# What conclusions do you reach from avatars?



## bighairydog (Apr 4, 2002)

Just wondering, on this board we all chat and interact as if we were in a room, but all we see (apart from in that notorious 'post a picture' thread) is our avatars. So that got me thinking  what conclusions do we draw from each others avatars? And even worse  what conclusions do people draw about me from mine?

Heres some prejudices I have drawn  no offence intended here, Im going by the avatar not by the exchanges weve had )
Ed: Ex multinational rock n roll singer, now lives in a large house painted in psychedelic colours, with a Jacuzzi in the back garden.
symphonix: soft and cuddly promotional toy, of the kind that you collect tokens and get *FREE!* For a mere £20 packaging and postage.
scruffy: kindly uncle-like figure, respected by all the other forest animals, who has adopted a human child to bring him up in the ways of the wild.
Lessthanallmighty: Builder.
xoot, divibisan, 2Blings: High on aqua ;o)
wdw_: very highly schizophrenic.
kenny: god
twyg: wise owl turned popsicle turned anime superhero.
vanguard: Lazy, work-shy layabout engineer, and my owners co-worker.
gamedog00, Leonis and others with no avatar: non-corporeal entities whose words are not typed by humans, but arise as emergent order from entropy circling the internet

Thoughts people?

Bernie     )


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## tagliatelle (Apr 4, 2002)

The problem with popmusic is that people always want guitar and not cerials.


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## z4ph0d (Apr 4, 2002)

Just out of curiosity, what prejudices do you draw from my avatar, seeing as it is a real picture of me? Use blacklight and It'll turn up fine


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## Boyko (Apr 4, 2002)

I'd like to know about mine.

Brian.


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## genghiscohen (Apr 4, 2002)

I conclude that bighairydog has a good sense of humor (and is from Britain).


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## nkuvu (Apr 4, 2002)

Hmm...  got more of an impression of bighairydog trying to rule the world.  From UK.


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## dlookus (Apr 4, 2002)

Big Hairy is a british bullfighting dog.


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## satanicpoptart (Apr 4, 2002)

i think of dilbert..... isnt that dog from dilbert..? maybe thats just the devil talking again............


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## nkuvu (Apr 4, 2002)

It's Dogbert, from the Dilbert strip, yes.  Which is why I think of bighairydog taking over the world.  I don't read Dilbert much, but that's what I remember of Dogbert.


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## unlearnthetruth (Apr 4, 2002)

mine is icon of coil's logo

i think i'm gonna change it  back to the dark angel i used to have tho

in fact, i think i'll do it now


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## bighairydog (Apr 4, 2002)

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Well, z4ph0d I see you as a worker in a photographic laboratory, who one day was bitten by a radioactive spider and turned into _[cue fanfare]_ *Negative Man&trade;*! Then on reconstruction of your image in Photoshop (bastard  I had to boot classic for that ;o) I discovered that you are in actual fact an actor from the mini-series ABBA&nbsp;&nbsp;the&nbsp;early&nbsp;years. (dont take offence  ABBA kick ass ) I probably would use a photo as an avatar, but I posted one in the post a picture thread and people got scared.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Boyko I see you as a character not entirely dissimilar in appearance to Salvador Dali, with imminent plans for world domination, scripted to end in hilarious results. Available on FOX TV and syndicated to all Rupert Murdoch owned broadcasters and across the third world by the Budget Dubbing Corporation.

Hope that has been enlightening...  BTW, feel free to call me Bernie on these boards.

Bernie     )


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## sithious (Apr 4, 2002)

... i suppose you see me as ewan mcgregor then? lol ...


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## gamedog00 (Apr 4, 2002)

I'm working on an avatar. I'm very touched that you included my name *tear*.


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## gamedog00 (Apr 4, 2002)

Where are abasscube and bluefusion?


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## xoot (Apr 4, 2002)

Thanks for including my name on there 

My old one was the Terminal icon with "xoot" on it. But I decided to make it look cooler. I love the Aqua interface. So I made an avatar based on it.


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## AdmiralAK (Apr 4, 2002)

holly son of a gun no one has mentioned me yet 

I dont know if I should be offended or flattered 


The only thing that sticks in my head is the name HERVE ... and his avatar of course....what does it mean?!




Admiral
PS: where IS herve ?!?!?!


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## simX (Apr 4, 2002)

I'm sure the only thing that a person can get from my avatar is that I am an avid Mac user (close to a Mac zealot  ), and that I hate Microsoft. 

