# Green #1 by my avatar, what is it for?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-1-by-my-avatar-what-is-it-for/919336
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [August 29, 2020, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-1-by-my-avatar-what-is-it-for/919336 "2020-08-29T21:59:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2020, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-1-by-my-avatar-what-is-it-for/919336/1 "2020-08-29T21:59:09Z")
This is the avatar in the upper right corner of all my screens on this site. I have checked messages, notifications, everything I can think of. What are they trying to tell me (and why do they make it so opaque)?
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2020, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-1-by-my-avatar-what-is-it-for/919336/2 "2020-08-29T22:05:06Z")
You have a message. Did you click on the green #1 itself?
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### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2020, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-1-by-my-avatar-what-is-it-for/919336/3 "2020-08-29T22:09:20Z")
You were mentioned in thread notification?
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2020, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-1-by-my-avatar-what-is-it-for/919336/4 "2020-08-29T22:12:52Z")
@ in front of a username results in a mention.
@Si_Amigo
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### Author:  [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2020, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-1-by-my-avatar-what-is-it-for/919336/5 "2020-08-29T22:17:30Z")
Yes, I clicked on the green number, and it was just the same as clicking on the avatar. I’ve checked messages and I don’t have any new ones. The green 1 remains. To be clear, I also get blue numbers to the upper right of the avatar and they go away as soon as I click on the avatar. This green 1 is to the upper left of the avatar.
If it is because I was mentioned with an @ sign, what do I do about it? Should I expect something to take me to that mention, and if so, how do I effect that?
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### Author:  [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2020, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-1-by-my-avatar-what-is-it-for/919336/6 "2020-08-29T22:19:12Z")
Never mind, it was a message, I just didn’t recognize it (not sure if I’ve had a PM before on this site).
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2020, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-1-by-my-avatar-what-is-it-for/919336/7 "2020-08-29T22:38:22Z")
🟢 means PM, 🔵 means regular reply.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2020, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-1-by-my-avatar-what-is-it-for/919336/8 "2020-08-30T18:49:38Z")
> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> 🟢 means PM, 🔵 means regular reply.
Cool to know we can include colored circles. That will help in the few places where we used to use colored text.
Is there a list of all available colors?
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2020, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-1-by-my-avatar-what-is-it-for/919336/9 "2020-08-30T19:02:49Z")
All unicode characters are valid, including unicode Emoji. Here are a few ways to insert unicode Emoji into your posts:
- Insert them via your operating system’s built in Emoji picker. I don’t know how to do it on Mac, but on Windows 10 it is WinKey+.
- Start typing `:` then some characters to bring up a named Emoji matcher for example `:smile:`
- Press the smiley face icon in the editor toolbar to use the Emoji picker built into this software
My preferred method is the first one but they all work!
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2020, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-1-by-my-avatar-what-is-it-for/919336/10 "2020-08-31T12:13:58Z")
> [@BigT](#):
>
> Is there a list of all available colors?
The ones in the picker are 🔴 🟠 🟡 🟢 🔵 🟣 🟤 ⚫ ⚪
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2020, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-1-by-my-avatar-what-is-it-for/919336/11 "2020-08-31T13:10:44Z")
> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> > [@BigT](#):
> >
> > Is there a list of all available colors?
>
> The ones in the picker are 🔴 🟠 🟡 🟢 🔵 🟣 🟤 ⚫ ⚪
Yeah, I was hoping there might be more, or some generic way to pick any color. I note that it doesn’t include the dark blue circle I see on new posts, which looks like it’s also a character rather than a glyph.
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2020, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-1-by-my-avatar-what-is-it-for/919336/12 "2020-08-31T14:22:26Z")
I’m just curious why the blue, and only the blue, is : **large** \_blue\_circle : (there isn’t any other blue circle)
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2020, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-1-by-my-avatar-what-is-it-for/919336/13 "2020-08-31T16:52:02Z")
Speaking as a person with color-impairment, I would find it difficult to tell some of those colors apart, in context.
For instance, I’m the one who for years thought my iPhone was receiving SMS messages in orange bubbles, until someone point out to me that they were green.
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### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-1-by-my-avatar-what-is-it-for/919336/14 "2020-09-02T17:18:23Z")
I have a green circle like the OP and it’s been there for weeks. If you do a mouse over, it claims it’s a high priority notification. Yet when I click it says there’s a message about my trust level promotion. There’s something wrong here, since the trust level is about the lowest priority thing in this system.