new thread
its been two weeks since i asked...here...again is a more up to date pic
There are only a few of us on the Moderating or Tech Crew that have the computer skills needed to follow up on your request, --- and I am NOT one of them! It has been suggested to you in the past to please e-mail Oren, as he is the guy currently who has offered to volunteer his time updating avatar pics. If he is unable to follow through with your request at this time, quite possibly he has other things happening in his real life that are more important & pressing than jumping up and saluting you (SHOCKING as that may appear to be)....
What's the worse that can happen if your pic is not upgraded? I have had the same avatar pic displayed for me for a full 3 and 1/2 years, --- and do you see me complaining? (Oren wasn't in-charge of that job then; but it is still a "labor of love", regardless of whoever attends to it.)
Now, on the other hand... if you wish to PAY ME to learn how to do this particular chore, well... then that's an entirely different story! "Yes, SIR! At your service, SIR!!" There will be no further delay, SIR!!!!"
- Ken (whose red neck is getting a bit hot under the collar right now)
I have had the same avatar pic displayed for me for a full 3 and 1/2 years, --- and do you see me complaining?
We love your avatar pic Ken dont't ever change it.
Kevin
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Be patient, it took about that long for mine to be updated. Oren is a very busy guy.
Bruce
I wrote the software that handles the avatars, so I was in on the original discussions about their purpose. This goes back a ways; at the time the word "avatar" had not come into general use yet, and we called the things "portraits", which are "photos of the face". That word was a better description of what they actually are, but we changed to calling them avatars because the users here tended to use that word more, bringing it perhaps from some other site. (At two other sites I maintain, they are still called by their original name of "portraits".)
The purpose of the avatars is not to show a progress pic, it is to show who you are. Your avatar is there to help other users remember you; putting faces to the crowd here, and it IS a crowd, makes the site a lot more personal.
What matters most is that your avatar show your face, and secondarily, that it show your hair approximately like it is. For a guy growing his hair out, changing it once every six months to a year is often enough to keep it current. For a guy who has reached terminal, every two years or so is fine. Facial hair affects the face a lot, so changes there also may call for a change in the avatar.
Lest we forget, the Internet is only a hobby. Oren does a good job with the avatars, but he processes them in batches, once every week or two. This is not a time-critical task, and although several of us on the crew could do it, it is best left to one reliable person, rather than having a crowd getting in there and stumbling over each other in the process.
If you want to offer progress pics, you should put them on your web site or open a page at one of the photo services like flickr. There you will have complete control, and you can have lots of photos and change them as often as you like! Oren can make it so clicking on your avatar goes there instead of to a big version of your avatar. Click on my avatar above for a demonstration of what you can do!
By the way, you seem angry in the pic about your avatar. Are you sure you want that to grace each of your posts? You may want to chill a bit, crack a big smile, and click the camera again. [grin]
If the troops are truly dissatisfied with Oren, we'd replace him, but I suspect the complaints we have seen are rooted in two misconceptions. One is that avatars are progress pics and the other is that avatars are some form of essential registration (like some sites have). They are neither; they are just there to put a face to your posts.
Bill
Hi
If Oren need a bit of support with updating avatars, i can do it.
It would be a good way for me to give back to the comunity.
Cya
Hmmmmmmmmm nice offer Francois
Yes, we do appreciate it. The problem is that the avatars all get e-mailed to one person, and that is Oren. If we were to tell people to send them elsewhere if Oren were on vacation, they'd be apt to get lost. And if Oren is just busy, it would make no sense for him to forward the requests to someone else, because making an avatar takes very little time. If he is going to take the time to do that, he might as well do it himself.
We really have two choices. One is to send them to one guy who will sometimes not get to them for a week or two because all humans go on vacation or are sometimes busy, but they will get done eventually because the guy is very reliable. The other choice is to send them to a variety of people in which case they will usually get done quickly but sometimes will get lost and not get done at all. Or older requests may get done for a user by one guy who is pokey, and in the process overwrite a newer request made by that same user and already processed by someone else. Having one guy do all of them eliminates such problems.
We feel the avatars are not time-critical and that the site users would opt for reliability over speed. That is why we have all avatar requests sent to Oren.
Bill
Tech Crew Chief
I have just emailed Oren as it just may be that he is away right now or possibly ill which I surely hope is not the case. Just be patient. Oren has always been right there in the past and works very fast.
Justin
Oren has always handled my requests quickly, but I can appreciate
the fact that right now he might have more pressing business.
Patience my friend it will get done and don't forget the moderation team give their time for free and it's all voluntary.
John.B
Hey man--nice hair. How long have you been growing it for? Also, I like the long nails. I'm a str8 guy that has had long hair and nails for about 10 years now. Always open to chat with other guys into same.
j