Your animated avater is distracting

RedDeadFred

Illusions, Michael!
May 13, 2009
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lacktheknack said:
Stg said:
lacktheknack said:
Flutterguy said:
Usually tends to distract me if its one I haven't seen, I like to see from the start to end of the loop. Is a certain Full Metal Jacket one I don't think I'll ever adjust to though..
Ahaha... ahahahaa... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.... MUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!

Don't worry, I'm going to change it soon. It's out of date.

OT: I've had someone make a thread specifically to ask how to block my avatars. I'm used to this.

Of course, if I ever tone it down, I get people sending me sadfaces, so therefore, I have to keep them flashy.

Besides, how would anyone else remember me?
If you need an animated avatar to be remembered, then you're doing something wrong.
Seeing how the most the most remembered Escapists, such as Boudica, and Karutomaru, are remembered because of how disliked they were, you're doing something wrong if you're remembered on this forum at all.
What are you talking about? I'll always remember Zeal (Zeel? Ok, maybe I won't always remember) for his well thought out arguments that in no way caused flaming and/or anger in general.
 

lunavixen

New member
Jan 2, 2012
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Well, some of the really flashy ones are temporarily distracting and can be a bit annoying, but for the most part I'm okay with them. I think mine isn't too bad, it's simple and fluid and not obnoxious, admittedly I didn't make it myself as I don't know how.

Some of my favourites are Padwolf, Soviet Heavy, Vaults and trollnystans among others.
 

Scars Unseen

^ ^ v v < > < > B A
May 7, 2009
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My avatar has prompted numerous inquiries about my favorite mecha franchise, so I guess you could at least say that it's eye catching.
 

Malkav

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Jan 17, 2012
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Oh no, now the animated-avatar-brigade is assembled here... Sorry, I'm not reading on, it's a pain. I cannot stop my eyes to flashing over to most your avatars every 2 seconds no matter how hard I try. Even those "subtle" ones distract me.

This is one reason why I barely come here anymore, or go on message boards instead that don't allow animated avatars. The worst for me are the ones who allow screen-filling animated signatures. Come on, I'm here for your opinion, not your 3 favorite movie seconds looped over. Your avatar isn't supposed to be the center of attention, it's here to identify you.

I used to scroll and zoom into pages so I don't see them, but then I can't read names. Someone is going to rudely direct me to some super obvious box I can tick to disable them, but I'm too lazy and incompetent. If it takes me effort to bring someone into a readable state, I'll think twice about it.

ESC isn't working for me either.
 

Barbas

ExQQxv1D1ns
Oct 28, 2013
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DeadProxy said:
So I'm pressing Esc and nothing is stopping. Or is that just a Chrome thing?
On Chrome, it only works as the page is loading. It apparently works in Firefox after the page has loaded.
 

JoJo

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Malkav said:
I used to scroll and zoom into pages so I don't see them, but then I can't read names. Someone is going to rudely direct me to some super obvious box I can tick to disable them, but I'm too lazy and incompetent. If it takes me effort to bring someone into a readable state, I'll think twice about it.

ESC isn't working for me either.
It's pretty easy to disable avatars, just go into your profile, click 'Forum and Notification options' and then the top option gives you the choice to disable 'em. Great for when you've accidentally pressed the red button ;-)
 

Idsertian

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Apr 8, 2011
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I used to have a static avatar, but then I found my current one and haven't looked back. Nothing compares to little Nyx trotting happily along. Just look at her. How can you not well up with hrng at how cute that is?

As for finding them distracting: Only when I see one I haven't seen before. The whole avatar column just gets zoned out when I'm reading threads. The size, shape, colour and (where applicable) motion is all held on the periphery of my vision and is how I actually identify people. I rarely look directly at an avatar when paying attention to a thread.
 

Artemicion

Need superslick, Kupo.
Dec 7, 2009
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Daystar Clarion said:
I agree with Haza, probably living an ideal life if moving pictures are the height if your concern.
I wasn't aware of this before. Apparently, if you vocalize an issue you have with something, it must be your number one concern in life. I'll be sure to keep that in mind the next time someone complains about the weather or has a gripe with a videogame.

--
I can't stand excessively animated, long, or flashy .gif avatars. The focus should be on the post; animated avatars take the attention away from the post itself and instead put it on the content's author. It's not unlike how some writers have their names written larger than the name of the story on their book covers. Their names are moving units, not their content, and I don't think it should be that way - especially not on a message board.

[small]Addendum: Unobtrusive gifs, such as dark colors, small size, or only slight animations don't apply. If it's not prominent in one's peripheral vision while reading, it's not an issue.[/small]
 

djl3485

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Sep 30, 2012
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jademunky said:
Before I say anything else, let us get it out of the way: yes I know that pressing esc disables them.

Does anyone else find that people's avatars are a huge distraction when they move? Honestly, I find myself reading someone's post and halfway through, realize that you forgot what the hell they were even talking about because they feel they needed to add a super-sayan transformation on a continuous loop.

Am i just being Grandpa Simpson here? Does anyone agree?

And those of you who have them, do you feel it adds anything to the personality you want to present? I really feel it sometimes detracts.
Jazz hands dog disagrees withy ou and suggests you learn to live with it. But I'm sure pressing ESC is too much work.
 

The Lunatic

Princess
Jun 3, 2010
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I tend to just block any obnoxious avatars.

