Thread: What's in an avatar?

I have observed some strange reactions to various people's choice of avatar over my excessive number of years on social internet sites.

I tend to choose my avatar based on something I can relate to personally. But I have observed in other cultures, such as Pakistan and India, that people there tend to choose avatars based on something they like. Pakistani and Indian men will often use images of beautiful culturally local women, usually Bollywood starlets and the women, if they even use the internet will use photos of children, flowers, or written phrases. And this is usually when they choose to not use their own face as their avatar.

So often in western cultures people will assume if they see an avatar of a pretty woman that it is a woman using the avatar because westernized men rarely put female images on their avatar, unless they identify with being feminine in some way, and we know how macho even the puniest of western men are.

So I am curious, what made you choose YOUR avatar? Does it tell us about you, or does it conceal something about you. Is it something think you are or something you wish you were? is it just a random image to fill the space and has no meaning to you at all? Did you choose it in hopes that it would make others like you? Did you hope to shock, entertain, or offend?

Interesting subject (even though I can't take any of your current posts seriously with that avatar ).

I have noticed that avatars sometimes change how I perceive posters. One regular poster on another forum had a picture of a serious bearded man (which I later realised was James Randi). It made me read his posts as if they were written by an old respected professor. He later changed it (a couple of times) to less serious images. I noticed that I didn't think his posts sound so serious after that. Another regular poster had a picture of a young woman and, for a while, I assumed the poster was female but he wasn't. (I don't think my attitude changed to his posts when I knew he was male.)

As for my own.... It just looks (and tastes) good. If it has any deeper significance, I suppose it could be that we can find complex patterns without meaning. Previously it was a tardigrade. Just because they are so cool (and there was a thread about them).

I have noticed, though not on this forum because i haven't been thinking too hard on it, that in other places when people were unsure if I were male or female they often thought I was male and took me more seriously and respected me more. The moment they discovered I was female it was "all lip and show us your knockers". I have in the past intentionally used ambiguous ids and concealed my gender for this reason. I know of a member here that also conceals their gender though the reasons may be different. I had a chat id at one time called aluminum_canz. I found with that id I could hold very long winded intellectual conversations even in yahoo chat rooms (over 10 years ago) but any id that appeared feminine resulted in countless pms asking me "hai, do you want sexy talk?"

remember the old days when the first question anyone asked anyone online was "asl"?

I don't know if I tend to respond differently to people based on their avatar or not. I suppose a very organized study would have to be done to see just to what extent, we judge a book by its cover, even online.

My daughter has acknowledged that her choice of avatar affects the kind of responses she gets. So at least she is aware that personal appearance is important. When I was a kid, I had that attitude that I should be allowed to express myself and dress how I want and I rebelled against dress codes and social norms in regards to appearance. But now, obviously, I realize that certain appearances will close certain professional doors for you. So if I want a job in a nerd profession, because apparently I am a nerd in denial, then I may have to somewhat look the part. I want blue hair. but I will likely have to hide it when I graduate so that I can get a job in the field that I am getting my degree in.

My avatars are usually deeply psychological and they do change with my personal perspectives. right now I somewhat identify with smeagle because my brain doesn't seem to be my own all the time. I feel like I am sharing it and I don't have many braincells to spare as it is. But at least I'm cute dont ya think?

I change my avatar to how I feel... Right now, I have been enjoying the talks I have with a friend of mine who also suffers with some mental illness' and he understands what i talk about, and what I am trying to say.. Where as, other men, treat me like I am just a piece. *enter eye roll here*.. I have always told people I am a girl, and I may not be the smartest at times, but I know alot, about alittle.. And what I am not able to word, I can eventually.. just takes awhile to get my point across..

Mine is from my all time favorite movie, The Day The Earth Stood Still.

Maybe I should start a separate thread and just pick random images and ask people what they may perceive of an individual using that image as an avatar if all they had was the avatar to go on. Being careful of course, to try avoiding using any images that are currently being used by any active members.

Push the button, Frank.

Mine has in the past and still does represent a lot regarding who I am. Previously my avatar image was found on the internet. My current one is my own creation. It also has some allusion to science fiction as well as ancient fiction (this line may mean something to some people: Incorrect inform -- ps -al: attach. Streets clear. No danger.)

My old screen name "DaBOB" is far outdated, but it's so impersonal that I kind of like it. I only use it here. (the Chinese for my title is Mozi, a school of wandering tacticians in the warring states period of China, which I sometimes translate to "wandering persuader")

I generally do my best to treat people as naturally as I can without discrimination of any kind. If I seem to treat women a certain way it would ideally be explained by saying that woman treat me a certain way. On the contrary, I think I tend to treat every person differently, but with as little bias as possible. I assume any judgements I make are false, even after getting to know a person, and accordingly do not act on them. Usually a person's judgements of others are reflections of themselves, and I find more often than not the automatic judgements are actually false with regard to others. On the internet I am more lenient, but I find it more and more difficult to fight my nature as I get older, and I tend to act more like myself on the internet now than in the past.

