Don’t you hate it when they do that? The latest Sci-ence is talking about your choice of avatars — those little icons we so thoughtlessly (in my case) attach to our posts. I thought Jeffrey Rowland’s cartoon of me in a diaper and angel wings was so adorable I snagged it a few years ago and have been using it ever since. But it turns out that your choice of avatar actually has an effect on naive user’s impression of you.
It’s really no surprise that your online avatar influences others’ perceptions of you. In an old UConn computer behavior study (lol IM), participants were asked rate a series of avatars that ranged from people to objects with faces. What they found was pretty obvious: when faced with an avatar in online interactions, participants relied on the characteristics of the avatar for social clues about who they were interacting with.
What’s really interesting about the Nowak/Rauh study is that participants who were more familiar with online interaction relied on the avatars less and instead looked for behavioral cues. It makes sense, given that those who are used to navigating around avatars are generally aware that they aren’t really talking to a bottle of laundry detergent, rather a person who has chosen a bottle of laundry detergent as their avatar.
I haven’t really been paying much attention to those little avatars — hey, I’m a participant who is “more familiar with online interaction” — but now I’m thinking of tweaking the display to make them twice as big and make new user’s default icon really ugly, just to be mean.
I’m not feeling any compulsion to change mine, though.
For those of you wondering how to set your avatar: go to Gravatar.com, and upload an image under the same email address you use to log on here. That’ll do it!
I wonder how people feel about talking to a teapot?
Have you thought of replacing the avatar with a real photographic version of the same image?
I could arrange a diaper, but the wings are trickier.
How about that. I don’t pay attention to avatars, I pay attention to what people say. I was forged in the crucible of Usenet, though, no avatars.
I’ve always loved that the red panda in mine is sticking out its tongue (though putting any “nyah nyah” thoughts into that is pure anthropomorphization). Not that the tongue is particularly visible at the size the avatars here currently are…
PZ:
Why? Costume wings are widely available.
DON’T PANIC
@ PZ
I would be happy to ‘shop something together for you if you ever wanted to change (per hyperdeath’s suggestion?)…
How about bat’s wings? ;)
so the conclusion of the paper is “haha, n00bs are stoopid”?
My avatar is mainly chosen to illustrate that my name comes from a cartoon (namely Futurama), and that I am not, in general, an advocate of extreme violence.
Does my avatar not stare directly into the very depths of your soul?
It’s also available in poster size from my DeviantArt store for large scale soul staring ;)
Now I have to wonder: my current Facebook picture is one of the old color illustrations of Winnie-the-Pooh with his paw in a jar of honey.
Anecdote: I used a Gandalf avatar for many years; recently I saw a post by someone else with a very similar avatar. Grappled with my brain for several moments while trying to remember when I wrote the post, despite the username and everything else being completely different.
This. Hell, half the time I don’t even pay attention to ‘nyms until I’ve read the comment and want further context.
How do you get an avatar on FTB?
Humm. I wonder what that means for mine…
Having a very quick look at the paper, it looks like I would not be perceived as very credible. Perhaps I need to put a pair of spectacles on my avatar.
What?? But that suggests that people will see me as precocious and infantile!!
oh
davidmc:
You have to sign up with gravatar. It’s a right pain in the arse, if you ask me.
I am totally okay with people talking to my avatar since my avatar is in fact just a cartoon me, drawn by a friend.
I really am that cute in real life!
(note: no I’m not)
Mine isn’t an avatar.
Hmpth. I don’t have an avatar, other than the automatically-generated one that FTB slaps up.
Various other places online, I use a demon Rosie the Riveter.
Am I crocswsocks or is crocswsocks me…I don’t know. Maybe I am just a black and white version…or something.
What do you mean PZ does not really have wings?
And does this mean that I am not turned into a supersexy elf when I log into WoW?
Huh, I did a quick google search and picked the first thing that looked nice for my avatar. I mostly see avatars as a handy alternative to identifying people by their nym when reading long threads.
“How about that. I don’t pay attention to avatars, I pay attention to what people say. I was forged in the crucible of Usenet, though, no avatars.”
This. I don’t even really care that people use avatars, it’s those cursed animated smilies that drive me into frothing disdain.
PZ doesn’t actually have wings and go about in a diaper?
*head explodes*
LIES LIES YOU HAVE SOLD ME A PACK OF LIES!!