Various plug-ins for browsers allow you to block images or anything of that nature you don't wish to see.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
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A couple border on hypnotic, but as a rule, no. I can see where they might distract someone, but it doesn't get to me. Maybe I'm not easily distr...Oh, SHINY!
 

Nomad

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Aug 3, 2008
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jademunky said:
Before I say anything else, let us get it out of the way: yes I know that pressing esc disables them.

Does anyone else find that people's avatars are a huge distraction when they move? Honestly, I find myself reading someone's post and halfway through, realize that you forgot what the hell they were even talking about because they feel they needed to add a super-sayan transformation on a continuous loop.

Am i just being Grandpa Simpson here? Does anyone agree?

And those of you who have them, do you feel it adds anything to the personality you want to present? I really feel it sometimes detracts.
I agree with you, animated avatars are the same thing as auto-starting video ads in my eyes. It bothers me - which is why you have my eternal gratitude for telling me about the esc-trick. I had no idea, and it works perfectly!

Daystar Clarion said:
I agree with Haza, probably living an ideal life if moving pictures are the height if your concern.
I don't think he made that kind of claim, honestly. I would assume that you'd be concerned about having a pebble in your shoe, but you wouldn't necessarily judge it the "height of your concern". It is possible to be bothered by several things at once, and it is even possible to be more bothered by some bothers than others.

JoJo said:
It's pretty easy to disable avatars, just go into your profile, click 'Forum and Notification options' and then the top option gives you the choice to disable 'em. Great for when you've accidentally pressed the red button ;-)
While that is a good tip, I wish there'd be a button to specifically disable animated avatars. I don't mind avatars in general - they're a good identifier that saves you from reading someone's user name over and over in an extended discussion. Animated avatars don't add any value to that function, though.

djl3485 said:
Jazz hands dog disagrees withy ou and suggests you learn to live with it. But I'm sure pressing ESC is too much work.
Yeah. Jazz hands dog should learn to live with the pebble stuck in his rear paw as well. Pressing esc is a viable workaround, but it is a lot of work having to press it every single time you switch or update a page. It adds up, since it's an additional task you have to remember doing over and over and over and over and over again.
 

Souplex

Souplex Killsplosion Awesomegasm
Jul 29, 2008
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Pretty much the only people who like them are the people who have them.
For some reason the site won't do away with them.
 

lacktheknack

Je suis joined jewels.
Jan 19, 2009
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RedDeadFred said:
lacktheknack said:
Stg said:
lacktheknack said:
Flutterguy said:
Usually tends to distract me if its one I haven't seen, I like to see from the start to end of the loop. Is a certain Full Metal Jacket one I don't think I'll ever adjust to though..
Ahaha... ahahahaa... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.... MUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!

Don't worry, I'm going to change it soon. It's out of date.

OT: I've had someone make a thread specifically to ask how to block my avatars. I'm used to this.

Of course, if I ever tone it down, I get people sending me sadfaces, so therefore, I have to keep them flashy.

Besides, how would anyone else remember me?
If you need an animated avatar to be remembered, then you're doing something wrong.
Seeing how the most the most remembered Escapists, such as Boudica, and Karutomaru, are remembered because of how disliked they were, you're doing something wrong if you're remembered on this forum at all.
What are you talking about? I'll always remember Zeal (Zeel? Ok, maybe I won't always remember) for his well thought out arguments that in no way caused flaming and/or anger in general.
His wit and arguments were so overwhelmingly powerful that we had to ban him within hours of his second appearance to stop mass shame suicides. That's how excellent of a poster he was.
 

Sizzle Montyjing

Pronouns - Slam/Slammed/Slammin'
Apr 5, 2011
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Mhm, hello boys... -WINKY FACE-
But yeah, I have this avatar in order to distract people from the bank vault they are guarding because it's amusing. And also it steals your soul.
 

Easton Dark

New member
Jan 2, 2011
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If anyone can find a better Spike gif than Dragon Knight Spike, which the lame Escapist server can't handle because of the raw sex appeal in each frame, then please let me know. Animated stuff is much more distinctive. Maybe if I had one, senpai would notice me.

I'm sure not bothered by them.
 

Blow_Pop

Supreme Evil Overlord
Jan 21, 2009
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There's a few people on this site whose avatars annoy me(both animated and not) however I typically tend to post in places that they are not so I avoid that annoyance.

If you are using chrome and go to the chrome webstore, there are a few extensions there that will block gifs(and it's most likely a universal block).

As for my avatar, it is a gif that I made and had @Drummodino: re-size for me because I only know how to make gifs in gimp. And mine is simply just a gif of the A.I. Theta(from RvB) falling off his skateboard. The original image is this:

It's nice and darkly coloured and not real flashy I probably could have done it better so that it looped continuously but I didn't feel like it so I left it as that.

It adds to my obsessive flailing over red vs blue but that's about all it adds. And I like looking at it. Tired of looking at avatars of my face. But it was a toss up between that and a random gif I found of someone reading that actually looped really well.

Then again, avatars don't really distract me that much(unless they annoy the shit out of me). I think it winds down to personal preference thought on if they are annoying or not.
 

Queen Michael

has read 4,010 manga books
Jun 9, 2009
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jademunky said:
Before I say anything else, let us get it out of the way: yes I know that pressing esc disables them.
Not for me. Am I doing something wrong? How are you supposed to do it?