When discrimination happens it's more likely sexual than age based. I think men, woman, and all other sexual identities act in certain ways which I respond to (I'm just as likely to flirt with a man as I am a woman in the right circumstances). Age is different. Often young people bring immense creative qualities that have calcified in the older minds, though their ignorance or tempter may be harder to handle. Sometimes this is completely reversed. I've known young people with far more wisdom than any old sage, and older people who are far more understanding than any young person. When it comes to treatment I try to think of people, or their souls (if I may), as eternal, and thus their age is unknown to me.

For a lot of people the internet is a playground for social experiment. We naturally must hear a lot more of what is really on people's minds, and this is interesting, if not irritating (hey hot stuff). Occasionally I see this behaviour in reality, but rarely.

Seagypsy, the more I read your words the more I worry, that we've known each other... Be kind to you mind.

There is a needlessly long story behind my avatar. It suffices to say it's a part of a little Halloween tradition I have to take a spooky picture that I upload to facebook. I eventually decided to make it my default profile/avatar photo. It's just a nice way of keeping a certain amount of anonymity on the internet - while still using a genuine photo of myself.

Originally Posted by seagypsy

Maybe I should start a separate thread and just pick random images and ask people what they may perceive of an individual using that image as an avatar if all they had was the avatar to go on. Being careful of course, to try avoiding using any images that are currently being used by any active members.

Many hide behind their avatars so by just seeing it would not be able to give a true representation of the individual behind it. Even those who do not hide behind them we cannot tell very much about the individual but only perhaps what they might like, which isn't always who they are.

Originally Posted by cosmictraveler

Many hide behind their avatars so by just seeing it would not be able to give a true representation of the individual behind it. Even those who do not hide behind them we cannot tell very much about the individual but only perhaps what they might like, which isn't always who they are.

This is true- a person is capable of showing a very specific persona on a forum. Including the cunning use of an avatar.

I used to change my avatar out depending on my mood- though I haven't done that since joining here.

In a perfect world, we would pay attention only to what people write on topic. And pay no attention to their lives, personas, gender or trend of arguments.
It's not a perfect world and it appears most people would emulate the perfect world scenario with great difficulty.
Some might argue we should do it the best we can.
Others might say we should just make the best of our imperfect selves and enjoy being human.

My opinion leans more to the latter.

I don't take avatars particularly seriously. I figure the profile page is where you go if you actually want to get to know someone. I put a picture of myself and some details there. I'm not a big fan of putting personal stuff on a publicly-viewed forum page. Having been around prior to the internet age, I'm still a big fan of privacy.

Originally Posted by seagypsy

Iremember the old days when the first question anyone asked anyone online was "asl"?

They want to know if you are a member of the American Shuffleboard League?

Great question sea gypsy.

For me my avatars have changed it depends looking back on how I felt. It presently being an eye I like to think of it as though it is an eye for seeing things objectively. I suppose there are unconscious undertones of me being direct and real with people, sort of seeing eye to eye. I have always wanted to have a picture of myself but I feel this might be too personal. I like to hide behind a veil as to keep a false identity and have only disclosed my real identity to a few select people on this forum, it helps keeping things professional especially in discussion or it would turn into another general discussion forum.

For me when it comes to both female and male members I treat them with the same responses and have no gender bias style, treat others as you would like to be treated. I used to flirt with a few female members back and forth with each other on here and it was fun, but kept that to PMs mostly.

PS, there are a few members on here whose avatars have always been mysterious and instilling respect in me for, such as dabob, kalster, and ophiolite, wherever he is these days. These are just a few. It also depends on their personality.

I also find peoples titles interesting as well

I always thought ophiolite was a woman. I'm not sure why. I don't think I have ever participated in a thread that Ophiolite was active in and so have never interacted with him/her, but I have read some of his/her posts and they were ones that were pretty heavy into a subject I wasn't well versed in. but for me its the id itself that gave me the impression of a mature woman. Maybe because it sounds close to Ophelia or something. My apologies to Ophiolite if I have been mistaken.

Originally Posted by Harold14370

Originally Posted by seagypsy

Iremember the old days when the first question anyone asked anyone online was "asl"?

They want to know if you are a member of the American Shuffleboard League?

lol, just in case you aren't kidding here.. asl = Age, Sex, location?

responses would always come back in this type of format: 18, m, your mom's room

Originally Posted by DaBOB

Seagypsy, the more I read your words the more I worry, that we've known each other... Be kind to you mind.

I seem to have that affect on people. The better people get to know me, the more they start to worry....

Originally Posted by seagypsy

My apologies to Ophiolite if I have been mistaken.

Ha! I happen to know it's this.
Oph is a guy, and into geology.

Originally Posted by Dywyddyr

Originally Posted by seagypsy

My apologies to Ophiolite if I have been mistaken.

Ha! I happen to know it's this.
Oph is a guy, and into geology.

I never would have guessed... learn something new every day, thanks Dywydydyydyrrdydryr ... now if we can decipher your id lol

Originally Posted by seagypsy

I never would have guessed... learn something new every day, thanks Dywydydyydyrrdydryr ... now if we can decipher your id lol

Ah it's simple.
Break it down: d is pronounced as t, y as i, w as long u = "oo", and dd as th.
So it's Tiu-ith-ir.

I just noticed that my avy is me.. hahaha!! I changes the wrong pic! oops!!!