The only thing I get from avatars is a reaction.  Specifically annoying reactions.  wdw_'s icon (no offense) and maybe TommyWillB (no offense, again) really annoy me because they change all the time, and so that quality is kind of transferred to my perception of the actual person (like I said, no offense, I'm just telling you what stereotypes I get).

I can't say that I have any other strong reactions from avatars.  Most of the others I just look at and think, "Hm!  That's a kind of cool avatar," or "That avatar looks kind of ugly."  I don't really transfer the qualities of any avatars to the actual person except for the really annoying cycling ones (sorry wdw_ and TommyWillB  ).


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## adambyte (Apr 4, 2002)

Hey Admirak AK, for as long as I've been here, your avatar has always been the little BSD devil... was it ever anything else? If so, what?


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## symphonix (Apr 4, 2002)

Also deserving of a commendation is Jadey's anime-chick-with-green-hair - my favourite.  

As for Ed, I kind of get an image of the Kramer from Seinfeld saying "She said I was a hipster dufus! _Me! A hipster dufus!_"  
No, actually I really identify with Ed's. He seems to be the creative type. Ed: was that done with a Wacom, it reminds me of the sort of stuff I used to do when I had a Wacom ... damn, I miss my Wacom. Now I'm just using old fashioned paper and paints.

My monkey has a striking resemblance to me, especially now I am a student and am growing a goatee beard. Also, I used to do a lot of puppeteering and made my own puppets, but that was some time ago.

I think Herve's new guitarist thing is pretty cool - do we have to change the logo on the "Herve-o-lator" program now?


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## ulrik (Apr 5, 2002)

I really don't wanna know what people think of my avater....


I am a set of strokes tossing myself of a cliff and watching me fall to death until I am tossed from a cliff to watch myself fall to death until....


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## tismey (Apr 5, 2002)

> _Originally posted by sithious _
> *... i suppose you see me as ewan mcgregor then? lol ...   *



Actually, I think your avatar looks more like Michael Stipe from REM. I know it isn't, but that's all I can think of when I see it....

Any thoughts on mine, people? Interested to see who recognises it....


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## Bluefusion (Apr 5, 2002)

Dude, what's mine say? DUDE!

So much for quality posts.


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## googolplex (Apr 5, 2002)

Isn't Michael Stipe arrested for air rage .

Oh and what do you guys think of my avatar?


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## bighairydog (Apr 5, 2002)

Oh dear - so many missed out...

Bluefusion, your avatar says: "Mission Statement: NewTek is the driving force pushing the edge of video and graphics technology while redefining price performance and ease of use. The NewTek team is insanely committed to providing the highest quality tools and services to support our extended family of end users in their creative drive for success."

AdmiralAK - yours is one of my favourites, largely by virtue of it not changing. Every time I see a new avatar I think "damn - now I have to get to know this guy/gal's face all over". Also it's kinda cute.

ulrik, you're right - you don't want to know ;o) I do see you as being a brother of ksv. Also, the whole black and white thing makes me think youre perhaps given to a spartan lifestyle in Norway, rolling naked in snow to unwind at the weekends... Just a thought.

Bernie     )


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## divibisan (Apr 5, 2002)

> Oh and what do you guys think of my avatar?



Your's seems like a world domination type avatar to me, with "plex", symbolizing you, covering the world.


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## Lessthanmighty (Apr 5, 2002)

Besides a crappy loop job.  What do you think of my updated avatar?


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## ulrik (Apr 5, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Bluefusion _
> *Dude, what's mine say? DUDE!
> 
> So much for quality posts. *



Lightwave???


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## ulrik (Apr 5, 2002)

> _Originally posted by bighairydog _
> *
> ulrik, you're right - you don't want to know ;o) I do see you as being a brother of ksv. Also, the whole black and white thing makes me think youre perhaps given to a spartan lifestyle in Norway, rolling naked in snow to unwind at the weekends... Just a thought.
> *



WHO TOLD YOU THAT? It was a secret! Was it Ed again? He always spreads my secrets to internet forums... 



> _originaly posted by Lessthanmighty_
> *Besides a crappy loop job. What do you think of my updated avatar?*



Riiiiiiight....


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## xoot (Apr 5, 2002)

Nice.


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## Bluefusion (Apr 5, 2002)

Arrrrgh I KNOW it's the LightWave logo but it should also be imbued with a sense of .... something else... I don't want it to just be a logo 

Maybe I'll change it, I just don't know what to...


