Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your design is not future-proof.
Sure it is, just add another pixel :) "Look at that 3 pixel noob..." You could use the user's top bar preferences!
only the elite have the privilege of changing the topbar color.
The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News
61–70 of 87 posts
Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News
#62I think it's better if people make their own portraits with their ideas.
Then why have usernames (displayed) at all? Why is a picture so different than a username in terms of degrading the painting of a "portrait" of ideas? You could drop them altogether or replace them with a random string (generated each page view).
While I do see the value of having a profile picture, the comparison you draw here doesn't hold. To answer this comment of yours, an avatar and a username are "so different" in the sense that comics and novels are different: they can both tell stories, but the degree of freedom of imagination on the reader's part is larger in the latter case (this is only of minor relevance, but it takes apart your argument).
Two, getting a username is considered a sunk cost, one many are willing to pay, but setting up a picture is an additional cost; some will pay, but I would wager many of us here won't bother. However, once you set up the option, there will be a "ah, they're the ones who like to update their profile pic!" and "ah, they're among those who simply don't care!" Assume many people don't bother, you still need to make do, which is your current situation.
Third, user-selected pictures carry a lot more information than just the usernames, and this information may simply detract from the core of the site, which is the content and discussion. If you treat usernames just as differentiating handles, they currently serve exactly that purpose.
Of course, you will be right to say that pictographs can be more efficiently retrieved from memory here, but the case doesn't seem strong enough to spur investing time into accommodating the functions in the code. I agree with pg above in this thread.
Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News
#63Eventually this will just turn back into a message board software.
Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News
#64There are two extremes, neither one better than the other:
The proposed extreme is to encourage community via personalization. I personally disagree with this: web sites are typically too big to be communities in a natural sense. What you will get is increased visibility for a small elite of spam-heavy commentators.
The other extreme is 2ch-style anonymity. This is open to mob abuse, but it also discourages powergaming.
The core issue is how to continue scaling the system to match interests when they reach hundreds or thousands for every front-page story. news.yc is getting there already....
Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News
#65You asked for it... \/\/\/\/ / \ / \ / \ /\_/ 0 0 \_/\ | | \/ \ |_| / \/ \ / \ \-----/ / \ / \_______/ | |
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Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where would you get the images? Just generate them randomly?
Identicons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identicon
The only problem with identicons I have seen is that the algorithm used causes a majority of them to look like swastikas. But that seems like an easy thing to fix. Most of the identicons are quite pretty (including a large number of swastikas), but most people still associate swastikas with naziism.
Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News
#67Personally, the whole site works better for me without images. I, like most people, make a conscious effort to ignore things like gender and age when I'm reading someone's opinion (here or on any other site). But the fact that I sometimes have to make a CONSCIOUS effort means that there is at least a bit of a pre-existing bias or stereotype based on different demographics. Things like "young people don't have enough experience" or "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" can creep into your interpretation of someone else's opinion without even realizing it. I'd rather know as little as possible about the person behind the comment and just focus on the comment itself.
Think of some of the more memorable opinions from the past. Would your opinion of those comments be different if you knew before reading them that the poster was a 15-year-old girl, a 23-year-old transgender, a 55-year-old male? For a very small few of us, the answer is no. For the large majority of us -- myself included -- the answer is yes. The less information I have about the person, the more I can stick to what is being said.
I can certainly appreciate the arguments for having the image. I just don't think they outweigh the reasons against. I'm not listing all the reasons here, either. I'm just bringing up the main point for me specifically.
Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News
#68MetaFilter ( http://www.metafilter.com/ ) is an amazing demonstration of a cohesive online community that doesn't use images to represent users. MetaFilter users tend to be very familiar with each other (more so than other large online communities I've been in). While I agree images can be good, they certainly don't seem to be essential. IRC is another example. People build up personalities and tie nicknames to them…
I can see real time playing a part in IRC. What do you think metafilter does differently (than here) in order to get its cohesiveness?
Good point and good question. I'm not entirely sure, but perhaps it's a combination of one feature and one trait.
Single threading (as used by MetaFilter) forces / encourages people to take note of nicknames in order to target specific responses, so nicknames become a lot more relevant.
Secondly, discussions tend to roll on and on on MetaFilter, whereas it's uncommon for two people to respond back and forth more than once on HN stories.
Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Identicons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identicon
The only problem with identicons I have seen is that the algorithm used causes a majority of them to look like swastikas. But that seems like an easy thing to fix. Most of the identicons are quite pretty (including a large number of swastikas), but most people still associate swastikas with naziism.
Swastikas aside, I don't personally feel they're a good solution. They can be useful in semi-anonymous situations to determine one person from another (or an impostor posing as someone else), but I don't find them even vaguely recognizable from one another in the most case. They're very easily confusable.
Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News
#70No. Please, no.