From vbulletin (scroll to the image):
(bolding mine)
Can we get past this now?
As you have so gracefully pointed out there might be some conflict of interest there, so I invited others to offer definitions or cites. Feel free to suggest something more fair.
A: I wish the pictures were bigger,
B: The profile pictures?
A: No, the avatars.
A: I really want an avatar that is different from my profile pic.
B: Why does it make a difference?
A: I want my profile pic to show me, and my avatar to be some crazy thing.
I don’t recall pointing out anything like that, but since you went ahead and came up with a definition from vBulletin itself, I’m going to reluctantly accept it. 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?
“I want my avatar to be 100 by 100 in thread display and some other size when it’s viewed in my profile.”
No one is saying you can’t call the picture on the profile page a profile pic, because it is a profile picture. It is also an avatar. Both words are accurate.
I think you’re being asked if both pictures, even if totally different, would be considered his avatar.
Clearly there’s a need to distinguish them (without paraphrase). So we do in a regular, shared way. See my discourse examples (again).
Since they are both “graphical images that represents a person” then I would say both are avatars.
We could introduce them to the terms we’re using: avatar and profile pic.
So how would you differentiate between them?
And when you need separate words to distinguish them? (circumlocutions not allowed–what are their names?)
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.”
An avatar is a graphical representation of a user. A profile pic is an avatar on a user’s profile. Distinguished well enough for our purposes. If you’d like to come up with a new word, like, I dunno pavatar to denote a post avatar, that’s your business, but it’s unnecessary.
How do you differentiate between the color orange and the fruit?
By the words “paint” and “eat”.
Problem solved. I’m glad we were all able to share this time together today.
By the words “profile” and “post.”
“Hey, the avatar in your posts is different from the avatar in your profile!”
What if you eat paint?