Avatars and the impressions we give

[TheEarl]

My most deepest and sincere apologies for bungling up my sports. If I say something like American football isn't anything compared to the rough and tumbleness of rugby, will I be forgiven?

<lowers axe> Hmm, well I suppose, just this once.

The Earl

 

[McKenna]

<lowers axe> Hmm, well I suppose, just this once.

The Earl

Whew! That was a close one!

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

My AV's depict me, as I can not quite justify the use of some other image; they show me as I usually am. Never gave too much thought about using something else.

Suppose I might.

 

[Wildcard Ky]

My AV shows the same thing that my screen name says. Don't take things at face value. A wildcard isn't what it seems on face value. I wanted a picture to have the same meaning. Then one day I was surfing the net and came across a baby in a santa hat playing with a bomb. I knew it was the one as soon as I saw it. Besides, he's such a cute little fella!

The finger was just the icing on the cake. I fits perfectly into my attitude of I don't give a shit what people think about me. I am what I am, if others don't like it, screw 'em.

 

[Boota]

My avatar is representative of what people really know about me.

 

[English Lady]

Well more often than not I use me. My first AV was Jessica Rabbit....(more than one person has likened me to her for some reason*L*) but I built up courage and soon started using my own image for an AV. I much prefer it to be honest. It's me.

One of my fave AV's (Ok i may have to get it out again now) is of all of me, reclining with a big soppy smile on my face. I got so many good reactions to that one..the first AV I ever used. I do change my AV's but not a vast amount....but sometimes i get bored or i want to go festive or update my look. Sometimes i hide behind a character because i need to hide....when i feel down, depressed and generally not good an image other than my own will go up. it will be obviously not me though*l*


I do think i use AV's to form an instant opinion of a person... do then read what they have to say to make sure it adds up but an AV is a visual clue about the personality behind the writing. It's the closest thing to physical appearance we have out here.

Everywhere I post I use an image of me. It jut feels right to show me as I am...especially on sites where I am an admin. I like people to see me smiling and welcoming them.

 

[sincerely_helene]

My only hope is that my AV effectively reflects my shy, virginal nature.

 

[Guest]

 

[yui]

My only hope is that my AV effectively reflects my shy, virginal nature.

I think your AV reflects a striking resemblance to Scarlett Johansson…

 

[sincerely_helene]

Sincerely Helene,
It does.
Those salt water pearls spilling down your chest...

I'm sorry. I was drooling again.

 

[sincerely_helene]

I think your AV reflects a striking resemblance to Scarlett Johansson…

Yeah. She's always trying to look like me. What a wannabe.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

My only hope is that my AV effectively reflects my shy, virginal nature.

Switched meds again, huh?

 

[sincerely_helene]

Switched meds again, huh?

 

[Guest]

 

[Lying Eyes]

I'm not influenced by AV's,

...I always have the AV option turned off.

 

[Black Tulip]

Hm, a lot of interesting reading here. I change my AV about every month, same as my desktop. Trying to fit them to the season. But it always is a pinup. I hope that says something about me, because I choose them with care.

I know my impression is colored by the AV is see. Not saying it is conclusive, but it certainly plays a role. I remember when first lurking here, Perdita had her muerta doll AV's up. Somehow that lead me to believe her a lot younger than she actually is. LOL

There is one point that is bothering me though. I get the impression it's considered misleading by some to use something else as an AV than your own face. I stated it before, not everybody can afford to show his or her real face. I feel I can't because of my job. Although I am tempted sometimes.

 

[cjh]

User names, as well as avatars, always leave a first impression. It seems to me, though, that the very nature of this site -- a blend of the erotic and the artistic -- invites people to use avatars and names to magnify aspects of their personalities. Sort of like wearing a costume to a virtual Mardi Gras. And there's not a thing wrong with that, provided you remember that fact and fancy sometimes part ways.

 

[pop_54]

Lo Earl... you didn't fool me, I knew it wasn't you

Mine is me... Ok I don't often go out with the patch on, or the parrot on my shoulder... they're for the privacy of my own home, as most of my deviations are... and yes it is a real roll up I'm lighting, this pic is an accident rather than an intentional pose, I was checking out a web cam for a friend and stopped to skin up a smoke, just thought it summed me up when I saw the still later so I saved it... Another thing about it, apart from the obvious disguise, it does distort my face enough to make me unrecognisable at a quick glance.

Not that I worry about being recognised over much... I've nothing to hide, and a wife who not only knows of my trips into internet land, but joins me here occasionally... when she's not flirting on some other site that is And being my own boss, of my own small business, there are no workmates or bosses to worry about... not that I would worry, because it would be none of their freekin business anyway.

I am what you see, and what you read, a fast maturing bloke who refuses to grow up, or grow old gracefully, and has never taken anything much too seriously if possible, although one must make a stand occasionally... I never tell porkies, no point, we're all total strangers and 95% of us will never meet up with anyone else here, bullshit would be a waste of effort and energy, I don't give a toss what people really think, no need to.

