Avvies, identity and change

[Morsul the Dark]

http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showpos...&postcount=723

best describes my avvie process

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

It grates when someone changes their avatar. Old avatars are like old photographs, images that you know and are comfortable with. But then, I do fear change.

I love my avatar because the colours are so unique on here that it stands out. I changed it once for a few days (to black and white) and it felt so wrong I changed it right back.

[miriena]

I personally recognize people by their avatars faster than I do by their names. Especially because there's already a bunch of words on the page, and the picture stands out more. I like seeing familiar avatars, but variety is the spice of life or something. And I definitely grow to associate people with the images, it's always weird to me when there's an obvious mismatch between someone's writing style, thoughts and opinions, and their avatars. And if someone uses an avatar with some person in it, I (quite naively, but involuntarily) almost expect the forum user to look kind of like that person

I always use the same picture for pretty much everything that needs an icon. It represents me quite well since it's my face I don't change self-representing user pictures often, once every few years or so (booooring). I like grabbing on to familiar things on teh Internets.

And I've had the name "Miriena" follow me around for *years*, more than 10 for sure. Yes, I suppose it may seem boring, but I can no longer imagine using another name for a forum where I plan to actually participate, it wouldn't be "me".

[Morai]

I used to change my avvie a ton, but I think that was before there were pixel limits. At first I used a bunch of Elijah Wood pictures, before my crush on him waned and I grew tired of being mistaken for a male.

There was a time when I had a picture of a lady wearing a mask. It seemed to work well with the black background, and it seemed to fit with people's assumptions about me.

I suppose I've kept this one so long because it literally is me! It's a picture of me taking a picture of the Mediterranean sea. At the same time, it's subtle enough to allow me more privacy. All said and done, I mostly haven't changed it because I'm too lazy to search for 60 x 60 pixel pictures on the internet.

It always takes me a bit to adjust to another BDer's avvie change. At the same time, I like to see the variety. My desktop background changes once a week at least.

[skip spence]

Originally Posted by miriena

And I definitely grow to associate people with the images, it's always weird to me when there's an obvious mismatch between someone's writing style, thoughts and opinions, and their avatars. And if someone uses an avatar with some person in it, I (quite naively, but involuntarily) almost expect the forum user to look kind of like that person

I always use the same picture for pretty much everything that needs an icon. It represents me quite well since it's my face I don't change self-representing user pictures often, once every few years or so (booooring). I like grabbing on to familiar things on teh Internets.

My mental pictures of posters are also very influenced by their avatar, especially when it depicts a face. When I think of alatar, I think of a young and handsome dude who rides a motorcycle in a leather jacket. Esty is the princess in Shrek, Mith is that pale woman on the painting and Rune is a Karl Marx-looking guy (although now I know he's Ron Weasley rather ).

In your case I see an unadorned picture of an attractive woman, and I think I would feel cheated if that weren't in fact you. With stylized images you can sort of accept that the person in question doesn't actually look like the pic, but with a plain photo that's harder. You're not a man, are you?

And welcome to the downs!

[Lush]

I like to think of an avatar as a kind of talisman. It's more than just a projection - it's a little bit of internet magic.

I have a cheerful mangatar right now, because cheer is what I need.

[Mithalwen]

I wonder whether I am capricious with my avatar and sig because I am so happy with my Personal Title as a more constant expression of myself? I think I have always changes sigs frequently as they are a thing of the moment and easily changed to suit mood but I had my PT long before I mastered the Avatars.

[miriena]

Originally Posted by skip spence

In your case I see an unadorned picture of an attractive woman, and I think I would feel cheated if that weren't in fact you. With stylized images you can sort of accept that the person in question doesn't actually look like the pic, but with a plain photo that's harder. You're not a man, are you?

Aaah. I'm sorry, I really can't pass this up. "But no living man I am. You look upon a woman!" Okay, it's kind of not very clever or original. Especially since I appear with a woman's image in my avatar so it's actually kind of backwards than the situation in which Eowyn said this... That's it, I killed my own joke. Yay.

But yes, my avatar is my own picture, and I suppose I should be cautious when putting an image of my face next to the words I write for easy and undeniable identification, but meh. Although for all anyone knows the other side of my face could look like a giant carved pumpkin

And Lush, I really like what you said about an avatar being like a talisman, that's how I feel as well (but without the ability to express it as clearly as you did, heh).

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by miriena

But yes, my avatar is my own picture, and I suppose I should be cautious when putting an image of my face next to the words I write for easy and undeniable identification, but meh. Although for all anyone knows the other side of my face could look like a giant carved pumpkin

My avatar is my picture as well.

[alatar]

Originally Posted by skip spence

When I think of alatar, I think of a young and handsome dude who rides a motorcycle in a leather jacket.

You obviously haven't visited the Photo page...

One thing I learned about choosing avatars comes from observing the Barrow Wight himself. By leaving your border black, you aren't limited to the small square, but become part of the whole page. Guess you could make (up) some psych evaluation from that.

[Maikadilwen]

It was made clear to me many years ago, by several members in here, that I'm simply not allowed to change my avatar. I dare not even think which dreadful revenge Bb would think up, should I choose to do so anyway.