Avatars, why not our own pictures?

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by dsvick

What!!??



oh thank god!!


Not her either .... All those fantasies .... crushed, like so many .. umm ... errr, like so many ..... ... well, things that get crushed easily!

Poor guy.

[beppe]

Originally Posted by Mortis

I think that there is something to be said about being anonymous, I am actually a very private person, but I figure if anyone recognizes me, it's not like I pretended to be a 14 yearold girl, looking for an older man



Kenny, nice to meet you, my name is Anthony NLN, the only reason I don't use my real name is that its not that hard to google using my name and this forum will come up, my picture isn't as well known Hell neither am I

Hi Anthony, I am Beppe MGD, the only reason I don't use my real name is that I do not want that my actions in the net be available to real life people. This would make differences for me.

I am known. Sometimes I am recognized at the market and in the Metro.

The avatar subject is quite articulate. nyrath testifies of one side of it. I lean on that side myself. Than there is the mask to hide and to allow impunity. I lean on that side also, but, luckily for myself, I do not do things that profit from impunity.

Avatar and anonymity protect us. From what we need to be protected. I wonder what the robots protect. Ah, maybe they are in Nyatar side. They show.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by dsvick

What!!??



oh thank god!!


Not her either .... All those fantasies .... crushed, like so many .. umm ... errr, like so many ..... ... well, things that get crushed easily!

I am so sorry to have bruised your delicate sensitivities

[dsvick]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

I am so sorry to have bruised your delicate sensitivities

Not so much sensitivities, well ok maybe with the naked fat guy, with the elf and the feather girl it was more my high school, adolescent like fantasies. But that's ok, I remember what they looked like

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by dsvick

Not so much sensitivities, well ok maybe with the naked fat guy, with the elf and the feather girl it was more my high school, adolescent like fantasies. But that's ok, I remember what they looked like

I can bring out fat naked guy anytime you want to wander down memory lane!

[montsnmags]

Avatars provide opportunity for us to create a desirable representation of ourselves, served by images beyond (but including) the representation of photography. My avatar is not me, and so hides me while revealing the me I wish it to reveal. But then that "mask" is apparently layered with another mask (questions about which I often respond to with "What mask?"). The mask's identity then hides itself by ostensibly and paradoxically being simultaneously arrogant in form (hints of Hanuman) and devolved in form (that of a generic mass of lesser primate). My avatar represents both a desire to hide, a defensive hubris born of insecurity, a contradictory desire for both differentiation and a lack of same, a self-contempt that acknowledges the drive of my base instincts, and a my wish to be seen as a Fool. All the while it is a post-modern metareference to the idea of avatars themselves, and also of our Selves, that we are masks within masks.

Mostly though my avatar is just a really cool picture a fellow MobileReader created for me.

Cheers,
Your Humble Fool, to you Kings and Queens of Men

[The Terminator]

I'm with jgeiser

[LCF]

Originally Posted by montsnmags

Avatars provide opportunity for us to create a desirable representation of ourselves, served by images beyond (but including) the representation of photography. My avatar is not me, and so hides me while revealing the me I wish it to reveal. But then that "mask" is apparently layered with another mask (questions about which I often respond to with "What mask?"). The mask's identity then hides itself by ostensibly and paradoxically being simultaneously arrogant in form (hints of Hanuman) and devolved in form (that of a generic mass of lesser primate). My avatar represents both a desire to hide, a defensive hubris born of insecurity, a contradictory desire for both differentiation and a lack of same, a self-contempt that acknowledges the drive of my base instincts, and a my wish to be seen as a Fool. All the while it is a post-modern metareference to the idea of avatars themselves, and also of our Selves, that we are masks within masks.

Mostly though my avatar is just a really cool picture a fellow MobileReader created for me.

Cheers,
Your Humble Fool, to you Kings and Queens of Men

Progress bar:

WTZCD ---|------------------------------------------------------- Adrian

[thrawn_aj]

Well, for one thing, if you've seen the heated debates elsewhere on the forum, one does see the wisdom behind remaining somewhat anonymous. The internet's full of weirdos who love to carry over their grievances and vent their spleen "IRL" . I have neither the time nor the inclination to deal with that sort of stupidity outside of the screen.

Besides, a real name (and even photo) is simply a different kind of anonymity (unless you're famous). As an example, my real name is equivalent to "John Smith" where I come from . It's so bad that my friends and family can't find me on the internet (so low is the S/N). The world is a big place (and MR, more than most fora, is pretty heavily international). It's hardly likely that you're gonna see someone and go "Hey! I saw that dude on the bus today ". So, what next? Do we expect work data? Marital status? What would it take to truly become non-anonymous? A phone number? Street address? A social security number? I guess it does seem weird sometimes when you try to visualize the avatar speaking the words that you're reading on-screen, especially when the avatar ain't human .

As for the myth of civility through recognition, I know tons of people who misbehave quite efficiently in the full glare of publicity. Personally, I've seen nothing to indicate that lack of anonymity helps greatly in this respect. I believe that being honest online has more to do with representing one's beliefs and opinions as truly and completely as humanly possible. Names and photos contribute nothing toward that end. There's absolutely nothing wrong with them of course (and they can even be pleasant at times), but I just don't see them as relevant to online discourse (and they may frequently, in obvious ways, be roadblocks to honest debate). In fact, that's the beauty of the internet - even a distinguished scholar may have to enter into a debate on the same level of credibility as others and may find that he can't simply appeal to the authority he enjoys in the outside world. Some grow as a result (learning valuable pedagogical lessons in explaining complex concepts to the uninitiated); others sulk and try to emphasize their credentials in obvious ways. Anyway, before I ramble on, these should give you a few (of many) good reasons why people may not want to use real names or photos on an online forum . The bad reasons of course include trolling and flaming (which kinda covers it all).

