The value of an avatar

I found this charming little beetle at a friend’s house and was delighted with it. It flew in an odd, slow way I’d never really seen a beetle use, and I hadn’t realized we have tiny blue-green dung beetles. Figured it would make a good icon, aesthetics-wise, and it made me happy to find.

(https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/27457271)

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Many avatars pique my curiosity. I particularly enjoy reading many of the bios of those who do IDs or make an intriguing comment on the forum. I should update my avatar as I (sadly) lost that favorite hat I wore all the time. Also, I had eye surgery last summer and do not wear glasses all the time now.

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Mine was a fairly random choice but I’m kind of fond of it now and don’t plan to change it.

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Mine just means that I like robots. And then mine on here just means I like the picture.

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That’s me online since wayback and I’m not changing no matter how much of an expert I will ever turn out to be. ;)

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The avatar on iNat I chose to fit the page… reveal a bit of myself as an iNatter but only to a level I am comfortable with.
The avatar on the forums was derived by the google account I guess (also I don´t really know how, but I stopped wondering about google and it´s connections)… I do not even have that picture anymore as it got lost during a hard drive crash some years ago. I always imagine that the avatar on iNat is more important as that is where I am active as an identifier. The forums are just fun :-)

Edit: I just had a look at my settings…apparently the avatar here is connected to my private email adress via gravatar which I set way back when I still though I would be organized enough to maintain my own blog via wordpress…haha…

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As a staff member I feel like I need to have a photo of myself so that I’m not a faceless admin. Apologies for forcing my mug on you all.

I personally like to see faces as avatars as they remind us there are actual people behind those usernames but I totally understand the many reasons why someone might not want to have their face out there or might just prefer something non-human as their avatar.

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Seems that there should be an option to include a second photo, such as a pic of the user, on the profile page, in addition to the avatar they use on iNat or on the Forum. If the user wants to include that of course. The thumbnail avatar, if it’s a clear icon of some sort, can often be more distinctive and quickly identified by other users than if they had a self-portrait as their avatar so I kind of like the more symbolic avatars.

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Some face photos are more memorable than others. Like @fffffffff 's previous one, where she was wearing her winter hat with two pompons that reminded me of teddy bear ears. I loved that avatar.

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This post made me check which avatar I was using on iNat. Ah, my daughter’s photo of me taking a picture of a fox carrying its lunch in Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado, USA). You don’t see my face, but I’m taking pictures of nature. That seems appropriate.

I like the avatar image to be distinctive in some way and easily recognized. Just a generic letter or drawing (as on Reddit) doesn’t help me connect or notice. But I tend to pay attention to names rather than avatars.

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My avatar is the Desert Bluebell. I would like to thank the eye-catching Desert Mariposa Lily of @jdmore for my inspiration; and another user (not around anymore) who used to have an avatar of a bright pink and yellow bicolor flower, possibly a Harlequin Lupine.

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If I lived there I would show Karoo violets - also semi-desert and Blue!

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To toot my own horn, I think my profile picture is pretty dang cool. Such a shame I didn’t have iNaturalist in like… 2016 or whenever I found that mostly-skeletonized deer carcass out in the woods. Would have loved to upload it but I don’t think I should now since I’d only be able to guess a location, and my photo was taken for purely aesthetic reasons. oh well. Cervidae aren’t even my taxon of choice lol

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Do. Upload it. You can make the location wide enough to include where it might have been.
With notes for context to pre-empt snarky - please narrow your location.

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I’m scanning old slides and getting ready to upload a lot of images from 30 years ago. Some will have precise locations. Some won’t and I’ll give them very large “accuracy” estimates. I think they’ll all have some value. Nice avatar, too.

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Whenever I see yours on iNat, I get whatever Daft Punk song my brain puts on shuffle, which is pretty solid.

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If you mean me, I am still here. I had changed my user name and photo because I wanted anonymity for a while (it didn’t work). I just changed my profile photo back based on your nice comment. I can’t change to my old name (“paloma”) because someone else now has it. Plus I don’t want to break hyperlinks again.

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Yes hello! I am glad to know you are still here :)

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As someone with failing eyesight I appreciate bold and contrasty avatars. It doesn’t really matter what it is. Whether it is you in a bright pink shirt, you standing on your head, a black and white cave art icon or it’s modern equivalent they all catch my eye.

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This is an amazing comment and so true!

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