic?? Why’d you say avatar?” Because a profile picture is a subset of avatar in the same way a yearbook photo is a subset of photograph. And why’s Bob asking which one if he’s already decided that each word refers to mutually exclusive objects? ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033/134 "2012-07-24T18:21:07Z")
[Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo) ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033/135 "2012-07-24T18:40:03Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > [_Do_ try to keep up.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15307562&postcount=104) This is the best post so far. “Do try to keep up,” said the man who is apparently stuck in a circa-1997 Internet time warp. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033/136 "2012-07-24T18:42:36Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > They are not “avatars.” **TubaDiva**. If you sincerely and without qualification admit that you were wrong about this, I will donate $100 in your name to charity. Choose from the list below: 1. Planned Parenthood 2. NPR 3. Habitat for Humanity 4. The Courage Campaign 5. Something else of your choice that I find acceptable ---
**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:** [July 24, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033/137 "2012-07-24T18:47:42Z")
[I’ll just leave this here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedant). > [@](#): > > A pedant is a person who is excessively concerned with formalism and precision, or who makes a show of his or her learning. > > ✄ > > **The term in English is typically used with a negative connotation, indicating someone overly concerned with minutiae and whose tone is perceived as condescending**. When it was first used by Shakespeare in Love’s Labour’s Lost (1598), it simply meant “teacher”. Shortly afterwards it began to be used negatively. Thomas Nashe wrote in Have with you to Saffron-walden (1596), page 43: “O, tis a precious apothegmaticall [terse] Pedant, who will finde matter inough to dilate a whole daye of the first inuention [invention] of Fy, fa, fum”. > > ✄ > > Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is also in part characterized by a form of pedantry that is overly concerned with the correct following of rules, procedures and practices. Sometimes the rules that OCPD sufferers obsessively follow are of their own devising, or are corruptions or re-interpretations of the letter of actual rules. > > Pedantry can also be an indication of specific developmental disorders. In particular, persons with Asperger’s Syndrome often have behaviour characterized by pedantic speech. > > ✄ > > “_If you’re the kind of person who insists on this or that ‘correct’ use… abandon your pedantry as I did mine. Dive into the open flowing waters and leave the stagnant canals be… Above all, let there be pleasure!_”—Stephen Fry ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033/138 "2012-07-24T18:54:09Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Because a profile picture is a subset of avatar in the same way a yearbook photo is a subset of photograph. And why’s Bob asking which one if he’s already decided that each word refers to mutually exclusive objects? You’re making my point. It’s preposterous from the beginning. No one would say “which one?” They would know because usage is communal and clear. Thanks, Stick. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033/139 "2012-07-24T18:58:30Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > A pedant is a person who is excessively concerned with formalism and precision, or who makes a show of his or her learning. > > The term in English is typically used with a negative connotation, indicating someone overly concerned with minutiae and whose tone is perceived as condescending. When it was first used by Shakespeare in Love’s Labour’s Lost (1598), it simply meant “teacher”. Shortly afterwards it began to be used negatively. Thomas Nashe wrote in Have with you to Saffron-walden (1596), page 43: “O, tis a precious apothegmaticall [terse] Pedant, who will finde matter inough to dilate a whole daye of the first inuention [invention] of Fy, fa, fum”. \ I resemble that remark… :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033/140 "2012-07-24T18:59:06Z")
I have no idea what point you are making any more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-how-to-enable-avatars-added-to-the-faq-technical-issues-for-posting-sticky/629033.md?page=8)