Avatar Poll

[TinCow]

Please state your preference on avatar usage at the Org. Do you prefer the current system, where all members are required to use TW-themed avatars, or do you want each member to be able to upload customized avatars?

This is for my own personal curiosity. The results will not determine Org policy on this issue.

[Beskar]

I thought we currently have a hybrid system in place, whereby the default is the .ORG themed avatars but you have the choice to turn on custom avatars and see them instead.

I would prefer that to be maintained as it is then best of both worlds with no downsides.

[TinCow]

I thought we currently have a hybrid system in place, whereby the default is the .ORG themed avatars but you have the choice to turn on custom avatars and see them instead.

I would prefer that to be maintained as it is then best of both worlds with no downsides.

The 'custom avatars' are actually profile pics. Turning them on makes everyone see two images, not your chosen custom one. This poll has nothing to do with that system, this is simply discussing the avatars themselves, which are the images everyone sees no matter what their options are.

[Beskar]

The 'custom avatars' are actually profile pics. Turning them on makes everyone see two images, not your chosen custom one. This poll has nothing to do with that system, this is simply discussing the avatars themselves, which are the images everyone sees no matter what their options are.

Oki doki then, no problem. I voted along those lines anyway.

I like the work that you guys have been putting into this place.

[caravel]

It seems obvious how this poll is going to go. Existing members will mostly prefer it how it is - my argument has always been that new people see things very differently. I think people need to bear that in mind. On most boards you can choose your own avatar - it's not some extra right or privilege or anything revolutionary - it's just the done thing, like being allowed to have your own signature or being allowed to post.

The new TWS2 avatars are very nice indeed and provide some welcome "relief", but are still portraits and in a few years will have become as tired as the rest. The fact remains that users are still subjected from having to choose from a "gallery of faces", instead of something else like a symbol or other image.

The best of both worlds is in fact to enable outside linking for user avatars and keep and maintain the TW portraits gallery as well. The other add on/hack that allows the profile picture to be displayed should just be removed/disabled. It's probably me but I'm not seeing the downsides to this, nor can I work out who would get upset by seeing someone with their own avatar.

The .org has had to adapt already, i.e. by getting rid of the junior members to make the .org more accessible, I like to think this is just another step in the same process. I don't think this will make the .org "dumber", nor do I think it will attract the wrong kind of people. This is not about attracting the TWC members, it's about bringing in the same kind of people that the .org has been attracting for a decade, but at the same time acknowledging that in the age of social networking sites and forums being more widespread than ever the org needs to move with the times - and in view of the progress in other areas so far - is doing so. Back in 1999 not having an avatar or having to choose from a few small images in a gallery (I remember the generic small gallery avatars on yaBB and ikonboard and older systems such as snitz that don't have avatars at all) was not only acceptable, it was normal. The .org gallery is vastly superior to this, but still a gallery and still limited.

[TinCow]

It seems obvious how this poll is going to go. Existing members will mostly prefer it how it is - my argument has always been that new people see things very differently. I think people need to bear that in mind. On most boards you can choose your own avatar - it's not some extra right or privilege or anything revolutionary - it's just the done thing, like being allowed to have your own signature or being allowed to post.

Why would existing members prefer it more? Nearly all existing members post on other forums where they can use custom avatars. I would bet that every single person posting in favor of the current system has a standard custom avatar they use everywhere else on the internet. Existing members are just as well aware of how non-Org sites operate as new members, and their opinions are just as valid. Take a look at the join dates on people voting for the existing system, they're certainly not holdovers from 1999. Regardless of what our own personal opinions on this topic may be, I don't think it's right to dismiss the opinions of existing members.

[caravel]

Why would existing members prefer it more? Nearly all existing members post on other forums where they can use custom avatars. I would bet that every single person posting in favor of the current system has a standard custom avatar they use everywhere else on the internet. Existing members are just as well aware of how non-Org sites operate as new members, and their opinions are just as valid. Take a look at the join dates on people voting for the existing system, they're certainly not holdovers from 1999.

All that is true but it misses something important - existing members see this as the .org - different to those other sites.

Regardless of what our own personal opinions on this topic may be, I don't think it's right to dismiss the opinions of existing members.

I assure you, I was not dismissing the opinions of existing members (I happen to be one of those). My point is that in a poll like this those that really oppose the idea will me the first to vote - as they have (my opinion only). I also poll options are misleading as some may wrongly assume it would mean that the TW themed avatars are scrapped altogether. The second option is really: "The current TW-themed avatars + custom avatars".

It's also a subject that cannot be gauged through a poll - much better if the no voters come forward and state exactly why it's a bad idea. i.e. Why someone else having their own avatar effects you.

[TinCow]

If this poll and discussion are flawed, please do create a new thread that does not have those same flaws. I will read whatever comments there are to be had about the subject regardless of who creates the OP. After all, this was just for my own personal curiosity.

[Andres]

I voted to keep the current system, because:

a) uniformity has its' merits. On other fora, everyone having their own avatar makes threads sometimes look like a cacaphony. Granted, different sigs can do that too, but if there's a limit on the size of sigs or if you can switch sigs off, then that's ok. Switching off seeing avatars is a no for me; it's too boring to see threads where nobody has an avatar. The avatar is needed to distinguish between people; but there should be some uniformity. The .Org provides a good compromise, imho.
b) I like the TW avatars, they are beautiful. I frequent several other fora and some people have really ugly avatars, annoying ones (animated) or pretty juvenile avatars. I very much prefer how it is here, in all honesty.

[Motep]

I voted to keep the current system, because:

a) uniformity has its' merits. On other fora, everyone having their own avatar makes threads sometimes look like a cacaphony. Granted, different sigs can do that too, but if there's a limit on the size of sigs or if you can switch sigs off, then that's ok. Switching off seeing avatars is a no for me; it's too boring to see threads where nobody has an avatar. The avatar is needed to distinguish between people; but there should be some uniformity. The .Org provides a good compromise, imho.
b) I like the TW avatars, they are beautiful. I frequent several other fora and some people have really ugly avatars, annoying ones (animated) or pretty juvenile avatars. I very much prefer how it is here, in all honesty.

I very much second this.