[Mortis]

Originally Posted by thrawn_aj

Well, for one thing, if you've seen the heated debates elsewhere on the forum, one does see the wisdom behind remaining somewhat anonymous. The internet's full of weirdos who love to carry over their grievances and vent their spleen "IRL" . I have neither the time nor the inclination to deal with that sort of stupidity outside of the screen.

Besides, a real name (and even photo) is simply a different kind of anonymity (unless you're famous). The world is a big place (and MR, more than most fora, is pretty heavily international). It's hardly likely that you're gonna see someone and go "Hey! I saw that dude on the bus today ". So, what next? Do we expect work data? Marital status? What would it take to truly become non-anonymous? A phone number? Street address?

As for the myth of civility through recognition, I know tons of people who misbehave quite efficiently in the full glare of publicity. I believe that being honest online has more to do with representing one's beliefs and opinions as truly and completely as humanly possible. Names and photos contribute nothing toward that end. There's absolutely nothing wrong with them of course (and they can even be pleasant at times), but I just don't see them as relevant to online discourse (and they may frequently, in obvious ways, be roadblocks to honest debate). In fact, that's the beauty of the internet - even a distinguished scholar may have to enter into a debate on the same level of credibility as others and may find that he can't simply appeal to the authority he enjoys in the outside world. Some grow as a result (learning valuable pedagogical lessons in explaining complex concepts to the uninitiated); others emphasize their credentials to a laughable degree. Anyway, before I ramble on, these should give you a few (of many) good reasons why people may not want to use real names or photos on an online forum . The bad reasons of course include trolling and flaming (which kinda covers it all).

Great answer.

For me, sometimes stepping outside the box makes life more interesting, for me this is outside the box.

I do not suggest anyone else change their avatar to their own picture, thats totally up to each and everyone on this forum and others. I'm sure some of you have blogs, someplace where you interact with people you know or maybe don't know having that open to the public is far more open that your mug on this forum.

I am a very quiet member of an adventure riding forum dedicated to adventure motorcycle riding, and there are a lot of people on that forum that share their photos from rides, their ride diaries with their real names, their addresses and pictures and i have never heard of a single person on that forum being hassled "IRL".

So I put it to you, a bunch of bikers are a better, safer, more courteous and honest community than a bunch of book worms?

Just a thought

[desertblues]

Originally Posted by thrawn_aj

..........Well, for one thing, if you've seen the heated debates elsewhere on the forum, one does see the wisdom behind remaining ? A social security number? I guess it does seem weird sometimes when you try to visualize the avatar speaking the words that you're reading on-screen, especially when the avatar ain't human :
..........I believe that being honest online has more to do with representing one's beliefs and opinions as truly and completely as humanly possible. Names and photos contribute nothing toward that end. There's absolutely nothing wrong with them of course (and they can even be pleasant at times), but I just don't see them as relevant to online discourse (and they may frequently, in obvious ways, be roadblocks to honest debate). In fact, that's the beauty of the internet - even a distinguished scholar may have to enter into a debate on the same level of credibility as others and may find that he can't simply appeal to the authority he enjoys in the outside world. Some grow as a result (learning valuable pedagogical lessons in explaining complex concepts to the
uninitiated); others sulk and try to emphasize their credentials in obvious
ways. Anyway, before I ramble on, these should give you a few (of many)
good reasons why people may not want to use real names or photos on
an online forum . The bad reasons of course include trolling and flaming
(which kinda covers it all).

Right.

[lene1949]

Originally Posted by TGS

My avatar is, at the moment, a portrait of me by the famous Danish artist Michael Kvium...sorry to disappoint

I would've closed the window...

[GlenBarrington]

The photo you see next to this message IS me! Well, it's my identical evil twin Skippy. I use his photo as a tribute, because he died in an unfortunate global conquest accident.

I figure that's close enough. . .

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

The photo you see next to this message IS me! Well, it's my identical evil twin Skippy. I use his photo as a tribute, because he died in an unfortunate global conquest accident.

I figure that's close enough. . .

But that's only ONE of his heads.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by Mortis

Great answer.

For me, sometimes stepping outside the box makes life more interesting, for me this is outside the box.

I do not suggest anyone else change their avatar to their own picture, thats totally up to each and everyone on this forum and others. I'm sure some of you have blogs, someplace where you interact with people you know or maybe don't know having that open to the public is far more open that your mug on this forum.

I am a very quiet member of an adventure riding forum dedicated to adventure motorcycle riding, and there are a lot of people on that forum that share their photos from rides, their ride diaries with their real names, their addresses and pictures and i have never heard of a single person on that forum being hassled "IRL".

So I put it to you, a bunch of bikers are a better, safer, more courteous and honest community than a bunch of book worms?

Just a thought

I'm on another forum where a lot of professionals; attorneys, retired law enforcement agents and investigators, forensic scientists, journalists, engineers and so on have devoted thousands of man hours towards proving someone's innocence. many of those good folks use their real names and contact information. in some cases many harassing emails, calls and snail mail have arrived at their homes and actually been sent to spouses. very sad

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

The photo you see next to this message IS me! Well, it's my identical evil twin Skippy. I use his photo as a tribute, because he died in an unfortunate global conquest accident.

I figure that's close enough. . .

I'm willing to bet that offers of cybersex just don't pop up in your messages very often!