Originally Posted by Dywyddyr

Originally Posted by seagypsy

I never would have guessed... learn something new every day, thanks Dywydydyydyrrdydryr ... now if we can decipher your id lol

Ah it's simple.
Break it down: d is pronounced as t, y as i, w as long u = "oo", and dd as th.
So it's Tiu-ith-ir.

Lol I tried googling your id to see what the word origin is.. came up with nothing but you are all over the place. Assuming such a unique id is you every time it is used. So now I'll be careful not to make fun of people who play WoW lol.

Interesting, I never Googled for that name before now. No, they aren't all me, certainly not the WoW one.
But what is more intriguing is that I made the word up* (as a name for use in a science fiction novel I started writing) over 30 years ago. And only in the last few years made it "public" on the 'net when I used it as an ID on another forum or two.
I wonder if, and how many of, the other Dywyddyrs came across me and decided to hijack the name.


* It's sort-of-Welsh. I decided to learn Welsh (or at least the correct pronunciation) because I was reading the Mabinogion at the time.

Originally Posted by Dywyddyr

Interesting, I never Googled for that name before now. No, they aren't all me, certainly not the WoW one.
But what is more intriguing is that I made the word up* (as a name for use in a science fiction novel I started writing) over 30 years ago. And only in the last few years made it "public" on the 'net when I used it as an ID on another forum or two.
I wonder if, and how many of, the other Dywyddyrs came across me and decided to hijack the name.


* It's sort-of-Welsh. I decided to learn Welsh (or at least the correct pronunciation) because I was reading the Mabinogion at the time.

OMG... i managed to discover something Dywyddyr didn't know... that he has wanna-be clone fans lol.

My avatar is a robot on the cover of the Isaac Asimov short story compilation "I, Robot". Despite loving SciFi books from early on and having had this book in the house for as long as I can remember, I only read it in high school and loved every bit of it. My father has no idea where it came from. They called the Hollywood movie "I, Robot" and it was loosely based on Asimov's robot universe, but they missed the whole essence of it. I have no idea how others view my avatar, but it just represents something close to my heart: brilliant science fiction.

709432842_e8e8d6cc31.jpg

Oh, avatar.
It is, of course, Daffy Duck.
I picked him because I admire his acting ability (and he does all of his own stunts), coupled with his ability to keep going after (rather severe usually) setbacks. He has an unflagging, usually unspoken, optimism (although it's belied by his actual statements).
Plus he also embodies my attitude of taking life not-quite-seriously.

Duck season. (my chinese zodiac is rabbit, go on :P )

Originally Posted by seagypsy

I have observed some strange reactions to various people's choice of avatar over my excessive number of years on social internet sites.

I tend to choose my avatar based on something I can relate to personally. But I have observed in other cultures, such as Pakistan and India, that people there tend to choose avatars based on something they like. Pakistani and Indian men will often use images of beautiful culturally local women, usually Bollywood starlets and the women, if they even use the internet will use photos of children, flowers, or written phrases. And this is usually when they choose to not use their own face as their avatar.

So often in western cultures people will assume if they see an avatar of a pretty woman that it is a woman using the avatar because westernized men rarely put female images on their avatar, unless they identify with being feminine in some way, and we know how macho even the puniest of western men are.

So I am curious, what made you choose YOUR avatar? Does it tell us about you, or does it conceal something about you. Is it something think you are or something you wish you were? is it just a random image to fill the space and has no meaning to you at all? Did you choose it in hopes that it would make others like you? Did you hope to shock, entertain, or offend?

Well I was going to suggest that it possibly has something to do with our narcissistic tendancies, you notice some people just don't even feel the need to bother with one at all. Is it less narcissistic to not have one I wonder?, the idea perhaps that people should somehow be able to recognise you just fine from just a name alone maybe?. Or is that we all have some inner need or yearning for recognition, that we somehow have this great desire to be noticed. The whole 'say nice things to me' or even 'say mean things to me' but don't ignore me attitude, we all crave that adoration from others in some way or another. I guess part of trying to obtain that can be seen with the choice avatar for some, that wanting to reflect something of ourselves that makes that 'look at me' or 'notice me' statement. You may well think that some people seem really layed back and relaxed about it the"oh I've had my avatar for ages" types, but the truth is most are used to commanding attention, if any of us were to use an avatar and then knew we were being ignored because of it how long before we quickly changed it?, not very long I'm willing to guess.

Really in a way it's just sort of a digital expression of our choice of clothing, clothing choices being the image we present in the real world and our avatars the image we present in here this virtual world if you will. I guess for me my choice of avatar for the first time was just a picture of my old car I had lying around my computer, but when I got more involved I wanted to change it to something more interesting, I now like to change it every so often just to keep things fresh, I usually choose something that either I like such as cars, or artwork that I find visually appealing at least for this forum, but other forums such as SF I have always tried to go for something far less serious and more comedy oriented to reflect a different aspect of my persona that I wanted to convey, such as with the floppy trunked elephant and now with the smurf.

