The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News • Hacker News Board

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#11

Post by TrevorJ » Wed, May 28, 2008, 2:49 PM UTC

I agree that as an option, pictures hold more value than is intuitively understood by most people. I view hacker news as a small community that desires the ability to maintain it's tight focus and not expand too much or too fast (all the "Please block this from showing up on hacker news" posts area good example of the sentiment)

On the web, focus is a HUGE commodity and we are right to desire it. I would argue that a sense of community and a sense of focus go hand in hand, and given that I think optional images could help maintain a sense of community even as our numbers grow larger.

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#12

Post by jasoncartwright » Wed, May 28, 2008, 2:51 PM UTC

Yup - should use Gravatar

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#13

Post by DanielBMarkham » Wed, May 28, 2008, 2:52 PM UTC

Have you seen some of these guys?

Hey -- count your blessings.

(Just kidding!)

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#14

Post by Alex3917 » Wed, May 28, 2008, 2:52 PM UTC

I'm the same way, I'm usually not able to associate a username with a set of posts unless I've either met them in person or seen a picture of them online. That said, I think we'd be losing more than we'd be gaining by adding pictures.

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#15

Post by Alex3917 » Wed, May 28, 2008, 2:53 PM UTC

epi0Bauqu wrote: post #10

pg wrote: post #9

I think it's better if people make their own portraits with their ideas.

That's exactly the problem I am describing. They are making their own portraits, but they aren't sticking to their usernames, at least for me. A visual icon would help. It could be small, 25x25 as someone suggested.

Even if you were to add pictures, the place to do it would be on the user's profile page and not next to the posts.

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#16

Post by andreyf » Wed, May 28, 2008, 2:55 PM UTC

epi0Bauqu wrote: post #10

pg wrote: post #9

I think it's better if people make their own portraits with their ideas.

That's exactly the problem I am describing. They are making their own portraits, but they aren't sticking to their usernames, at least for me. A visual icon would help. It could be small, 25x25 as someone suggested.

25x25 is pretty big. I think it would be clever to make it 15x15 or 10x10...

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#17

Post by noahlt » Wed, May 28, 2008, 2:56 PM UTC

epi0Bauqu wrote: post #10

pg wrote: post #9

I think it's better if people make their own portraits with their ideas.

That's exactly the problem I am describing. They are making their own portraits, but they aren't sticking to their usernames, at least for me. A visual icon would help. It could be small, 25x25 as someone suggested.

I think pg's "portrait" was a metaphor.

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#18

Post by epi0Bauqu » Wed, May 28, 2008, 2:56 PM UTC

Alex3917 wrote: post #15

epi0Bauqu wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly the problem I am describing. They are making their own portraits, but they aren't sticking to their usernames, at least for me. A visual icon would help. It could be small, 25x25 as someone suggested.

Even if you were to add pictures, the place to do it would be on the user's profile page and not next to the posts.

I disagree, but that would certainly be a good start. I disagree because then I would have to click each time to see it, and that is an extra step. With some small icon on the page, I'd develop the history in an osmosis-like manner.

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#19

Post by epi0Bauqu » Wed, May 28, 2008, 2:56 PM UTC

noahlt wrote: post #17

epi0Bauqu wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly the problem I am describing. They are making their own portraits, but they aren't sticking to their usernames, at least for me. A visual icon would help. It could be small, 25x25 as someone suggested.

I think pg's "portrait" was a metaphor.

Of course it was a metaphor, and I continued it. I wasn't being literal. I'm saying if you did look at the set of comments of a person, you would see the "portrait." But that isn't happening, since at least in my mind, over time that set of comments isn't being associated with that username.

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#20

Post by Alex3917 » Wed, May 28, 2008, 2:58 PM UTC

epi0Bauqu wrote: post #8

Hates_ wrote: post #4

Personally, the lack of images is a plus for me. It's one of the things I love about HN. That lack of emotional feel towards posters is what keeps postings focused. Take Digg for instance, I think that it's that sense of community that leads to 99% of the comments being of no real benefit at all, because everyone is trying to crack a joke.

Digg comments aren't bad because they have pictures. They are bad because they are from that set of commenters. If you supposed the set of Hacker News commenters didn't change, I think pictures would clearly be a win. What you seem to be suggesting is that by adding pictures, we would attract bad commenters. I just don't think that is true.

"Digg comments aren't bad because they have pictures. They are bad because they are from that set of commenters."

I think it's as much the social norms as the user base. For example, we have kind of an unspoken humor armistice here. Normally humor is used to demonstrate intelligence. However, it's mutually understood that everyone here is intelligent enough to make the appropriate joke, but that we should refrain because it doesn't really add anything to the conversation or make anyone else any better off.