Avatars of poor taste

[Twisto]

Flame me for this if you wish, but..

Is there (apart from size) a standard we should keep to in respect of Avatars?

It came to my attention today that somebody is using the club badge from a certain football club. I do object to its use. Yes, (get ready with the flames) I do support the other football team from that city.

I have never used an Avatar before, mainly because I used to consider them childish. My opinion has changed recently, mainly because of the weird and colourful images that are used by the peeps on this board. They are great, and when I see an image that I feels portrays me in some light, I will use it. But seeing a Football badge, of a club I freely admit to disliking, is making me change my mind back again.

Avatars, I feel should project your personnality in a "size limited" picture. Not show an image of a team you support. It tells me absolutely nothing about you.

Finally.. This thread is not my attempt in any way to attack the user of the said badge. If they do take offense, then I apologise now. I am just very interested in hearing the opinions from all of you.

Discuss at your pleasure...

[T-Bone]

Well, as a die hard Glasgow Rangers fan I wouldn't care if some one was to use a celtic badge. I don't know why such a thing would annoy you so much.

[Twisto]

Blimey, I do come across as being annoyed dont I. :o
It wasnt meant to sound so 'I HATE MAN U'
Mainly it was to start a discussion about the good and the bad of avatars.

[T-Bone]

Yeh, well personally I think that is acceptable unless the person starts diggin into you for supporting City (I presume). I think avatars are good unless there all out racism, real gore or nudity. I don't even mind animtaed avatars as normally they give me a giggle unlike RoninStorm who gets his eye locked on them for hours on ened and has no control over his eyes to move them away.

[Ronin Storm]

Is there (apart from size) a standard we should keep to in respect of Avatars?

In terms of board policy, just clean, unanimated, and of small size, both in dimensions and bytes.

In terms of purpose?

I feel that an avatar is one of various forms of expression available to users of this board. Some use their avatars to reflect themselves. Others use avatars to reflect their online masques. Yet others use avatars to declare their interests, or merely because that picture amuses them for the moment. Others don't use any avatar at all.

I find all these uses acceptable, though I generally choose an avatar for myself that is a reflection of part of me, at least as far as I care to take that. Rurouni Kenshin, my avatar, was the first hero I identified with in Anime; I feel his fury at injustice but try to hold his calm at other times. At other times, I've used Invader Zim to reflect my vocal mania. Currently, I think I should really choose Uzumaki Naruto because his indomitable spirit inspires me and he, also, carries a fury at injustice that reflects my own.

Would I choose the badge for a team I support? Perhaps, if I felt that defined a part of me that I wished to share. I don't support any teams (aside from THN's BF2 Clan :) ) any longer so none would reflect me in any suitable way.

Would I be offended at the use of a "frivolous" avatar? Not really. We're loaning you a 80x80 pixel slot to express yourself. Want to waste it on badges seen in so many other places? Go ahead.

Your views on whether it's a waste or not... well that's clearly a matter of taste and principle. :)

[Nanor]

Avatars, I feel should project your personnality in a "size limited" picture. Not show an image of a team you support. It tells me absolutely nothing about you.

Yes people, I do eat brains :)

Good idea Twisto. Like for example, Piaculars avatar tells me he likes FF and other RPGs, and that perhaps he likes to dress up as elvish women when he can find the time.

[MadGinga]

Piaculars avatar tells me [snip] he likes to dress up as elvish women when he can find the time.

Indeed he does, and on a regular basis too especially when playing BF2 ;)

heh heh

edit - I suppose i should mention my Avatar, for someone unknown reason I had a picture of Berk from Trapdoor (http://www.angelfire.com/sc/cheekychilla2/) in my pictures folder, and relate to his character quite well, so I decided that it would make a suitable avatar

And on the subject of other people's avatars, I use them to gauge how seriously they take themselves. Nanor's for instance tells me hes a fun kinda guy, whilst Ronin's tells me he's quite serious and not affraid to make a stand on something.

[Gizmo-5]

thats where its from! i knew id seen it before!

