Avatars on DegreeInfo?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by djacks24, Sep 19, 2010.

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Would you like to post an avatar with your user?

  1. Yes, I would like the ability to post an avatar

    15 vote(s)
    39.5%
  2. No, I like things the way they are

    10 vote(s)
    26.3%
  3. I really don't care either way

    13 vote(s)
    34.2%
  1. djacks24

    djacks24 New Member

    Just a poll on the ability to have avatars associated with our users. I've mentioned them and have seen a few others mention them and this is what I was told;

    I personally would like the ability to perhaps post an avatar of my school. Also, I know plenty of other moderators of VBulletin forums that have found other ways to control spam without being so restrictive on user functionality. I can even get them in touch with these mods of other forums if they would like to learn how. What does everyone else think?
     
  2. johnp

    johnp New Member

    Iam fairly new here but I like not having avatars. Some forums I go to peoples avatars aren't sized correcly, and in a way distract you from what you are reading.

    Just my .02
     
  3. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Chip is working on some changes to the site. He has hinted in the past that these would include avatars. As for security, he also hinted that he might set up user priveledges on a seniority-based system (after a certain # of posts, certain features would be turned on). At this point, all we have are hints.

    My opinion: I really dont like the idea of avatars for this site. They come off as clunky, making uneven formatting in this vbulletin template, but I wouldnt mind modest images in signatures.

    I expected that one of these days, someone would make this exact poll. Who knows? Maybe the results of this poll will factor in to the final decision ;)
     
  4. b4cz28

    b4cz28 Active Member

    Yes Chip already said he was working on it.
     
  5. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    That's the funniest thing I have seen all day! Good one!
     
  6. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    I don't really see any value in having avatars, but I understand that others might enjoy them. As was mentioned above, many other V Bulletin sites use avatars and I can understand your desire to have one. If Chip gets it that part to function securely, that's great, I won't complain. Chip is the boss, we are just his minions!

    The issue is the fact that we have more intense attacks by spammers than most sites have. There is a lot of money to be made in online education and DI is one of the most heavily visited sites in the industry. At other boards, where people will innocently post avatars or pics of themselves, they do not have the issues we have. In the past, spammers were using every loophole they could find to stick some sort of link, ad or similar; and the ability to put HTML, post avatars and similar was attacked heavily. There are spam mongers in China and India that are all over DI, trying hundreds of times a day to get in.

    So, if it's a choice between not having avatars and having our BB loaded with spam, I'll take the former.
     
  7. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Upwards of 300 phony username registrations daily- there was a time that Kizmet was handling most of that by herself (three cheers for Kizmet!!!). I have even seen one user whose username was, itself, an advertisement.

    if you havent noticed, this site gets outstanding placement in Google searches. Often, when I have had a question about DL, the first hit is degreeinfo. i have even posted questions, then have done a Google search only to find that my very own thread is the first hit.

    one user called Cesar Chavez a fraud, so I Googled it to find out what he was talking about- once again to find the DegreeInfo thread as the first hit.

    As you can imagine, spammers love this place as a way to enhance their search engine optimisation.

    (forgive me of my spelling transgressions, my new phone has no spell check, and is so slow that Id rather not even bother to manually edit this post)
     
  8. b4cz28

    b4cz28 Active Member

    I know the mod’s do a ton of work to keep this site clean. It’s been a long time since I’ve even seen a spammer on this site. I have been a member of two other forums that were very popular, but were over ran with spam and have zero activity on them today (other than spam). You can't even read or post on Yahoo anymore they are so overwhelmed with it, so THANKS for keeping it clean here. Your cookies are in the mail!
     
  9. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    Chocolate chip, please.
     
  10. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    I don't eat sweets. How about you send me a butternut squash :)
     
  11. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    Right on, and that's because of our heavy traffic. The fact that we are on the top in Google searches makes us a very attractive target for spammers.
     
  12. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    Send me MC's cookies, too.
     
  13. djacks24

    djacks24 New Member

    I see now that I should have added an additional polling selection that said "I'm a moderator and no, I like things the way they are.":rolleyes:
     
  14. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    This thread does not exist. It never has.

    [​IMG]
     
  15. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    Very funny, wise guy. :)
     
  16. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    If it's all the same to you I'll have a pack of M&Ms.

    We've lived without avatars for a long time and I'm sure we could continue without them. While this is generally a serious site I don't have any problem with injecting a little fun into the process. If the time comes when avatars are supported on this site then I've already got mine picked out. It's a unique depiction of Yumi from Code Lyoko. I expect that I'll change mine regularly. To me, that's part of the fun. It's 12:38am where I live so I'm going to sleep now. See you all tomorrow.
     
  17. blaterson

    blaterson New Member

    I logged in just to sound off on this poll.

    I've seen avatars on other forums, I think they degrade the content. This forum is fabulous as it is without them.
     
  18. b4cz28

    b4cz28 Active Member

    Please tell me how?
     
  19. rickyjo

    rickyjo New Member

    I agree to an extent with the people who've said in another thread that pictures do help people relate to each other.

    I'm 100% pro avatar, myself.
     
  20. What would your avatar be, ricky?
     

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