I've never really been interested in setting out for shock value or to offend or even suprise with my choices of avatar as I don't think that reflects me or any part of me, I'm not that suprising or complex really, when comes to down to it I'm usually just drawn to the asthetic of things and if they are pleasing to the eye thats what I tend to choose, this if anything probarbly says more about me than anything else. Show me a picture of something beautiful and I'll appreciate it whether it be of a car, a bike, a truck, a house, a train, an animal, a women or even a plane, if it's well designed or visually appealing then I'll like it. So I guess that's probrably really how and why I choose my avatars.

Originally Posted by Dywyddyr

Interesting, I never Googled for that name before now. No, they aren't all me, certainly not the WoW one.
But what is more intriguing is that I made the word up* (as a name for use in a science fiction novel I started writing) over 30 years ago. And only in the last few years made it "public" on the 'net when I used it as an ID on another forum or two.
I wonder if, and how many of, the other Dywyddyrs came across me and decided to hijack the name.

Yeah same problem. There's another "Neverfly" floating around out there... and even a nearly defunct "neverfly.com" which, I can assure you, has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with me.
My avatar is the one-winged angel, "Cloud" a clone and alter-side to Sephiroth.

Originally Posted by KALSTER

My avatar is a robot on the cover of the Isaac Asimov short story compilation "I, Robot". Despite loving SciFi books from early on and having had this book in the house for as long as I can remember, I only read it in high school and loved every bit of it. My father has no idea where it came from. They called the Hollywood movie "I, Robot" and it was loosely based on Asimov's robot universe, but they missed the whole essence of it. I have no idea how others view my avatar, but it just represents something close to my heart: brilliant science fiction.

709432842_e8e8d6cc31.jpg

Ah. My copy has a different cover:

My avatar is my own rendering of a klein bottle. I used it because I liked how it came out when I finished.

That cover is stupid. I hate that cover. That cover can die. It can just curl up and die. I hate it.

The gentleman in the avatar to the left has an IQ that would make Marilyn vos Savant's look like Forest Gump's. Things come pretty easy to this guy, like swallowing his face for example. Not too many people possess this talent which kind of opens a window into the avatar's user's persona. By the way, for those devoid of grey matter, he is what's known as a girner. Very unique to be highly intelligent yet appear like an idiot in public, business and even on internet forums. Yet somehow underneath this undignified exterior lurks a genius. Hard to believe MENSA wants him real bad, not because he aced their entrance test, but to get this guy to admit to not knowing something. It's the Holy Grail for MENSA members.

Been said that an avatar can tell you a lot about their owner. Yes I am quite content to look like an idiot, it's actually therapeutic. However I can't swallow my face, yet if I could like my friend here, then my identity would be truly protected. Shows that I really want to remain anonymous, that I revere it. I want people to think of my pictured friend here when they see Zinjanthropos in print. I want them to think of some evolutionary dead end with nothing better to do.( Posthumous apologies to Mary & Louis Leakey)

Seagypsy: your current avatar looks like Gollum's mother. It's a depressing little pic, are you feeling OK?

Pointless quibble time!

Originally Posted by zinjanthropos

By the way, for those devoid of grey matter, he is what's known as a girner.

That guy (using his massive intellect) should have informed you that it's spelt: gurner.

Originally Posted by Janus

Ah. My copy has a different cover:

Nice! I suspect the robot on my cover is Robbie and the one on yours is probably Dave (ore mining robot).

i've only had 3 avatars in more than 6 years of forum activity, in sequence



don't know if they tell anything about me, apart from the fact that i like the look of them

I select an avatar that is related to a specific forum event and generally contains a deeply concealed message, a subtle message and an in your face message that, rightly, probably gets ignored by everyone. Within two weeks I have forgotten why I chose it, but leave it there since changing is such a bother.

My first avatar was a cute little seahorse with anime-like big eyes, selected from those available at my first forum primarily because I did not know how to make a custom avatar at that time. For another forum I selected the Uffington White Horse and then decided to use an image of myself on my endurance mount, Caramel, as these avatars represent my passion, which is horses.

On a couple of other forums, I go by the name of 'Under The Rose', which is also a phrase that speaks to confidentiality, and so chose an avatar of a rose for those forums.

Originally Posted by seagypsy

I always thought ophiolite was a woman. I'm not sure why. I don't think I have ever participated in a thread that Ophiolite was active in and so have never interacted with him/her, but I have read some of his/her posts and they were ones that were pretty heavy into a subject I wasn't well versed in. but for me its the id itself that gave me the impression of a mature woman. Maybe because it sounds close to Ophelia or something. My apologies to Ophiolite if I have been mistaken.

Ophiolite is a well educated male and If I remember correctly he lives in Italy. He's a member in about 4 or 5 science forums and even mods in one of them. He doesn't usually start topics and he has a very dry sense of humor. I enjoy reading his responses very much.

Originally Posted by arKane

Ophiolite is a well educated male and If I remember correctly he lives in Italy.

make that scotland (click on the "About Me" tab)

I miss the old crank.

Originally Posted by Dywyddyr

Oh, avatar.
It is, of course, Daffy Duck.
I picked him because I admire his acting ability (and he does all of his own stunts), coupled with his ability to keep going after (rather severe usually) setbacks. He has an unflagging, usually unspoken, optimism (although it's belied by his actual statements).
Plus he also embodies my attitude of taking life not-quite-seriously.

