Avatar ettiquette

[Bub]

Who owns an avatar, when can you use some one elses avatar, are you stealing someones identity when you use their avatar, can more that one person on a board use the same avatar, etc?
I bring this up because I have seen some BOB avatars on other boards and have been confused about who is posting. For example, I have seen Puffy Daddy's Cosmos Kramer on SF and thought that he moved. I understand that no one owns the avatars that are in the public domain, but it can cause a little confusion.
Bub
p.s. my avatar is for sale...if the price is right.
Check out my ebay store "Bub's avatars".
Bub

 

[Puff Daddy]

Well, I use that Kramer avatar over there too. Changed it here to the Steinbeck with pipe when I saw the pic cuz he's probably my all time favorite author. Well, he and Camus, but nobody would recognize him at all, plus he only smoked cigarettes. If someone else uses the same avatar as an established member it could cause some confusion but we srill have our screen names to separate us.

Usually. A couple of years after I started hanging out on these pipe boards as Puff Daddy someone else began posting on Tobacco Reviews and on Neil Archer Roans blog as Puff Daddy. Wasn't me. That kind of irked me. I mean, c'mon, pay attention! :scratch:

 

[puros_bran]

I think the original creator, the photographer, the graphic designer, etc OWNs the image.

I've seen people on here use TJ's Capo, Pdiddys Kramer, etc etc.. I do a double take but it don't mean anything...

I can go a step further: when J put the emoticons on here they meant certain people.. Notice the sunshine in Carlos posts??? The sunshine was his emoticon.. Santa is mine.. I can't remember the others, but all of the original crew had a nonstandard emoticon...lol..

Anyway back on avatars. I do think its poor taste to use an avatar on a board a current/active poster is associated with (and currently using). I don't think anyone, other than the true owner, can claim right across all of internetdom.

 

[Hermit]

I think the original creator, the photographer, the graphic designer, etc OWNs the image.

I've seen people on here use TJ's Capo, Pdiddys Kramer, etc etc.. I do a double take but it don't mean anything...

I can go a step further: when J put the emoticons on here they meant certain people.. Notice the sunshine in Carlos posts??? The sunshine was his emoticon.. Santa is mine.. I can't remember the others, but all of the original crew had a nonstandard emoticon...lol..

Anyway back on avatars. I do think its poor taste to use an avatar on a board a current/active poster is associated with (and currently using). I don't think anyone, other than the true owner, can claim right across all of internetdom.

I claim copyright on my Amberjack. :lol:

(BTW, I always "killfile" anyone who uses mass murderers.)

 

[kilted1]

I own mine, it's my Clan, my mousepad, my pipe, my pipe nail :twisted:

 

[Carlos]

Josh is, was, mine. I use him everywhere.

 

[Puff Daddy]

my pipe nail :twisted:

Hey! That looks exactly like my pipe nail :suspect: I've been missing a half dozen of those for a long time. I was wondering where it disappeared to. It must have thought your bagpipes were a giant Hookah and flew the coop for greener.... errr, more tartan pastures.

 

[Dock]

A former member here actully took one of mine and used it on another board. It was the one of Stewie from family guy smoking a pipe. It took me MANY hours to go through tons of animation stills from the show to find a pipe smoking scene, crop it out and use it. When I discovered that this guy had used it without even asking I lost any all respect for him.

 

[the macdonald]

I think it’s good etiquette to consider someone else’s avatar theirs. However, I change avatars often, for no good reason other than I like the picture, person in it, ect, and all of them, besides my current one (which is actually me) are from internet searches and essentially public domain. Sooner or later I will probably run across my “doppelganger” and be upset, and or annoyed, but that is the price of a public presence. With all that being said, I think using someone screen name is a criminal offense.

 

[Benjamin Button]

This ones all me baby. Owner operated.



-Adam

 

[kilted1]

my pipe nail :twisted:

Hey! That looks exactly like my pipe nail :suspect: I've been missing a half dozen of those for a long time. I was wondering where it disappeared to. It must have thought your bagpipes were a giant Hookah and flew the coop for greener.... errr, more tartan pastures.

Stranger still, when you research the origins of the bagpipes they seem likely to have come from the middle east, or near asia :affraid:

 

[Doc Manhattan]

It's just not cricket to use someone else's screenname/handle, especially within the realm of one interest group (pipes, sports, etc.)

That said, I take my handle from a popular media source, and there is always the possibility that another fan of the same comic book has my handle totally by chance. I'm not an admin, elder statesman or future Hall of Famer for anything, so I figure, first come, first served, and I'm owed no deference on the matter.

Stealing an avatar is just bad form. Ask permission, at the very least. I like to think you might "buy" an avatar off of someone the way ballplayers will buy their lucky number from the present owner when they're traded. I forget who, but some replacement-level player walked away with a six-figure sportscar for his number, a few seasons ago. Dock, you could've worked him over for a few tins of Navy Flake, at least.

 

[wiley coyote]

I guess I think an avatar is like a signature (not exactly like one, but like one) and, as such, should be left alone, particularly within dedicated internet spaces like this board. Of course, when you first join you may pick an avatar without realizing that you are "forging". Once you find out that you are, you should abandon that avatar.

 

[jhuggett]

I only see it as a problem if you actually created the avatar. Then it is yours and no one should use it without permission. If two people select the same avatar from the boards collection, no big deal. Most people use ones they find on the internet and unless it specifically states its in the public domain or can be used royalty free you technically shouldn't be using it. I get on people all the time at work that want to use things on the internet. They think if it's there to see it's ok to reproduce or use as they want but that's not the case.

 

[LL]

I don't use my real pic as an av because I'm too pretty, and it would make y'all jealous. 8)

Here's peek, though:

http://scottdinsmore.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/joker-face-tattoo1.jpg

 

[jhuggett]

:lol:

I remember when you used to use avatars like that. What was the one with the horribly disfigured plastic surgery woman?

 

[LL]

That was Jocelyn Wildenstein, aka The Cat Lady. She's still out and about, I understand, commonly seen shopping on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

 

[wiley coyote]

Ye be a blindin' beaut, LL!

 

[DoverPipes]

A former member here actully took one of mine and used it on another board. It was the one of Stewie from family guy smoking a pipe. It took me MANY hours to go through tons of animation stills from the show to find a pipe smoking scene, crop it out and use it. When I discovered that this guy had used it without even asking I lost any all respect for him.

So I guess I can't steal your current one and use it for my new one???????

 

[SmokeyTweed]

I actually follow this weirdo i have in mine as i am currently stealing his identity...that handsome unlucky bastard.