Poll: The Escapist's Felings on GIF Avatars

[RatRace123]

I generally like them, though the simpler ones are better. The more complex ones are harder to see given the small size of most avatars.

I used to have one, wish I could make them for myself. Alas, I cannot.

 

[BlueberryMUNCH]

I would have one right now if I knew how to reduce the size of the image I want.

If anyone can give me a hand, please hit me up with a PM:]<3.

 

[MetalMagpie]

No, not a fan. When my screen gets filled with little moving pictures (not to mention the same little moving pictures I've been seeing since joining these forums) it can make me a little cranky.

But hey, life is full of petty annoyances. I don't like people who have loud phone conversations on public transport either. I just have to deal with it.

 

[Punch You]

I've only ever used animated avatars the whole time I've been a member of this site.
I don't have any problems with them. If anything, they make the posts stand-out more.

For people who don't like them, there are some solutions:

• - You can turn off avatars in your forum options page.[br]
  - You can use a browser plugin (or change an advanced setting) to turn off all gif animations on all websites (useful if animated gifs in general annoy you).
  If you're using Firefox,

  image.animation_mode

  is a useful setting in the about:config settings page.[br]
  - A temporary solution: If you're using Internet Explorer or Firefox, just press Esc. This will stop all gifs from animating until the page is refreshed, or another page is loaded.[br]
  - The most extreme course of action: Add everyone who has an animated avatar to your ignore list.

If you want to censor yourself from people with these avatars, that's your prerogative.
It just seems a rather extreme measure to go to, over something so trivial and inconsequential.

Thank you! Your suggestions solved all of my problems!

As for my extreme solution, I mean just wanted to read without looking at anything moving. If I see a spider crawl on my book while I'm reading it, I stop reading it while trying to swipe the spider off the page. The purpose of this board is reading.

If you hand out a pieces of paper with your opinion on on it, and someone is interested in reading it and asks for one paper, would you cover it in spiders first, hoping to entertain the recipient while they read your opinion?

My reaction, in that situation, would be to drop the paper, brush any spiders off me, and run away as fast as possible. When I plan on reading something, that's usually all I plan on doing. If I wanted to look at non-seizure inducing GIFs all the time, instead of just maybe 1 out of every 10 posts, I'd go to an appropriate thread, like "Funniest GIFs" or "Booby GIFs" or "Spider GI-AUUUGGHH".

 

[Coldster]

I personally love gif avatars. They are one of the best things about these forums. They can be funny, cute, amazing, or just plain cool. I've only ever seen one that was annoying.

 

[Flames66]

If I see an overly gory or otherwise obnoxious (to my senses) picture, I ignore the post and scroll so I can't see it. I like Gifs in general, but if there is one I find disgusting (EG that gif of a cartoon character rapidly eviscerating himself on his computer keyboard), I ignore posts from that person, regardless of whether it moves.

 

[BENZOOKA]

As long as they're not annoyingly flashing in bright colors (I've manually blocked one or two of the worst), I have no problem with them.

They're just short animations. Not that distracting.

 

[jdogtwodolla]

Those with GIF avatars give a clear message to me, and that message is, "Expressing my opinion clearly isn't as important to me as making you pay attention to my individuality by distracting you with this loop of a japanese dating sim character cuddling with a cartoon pony. Forget about my comment. Be mesmerized by the visual fan-fiction instead."

Oh, so because I may have a moving picture for an avatar that suddenly makes me someone who cares more about attention than someone who just wnats to join in on casual forum disscussion? I was under the impression that I put my (admittedly botched) gif up for reasons along the lines of "Well, why the fuck not?"

If you want to ignore gif posts as filtering message to reduce your eye strain that's fine, but don't just go insinuating that just because people have a moving avatar, that means they don't care for the disussion at hand and just want people to look at them.

 

[Suicidejim]

I like some of them, and occasionally one or two will mesmerize me while I try in vain to read their actual message. For the most part, I'm really just indifferent.

 

[Scarim Coral]

So I take it you won't read my comment just because I using a GIF avatar? Good to know that you're judgemental over the little thing.
Sure flashy one I can sort of understand but I don't feel how a single 75 X 75 or 100 X 100 pixel animated image can be that bothersome.
Before you ask I tend to stay focus on a thing and don't let the stuff at that side distract me which isn't hard to do.

 

[RanD00M]

I've been using several .gif avatars for about a year or more now, so take of that what you will.

 

[ultimateownage]

Oh yeah, I totally hate them.

You must have ADHD if you can't concentrate on reading something without everything else on the page being completely still.

 

[Torrasque]

I won't bother reading the comments of someone with a GIF avatar.

Ugh, you're one of those...

i really don't see the big problem with .gif avatars. Even the most eye-tingling avatar can be avoided by *gasp* not looking at it! But I guess since you have to figure out who to arbitrarily ignore, you have to look at our avatars.
I just recently got a gif avatar and I love it. I really don't give a fuck if you look at my avatar or not, I don't care if you love it or hate it. My avatar is there for me to enjoy and so others can recognize me easier.

Maybe if there was a "I don't like .gifs" setting on the Escapist? Under this setting, all people with .gif'd avatars would be required to set up an alternative non-.gif avatar for those who loathe and despise .gifs to look at. It shouldn't be that hard to impliment imo.
Try asking one of the mods about it (but not TimeLord for obvious reasons)

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

As someone who has a gif avatar and has been using gif avatars for some time now, I quite like them.

 

[Ciartan]

And this is the reason i almost never post on these forums. This and the "PC ELITISTS WAAAH WAAAH WAAAH" bullshit.
On Topic: NO, i dont care at all if someone has a .gif as their avatar, why? Because its not that hard to look away from something, and focus on something else. Jesus christ, how old are you guys? 5?

 

[Vault101]

And this is the reason i almost never post on these forums. This and the "PC ELITISTS WAAAH WAAAH WAAAH" bullshit.
On Topic: NO, i dont care at all if someone has a .gif as their avatar, why? Because its not that hard to look away from something, and focus on something else. Jesus christ, how old are you guys? 5?

actually I belive its just "one" guy who has this attitude

and ""PC ELITISTS WAAAH WAAAH WAAAH" bullshit <- who are you critcising there? the PC elitists or the console players getting sick of their crap?

anyway its not that bad...most peopel I have to found to be more or less reasonable (excpet when it comes to anything Bioware related)

 

[Carbonyl]

Oh yeah, I totally hate them.

You must have ADHD if you can't concentrate on reading something without everything else on the page being completely still.

I'm going to go on record, as someone with very severe ADHD, and say that trying to use "You must have ADHD" as an insult is a) lame, b) offensive, and c) A DICK MOVE.

 

[Jodah]

I enjoy gifs. It would be in pretty bad taste for me to say I hate them when I have one myself. Also tiny cat beating up big cat > you!

 

[GenericAmerican]

If you get that distracted by something your not looking at, I advise you not too try and operate firearms...or drive a car...

 

[ultimateownage]

Oh yeah, I totally hate them.

You must have ADHD if you can't concentrate on reading something without everything else on the page being completely still.

I'm going to go on record, as someone with very severe ADHD, and say that trying to use "You must have ADHD" as an insult is a) lame, b) offensive, and c) A DICK MOVE.

Well one, I wasn't using it as an insult. I was using it to state that if he can't pay attention to something as simple as that then he would probably get diagnosed with it, which I wouldn't consider an insult. That's like telling me that saying you might have clinical depression if you're really depressed is an insult. And two, you must be pretty easily offended. You did just call me a dick, which I would consider much closer to being an insult.