There may be some who run the script and see avatars but don’t choose to display an avatar of their own. And as noted there are some who uploaded a profile picture to their SDMB profile but don’t run the script so they don’t see it by their posts even though script users do.
When the script was initially released it revealed hundreds of profile pictures that had been uploaded by members at some time in the past who have since let their memberships expire. What was probably a bug in the SDMB keeping those images in their profiles was apparently fixed by TPTB in the mean time as those no longer appear. This caused a drop in the number of visible avatars for script users as there were quite a few paying members back in the day who uploaded an image and later let their memberships expire.
Personally I think even the approximately 500 ‘genuine’ avatar users really improve the appearance of message threads and those remaining members and charter members that continue their subscriptions still display their avatars (whether or not they use the script to see them by their own posts). I got a new computer recently and took some time to transfer over all my programs and files. I ran without the script for a few days and browsing the boards was remarkably different. Threads looked very plain without them. Without the script I really noticed how much value avatars have not only for visual improvement but poster recognition.
As it happens those interested enough in the boards to either pay for a subscription and upload an image, or download a user script to see and display avatars are logically also some of the most active on the boards in general, and write the most posts. So while our numbers are small in terms of overall board membership we are a vocal minority and avatars appear in just about every active thread on the boards. I would expect this will only continue to increase, little by little, as more users become aware that they can have avatars.
Brand new users are not very likely to find this thread initially, install a userscript for avatars, and edit their profiles to include their own avatars immediately after signing up, but if they stick around long enough many will probably find their way to this thread eventually and install the script too. On a board that allows built-in avatars I would wager that more than half, probably closer to 95% of all users upload an avatar on their very first day when they create their accounts. That isn’t an option here and many who would instantly do so if presented with the option on sign up may never find their way to this thread, but all in all some avatars is better than no avatars and the numbers can only go up from here.
It takes anywhere from a few minutes up to about an hour for the script to find your avatar link. It looks like the link is fine so it should appear to you and other script users shortly.
Thank you so, SO much. As you can see from my join date, I’ve been a member for awhile but couldn’t get into posting here because yes. I am avatar-dependent. If I could give you positive rep and hit the thanks button, I would. Other than that, I will just say thank you.
A minor update to the SDMB Avatar script is available here: Dance Party
The update is optional and only adds a single line, “@grant none”, to the declaration at the top of the script.
I recently updated Greasemonkey and it started alerting me that all userscripts should have a @grant declaration for future compatibility.
This line tells Greasemonkey that the script requests no special privileges or access to GM specific API’s. You can read more about it here: @grant - GreaseSpot Wiki
So if you run SDMB Avatars in Greasemonkey for Firefox this may prevent similar alerts if you update your version of GM in the futre. As far as I know it won’t have any effect on Chrome or other users of the script.
You can edit your own copy of the script to include this update by just adding that single line to the section at the top.
Or an updated version can be installed automatically from the link above.
If you install the update remember to save any custom avatars or other changes you may have made to your existing copy first because they will be overwritten by the new version.
Ah, you’re right. The size that avatar display can be changed to anything you like by editing the script and setting a number of pixels manually. The old script had the default set to 50 pixels and this updated version has that default set to 80 pixels. I forgot I had added that change in my own copy and it got transferred over in the update.
Out of wonder, is there any way to make my avatar nothing? I have nothing against avatars, I’ve championed their addition, but I’ve never been one to have one myself. I see that the script has been upgraded to automatically crawl the SDMB picture gallery. If somebody, personally wants to set my avatar to that or something else, go ahead, but by default I kind of want mine to be blank just out of personal preference.
I tried
SDMB Avatar: about:blank
But that didn’t seem to do anything, unfortunately.
I uploaded a 1x1 black pixel image and linked to that, we’ll see if it works whenever the script gets around to changing stuff. I think there should be a special tag like SDMB Avatar: None (or about:blank or something) to denote no avatar, though.
Happy avataring.