I've been trying to remember your last avatar in the other SF forum, but damn it eludes me. Could you please post it here and talk about what made you change your avatar and not your ID?

Originally Posted by Ophiolite

Originally Posted by Christopher Ball

I am therefore convinced the science faithful are more faithful than the biblical faithful. They are more attached to 200 year old books than the faithful are attached to a 2000 year old book … god help us!

Dear Ignorant Bastard, the science community is convinced by hundreds of thousands of observations, in ten of thousands of studies by thousands of researchers that together and singly demonstrate what we are arguing, not what you are claiming. We frigging know about small coatings that can occur at the tideline. I've already applauded you for making that observation. It's a damn shame your mental instability or sub-standard IQ have prevented you from taking that observation further in the correct frigging direction. (When I feel less apoplectic I shall pm you wiht my email. I am quite prepared to travel to meet you and show you, in the field, why your ideas are wrong.)

One of the MANY reasons I miss him.

Originally Posted by John Galt

I select an avatar that is related to a specific forum event and generally contains a deeply concealed message, a subtle message and an in your face message that, rightly, probably gets ignored by everyone. Within two weeks I have forgotten why I chose it, but leave it there since changing is such a bother.

I was going to vote for you but forgot.

My avatar is a small globule in the Carina Nebula.



Some astronomers refer to this globule as "the bird"

Sometimes it looks like an index finger pointing, and other times it looks like a middle finger, depending on who is looking at it. I think of it as a message from the creator, but what that message is depends on the beholder.

I like the anonymous ID's with an avatar that's easy to spot and remember. In this case I picked the avatar first and then took a couple of weeks picking an ID to go with it. Yes I know it's an ugly troll like figure and I have many comments that told me so. If that causes a problem with others then I don't want to know them anyway.

Originally Posted by marnixR

Originally Posted by arKane

Ophiolite is a well educated male and If I remember correctly he lives in Italy.

make that scotland (click on the "About Me" tab)

Bah!
Both of those are in Yerp, and as far USAnians are concerned are so close to each other they might as well be the same country!

Originally Posted by arKane

I've been trying to remember your last avatar in the other SF forum, but damn it eludes me. Could you please post it here and talk about what made you change your avatar and not your ID?

This one:
avatar52889_1.gif.jpg

I chose Grifter (from the W.I.L.D.Cats comic) because he's one of my favourite characters from that series*, and because, at that time I wanted a change in my posting style¹ - I'd relinquished my previous ID on that site, and wanted an avatar far removed from Daffy (which had been the avatar for that previous ID).
Grifter was a maverick (something I've often been called in my career - and not always with approval!) and a gifted marksman - he nearly always hit his target regardless of circumstances - something I wanted to achieve with my posts.
The Daffy avatar was closely linked with the previous name (which also happened to be my real name - or at least my lifelong nickname, something known to far more people than know my given name), but I switched back to Daffy, feeling he's more "me" while keeping the Dywyddyr name as more memorable and distinctive than "Oli" - which now tells you who I am on that tank forum.

* The alternative choice was Midnighter:
Midnighter_revised_h01.jpg

a character from Warren Ellis's The Authority, a genuine badass with a computer brain capable of working through a fight before it happens so that the guy is virtually unbeatable. His "catchphrase" is "I've already fought this fight a million times in my head, I know what moves you're going to make, and you lose" - something that appelaed to me since, at SF, most of my "conflicts" were with pro-flying saucer and ghost/ paranormal woo-woos who hadn't had half of the discussions I've had, nor read a quarter of the "source material".


And yes, I'm a huge comics fan.

Footnotes
1: Something I failed, signally, to achieve. I intended to adopt a more verbose and literary style (and actually start using the language, maybe include a few obscure partially forgotten words now and again) in an effort to rekindle a long-lost ability to write. Instead I ended up resorting to terse factual statements. Maybe I'll manage to improve here.

Speedfreak I thought you were just giving us the finger, can't help but think there's a subtly of that in your choice

Well, I think it looks more like a pointing finger than someone giving the finger:



But as I said, different people see it in different ways.

"It is like a finger pointing away to the moon" *thwack* "DON'T concentrate on the finger, or you will miss out on all the heavenly glory!" - Bruce Lee

seen from the other side, the nebula looks as follows :

The psychology of an avatar. I would agree, that it's some sort of clothing. It can be deceptive yes, just like we have a bias for attractive people and clothing, we might bias people because of their avatar. I think how you type is also very important how you are perceived. It would be a good idea to do a study about it.

I am very active at a humor site, the owner makes humor video's and there are comics. It's a bit a social networking site, it has blogs for example, it has no moderators and you can make a lot of accounts (I like it so much for it's freedom). It's really interesting view of a internet culture, and I have quite a huge role in it. Trolling (don't worry I'm not going to do that here!) is part of the humor site culture, I actually made it somewhat popular. I was posing as an unactractive girl with the name "Hotbabe", this "girl" was aged 11 and posted very stupid things. How did people react on her? They spammed her profile with 'you're ugly, you're ugly', luckely she's not real, and the site is otherwise a nice place, but it does tell you a bit psychology. They thought she was real (later some did suspect she was a troll), and then I started to talk as a mature person and changed the picture, some of the members were shocked.

