External Avatar Images

[neato]

The Internet has three primary kinds of users:
01. Paranoid: The kind that prefer to be anonymous 100% of the time. Anti-Socialite.
02. Avatar: The kind that prefer to be anonymous but give tiny hints about themselves (avatars, location, age, sex, etc), which may lead to becoming very non-anonymous. Looking for Friends.
03. Open Book: The kind that tell you everything about them. They use their real name, they do things elsewhere that provide exact locations, etc. Desperate for recognition.

Freud said that everything we do can be traced back to two things, Fear and Sex, so:

01. Based on Fear.
02. Based on Sex.
03. Based on Fear and Sex.

In my opinion, we're all a bit crazy, but group 02 and 03 is the craziest.

And, my opinion about having or not having avatars, signatures, whatever is: Does it really matter? I thought it was just something you did after you have been at one place for like ever. I had no idea that people carried this "Second-Life" identity everywhere they go. Anyway, from the outside, it seems normal enough, so do what you want as long as the way you represent yourself isn't offensive, then it shouldn't matter to anyone else. It certainly doesn't to me at all. I say, if you're gonna do it, then do it all the way. Get your avatars trademarked, watermarked and ready for prime time. You need to find a good graphic artist and really get it right. You know, take your Second-Life to the next level. But, you have to first think that you're worth it. I think you're worth it.

[AndrewAPrice]

@neato: What category do I fit in if my motivation to use the Internet is neither?

[Firestryke31]

Freud said that everything we do can be traced back to two things, Fear and Sex, so:

01. Based on Fear.
02. Based on Sex.
03. Based on Fear and Sex.

In my opinion, we're all a bit crazy, but group 02 and 03 is the craziest.

Freud was a quack. He based all of his "research" off of, like, 5 people, and refused to give proof (because he couldn't). Yeah, you can tell everything about how the human mind works (or misworks, it's also how he misrepresented mental disorders that were, in reality, caused by physical problems) just by analyzing 5 or so people, all of whom had mental disorders of one sort or another. You know it's bad when psychologists are calling him a quack (I learned about this in two different psych classes, one in HS and one in college). If you ever get Freudian psychology from your psychologist you should demand your money back and warn everyone away from them.

Anyway, I still don't understand the aversion to external avatars. All it does is make life more difficult for those who want to use it. It's not like allowing external avatars will force everybody registered to switch to them before they're allowed to post. It will help free up disk space and bandwidth for the server. It is convenient for some people who do like to update their avatar every so often. Going through and removing the rare broken image is a waste of time since most of the time no one will notice it anyway. Not allowing external avatars offers no benefits over allowing them.

[Owen]

Still, it's impossible to cover psychology without covering Freudian Psychology because he was the father of the subject, even if he got most of it wrong (Interestingly, he got many of the treatments right...)

I suppose in many respects I'm between 2 and 3. My address is certainly out there, in public record (whois).

[neato]

@MAndrew: I suppose you are on the cusp of one of the primaries.

I would prevent this for security reasons. For example, it may not apply now, but in the early days of phpBB you could inject a specially crafted image as your sig and have it do some things, like log out the users who try to view your threads, steal sessions, etc. Really a forum only needs the ability to do two things, create posts and present them in order. Everything else we see beyond that is mans search for meaning. A feeble attempt to establish a functioning society within a world full of Individualists and those who aspire to be dysfunctional.

[Owen]

We already have a BDFL. He's called Chase

[neato]

Sorry, I was editing my post while you posted that and I didn't like where I was going with the rulers and enslavement thing, so I changed it and made your reply senseless. What I was saying is that people want freedom, but they basically screw themselves by creating societies, appointing leaders (often less qualified than those they rule), and the rules they create are often more of a punishment than a gift. Hey, if I could have just said it that way the first time, I would have left it the same. I just didn't want it to sound insulting, even though it is.

Rage Against the Machine!

[Solar]

Rage Against the Machine!

*tweeeet*

Off-Topic! We're not discussing music here!

[neato]

Look out it's the thread police, but seriously we should have theme songs. Here's mine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf45I1ZI__w

It's an amazing song to Punch Dance to. I listen to it while I program, I just keep it on repeat and I punch dance to it while I'm on breaks. That's not me in the video, I wish I could punch dance like that. He's pretty good.

[earlz]

The Internet has three primary kinds of users:
01. Paranoid: The kind that prefer to be anonymous 100% of the time. Anti-Socialite.
02. Avatar: The kind that prefer to be anonymous but give tiny hints about themselves (avatars, location, age, sex, etc), which may lead to becoming very non-anonymous. Looking for Friends.
03. Open Book: The kind that tell you everything about them. They use their real name, they do things elsewhere that provide exact locations, etc. Desperate for recognition.

Freud said that everything we do can be traced back to two things, Fear and Sex, so:

01. Based on Fear.
02. Based on Sex.
03. Based on Fear and Sex.

In my opinion, we're all a bit crazy, but group 02 and 03 is the craziest.

And, my opinion about having or not having avatars, signatures, whatever is: Does it really matter? I thought it was just something you did after you have been at one place for like ever. I had no idea that people carried this "Second-Life" identity everywhere they go. Anyway, from the outside, it seems normal enough, so do what you want as long as the way you represent yourself isn't offensive, then it shouldn't matter to anyone else. It certainly doesn't to me at all. I say, if you're gonna do it, then do it all the way. Get your avatars trademarked, watermarked and ready for prime time. You need to find a good graphic artist and really get it right. You know, take your Second-Life to the next level. But, you have to first think that you're worth it. I think you're worth it.

So where do I fit in? I don't scream out my personal information on the internet, but my physical location and other "sensitive" things can be found easily enough by googling my nickname(which also happens to be my nickname in real life). I'm not paranoid and not looking for sex, but yea..

I think your advice for "taking it to the next level" is probably the stupidest thing I've ever heard. The internet is just a huge hobby for me.

[neato]

Judging by your description, I think that would make you an Avatar. The description, "Looking for Friends" is very broad. You may not be looking for friends and still belong to the Avatar group. However, in order to belong to the Avatar group you have to behave in a certain way, that implies your motives for such behavior. Whether that be rooted in Sex is debatable, but if you come to grips with what really brings you online, I bet your so-called "hobby" is not the only reason. I further that bet even. I also bet that you are looking for friends. The Internet is more than a resource of infinite knowledge, it is also a place where you hang out and make friends. As for me, I don't trust anyone I can't see and would never in a million years attempt to associate my real identity to anything I ever do online, outside let's say a business, and I would never interact on behalf of my business using a pseudo nick. It is a complete waste of time to spend wasting away in a forum, like we are now. I suppose I could say that while I am developing a new driver, and this being a OS Development Forum, it is natural to be found stewing around; getting into random conversation while I wait for a thread to be answered or while taking a break. I often regret these conversations.

[AndrewAPrice]

So our motivation to write an operating system is somewhere between fear and sex?

[Lithorien]

So our motivation to write an operating system is somewhere between fear and sex?

Sure, why not? You make the Next Big Thing and you have both complete creative control over it (so you can lock all sorts of fun little bits of data away), and you become wildly popular (and thus become a sex magnet).

[neato]

Hi MA,

Perhaps it is truly. Why did you start writing yours? Fear that you might not be able to do it? What is your reward for doing it? Gratification knowing you can? Ego? Why need an Ego? Sex?