I would like to use avatars on our posts. It makes a "face" for the members.

My opinion....
I think Avatars can be distracting and make a site like this look unprofessional. There would be a problem with making sure no one's avatar had to do with their company, nor was it offensive. Not to mention all the extra bandwidth and time for page loads. Avatars used to be besides the person's name in their profile, which I think is alright, but WHT turned that off as well back in march I think it was.

That's dissapointing. If we have it on a different server then I think it would be fine. Not upload it here. Avatars are mere bites in size. I can supply free hosting to this forum if you don't think yoour current host can handle the transfer.

Mere bytes add up with so many page views. I'm not even going to guess what that would add to the transfer, but the point is moot. We had them, and decided it would be better without them, for various reasons.

I for one would object the use of avatars, they make the page load slower.

I think the value of webhostingtalk.com is its contents and membership base, not some flashy graphics.

I still remember back in May when they had avatar. But the absense of it, I think, makes the site more user friendly.

Peter

You can turn off avatars in your profile if you dislike them, but every forum I visit uses them pretty much with no problems. Their size be restricted to prevent huge load time increases, as well. If I had my vote, I'd be all for them. They give each person their own identity and image, and I like that.

Some people on this board do not need any more personality, thay have quite enough.

Originally posted by uuallan
Some people on this board do not need any more personality, thay have quite enough.

... especially once people get above 500 posts and get custom titles. I sometimes wonder if the titles reflect the posting history, or if the posting reflects the titles.

Originally posted by cperciva

I sometimes wonder if the titles reflect the posting history, or if the posting reflects the titles.

That reminds me of a study I read about in school. Several researchers took a group of 24 students and divided them in half randomly assigning them to be either prisoners or guards in a faux prison the researchers had created.

The subjects were then allowed to behave as they saw fit while they carried out this role playing exercise for the period of two weeks. During that time the subjects that had been assigned the role of guard adopted the traits most often associated with guards, and become domineering and even abusive, while the subjects who had been assigned the role of prisoner adopted the mannerisms and behaviors most typically associated with prisoners. It really is a fascinating study about human behavior and how expectations can alter personality.

Update: the experiment is the Zimbardo Prison Experiment: http://www.prisonexp.org/

Avatars, as others stated, are a bad idea in my opinion. Waste of extra bandwidth, and I can see some people abusing the system etc..., meaning more work for the mods.

well, it makes people think of the content instead of the design of their avatar - make the quality of the posts better, and it is a waste of bandwidth ....

Personally, I love avatars and wouldn't mind them here... but like ckpeter said, I don't come here for that. There's something very "adult" and professional about this forum...avatars might take away some of that, but as long as they weren't abused, it could brighten the place up.

It's always very interesting to see some of the creative examples used in various forums.

Once they're cached, it doesn't count towards any bandwidth issues.


Lats...

PLEASE NO AVATARS! Avatsra waste bandwidth and server space, look 'un-pro' and sometimes someone will put in a stupid avatar.

Originally posted by Justice
Personally, I love avatars and wouldn't mind them here... but like ckpeter said, I don't come here for that. There's something very "adult" and professional about this forum...avatars might take away some of that, but as long as they weren't abused, it could brighten the place up.

I agree. I think the forum does need some sort of way to increase the individuality and creativity of the posters here. Every post looks the same. Avatars would be a great addition and would not, (I repeat), would NOT diminish the professional nature of this forum.

Well, Matt wanted to get away from the 'every post is a business card' look and in some cases, 'every post is a mini commercial webpage' look.

Avatars would be abused. Once I saw one in a forum whos avatar was a PHP script that logged all the hits of the forum.

...and besides, you have to understand that the bandwidth/transfer is generously donated by http://www.voxel.net and it already gobbles up quite a bit without addl. graphics, not to mention it keeps the pages from loading dreadfully slow for dial up users.

IF no avatars, please give me the penguin and fork fork!
I need them badly!

Originally posted by roly
Avatars would be abused.

Technically, anything can be abused (sigs, posts, whatever). Besides you can always limit the avatar file size.

Don't forget, the bandwidth and transfer of this forum is donated. Evan restricted avatars would add to the usage, without significant benefit.

Peter

Avatars aren't neccessary, just forget them.


Jim