Some of my virtual vriends there possed as girls, and of course they were pretty popular and guys gave them their personal information (but this was censored in the blog about it).

I'm known on the site as guestleader, this is a joke that started when I found a cheatcode and would only told the guests in the chatroom the cheat (those guests were also me). I become notorious (for saying HAIL THE GUESTLEADER) and I made this as my user. Some other users also started to become guestusers, like guestprince, guestmaster, and guestslave.
I've done all sorts of immature things, it's quite embarrassing actually, like a fake drunk rant that I would leave that caused quite a controversy and I putted a video of a innocent looking video from the owner with somewhere in between a hot French make out session of two guys (I've got nothing against gays, but judging by the comments people made on this video, most people do and quite some found it repulsive; but I must admit, that was the reaction I was looking for). I guess now I'm telling this I'll be biased as a immature guy.

Quite immature behavior I have done on that site, but it's a lot of fun, and it's also very interesting in a psychological view. And while I was hated when I was a guest on that site, I'm quite respected as the guestleader. Cyberbullying which I try to not do, like in the case of Hotbabe (though this is an extreme example), does happen but not a lot. One guy made a video about him singing, and while he was not spammed, people made fun of him on blogs (he said he didn't mind, but he did left).

Another thing I found interesting. In Dutch some use cancer as a term of abuse. As some people did this, others started posting blogs that it should be stopped. So even in this site of anarchy, moral does exist. And I was punished when I made my drunk rant, some unfriended me and others changed their personal message into "guestleader went to far " or "guestleader crossed the line". I in return did a another fake blog that I was sorry and changed my picture in a crying tapir (the avatar that guests use, the symbol of my little subculture). (Note: most on the site are under my age, I'm one of the oldest)

I hope this little story isn't too off-topic, I think internet culture is interesting. It gives you a little insight into psychology. I haven't even started on the fictional wars that happened there, one guy managed to start a fake revolution by having everbody an avatar with a pirate (I suggested this idea when I was guest, funny how much influence I have), he was "fighting" some guys that called themselves bosses that threw him off their site (no fighting was involved, not even hacking, just saying arrr and using the pirate avatar). The boss of that group eventually left the site. After that some guest "wars" started between my "faction" and My Little Pony fans (a lot of them on the site), and between my "faction" and new pirates against people that went on tinychat. Nothing happened because of that, but some people didn't like these "wars", which was nothing more than saying stuff (not even using abusive terms) and making blogs.

Ok to the point, Shamandrill!
Now, why do I have a mandrill as avatar? I started a joke at the site that baboons were going to take over the world, this started as some sort of meme, suddenly users like baboonking, baboonleader, baboonruler appeared and started making blogs about it. I told that baboons and their relatives like the mandrill would take over the world.

And I kind of like baboons, because they are somewhat intelligent and they are strong and the mandrill while not a true baboon is a very beautiful so I decided to pick that as avatar. Shaman is in it because of my disorder, so it became shamandrill. End of story.

So you really are a cheeky monkey.

Shamandrill
Are you always so wordy? The last member which used to have an angry bear avatar was a real jerk IMO. But I don't know you so I'll reserve my opinion. Other than that welcome to the forum.

Originally Posted by Dywyddyr

Pointless quibble time!

Originally Posted by zinjanthropos

By the way, for those devoid of grey matter, he is what's known as a girner.

That guy (using his massive intellect) should have informed you that it's spelt: gurner.

Ach mon! 'tis the Royal & Ancient Scots dictionary you need. Never mind that contemporary word spell, The Scots have been girning ever since the first three putt.

um..do i even need to explain my avatar?

Oh, no! Now I'm perceived as the cheeky immature monkey boy!

How about I do a little experiment on the site I was talking about? I make two users:

-they are of average age on the site
-they behave like the average person
-they both spend about as much time on the site and participate by commenting, chatting and perhaps blogging (making the same sort of blogs is a bit hard)

The only real difference would be:

-their avatar
-their name

We would then look at the following:

-how many befriend the user (the two users themselves wouldn't befriend anyone, at least at first)
-how many comments does the user get on his profile, if any
-are comments about the person positive or negative

Now the question is, what would we give the two users for names and avatars? Are their more factors that should be implemented?

Originally Posted by NMSquirrel

um..do i even need to explain my avatar?

Do you just love squirrels?

Originally Posted by Dywyddyr

[I intended to adopt a more verbose and literary style .

Verbose and literary are mutually exclusive, so perhaps your selection of a confused duck was fortuitous.

Incidentally, I recognised the duck and the posting style and was trying to think who else you were, but failed - until you mentioned - Oli.

Yes, I probably meant loquacious.
I certainly meant "considerably less terse".

Originally Posted by KALSTER

Originally Posted by NMSquirrel

um..do i even need to explain my avatar?

Do you just love squirrels?

the handle itself came from when i was 18, i was working in the carnival,
i operated the tobogan ride, it was my responsibility to climb the track to check for loose bolts,
one day we were all partying in the bunkhouse when i noticed everyone had a handle/nickname, so i asked for one and an old indian dude gave me the handle squirrel..he said it was because i was a good climber..

and the handle stuck..