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## Bluefusion (Apr 5, 2002)

My new avatar... what thinkest thou? I like it a lot actually... it's abstract but it somehow very clearly suggests a closed eye to me, dunno why


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## xoot (Apr 5, 2002)

Dricci has a new avatar. It looks very cool.


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## gamedog00 (Apr 5, 2002)

Cool avatar blue fusion. I like it much more then the old one . Did you make it?


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## Bluefusion (Apr 5, 2002)

Yes, I did make it myself and thanks, I really love it. I think I'll keep it for a long time. It just really... works, somehow. I'm so happy I'm no longer using a product logo-- as much as i love that LightWave logo, it's not mine so I really shouldn't use it


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## gamedog00 (Apr 5, 2002)

What did you use to make it? Photoshop? Bryce?


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## themacko (Apr 5, 2002)

I like symphonix's avatar .. that freaking monkey is sweet!


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## Bluefusion (Apr 5, 2002)

Basically it's a distorted image of a wave, so yeah pretty much only Photoshop. It took, uh, maybe 45 seconds. Maybe.


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## divibisan (Apr 5, 2002)

I posted before that I didn't like your new avatar  bluefustion, as much, but now i really like it. 

What I get from it is:
You like OSX
You are an artist/musician
Your thoughts may be jumbled, but they are also focused at the same time.

It doesn't work as well because I know you, but that's what I thought of when I looked at it


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## Bluefusion (Apr 5, 2002)

Well, that's cool... everyone seemed to like it xcept you, so it's good to hear that we're back to an "OK" on that. I'll admit it takes a bit of getting used to, but I really do prefer it. The "jumbled but focused" thing is DEFINITELY what I was getting at, so you're right on with that. That may be because you know me, though.. I wonder if anyone else had that thought? The artist thing was I guess somewhat present, and it's probably more likely for people to pick up on, whereas the OS X thing I didn't even really think of---the only reason I used blue was cuz of my name


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## gamedog00 (Apr 5, 2002)

I don't know I kind of picked up the same thoughts thing and that you were an artist. It also reminds me of cars for some reason .


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## divibisan (Apr 5, 2002)

> whereas the OS X thing I didn't even really think of---the only reason I used blue was cuz of my name



Yeah, but blue is aqua, thats how I got it, the artist was the abstractness of it.


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## divibisan (Apr 5, 2002)

> It also reminds me of cars for some reason



It does kind of look like the roof of a car


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## Bluefusion (Apr 5, 2002)

gamedog, i know where the car comes from... the opening of GTA3 for PS2 has a shot of a car's engine from inside and it looks very similar to that.. remember?


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## gamedog00 (Apr 5, 2002)

Yeah I know how you would reach that but I never really thought of it like that. More like an I like blue kind of thing then a I like osx.


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## gamedog00 (Apr 5, 2002)

GT3, yeah vaguely. Stupid subconcious *hits head*.


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## Bluefusion (Apr 5, 2002)

It reminds me of the dropship in Halo for some reason... dunno why... but i like how it can become different things if you look at it in different ways


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## divibisan (Apr 5, 2002)

> gamedog, i know where the car comes from... the opening of GTA3 for PS2 has a shot of a car's engine from inside and it looks very similar to that.. remember?



What, when? I don;t remember that, but if you look at the avitar the black smudge looks like a window and the front is curved and there is that rectangle like thing on top like a sun roof ant theres also a bike rack


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## divibisan (Apr 5, 2002)

> the opening of GTA3 for PS2 has a shot of a car's engine from inside and it looks very similar to that.. remember?



Do you mean Gran Turismo?


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## gamedog00 (Apr 5, 2002)

Yeah, look I corrected him gt3.


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## AdmiralAK (Apr 5, 2002)

> _Originally posted by adambyte _
> *Hey Admirak AK, for as long as I've been here, your avatar has always been the little BSD devil... was it ever anything else? If so, what? *



Wow this thread has taken off while I have been busy at work 

Well I decided to have a BSd daemon on my 666th post (devil, deamon lol) -- then I liked it so much I decided to keep it and make it my avatar for all the forums I visit (and have custom avatars).  Before that I am not sure what I had  --- It was only a few months till I reached 666.  Back in the public beta days we had a lot of "on topic" activity here


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## vic (Apr 5, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Lessthanmighty _
> *Besides a crappy loop job.  What do you think of my updated avatar? *



a really poor loop job. i an imagine you walking down the street and spazzing like that with 3 frames / second 

-- i'm not going to ask wah tyou people think of my avatar...


