Avatars

[ramenbound]

Why were the little avatars next to user posts taken away? I feel like this was a good way to visually checkpoint one's place in a thread. Plus, most forums have the avatar displayed next to the username for thread posts, yes?

[mudaba]

Hi ramenbound,

We just put out a release today that includes avatars for nested responses, in addition to tweaking the way the nested replies line up. Thanks for your interest and asking about it!

Meredith

[Jay F]

Can you embiggen the avatars? When the typeface is the correct size, the avatars are hardly visible. I was just reading a long thread, and two members' avatars were so similar, my eyes had to dart back to the member name each time I moved to a new post.

[Servorg]

If you hover your cursor over the avatar it enlarges.

[Jay F]

oh. look at that. thanks.

[LindaWhit]

Much appreciated.

[L.Nightshade]

Oh, thank you so much! It's so much easier to follow conversations now.

I am a happy poster.

[Phil Ogelos]

I can see that certain 'hounds have been able to restore their avatars, but I was completely flummoxed in trying to recapture mine this past weekend.

The powers-that-be may have some ulterior motive to vex the loyalists here, but I can't for the life of me discern it, unless their contrariness somehow increases their profits. Actually, since this enterprise is a CBS underling, I can imagine it's both the profit urge and for the sport of it.

[Jacquilynne]

Nothing done in this site change should have affected whether people have avatars on their profiles. They do only show on original posts and top level replies, but if you had a custom avatar before the site changes, it should still be there.

Did you have an avatar previously, and did it definitely disappear at the time of the site changes?

Did anyone else lose their avatar (ie, is it completely missing from even your profile page, or has reverted to the default Knife and Fork image?) when the site changed?

[LindaWhit]

So are you saying that avatars will no longer show for replies-to-replies, Jacquilynne?

And if that's the case, why was that change made?

[cosmogrrl]

That's what it looks like. It really affects the readability of the site. Bring 'em back!

[HillJ]

I have a custom avatar. It appears in my profile. It sometimes appears in a thread and sometimes doesn't when I'm commenting. It does appear if I start an OP.

[Servorg]

Did anyone from the CH team answer if this (only top level replies showing avatars) was a planned change (or is it a bug)? If so I don't recall seeing the reply or, if this was a change from the old format, why it was instituted. Jacquilynne or anyone from the team?

[LindaWhit]

No, they haven't Servorg. Jacquilynne didn't respond to my query above, and it doesn't look like we will get a response. I truly miss having the avatars on ALL posts, because as Gio and others have said, it is a good way to follow threads and quickly see who's responding. Just having the name doesn't cut it.

WHY having an avatar on all replies was removed in the redesign? Well, that kind of goes with why a lot of things were done in the redesign without asking the users. "Just because" seems to be the answer.

[Breadcrumbs]

I totally agree w the points made by the OP and Gio. I would also note that this same issue has been raised by numerous Hounds in other threads here on Site Talk since the re-design.

Finally, Chowhound is described as " community of discerning eaters" and members are encouraged to create their own Profiles which includes, adding an avatar. By eliminating avatars from what has evolved into "most" posts, it seems CH is stripping members of the very identities it encourages them to create here.

Please restore the use of Avatars for all posts.

[HillJ]

Right now I'm looking at your avatar tucked in the left-hand corner and the add/edit an avatar still appears in our CH profile page.

Might be a design bug or a redesign change that a CH's avatar appears only once in a thread, ie: the first time you post but not subsequent posts within that thread. Except, CH's "steve h" & "coll" don't have an avatar appearing in this OP at all.

[Breadcrumbs]

No HillJ I don't think so...though I do hope you're right.

Avatars now only seem to appear on a member's Profile, if you are the OP and if you reply to the OP. If you reply to someone in the thread, like I am doing here in responding to your observation, my Avatar will not appear.

This is especially noticeable and frustrating on longer threads where, as Gio & the OP note, often it's avatars that help members orient on the page and, determine which posts to narrow in on.

[HillJ]

Then I don't know why I'm actually seeing your avatar in this thread (while not seeing others).