*weeps bitter tears*
well, when someone chooses an avatar, like the choice of a nym, they ARE making some sort of statement about their identity and presentation to others, even if it’s a completely casual one.
I made this avatar specifically for Pharyngula/FTB, and it’s intentionally a pixelated Archaeopteryx head, stark black and white, reversed figure-ground, and looking at you upside down. Because I’m a freaky half-and-half creature that shouldn’t exist in a black-and-white worldview, and I see things differently.
Thanks Caine, Fleur du mal.
My avatar is the one that I use in all the other forums I participate in (where avatars are allowed). I just like the idea of Rorschach kitten mewing “No.”
Anecdote: I (middle ageish male) often had young men (judging by their statements) hit on me in a forum where I used an avatar of a young attractive female, but was very careful about revealing anything about myself.
That’s what first opened my eyes to online harassment.
Blueaussi:
Oh, a serious pet peeve of mine. It’s one of the things that helped to drive me away from various forums, where there are a gazillion stupid little emoticons for every damn thing. I must have ad-blocked thousands of those things back in the day.
Don’t even get me started on people who use massive, glittery things as emoticons or as some sort of statement. Ugh, aarrggh and bleccch.
It never, ever occurred to me to use anything but a Ken doll.
Make of that what you will.
I don’t remember why I chose mine, nor do I have any idea how to change it if I wanted to. But I guess since it’s a calming scene, nobody can get too angry with me, right?
33 comments and no one has linked to Do you wanna date my avatar? yet? FOR SHAME.
I thought the xtian fish parody would be good for FTB.
Caine, most of those little smilies are highly obnoxious, but I do like some of the more offbeat ones I’ve seen (one smiley flogging another, a smiley vomiting, etc. etc.).
Also this discussion needs more Faye Dunaway.
I am like a mule of Smyrna.
WTF. Why would the Greeks do that?
I give up.
even the comments at this article are not…
A rose by any other name will still need horseshit to make it grow.
Make the default a picture of Ken Ham. Or don’t, that could get old really quickly.
designed mine to go with my nym. Am I making you all irrationally afraid of punctuation?
testing gravatar
I think I’m the only one here who uses a plant. Been using that picture fro a while now. I did this in hopes that some woman out there who also grows aquatic plants would fall in love with me. No luck yet.
Elsewhere I use a cuddly rodent. It really does make a positive difference.
apostrophobia:
Oh my, did you ever pick the wrong crowd. Nope, no fear.
Caine, that’s one of the many reasons I like this place, though I mostly lurk
Thanks again, Caine, Fluer du mal.
It was a bit of a pain
@Carlie
I’m kicking myself for not linking to it in the post!
I still haven’t found a suitable avatar for FTB because of the tiny space. My current one is just a video game sprite of a character I made up.
Please, please don’t.
Davidmc:
You’re welcome. Yeah, you should have heard all the collective whinging we did over gravatar upon the move to FTB. For some reason, gravatar wouldn’t accept previous WP logins, so everyone had to create new ones, yada, yada, yada. That’s why I’m stuck with the incredibly stupid ‘caineflower’ on my blog.
Miss Joan Dunaway, reporting for hard-boiled duty.
Tell me about it, im already confused and gone off the name I used there.
Because it looks like a sperm?
Hopefully it’s an Oxford comma. :)
The other advantage of avatars is that they can help provide some continuity across different forums. For example, I’ve only really used two different icons. The first is a garish yellow and black pattern I made in college, which I used as a desktop background; it helped dispel the ‘cone of distraction’ (that laptops generally summon) when using my laptop to take notes. The second is what I’m using here, the double-star snark.
I use the same icon on Twitter, Google Plus, and anywhere else that I want to guarantee that the Parse they see there is the same Parse they see elsewhere.
Esteleth: If I’m not mistaken, it was part of a scorched earth policy that the Greek army employed in fleeing Turkey during the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire after WWI.
The Turkish army relied heavily on animals for transport while the Greeks did not.
I may be mistaken.
I just grabbed a picture of a sailboat because I like sailing.
carlie,
it’s supposed to be an apostrophe, with great big teeth. Green so it can swarm in the jungle.