[Ronin Storm]

Ronin's tells me he's quite serious and not affraid to make a stand on something.

Hey, cool, that's what I hope it says too. :)

[Gopha]

Mine basically means "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO", not too offensive lol

Oh BTW Man U suck!

[Fi$hy]

Anyone see the deep significance of mine?

:p

Yes that's absolutly right, it is a metaphor for the continuing effects of climate change causing Humans to evolve into Aquatic creatures.

Either that.... or it's a fish :)

[LynxGB]

Well mine says all you need to know about me, and Fishy yours actually looks like Nemo and Chips :P

[Birdy]

omg sooo true

[Gopha]

Fishy yours actually looks like Nemo and Chips :P

I actually thought it was until I just had a good look and its underwater plants :p

[Haven]

They are not plants and they are collectively called coral !

*beats Gopha with a random book*

[Piacular]

Surely a book on sea life would be more appropriate than any random book? That way he could catch glimpses of information in between the blood pouring from his malfunctioning eyes :).

I'm curious as to what Gizmo thinks his avatar says about him...

I wouldn't dare to comment, a skull attached to a hand? How extraordinary!

[LynxGB]

I do belive we should have a certain code of ethics towards Avatars. Ok so many people love the freedom which THN reflects. But rather then start a petty war I would suggest the following.

a) Obviously should nto be racial or over material for over 18's only.
b)Anything which cause an argument ie. Football Logo's, rugby crest's etc / thus would stop any if only banter - abuse, hostility towards another.
c)anything I forgot.

My main reasons mainly are I think it looks tacky makes THN look imature and full of kiddies.

Maybe I am just getting all old and moany.

P.s. My views are only suggestions and obviously not obligatery as far as I know.

[Gopha]

They are not plants and they are collectively called coral !

*beats Gopha with a random book*

I was going ot say that but I thought that it didnt sound right, so I didnt, *walks away with Papercuts* :(

[Nanor]

I thought Gopha was saying "Man, you suck!" :p

[decky101]

i think my avatar reflects my personality quite well as it is angry and cute..... and i'm sortof that way :p

[Ronin Storm]

a) Obviously should nto be racial or over material for over 18's only.

That's already covered in our site rules and ToS that everyone must agree to in order to register here.

b)Anything which cause an argument ie. Football Logo's, rugby crest's etc / thus would stop any if only banter - abuse, hostility towards another.

I agree that one should not choose an avatar that is deliberately designed to irritate our members; just as with posts, this comes into our board rules on respect. However, I see no reason to restrict team logos, be they for football, rugby or even opposing BF2 clans.

THN is an open community and we draw people from a wide international community. We show tolerance and respect to people from Sweden, Canada, Estonia and Germany. We must also show tolerance and respect to people who support sports teams that we may feel dislike towards, or like music that we just can't stand, or enjoy games that we just think are crap. It's all the same.

Similarly, by displaying these badges one is there to show support for an idea or a team or a thing, but support for these does not entail pushing down other people's ideas, teams or things.

With those guidelines in play, I see no issue with badges of many different kinds.

[Nanor]

Ok, Since this post has been up. There have been 2 more avatars linked to football.

Don't make me take out a tri-colour -_-

[pHatBambi]

I know. How topical of people.

[Ronin Storm]

We're loaning you a 80x80 pixel slot to express yourself. Want to waste it on badges seen in so many other places? Go ahead.

Need I say more? ;)

[lt.kirby]

what do u lot think of my avator
i think its very kl

[Gopha]

Burn IT!

[lt.kirby]

Burn IT!

thats not very nice u rushain skum

[thatbloke]

thats not very nice u rushain skum

less of the insults please...

[Ronin Storm]

u rushain skum

Less of that please. And please work on the spelling too. Try Dictionary.com (http://www.dictionary.com).

[Nanor]

Spelling has hit a low on this forum. :(

[LynxGB]

see what I mean by what it does, lol. anyway I have decided to shut up - I will just state my case everytime it happens, lol

[Gopha]

Well Ive changed my avatar back, just wanted to state a point, whats wrong with being russian? It could be worse, I could support Celtic (my fave scot team is rangers BTW!)

