# Would it bother you if avatars were allowed, but off by default?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 4, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045 "2010-10-04T20:20:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045/1 "2010-10-04T20:20:23Z")
Avatars came up again in the ATMB thread about [making the SDMB more social](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=580518). Czarcasm linked to a [poll thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=544894) where people were asked if they wanted avatars or not. The majority response was negative, which confirms the prevailing view that more people prefer a text-only board than not.
However, I haven’t seen anyone ask a key question: would anyone have a problem with avatars if they were enabled but turned off by default? So, the board would look exactly the same for everyone, except for those who went into their CP and checked a box.
I’m assuming no one would have a problem with this, but I assume lots of stuff that turns out to be wrong, so I figured I’d start the thread and see what happened.
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045/2 "2010-10-04T20:22:29Z")
Would there be any general performance degredation accompanying their implementation?
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### Author:  [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045/3 "2010-10-04T20:24:47Z")
> [@lieu](#):
>
> Would there be any general performance degredation accompanying their implementation?
Let’s assume not – I don’t think anyone would support them if they caused a noticeable slowdown in server performance.
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### Author:  [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045/4 "2010-10-04T20:32:30Z")
Question to those who voted “I would prefer to continue to have avatars off for everyone.” Why?
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045/5 "2010-10-04T20:34:28Z")
Do The Powers That Be care if we “borrow” pictures from other websites without permission? If so, then the mods and admins would have to approve them individually, wouldn’t they?
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### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045/6 "2010-10-04T20:38:48Z")
As long as it’s not “paying members can turn off avatars, but non paying members can’t”. Of course, TPTB have every right to do that, too, but I would hate it.
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### Author:  [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045/7 "2010-10-04T20:40:02Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#):
>
> Question to those who voted “I would prefer to continue to have avatars off for everyone.” Why?
I didn’t vote, but my answer would be “roughly for the same reason I prefer the NYT not change their font from Times New Roman to Comic Sans MS.”
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### Author:  [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045/8 "2010-10-04T20:43:37Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> Do The Powers That Be care if we “borrow” pictures from other websites without permission? If so, then the mods and admins would have to approve them individually, wouldn’t they?
I’m going on the assumption that they would handle it like every other message board I’ve ever seen, i.e. the responsibility for what pictures are used rests with the poster and the staff doesn’t get involved unless someone complains.
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### Author:  [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045/9 "2010-10-04T20:49:41Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#):
>
> Question to those who voted “I would prefer to continue to have avatars off for everyone.” Why?
I want avatars off for myself. Now imagine that people start commenting on each other’s avatars or making jokes about each other’s avatars. My response: wtf is going on? And if no context is provided then I won’t know to turn on avatars so I can understand exactly wtf is going on.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045/10 "2010-10-04T20:51:35Z")
Hey, how about avatars never on for Great Debates? Then people who only like the Great Debates portion of the website never have to worry about other people having fun here! 🙂
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### Author:  [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045/11 "2010-10-04T20:51:40Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#):
>
> Question to those who voted “I would prefer to continue to have avatars off for everyone.” Why?
Nothing is broken. Don’t fix it.
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### Author:  [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045/12 "2010-10-04T20:54:16Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#):
>
> > [@Red\_Barchetta](#):
> >
> > Question to those who voted “I would prefer to continue to have avatars off for everyone.” Why?
>
> I didn’t vote, but my answer would be “roughly for the same reason I prefer the NYT not change their font from Times New Roman to Comic Sans MS.”
Welcome to my world with sigs. There is precedent for this, and it doesn’t happen often.
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### Author:  [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045/13 "2010-10-04T20:55:45Z")
> [@Ravenman](#):
>
> > [@Red\_Barchetta](#):
> >
> > Question to those who voted “I would prefer to continue to have avatars off for everyone.” Why?
>
> Nothing is broken. Don’t fix it.
Nothing was “broken” before edits either, but the board has improved as a result. And you can make it so that the change shouldn’t impact you at all.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045/14 "2010-10-04T20:56:43Z")
> [@Giraffe](#):
>
> > [@Czarcasm](#):
> >
> > Do The Powers That Be care if we “borrow” pictures from other websites without permission? If so, then the mods and admins would have to approve them individually, wouldn’t they?
>
> I’m going on the assumption that they would handle it like every other message board I’ve ever seen, i.e. the responsibility for what pictures are used rests with the poster and the staff doesn’t get involved unless someone complains.
And I would assume that it is possible that a personal message board might operate under different rules than one owned by a corporation, especially one that is involved in the newsbiz-their lawyers tend to be a bit more skittish when it comes to copyright matters.
IMHO, of course. I wouldn’t mind hearing from those who would know.
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### Author:  [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2010, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045/15 "2010-10-04T22:04:04Z")
I would like avatars. I like having faces with names. I wouldn’t mind having to turn the option on.
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045/16 "2010-10-04T22:24:34Z")
Do you mean avatars of cute kittens and puppies? Animated GIFs? Scantily-dressed female superheros? What kind?
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### Author:  [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045/17 "2010-10-04T22:27:18Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#):
>
> > [@Red\_Barchetta](#):
> >
> > Question to those who voted “I would prefer to continue to have avatars off for everyone.” Why?
>
> I didn’t vote, but my answer would be “roughly for the same reason I prefer the NYT not change their font from Times New Roman to Comic Sans MS.”
This is very well said - I agree.
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### Author:  [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2010, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045/18 "2010-10-05T00:08:54Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#):
>
> Question to those who voted “I would prefer to continue to have avatars off for everyone.” Why?
Given this board’s history, I’d be worried primarily about a performance hit.
After that, I’d be worried about otherwise perfectly good threads being peppered with posts like
> [@nobody](#):
>
> Oh, I LOVE your new avatar!
> [@nobody else (upon spotting a dancing penguin avatar)](#):
>
> Hey! A dancing penguin!
> [@nobody at all (upon seeing an American flag avatar)](#):
>
> You’re a {great patriot | jingoistic imperialist}!
the problems from which would only be compounded by the Blind not knowing what the Seers were talking about.
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### Author:  [@Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buckler_of_Swashing)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045/19 "2010-10-05T01:18:26Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#):
>
> > [@Red\_Barchetta](#):
> >
> > Question to those who voted “I would prefer to continue to have avatars off for everyone.” Why?
>
> I didn’t vote, but my answer would be “roughly for the same reason I prefer the NYT not change their font from Times New Roman to Comic Sans MS.”
What if there was just a option for some people to get a copy of the NYT in Comic Sans while you still only ever see it in Times New Roman?
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2010, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-if-avatars-were-allowed-but-off-by-default/556045/20 "2010-10-05T01:28:15Z")
I don’t get the whole, “NO AVATARS!!!” crap around here. Every other board I visit has them, and I’ve never seen any problem. (And let’s not start the whole, “but we’re not LIKE other boards” okay? The SDMB is not some speshul snowflake.)
I don’t see how avatars would be a big deal. the way everyone is acting you’d think it would bring about Armageddon.
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