Originally Posted by NMSquirrel

um..do i even need to explain my avatar?

Ooh ooh, is it because you're nuts?

I have a strong dislike for people who change their avatars by the way. Somehow I identify the avatar as part of their personality.
When it changes, I get somewhat confused.

Seagypsy's current avatar reminds me of something from Doctor Who.

Did someone say Doctor?

Originally Posted by Shamandrill

I have a strong dislike for people who change their avatars by the way. Somehow I identify the avatar as part of their personality.
When it changes, I get somewhat confused.

Then the changing of an avatar should tell you that the person is one that changes. I do regularly. My perspective, my mood, my mind... hey I'm a woman, can't help it.

But it's nice to know you have a strong dislike for me over some very silly superficial thing. I strongly dislike people who judge people over very silly superficial things.

Originally Posted by Quantime

Did someone say Doctor?

used to be one of your earlier avatars, didn't it ?

Originally Posted by Quantime

Did someone say Doctor?

I watched all of them and am now up to date. Bad Wolf was cool! Seagypsy's avatar looks like the last pure human, Cassandra.

Originally Posted by KALSTER

Originally Posted by Quantime

Did someone say Doctor?

I watched all of them and am now up to date. Bad Wolf was cool! Seagypsy's avatar looks like the last pure human, Cassandra.

Attachment 1734

Originally Posted by Shamandrill

How about I do a little experiment on the site I was talking about? I make two users...

If you never believe anything I say, believe me when I say this...

That would be a very bad idea.

Originally Posted by KALSTER

Originally Posted by Quantime

Did someone say Doctor?

I watched all of them and am now up to date. Bad Wolf was cool! Seagypsy's avatar looks like the last pure human, Cassandra.

last one i saw was the wedding of river song and the christmas special with the living trees..have to wait for the rest to get to netflix

Originally Posted by Neverfly

Originally Posted by Shamandrill

How about I do a little experiment on the site I was talking about? I make two users...

If you never believe anything I say, believe me when I say this...

That would be a very bad idea.

Hmm. It is possibly not that easy to see if avatar and name have any effect on how people are treated.

I'm not even sure if I would want to do it.

And common sense tells me a lot. Just like negative words result in negative emotions (priming), a negative looking avatar would result into a more negative attitude to that someone. I think avatars reflect a bit personality, sometimes the mood of the person, which group they believe they belong to etc.

But now I'm very curious, why would it be a bad idea?

People in general don't like being fiddled with. If you decide to press forward, you'll do well to do it elsewhere...

so according to science..there is a phsycological effect of the color blue and the color red (i think they did pink too)

i think they figured that blue was tranquil and red is aggitated..(put ppl in a blue room and recorded how they performed and such..)

so if you were talking pureity of an avatar causeing an emotional state, then make your avatar all blue..(or all pink..i think pink was the most docile)

While studies show fun and useful statistics one must also account for the individual. Someone may have been hit by a blue car, and unconsciously derive uncomfortable feelings around the color. Or, someone could visualize a soothing green while in the midst of a high stress business interaction and feel relaxed. Adrenaline junkies may be one example where the average deviates. People who practice relaxation in general will probably remain equally calm in either color. Not everyone is a mindless drone, slave to their own imaginations...

If my avatar implies agitation than it is not very representative of who I am. Unless I have yet to discover that I am color blind. Or maybe it represents a certain deviousness of character, expressing the contrary.

to me it expresses that you like to tease..

Is that so?

its like i can 'Almost' see you..

(irrelavent whether it is you or not)

Originally Posted by DaBOB

While studies show fun and useful statistics one must also account for the individual. Someone may have been hit by a blue car, and unconsciously derive uncomfortable feelings around the color. Or, someone could visualize a soothing green while in the midst of a high stress business interaction and feel relaxed. Adrenaline junkies may be one example where the average deviates. People who practice relaxation in general will probably remain equally calm in either color. Not everyone is a mindless drone, slave to their own imaginations...

If my avatar implies agitation than it is not very representative of who I am. Unless I have yet to discover that I am color blind. Or maybe it represents a certain deviousness of character, expressing the contrary.

Though reasonably I presume you intended on your avatar to reflect reds, if you actually look at the individual pixels, they are mostly pink. And I have never gotten an agitated feeling from your avatar. Actually, even though I know that with the effects turned off you most likely, being Chinese and all, probably look nothing like my dad at all. but with the effects i always see my dad in the image. Weird huh. But it does cause me to disagree with you in pm rather than public, and that is how I deal with my dad. I don't want to embarrass him on face book by letting all his friends know that his little girl doesn't see the political world from the same angle he does lol.

Originally Posted by NMSquirrel

its like i can 'Almost' see you..

(irrelavent whether it is you or not)

Dwywyddyr's old avatar of the person with the red veil on always made me think he was a rebellious female Muslim bad-ass. I didn't know it was a superhero in the picture lol. And when I saw that avatar he was not actively posting in that forum. NF had to tell me it was a guy.

Originally Posted by seagypsy

Originally Posted by NMSquirrel

its like i can 'Almost' see you..