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## scruffy (Apr 5, 2002)

Ulrik - zen.  very zen.

Hervé - Well, I already suspected he was a Yeti but that makes it conclusive.

Zaphod - an eerily glowing eater of cinnamon sticks.

nkuvu - a respected grandfather spirit in an animist religion, considered to be nearly insignificant today, but we'll all feel stupid when we die, and they turn out to have been right all along.

unlearnthetruth - wears black nail polish and communes with the spirits of dead houseplants at the solstices.

tismey - aristocrat in the kingdom of the bat


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## Valrus (Apr 6, 2002)

Finally got me an avatar.

So many choices... but in the end, what choice did I really have?

None whatsoever. 

-the valrus


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## bighairydog (Apr 6, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Lessthanmighty _
> *Besides a crappy loop job.  What do you think of my updated avatar? *


From Builder to Builder's pin-up girl ;o)

Bernie     )


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## bighairydog (Apr 6, 2002)

Wow, this thread really took off (I just read the last two pages).

Bluefusion - I like your new avatar...

Lets see how many more avatar changes I/We can precipitate with comments like "Your avatar makes me think of dyslexic cult leaders who strangle small furry animals and brainwash vulnerables into the ultra-hardline right wing stance that all people should donate one of their children to the government for formation of a  world-domination army".

When it comes down to it, People look at the content not the avatar, but I do really think having a distinctive avatar makes it an easier process to get to know somebody. I think the human brain instinctively wants to have some easily to remember representation of a person it interacts with. Who can honestly say that they didn't get a feeling of what AdmiralAK and Ed were like much faster than most of the others (and I'm sure it wasn't just their insane post counts)

Bernie     )


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## edX (Apr 6, 2002)

gosh, so many people talking about me  



> Ed: Ex multinational rock n roll singer, now lives in a large house painted in psychedelic colours, with a Jacuzzi in the back garden.



now cmon Bernie, some of that was based on interaction. 

truth is - I was only indirectly in the music biz for 7 years, now live in a small house painted blue with a cut up jacuzzi that i finally made into a  pond in the back garden. but i do like psychedelic colors.

sithious - your icon always reminds me of Jesus. It always seems so incongruent with the Jedi Knight thing. (but it is likable )

symphonix - yes, my avatar was done on my graphire2.  

Tismey - i assume your avatar is a beer bottle cap but it always reminds me of something military or governmental. it takes a close look to see that it is a bat.

Bluefusion - i see a dolphin head in your new logo. which i thought was cool when you revealed it was a distorted wave.

perhaps i should post my old avatar up for awhile for the new folks. it was a classic mac icon from an old macintalk app from about 1986 that i colorized. all my friends here laughed at it.  It was much more about my mac history than about me.

Ulrik - i could have sworn that you designed your logo to make me dizzy. that way every time i laugh at one of your posts, i fall out of my chair.

(and i did not tell that particular secret. i suggest you turn that inscreen cam off, perhaps that will increase your security )

rick - your new avatar says that you are a bit too quick in bed or else you are just new to the concept. girls that bump and grind that fast will never develop a satisfying, natural rythm with you.  

i will say in general i like original and personal picture avatars better than ones that use logos, comic or game characters, or famous people. But that is the creative part of me that symphonix talked about. Also a belief that you should cast your own shadow and not try to immitate anyone else. Some of my favorites are Symphonix, nkuvu, Tom, and Lonnie. herve and matrix agent also keep me amused with their changes.


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## bighairydog (Apr 6, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Me_
> *Ed: Ex multinational rock n roll singer, now lives in a large house painted in psychedelic colours, with a Jacuzzi in the back garden.*





> _Originally posted by Ed Spruiell _
> *now cmon Bernie, some of that was based on interaction.
> 
> truth is - I was only indirectly in the music biz for 7 years, now live in a small house painted blue with a cut up jacuzzi that i finally made into a  pond in the back garden. but i do like psychedelic colors.*


Really? I seriously was only guessing from the avatar (I havn't spent much time in the congrats threads or the B&G, so never found out about your living arrangements...)

Now I agree more with you about the whole personal avatar thing Ed. Thats the good thing about personal avatars - by designing them yourself, you inject some of your life into it, and hence I managed to guess your profile quite well (I'm still chuffed about doing that!).