[Ronin Storm]

It could be worse

Shhh, Gopha. This isn't going anywhere useful, is it? Think positive, supportive, informative, not defensive, undermining, nitpicking, ya? :)

[Gopha]

Shhh, Gopha. This isn't going anywhere useful, is it? Think positive, supportive, informative, not defensive, undermining, nitpicking, ya? :)

Supportive of what exactly? :p
I sound like a pessimist because im listening to Phil collins :D
To be quite frank, I have no opinion on avatars you have one or you dont! But you should NOT have offensive pictures in them, or language

[Ronin Storm]

Wandering a little off topic because this one's important:

Supportive of what exactly?

When posting here, or anywhere, think about why you are posting. What's your purpose in your post?

Are you expressing what you like? Are you expressing what you don't like? Are you commenting on someone else's idea? Are you trying to discover what they think about something?

While considering that, consider how your words will be received by others. You can't truly second-guess other people's responses and you should most certainly not try to control their responses (e.g. "If you disagree with me then I'm going to cry.") but at least consider how someone else might read your post, how they might interpret the thoughts you express.

Now you're in a good position to understand why "supportive" is important. People are absolutely entitled to different opinions on the same subject and, to have even a chance of being open minded, we must be prepared to accept that both we and they can be right at the same time. That underpins the basis for pluralism (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=pluralism), which is a concept I strongly feel the large majority of people would benefit from adopting.

Let me highlight the relevant part of the definition of pluralism:

2a. A condition in which numerous distinct ethnic, religious, or cultural groups are present and tolerated within a society.
2b. The belief that such a condition is desirable or socially beneficial.

We're a diverse cultural group, drawn from all ages, different nationalities, different beliefs and supports. I believe this is a great thing, a wonderful thing, a thing to be supported and nutured and cultivated at practically any cost. How else can we cultivate an air of pluralism without supporting each others ideas and, critically, each other's inalienable right to these ideas.

This is why we should be supportive. It is a fundamental part of our respect for each other.

[Gopha]

I was only Joking btw :o, I didnt take it out because of what someone said, I wanted to take it out as I didnt want it there, sorry if I caused an annoyance!

[Ronin Storm]

I was only Joking btw

Well, you did give me a perfect canvas for expounding yet another piece of community theory that I happen to like and only recently acquired a word to describe. West Wing teaches me all sorts of useful words. :)

[Birdy]

LOL its good to learn word from TV?? il go tell my mum that!! im not the only one !!

[pHatBambi]

I was only Joking btw :o, I didnt take it out because of what someone said, I wanted to take it out as I didnt want it there, sorry if I caused an annoyance!

Apologies for jumping on you here Gopha but this excuse seems to becoming more popular recently within these forums.

I've witnessed a few posts now or topics that are either wasted space or have overstepped the mark that use the idea of "only joking" to try and justify a mistake.

I find it increasingly frustrating that people are trying to cover up petty insults or rubbish posts by claiming that they were only joking and that anyone who's been offended did not understand the humor.

I feel that this is bad practice.

Please take more care when responding to posts. By reading a thread in it's entirety you can then reply within context of what is going on. Also try to edit your posts before clicking submit. Check for grammar or spelling etc... Maybe you don't need to even write a 2 line post about the colour of fish?

The main thing is that you should not be posting ANYTHING that could be misinterpreted by another member. If you are unsure of anything you might have to say then check it or don't post it in the first place.

Cheers,

pHatBambi.

[Ronin Storm]

its good to learn word from TV?

In general, no. :) The West Wing, however, has fabulous, intricate writing and beautiful delivery. Pluralism is just one example of a concept I had no word for until The West Wing.

Interestingly, bringing this back to topic just a bit, our avatars could equally be used in that way, to bring concepts and ideas to life where we weren't aware of them before. Perhaps, by bearing an avatar of Kenshin, someone will take a moment to do a web search for him, figure out a bit of Japanese history (as Kenshin is set in historical Japan, albeit with a few liberties). Cross-culture investigation can only enrich us.