As for others, I try not to judge people by their avatar, or to attempt to gain any real impression of a person from their image, assuming they're using a real one, and I'm not phased out by the cartoon or surreal images... I also understand fully those who don't want to display their real image on here... some are more private than me and wish to remain that way... My other half refuses to show her face in her avatar, but has no qualms about displaying every other bloody bit of her anatomy.

I'd love to list all the av's I like, and the people I like that live behind them, but there are so many... just say I love ya all... yea Ok guys, no tongues.

pops

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

At first contact, a poster’s Nom and AV — sometime even a part of their sig. — gives one a first impression of who they are, think they are, wish they were, or want to be perceived.

Sometimes their posts jib with these symbols — sometimes not. Eventually, what a person feels about a poster’s identity, hangs upon the content of their posts — opinions, reminiscences, jokes, and how they interact with other posters.

Think of a poster you prefer not to exchange posts with. Would you seek out exchanges with them if they suddenly changed their AV to something you really liked? Alternately, would you try to avoid exchanging posts with a former friend because you disliked their new AV?

For myself, I have had the same AV anywhere I needed an AV since I first discovered it. It suits me. Anyone who either likes or dislikes me, according to their opinion of my AV, is displaying a odd kind of virtual bigotry.

Shouldn't you rather like or dislike me according to your reaction to my posts?

 

[sweetnpetite]

."

Dr M mentioned that one of the reasons Joe receives such a backlash is because his avatars show what appears to be a very smug college boy and this colours people's opinions of what he writes.



Intrigued,

The Earl

Well, this is true to some extent. However, you *can pick up tone from the words people choose. and frankly, joes words come accross that way with or without the smug smirky av. However, that does sometimes ad to the irritation.

I'll post a little something more, after I catch myself up to speed on this thread.

 

[sweetnpetite]

What we know about anyone here can only be deduced from what they say, and 'they' may be compulsive liars.


Og

As long as there lies are fairly consistant, they form a personality- even if it's a fake one. I figure online we all deal with 'personalities' or 'characters' some of us play ourselves, and some of us play someone else. And some have more than one character, who may or may not be ourselves.

To me, the av is a part of the package. I keep forgetting svenskaflicka's here, with her eye av- it's cute, but it doesn't connect in my brain that it's her. I always miss 'dita when she takes herself out of her avs for whatever reason. Sometimes when folks change there avs too much, I'll read what they have to say without realizing who said it. And sometimes *who* says it is just as important as what they say. (sorry, but it's true.)

I try to keep my av in line with the rest of my 'package' to some extent. I've seen some cute pics that I would never use, because they just don't click with 'sweetnpetite'- or then I might use them, if I could find a way to make them click. But I wouldn't want to just use something entirely random.

 

[sweetnpetite]

I totally agree. We all play a roll everywhere we go, because who we *are* is simply more complex than we can ever show at one time I don't know why so many either can't see that or just won't admit it.

Nothing is real here; that is the horror of damnation.

"Real" is a slippery concept. We are undoubtedly playing roles, and self-devised ones, at that. Yet much of the real slips by the mask. How different is that from life in the wider world? Particularly when you move to a new place, particularly the younger you are, the more plastic your personality?

I think many of us are delighted, at the first of it in particular, to invent and play true to a role we don't see as ourselves. Perhaps because of the myriad temptations of the way this form of talk is structured. But even amicus is letting the mask slip.

And he lacks an av; his role was constructed without one.


...But visual cues are powerful. I think sometimes avs like Vincent E's or Mlle de la PlumeBleu's have a strong influence on the terms folks usae to reply to them, while a faceless breast is a total enigma.


cantdog

I'd love to hear your analisis of my* avs

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Believe it or not... I'm just me. R/L... Literotica... sandwich shop... etc.

 

[Lucifer_Carroll]

How does your avatar change how people react to you?

I don't know. You tell me. You're the one looking at it.







That aside, I think there is a lot that colors people's judgements of you online. In RL people start with judgements based on your appearance, your social settings, your location, your demeanor. Online, such things are invisible. One of us could be a 12 year old French girl with an excellent command of English and a mature outlook on life and we'd never know (though I often wonder about amicus). However, by the same token, stereotypes are built on what we present and reveal. What AV and handle we pick, which quotes we use, the manner in which we discourse, the topics we defend most vehemently, the people we befriend, and on a thread like this, what types of stories we write. And through it all, who we are always shines through I think, in the end.

 

[English Lady]

I actually honestly think I am more me here online (and here in particular) than anywhere else because I am free to express the whole me. Every side of me has an outlet sexual me, Fllirty me, Wifey me, Writer me, Mummy me etc etc. If you met me in real life you'd only see elements of those, and probably not elements of all of them.


You're a straightforward kinda guy then Joe. Not many people are brave enough to be themselves everywhere they go.


On the "Real Vs Fake" AV front I tend to think its best to go with an obvious made up image, a drawing, a painting, a cartoon. Then it is obviously NOT the person in the AV but a representation of them.