But it can’t be both? :( Oh wait, I see it, it’s sneaking in there black and upside down. ;)
Until now, I hadn’t even noticed that we HAVE avatars on this site. My powers of observation are apparently serving me, um, not so well.
Hah, and I bet you all think I’m an old, white guy just because of my avatar.
My avatar is rather self-explanatory, I think.
I don’t think I look anything like my avatar…
I’m not feeling any compulsion to change mine, though.
Maybe we should stop calling him poopyhead soon…
I use my coat of arms.
I’m a computer programmer by trade; and so I started paying attention when I read that blazon is a “formal language.” It turns out that it’s not all that formal; and it’s certainly not unambiguous; but I had fun making up the arms (with a little help from the American College of Heraldry).
Behind the orange rimmed sunglasses and the Yo Gabba Gabba hat is my own head. The hat can play Yo Gabba Gabba tunes, I bought it at a toy store having never seen the show. Best hat ever.
If you wait long enough Audley can probably get you some second-hand ones for cheap.
You mean I have millions of those beaky seemingly pissed off things near my crotch? It’s even worse than vagina dentata ;).
I keep my avatar because it gets interesting reactions sometimes, particularly from people who are trying to evade an argument.
I have used this avatar for some time now. It suits my personality, and I love Eartha Kitt’s voice. I hear it every time I see the picture.
My avatar I had linked to when various trolls accused me of being a woman. Since I’m an old fat man, the idea of Disney’s Fantasia dancing hippos in tutus seemed appropriate, and inside joke. After the transfer to FtB, it seemed appropriate to keep, as my first choice (Dr. Bunsen Honeydew) was taken by someone else.
You can’t go wrong with Richard Feynman. Great physicist, amazing avatar. The Newbies must think I’m a genius.
Mine is actually a real picture of me. I use it on facebook, too. I like that it’s real but slightly anonymised by the costume. Also, of course, beards are awesome. I have two.
((EVIL GRIN))
I have to admit that I haven’t figured out how to upload an avatar here. It’s not copying my avatar from LJ, which I think I’m logged in via.
My avatar is the skull of a favorite bird of mine, so it combines a couple of my interests in addition to being aesthetically pleasing, at least to me. I am only sad you cannot make out the lovely, viciously curved bill in this wee square photo.
PZ, your eyes need to be bigger, then your cuteness factor would +20 and no one would be afeared or your terrible wrath! :)
I put a little effort into shopping mine together – its kinda representative; antipodean, cartoonie, a bit literal, and displaying a certain casual attitude to copyright.
About time I did the gravatar thing. Placeholder lady in a silly hat from the Bedford Hours. Not bad, anyway.
Thanks for cluing me in about needing to use Gravatar; I’ve been trying to set an avatar for awhile, but I couldn’t find any way to do it in the profile page. I have a Gravatar account, but my FTB email wasn’t associated with it.
My Gravatar is just a photo of my Second Life avatar, and my ‘nym is a description of it.
You mean people don’t think I’m a giant Battlemech?
Surely you’re joking!
I originally wanted Brian off Family Guy holding a martini, but I thought people might relate me to a pretentious alcoholic dude, so I went ‘fuck it’ and chose some goldfish. Don’t know what that says about me.
My avatar is what popped from google on the search phrase “evil smile” seven years ago, when I was creating my online persona for one forum. Later (much later) I found out it is “The Guy”.
I find avatars useful, for the reasons Beatrice mentioned. In longer debates it is easier to keep track of who said what easier than just by nyms.
PZ should use that little hedggy from the latest [lounge] thread.
My avatar is a self portrait from the ’70’s.
Yey, Avatars!
=8)-DX
If I can be bothered to change from the default, my avatar is (if feasible) a picture of me, for the same reasons as always posting under my real name.
Alas, Gravatars are hard to see. And for some reason, they force you to rate the image, but then don’t let you provide different images for different ratings. It’s like they came up with a great idea and then just stopped maintaining their service…
Anyhow, mine is a drawing I had commissioned from an artist I like.
I am not able to get a gravatar. I have tried and tried. Apparently, WordPress and WordPress.com are different enough that someone else already has my nym on the latter. I don’t want to change “Sastra” to “Sastra2” or such, so I’m stuck without one.
If anyone knows of a way to get one elsewhere — or fix the WordPress/.com problem — I’m open to suggestions. Obviously, I’m registered for FTb and can log in here fine, but to the evil people at Gravatar that doesn’t count. They just keep telling me my nym is already being used. Bastards.