Sometime I'd better get around to redesigning mine (not that I designed my current one of course), when I get a graphics tablet... I see Wacom have released drivers for their tablets in OSX, so sometime soon I'll buy that tablet I've been promising myself and make me a nice avatar.

Bernie     )


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## ulrik (Apr 6, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Ed Spruiell _
> *Ulrik - i could have sworn that you designed your logo to make me dizzy. that way every time i laugh at one of your posts, i fall out of my chair.
> *




I admit it, you are the main target of my avatar...


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## tismey (Apr 6, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Ed Spruiell _
> *Tismey - i assume your avatar is a beer bottle cap but it always reminds me of something military or governmental. it takes a close look to see that it is a bat.
> *



It's actually the Alternative Tentacles record label ('Giving art a bad name since 1979') logo. The government/military thing is interesting though, because the bat is actually holding a missile in one claw, and a broken cross with a dollar sign on it in the other, so I guess there's a link there.

The picture I used was originally a picture of a badge from the AT online store. It had a bit of a light-flare across it because of the shininess of the  badge, so when I made it transparent it gave it the roughed-up edges. I guess it does look a bit like a beer bottle cap.


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## unlearnthetruth (Apr 6, 2002)

> _Originally Posted by scruffy_*
> unlearnthetruth - wears black nail polish and communes with the spirits of dead houseplants at the solstices.*




LOL    

That's the funniest description of me i've ever heard - thank you scruffy

I only wear black nailpolish when it's called for!


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## RacerX (Apr 6, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Bernie _
> *AdmiralAK - yours is one of my favourites, largely by virtue of it not changing. *



So what do you think it says about people who change their avatars quite often? 

I personally love seeing familiar faces, like Admiral's, sithious' and Jady's. Something that caught me off guard was when someone started using the same avatar as soapvox (though I can't remember who it was). And I really liked scott's old walking beer mug... that was cool!


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## Lessthanmighty (Apr 6, 2002)

I had to change my avatar again.  Just for you Ed!  Besides, I will choose sonic over a girl anyday.    

Wait... !


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## AdmiralAK (Apr 6, 2002)

Senne threw me off too racer cause I thought he was soapvox -- -then I looked at his UID 


I remember when scott had a picture of his kid giving us the finger hehehe


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## TommyWillB (Apr 7, 2002)

> _Originally posted by nkuvu _
> *Hmm...  got more of an impression of bighairydog trying to rule the world.  From UK.   *


Not the entire world, just the HR department...


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## TommyWillB (Apr 7, 2002)

> _Originally posted by RacerX _
> *...I personally love seeing familiar faces... *


Is it okay if avatars morph slowly over time... kind of like aging?


...uh... I don't really mean the animated sort of changes like mine, but just normal micro-tweaks to static avatars...


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## TommyWillB (Apr 7, 2002)

> _Originally posted by simX _
> *...TommyWillB (no offense, again) really annoy me because they change all the time, and so that quality is kind of transferred to my perception of the actual person...*


My new one has just one transition. From me as a little kid, to me now. 

(I call it caffiene-free TommyWillB  )


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## TommyWillB (Apr 7, 2002)

I am NOT defensive! Really!!!


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## Jadey (Apr 10, 2002)

Yay! I'm Symphonix's favorite avatar!

Offline, I'm really bad at remembering people's names, but great with faces, and here it messes me up when someone changes their avatar! Only if they post very often can I get used to it, or if they make a new avatar in the same style as the old one.


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## senne (Apr 11, 2002)

> _Originally posted by AdmiralAK _
> *Senne threw me off too racer cause I thought he was soapvox -- -then I looked at his UID
> 
> 
> I remember when scott had a picture of his kid giving us the finger hehehe  *




what did you say about me?


Yeah, sorry, my avatar is stolen from somebody else of macosx.com (don't know who it was) but i'm obsessed by radiohead, so i had to have it!! ( i don't steal in real life  )


senne.


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## Valrus (Apr 11, 2002)

> _Originally posted by senne _
> *
> Yeah, sorry, my avatar is stolen from somebody else of macosx.com (don't know who it was) but i'm obsessed by radiohead, so i had to have it!! ( i don't steal in real life  )
> *



If you want a different Radiohead-esque avatar, check out IheartNY.com .

There are some good Radiohead icons on page 2, I think.

Happy hunting!

-the valrus


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## googolplex (Apr 11, 2002)

uhoh I hope you can still recognize me jadey! I dont want to be forgotton by you!


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