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"Judge" people by their avatars?

anjinha

anjinha

macrumors 604
Original poster
Oct 21, 2006
7,324
206
San Francisco, CA
I know this may sound stupid, but do you think sometimes in forums do you think you sort of "judge" people by their avatars or just that their avatars can give the wrong impression?

There's this other forum I go to and there's a member who always starts a bit of controversial threads, doesn't seem to know a lot about the topics and sometimes just says things that make me go "WTF?". He sounds a little dumb and immature but probably doesn't help that his avatar is a picture of Ralph Wiggum picking his nose...

What do you think?
 
I think sometimes peoples avatars do slightly reflect their personality, but don't judge a person 'till he/she actually says something or does something.

On a side note, this is a forum, people really don't give a crap what you think of them, and it really should not matter to you either.
 
iTeen said:
I think sometimes peoples avatars do slightly reflect their personality, but don't judge a person 'till he/she actually says something or does something.

On a side note, this is a forum, people really don't give a crap what you think of them, and it really should not matter to you either.
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Agreed. I don't really care what other people's avatars are.
 
I don't mean judging in that way. I just meant that sometimes the way I read someone's post has a lot to do with a person's avatar, and how seriously I take someone's posts. I don't do that intentionally.
 
For me all they are is a way to easily notice who a poster is. Some are incredibly distinctive and it helps.

Personally, I just choose or make ones that I like or that make me laugh.
 
I don't judge people by their avatars. I use avatars to judge people after I've become familiar with their posts.
 
I really can't see how people would be judged by their avatars. I mean, if you have an avatar that represents a sports team I would imagine that's their favorite sports team. If there's one that shows a picture of say Ralph Wiggum picking his nose, I would think that they're just being funny.

I too tend to judge people on their posts. In the end though, as much as I'd like to sit here and say I care if someone is upset at me or thinks I'm stupid around here, I'd be lying. Now, if I have tons of conversations with someone say in PMs, e-mail, or on the phone and they happen to think less of me; then I tend to care a great deal. If someone were to judge me because my past avatars have been my initials, a picture of a hotel room bed, a "sync" icon, an apple icon, an ipod nano, or a picture of something then they are more than welcome to. My response is that I am sorry you care so much. :)
 
I too simply use the avatars to help me to know who has posted.

A few years ago, we had a game where a few dozen of us randomly rotated our avatars around (we pooled all of our 'tars, and then we each got a randomly chosen one every few hours). It confused everyone, and showed just how much people look at 'tars, not names, when reading posts.
 
jsw said:
I too simply use the avatars to help me to know who has posted.

A few years ago, we had a game where a few dozen of us randomly rotated our avatars around (we pooled all of our 'tars, and then we each got a randomly chosen one every few hours). It confused everyone, and showed just how much people look at 'tars, not names, when reading posts.
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A lot of memory techniques uses visual cues to aid in recalling textual information if I am not wrong. I wouldn't be surprised if the most memorable thing most MR members can recall about lacero is his/her/its use of avatar.
 
I don't care what their avatars are, but I usually associate an avatar with a person quicker than a name. So I don't like it when folk swap avatars around so often :p

Unless it's something inflammatory like... petrol.
 
I choose avatars that are easy to spot quickly if I'm scrolling really fast.

I appreciate members with avatars that don't change often. It's a part of a member's identity, like a person's face. It just provides a visual familiarity.

As far as I know, I've always chosen funny looking animals, and I don't know if anyone can really judge me by these photos. I just happen to find many animal photos funny.
 
bartelby said:
So you're not just "virtually" mooning everyone, like I always thought?
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If we judged people by their avatars, we'd all think bartelby was some creepy kind of guy. I know I'm not the only one creeped out by his 'tar. :D
 
bigandy said:
For me all they are is a way to easily notice who a poster is. Some are incredibly distinctive and it helps.

Personally, I just choose or make ones that I like or that make me laugh.
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Yup. I form an opinion of someone based on their type of posts, and then once I see their avatar I know what type of post to expect.

Mostly, it just serves as a distinct way of knowing who's post it is without having to bother actually reading their username (I'm lazy). I can just tell at a glance (if they have an avatar that is)
 
I usually judge people by their posts -- I really do. But I have to admit a few people's avatars have either creeped me out or I have found very off-putting, even though the actual poster has not been. It takes me a minute to "adjust," because my knee-jerk reaction is sometimes to ignore.

On the other hand, I always wonder how people react to reading a post from a red teddy bear, and if I'm taken seriously or not. :D
 
I think it just makes it easier to find a user's posts when looking through them on a page. Otherwise I don't really care what it is.
 
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