Well, if you have to give the un-avatared ugly avatars, at least make them kitties.
Sastra,
No matter what username you register on gravatar.com, the nym that is displayed here (and elsewhere where you’re registered) won’t change. I had to add a number to “Nightjar” too to register there, and nothing happened to my nym here.
My avatar is terrifying, the evil yellow eye of a red-skinned monster!
FEAR ME! FEAR ME!
I don’t know how much meaning I can pack, visually, into an image the size of a lentil. But it is intended to be a joke. The red-skinned monster is a chicken, a little red hen.
I’ve spent enough time looking at thumbnails to have a sense of what will still POP when it is small and cropped. And that little yellow eye on red POPS.
I never looked at the avatars before. Now I can’t stop.
I never saw the avatars until this post. I’m glad everyone is explaining what theirs are, because, even after the explanation, I still don’t see most of them. They do seem rather pointless.
Hmm. I wonder what my avatar — a five-year-old boy hanging off of a cliff by a rope (which is me at age five (which would make it 1971) at Mozaic Canyon in Death Valley) — tells people about me?
I wonder what it tells people about me that I prefer not to have an avatar, if at all possible?
I like the presence of the avatars – having a different little glyph in the corner of each post helps me keep track of who’s talking, a little bit.
And I love the source of Hurin’s avatar – had a scan of that cover on my hard drive for years.
I just want to see if this Gravatar thing works…
Nothing could possibly be more silly than claiming to be surprised that avatars have an impact on how people interpret messages, or more passive aggressive for that matter. Next PZ will “confess” that he never pays any attention to them, and they certainly don’t influence his behavior, because he’s all, you know, rational, and all. You can say you don’t care, but you can’t not care. BTW, what’s my avatar, some default geometric thing? Pthhghh! Like I care.
I wonder what it says about me that I have two sets of internet personas. One is an old nym and the other is my real name. Of course, my real name is used by others as a pseudonym so often that I usually can’t use it, anyway. I will often use a real image of myself, too. I try very hard not to post anything online even anonymously that I wouldn’t want read. I’ve learned anonymity is useless, online…
This reminds me on a creationist on Facebook who asked me: “You’re a cartoon, why should I take what you say seriously?” Yes, my profile pic was a vector drawing, a portrait of me. I soon had to give up trying to explain anything to him. Polite and mostly friendly, but thick as two short planks.
Yar, Sastra, the Gravitar username is irrelevant. Your username (and/or display name) is determined by the login for the site you are using.
What I never liked was that you can’t separate Gravitars by the site on which they are displayed. Also, when a site suddenly switches to Gravitar without notice, suddenly displaying something which you had not intended to be associated with presence at that site. (So fair warning – every site that uses Gravitar will display yours for any login based on an email address associated with your Gravitar account.)
Of course, you can have multiple Gravitar accounts, but that seems like an even bigger PITA.
Trying the gravatar thing. Going to take a guess that it’s probably too small here for the avatar to work.
F, it’s Gravatar (an abbreviation for globally recognized avatar).
</pedant>
[blush]
Gravatar.
[meta]
You highlighted the wrong a in your example, John.
Though I see you corrected your mistake before I could gleefully highlight your folly.
Nonconformity is cool.
F, #99: That’s why I haven’t done it. I don’t want Gravatar sticking it anywhere else I might log in. You should be able to designate which site or sites you want to use it on, and that’s it.
My nym is based on Bellerophon (Βελλεροφόντης = Bellerophontes) which means Monster-slayer. Similarly, Theophontes means God-slayer. My gravatar is based on a depiction of Bellerophon and Pegasus slaying the Chimera (picture). The round shape is obtained by making a transparent PNG file.
My (feeble attempt) at a blog also uses Bellerephon as the theme. (Brag:I have had the good fortune to see the original Melian relief in rl.)
Now internoobs will think I’m a badass pirate woman. c:
I’m a bit behind on my blog reading, but my 4yo wants to know why you’re running around in your underwear. *g* I’ve always been a bit shy about putting my picture online, so the picture of me and my daughter at the beach was perfect for my avatar. Although, now that I’m getting out to conferences and meetups I am finding it a bit harder to be recognized and am considering changing it.