What is the point of avatars?

Brendan Burgess

Founder
Messages
54,789
The big coloured circles are to allow people upload avatars.

I find avatars very irritating and just adding to the clutter.

They might have some value if people uploaded their actual photos - which I have done to illustrate.

Brendan
 
They are a symbol of our individuality and refusal to conform to your expectations.

You are avatar-phobic, probably Emoji-phobic as well.
 
Being restricted to actual photos might be off-putting for someone who wishes to ask a sensitive question and to do so anonymously. I have no particular issue with avatars as long as they are reasonably unique, personally I would probably not bother with an avatar but I am not adverse to trying one out. The letter thing is not off-putting but it is not inviting either, the colour scheme on my "S" is a bit queasy!

Basically I think it would be better to allow people to decide their own profile preference, as long as it was within the bounds of reason.
 
The big circle with the letter is a bit annoying. Just names as per the old format would be better I think. I certainly don't want to upload my photo on an anonymous internet forum!
 
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