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Avatars! Just use Reddit..?

by anjc 8y ago

leemailll 8y ago
I never get the idea for avatars. And in fact I more than often use Adblock to block any of those on the websites I visit frequently. Can any one shed the light on why they like it?
- asaph 8y ago
  It's a way to personalize your account and a way for people to easily recognize an online identity across comments, articles and communities. It helps you discover that @asaph on HN is the same person as @asaph on GitHub, Twitter, Stack Overflow, etc.
  - huntie 8y ago
    Why does it matter if they're the same? Identity is vastly overrated in my opinion.
  - thrower123 8y ago
    One of the features of HN is that identity is downplayed. Personally, I think that this encourages engaging with the arguments that someone makes, rather than who they are. It's also a throwback to the old internet where pseudonymity was normal. It's refreshing to see usernames like AdmiralAsshat and TooMuchToDo.
  - java-man 8y ago
    it's a way to track you.
- woofcat 8y ago
  The only real selling point is it allows you to distinguish users apart from one another really quickly in a threaded conversation. Sometimes someone other than the original commentator replies and unless you're paying attention to the user names you may make a presumption based on assuming they're the same person.
  - hiccuphippo 8y ago
    It could be simpler to use a different color for their name, like with new users having a green color: When a user comments more than once in the same subtree, change the username color in all their comments. Leave single commenters as grey. This should be pretty easy to do with a greasemonkey script.
    - SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
      The unofficial HN mobile app "Materialistic" does something similar to this.
  - kaitai 8y ago
    I kind of like that on HN I read through without necessarily paying attention to who is who. I focus on the comment or discussion rather than the personalities, and if I want to argue with a person rather than a point I have to go back & look at which comments are theirs.

Avatars! Just use Reddit..?

by anjc 8y ago

Avatars! Just use Reddit..?

I never get the idea for avatars. And in fact I more than often use Adblock to block any of those on the websites I visit frequently. Can any one shed the light on why they like it?

asaph 8y ago
It's a way to personalize your account and a way for people to easily recognize an online identity across comments, articles and communities. It helps you discover that @asaph on HN is the same person as @asaph on GitHub, Twitter, Stack Overflow, etc.
- huntie 8y ago
  Why does it matter if they're the same? Identity is vastly overrated in my opinion.
- thrower123 8y ago
  One of the features of HN is that identity is downplayed. Personally, I think that this encourages engaging with the arguments that someone makes, rather than who they are. It's also a throwback to the old internet where pseudonymity was normal. It's refreshing to see usernames like AdmiralAsshat and TooMuchToDo.
- java-man 8y ago
  it's a way to track you.
woofcat 8y ago
The only real selling point is it allows you to distinguish users apart from one another really quickly in a threaded conversation. Sometimes someone other than the original commentator replies and unless you're paying attention to the user names you may make a presumption based on assuming they're the same person.
- hiccuphippo 8y ago
  It could be simpler to use a different color for their name, like with new users having a green color: When a user comments more than once in the same subtree, change the username color in all their comments. Leave single commenters as grey. This should be pretty easy to do with a greasemonkey script.
  - SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
    The unofficial HN mobile app "Materialistic" does something similar to this.
- kaitai 8y ago
  I kind of like that on HN I read through without necessarily paying attention to who is who. I focus on the comment or discussion rather than the personalities, and if I want to argue with a person rather than a point I have to go back & look at which comments are theirs.