I do not see the importance of an avatar.
this post was submitted on 29 May 2025
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It is irrelevant.
Because I dont care.
Can't be arsed.
I'm not sure how to, and it's not something I care about enough to figure out how. I generally think of posting here as more shouting into the void, so I don't care very much to personalize my account.
I use Sync. I may be missing out on the perfectly simple UI that was developed to do this.
I don't see them on the third party app i use
I had no idea Lemmy even had avatars until I read this post. So I went into my profile out of curiosity - even though I already had "Show Avatars" checked, I've never seen a user's avatar on here before. I did upload one for my own profile though for the hell of it.
Because a lot of people don't see a benefit in being recognized when pseudonymously interacting with strangers. And in some apps they aren't displayed at all.
I've put in as much effort to my profile as I wanted to. Sounds like a lot of others did the same.
I don't even see it on voyager. I don't know why I would want an avatar anyway.
Because it's an anonymous website?
I thought that they were dumb on Reddit and I think they're even dumber here.
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Hadn’t really thought about it until you asked. Don’t see why it’s worth the bother.
With 21x21 avatars, the question is why even have this functionality in the first place. That size is too small to matter.
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My app either doesn't show them or it's off by default. I didn't know there were avatars but I'm not interested in them either since I'm reading on my phone and prefer a minimalist view.
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Because I hadn't even thought of it.
On Reddit, it changed to something semi-unique and, even though I never changed it, I somehow identified with it.
On Reddit, it changed to something semi-unique and, even though I never changed it, I somehow identified with it.
That's what Tesseract does; pseudorandom avatars based on the actor ID if the profile hasn't set one. But those are just local, though.
Lol, here's what it generates for yours:
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I have avatars disabled
Wonder the same thing a lot. I change mine up semi-regularly, same with my profile banner, but that's just me being bored.
The thing that drives me insane is when a community doesn't use the icon. The FUCK ARE YOU DOING.
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You guys have avatars?!?
If I care enough about another user to note them across time and communities, I give them a tag.
In the other direction, I don't expect anyone to recall my username from one thread to another, to build any sense of my broader personhood greater than one interaction provides.
An avatar just seems unnecessary. I'm also on an app that only displays them if I go out of my way to see them.
Accounts come and go, but shitposting is forever.
I have everyone else's avatars hidden anyway so wouldn't make much sense to set one for myself. I just don't see the appeal.
I'm lazy.
You actually have an avatar, lol, so you must not be that lazy haha.
Are you referring to people's profile pictures as avatars? Otherwise I have no idea what you mean.
They are oftentimes refered to as the same thing. Avatar came around first IIRC (it was generally an avatar of who you are, not what you actually look like) and slowly morphed into profile picture as social media took over and people forgot about the whole "don't give strangers your personal information" thing.
I still use avatar personally. Older term for same thing
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Yeah, profile pictures. In the API data, they're called avatar so that's the term I tend to use.
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There are avatars?
My app do display them, but I hadn't paid attention to it.
I don't see the point. Even on my monster screen they're only 6mm² so if it's anything other than simple line art it's just a small meaningless square of digital noise.
Why would you add one? Who even sees it? This reddit/lemmy style of posting and commenting has always worked with just a username and a comment and I like it that way. If my app started showing them I'd either turn them off or find a new app.
I have one, but use Voyager so I cannot actually ever see it (nor my changed username)
Not that I care too much, y'all can enjoy how good it looks while you're here but I get to see it everywhere :3