(irrelavent whether it is you or not)

Dwywyddyr's old avatar of the person with the red veil on always made me think he was a rebellious female Muslim bad-ass. I didn't know it was a superhero in the picture lol. And when I saw that avatar he was not actively posting in that forum. NF had to tell me it was a guy.

i didnt like that avatar..i knew it was a superhero and i still thought of the muslim referance...like the duck better..i would suggest uncle scrooge, but i relate too much to scrooge..

A little secret: I have been termed an "egg," white on the outside, yellow on the inside. : p I've had people of all races ask if I am Chinese, but neither of my parents nor their parents are. I've grown to feel that both nationally and culturally I don't fit well in any particular mold, and don't particularly prefer to. I have a tendency for getting along well with Chinese, Germans, Austoninites, and certain Pacific Northwesterners (probably because they are of the few who can grasp my sense of sarcasm). I am frequently told by spell check programs that my words are missing a "u," and I rarely comply with the suggestion. But now you know all too much about me.

Originally Posted by NMSquirrel

Originally Posted by seagypsy

Originally Posted by NMSquirrel

its like i can 'Almost' see you..

(irrelavent whether it is you or not)

Dwywyddyr's old avatar of the person with the red veil on always made me think he was a rebellious female Muslim bad-ass. I didn't know it was a superhero in the picture lol. And when I saw that avatar he was not actively posting in that forum. NF had to tell me it was a guy.

i didnt like that avatar..i knew it was a superhero and i still thought of the muslim referance...like the duck better..i would suggest uncle scrooge, but i relate too much to scrooge..

Oh you should see me in some of my old pics when I was practicing Islam. I made the niqab(face veil) look awesome. One of my pics got hijacked and turned into a meme for a while. it was attached to the expression, "Cuz ninjas are hot"... it cracked me up but I still ended up removing the photo from photobucket which is how the image was created... it was just linked thankfully. So when I took it down, all the myspace comment pics went blank.

I have to admit, I get jealous sometimes when I see muslim girls today wearing their scarves and stuff. I think they look classy when done right. And I was good at it. I think I looked better in a scarf/veil than without. But I don't think NF would be comfortable with me in public if I went back to wearing the veil. I did it once at a bar and it pissed off a bunch of muslims because they didn't think I should have the right to wear it if I am not muslim. So I pointed out that their gf's had no face cover on, and they weren't married to their gfs, and they were drinking alcohol. So until they practice their religion correctly, they need not tell me what I can or cannot do as an infidel. lol. Only one got the message and he threatened to kick the other muslims' asses if they gave me anymore trouble. it was awesome.


This was me at the bar doing karaoke that night

[IMG]deleted pic[/IMG]

And this is the one that got turned into a ninja meme

[IMGdeleted pic[/IMG]

I will take these images down after a while.

why?

i hold no illusions as to how many ppl actually read these posts..

i wanna think its alot, but i know that is not true.
my words here will fade into obscurity, (try to find an old thread you have posted in)..

pry the most ppl who read my posts is 10-20, average is more like 5-10..
(which is pry another reason why i am not afraid to show my true self.)

Originally Posted by NMSquirrel

why?

i hold no illusions as to how many ppl actually read these posts..

i wanna think its alot, but i know that is not true.
my words here will fade into obscurity, (try to find an old thread you have posted in)..

pry the most ppl who read my posts is 10-20, average is more like 5-10..
(which is pry another reason why i am not afraid to show my true self.)

I've been banned from BAUT for years, and I still, to this day, have people talk to me about posts I made there.

There are a lot of lurkers out there, reading. You never know about the silent ones, but don't underestimate their numbers.

This is the avatar I use on the first forum that I joined and I still think it is cute, therefore non-confrontational, which seems to be a good fit for my personality and posting style.

Hey... That is cute. Can I borrow it?

Originally Posted by scheherazade

therefore non-confrontational, which seems to be a good fit for my personality and posting style.

Crap.
Nevermind...

Originally Posted by Neverfly

Hey... That is cute. Can I borrow it?

Originally Posted by scheherazade

therefore non-confrontational, which seems to be a good fit for my personality and posting style.

Crap.
Nevermind...

(Chuckling to self...)

It is in the public domain, not mine to approve or disapprove. I had an image of a 'wolf in sheep's clothing' fleet across my mind as I read your response, neverfly...

I prefer a more honest projection

Originally Posted by NMSquirrel

why?

i hold no illusions as to how many ppl actually read these posts..

i wanna think its alot, but i know that is not true.
my words here will fade into obscurity, (try to find an old thread you have posted in)..

pry the most ppl who read my posts is 10-20, average is more like 5-10..
(which is pry another reason why i am not afraid to show my true self.)

I only worry about 1 person that may read my posts. As long as that stalking sob is out there I don't allow anything too identifiable to remain in public. even most of my profile is locked down to friends only.

Originally Posted by NMSquirrel

pry the most ppl who read my posts is 10-20, average is more like 5-10.

Yeah, but none of them take any notice.

Originally Posted by Dywyddyr

Yeah, but none of them take any notice.

Hey Look!..A Squirrel!

ROTFL..


took me a sec to get it..