The Effect An Avatar Has - Page 5

ifoughtpiranhas · #41 09-02-2007, 08:55 AM

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I hate it when people change Avatars. I find random names much harder to remember. The combination of name and image allows me to keep track of people.
Kimbell175113 yes I recognised him though I couldn’t be entirely sure.
ifoughtpiranhas yes I'm sure all the British posters recognize Private Walker even if they can’t remember his name they remember him as the spiv. Id keep it, it represents a wide boy with a sense of humour.
Kdawg your cat with bear bottles is a prime example of my inability to separate posters from their Avatars. Every time I read your posts I’m expecting the cynicism and apathy of Boondocksaint who mods a Politics forum and used that image for a long time.
The only Avatars that I really hate are the very fast moving animated ones especially if they flash. I just don’t read what that poster has to say they give me a headache.

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AJW
i had jack white from the the white stripes before in kind of an obscure posistion where you coudnt really see his face. thats why i asked if anyone knew who he was. i changed my avatar to joe walker/james beck after this.

BigPoppa · #42 09-02-2007, 09:42 AM

So what does my avatar say about me?

ZeTurd · #43 09-02-2007, 09:49 AM

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Back to the avatar. I switched it once a long time ago and got a ton of crap from posters.

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Count me in among the guys who's gonna give you crap if you change it! Hard to peg exactly what it is about your avatar that makes me like it so much, never read the Ash thread that spawned it (link anyone?), but it cracks me up nevertheless.

As a few others have mentioned, I tend to assign negative value to posters with hot-chick avatars. I usually assume they're going to be the kind of posters who are trying a little too hard, and that their posting on the whole will lack creativity and insight. Of course, this is always not true, but as far as generalizations go, I think it's a pretty good one.

Famous people avatars are kind of hit and miss for me. Not surprisingly, I tend to assign positive value to the poster if I'm a fan of the celeb, but it kind of depends. Take TheDudeAbides's avatar for instance. I'm a huge fan of "The Big Lebowski", but an avatar of Jeff Bridges in a standard pose wouldn't do much for me. "The Big Lebowski" is wildly popular among your usual internet crowd, so I would tend to believe a person picking such an avatar might lack creativity. TheDudeAbides's avatar is made awesome by the way it's animated, not because it's from "The Big Lebowski". I usually tend to dig avatars of celebs I don't like too if it's an interesting pose or it has a cool animation. whoisthedrizzle's original Tom Cruise avatar where he has that frenzied look on his face used to crack me up good for instance.

Cartoon characters are also kind of hit and miss. Picking a random character from The Simpsons for instance usually indicates a lack of imagination. Same goes for anime avatars.

But that's just first impressions. Over time, I tend to like the avatar if I like the poster. It gets mentally linked to their posts, so even a horrible avatar will be awesome in my mind because I link it to the poster. edfurlong has had some pretty [censored] avatars, but since he's an awesome poster they usually give me positive connotations.

Anyway, I picked my avatar since I also use it on a couple of other forums. Which I kind of regret now, cause I really want to use this one:

tarheeljks · #44 09-02-2007, 12:14 PM

you are loaded and/or a spewy poker player?

tarheeljks · #45 09-02-2007, 12:16 PM

i don't really understand why it matters if someone changes their avatar

VoraciousReader · #46 09-02-2007, 12:26 PM

I definitely look at the avatar first. Avatars are one of the things that make 2p2 a community. Instant recognition makes it feel more personal. For this reason, I DESPISE duplicate avatars, and permanent avatar changes.

Other thoughts:

1. Thank you for reminding me to change back to my real avatar.

2. Re: hot girl avatars. For me, the more sexually suggestive the avatar, the less I tend to think of the poster. If it's just a picture of a woman, it doesn't really impact my opinion. If it's the OP's avatar or something similar (no offense, OP) I tend to prejudge that person as kind of juvenile and probably single. If it's an animated "peep" shot of a the under curve of a girl's ass or something similar, I tend to prejudge that person as kind of juvenile, probably single, pretty insecure, and trying to be a "big man on the internet".

3. I think I've mentioned this before, but I'm moderately weirded out by married/engaged men with "hot girl" avatars that aren't their wife/fiancee. It seems kind of skeevy to me...like, by the time you're married, you should be beyond using a chick as your internet forum avatar. I'd feel uncomfortable if my husband did that...and I'm not one of the "no porn, no masturbating, don't look at other women" girls...but the avatar is different because he's chosen that to represent him. It's just kinda "eww".

4. I am predisposed to like anyone with a cat avatar that doesn't involve the cat getting injured in some way.

5. I pretty much ignore the posts of anyone with an animated avatar, unless it's someone I know, because I get distracted by the avatar...even when it's mine. I had a wiggling kitten for a while and I didn't even read my own posts. (Unfortunately, I'm like this in real life too...I completely lose track of what I'm doing if I see a squirrel climbing a tree or something. An ex of mine called it "Amanda having an 'oooooh, shiny' moment".)

VoraciousReader · #47 09-02-2007, 12:33 PM

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What do you think about those of us who change our avatars? I remember bisonbison saying that people should never change their avatars (i think it was bison who said that). The reason being that we all associate an avatar with a specific poster. Changing it up makes a person look like a flake or something. It doesn't establish credibility. Your thoughts on that?

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The funny thing is, I kind of agree with bisonbison on this, but I still change my avatar. It's like dying my hair. Occasionally I feel like a change, but I always return to home base (natural color).

I guess bisonbison would say I'm flaky. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Borodog · #48 09-02-2007, 12:45 PM

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I usually get pretty polarized comments about my avatar. People either seem to love it or hate it. I don't think it says anything about me other than that I have great taste in movies.

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TDA, you have one of the best avatars on the whole site. I need to change mine back.

nick604 · #49 09-02-2007, 12:53 PM

VR, I always associate your name with the trapped kitty avatar. It was cute, where'd it go?!

Edit: maybe this is what your "wiggling kitten" comment refers to. I still think you should bring it back [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Conspire · #50 09-02-2007, 01:24 PM

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2. Re: hot girl avatars. For me, the more sexually suggestive the avatar, the less I tend to think of the poster. If it's just a picture of a woman, it doesn't really impact my opinion. If it's the OP's avatar or something similar (no offense, OP) I tend to prejudge that person as kind of juvenile and probably single.

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Ya im not offended or anything, having the avatar that I do was one of the reasons I started this thread in the lounge. If u dont know anything about me, and u see a post by me in here what is your first impressions? If u look at all my recent posts u would see that the bulk are in BBV4life, so if u put my avatar and the fact that im a BBV4lifer I generally would not have a great starting image. It all goes back to my OP, "u cannot judge a book by its cover", its too bad first impressions can have such a huge impact on the future.