[Breadcrumbs]

Are you seeing it in my replies to you HillJ? I don't see it on any replies unless they are in direct response to the OP.

[HillJ]

Only once out of 3 comments

[Servorg]

It (one's avatar) seems to show up in the first reply in a thread, and then it isn't included with subsequent replies in that same thread.

[HillJ]

thanks, bug or redesign?

[Gio]

HillJ you're seeing Breadcrumbs' avatar because her statement beginning, "I totally agree" etc., is a Statement, not a reply to anyone. Similarly, my original statement beginning, "Honestly, I miss" etc., is a Statement. When I replied to steve h my avatar did not appear... Just as yours doesn't appear when you replied to Breadcrumbs.

[HillJ]

Best explanation so far. So is that a bug in the avatar design or part of the redesign?

[Gio]

Actually, I'm thinking it's part of the redesign. It was the first thing I noticed when I first opened a link from the "new" Chowhound Discussions (board): Only original statements had avatars and none of the replies did.

[HillJ]

Thanks for the clarification. Maybe Meredith, DaveMP or Meshane will address these questions this week.

[LindaWhit]

Redesign issue. Amongst many.

[Gio]

Honestly, I miss seeing the avatars everywhere. It helps to orient me within a thread and points to replies of people I want to read.

[steve h.]

Your updated avatar sends a lovely message.

[Gio]

Thank you Steve... anyone can copy it if one wants...

[HillJ]

ramenbound, do you plan to change your avatar to something customized by using the edit avatar feature? Right now, your avatar is the CH assigned fork & knife that is used by hundreds of CH's...which doesn't separate you or your posts visually from another CH using the fork & knife avatar.

[coll]

I lost mine, I mean I really lost mine because the photo I used is in my old computer. Not sure I will bother to pick a new one at this point.

[HillJ]

wow, coll
I didn't think that was possible (no avatar) on CH.

[coll]

I don't see my avatar here anymore. It was a Jersey cow that lives close to me; I don't really know what I'd replace it with, if that's even possible anymore. Guess I'll just fade into the background, no biggie. But I don't see one for you either, HillJ.

[HillJ]

Tonight I saw the Jersey cow on some threads and not on others (like here). I'm not sure what's happening with avatars since the redesign but the use/non use (removal) is random at present.

[HillJ]

And in our profile areas we still have the edit avatar option and my current avatar resides there and when/if I start an OP.

[coll]

OK thanks for the info, I'll go check it out.

Can't find the old cow, however I have other pictures sitting there I could use. But no way to download easily that I can see.

[LindaWhit]

Replies-to-replies don't have avatars. Just the initial reply to the OP.

Not sure if they're going to fix the avatarless replies-to-replies situation.

[ramenbound]

Yes, I am one of those lazy/uninspired people who hasn't come across a unique avatar yet. As most of the people in this thread have chimed in with, my main gripe is that a thread looks visually bare without the avatars. I feel like it's human nature to desire visual cues / separators to mentally partition large blocks of text.

e.g., can you imagine a Facebook where people's pictures were not posted in a small pixel version next to the comments they wrote? It would be really weird.

Right now the replies to replies within a thread don't display avatars, though the replies to the initial post do have the avatar displayed. Can someone from the CH side explain the rational behind this disparity ??

[HillJ]

Lazy and uninspired, really? I thought perhaps you didn't know where to create an avatar on your profile. Creating one would help with others seeing you.

And I'm still not 100% clear myself if this avatar placement in the redesign is a bug or a redesign choice because it varies from board to board, thread to thread as to how and when I'm seeing them.

So I'd also like the CH Team to help explain it clearly. Thanks for asking.

[Servorg]

Hey, HillJ, can you link to a thread where you are seeing avatars in a reply to other than an OP reply, (in other words a reply that has an RE: in the upper right corner)? Haven't seen one myself that I can think of and would be interested in checking that out.

[HillJ]

I wish I could for ya Servorg, the whole thing is random. when it happens I may be using a different browser than the time before. I'm not following the "pattern" at all.

If I come across it today, I'll come back here and post a link but I'll be very surprised if you see the same thing. I had this same experience with Gio and coll this week. We were not seeing the same screen avatars.