Yes, the guidance in that thread has helped many people. A link to that guidance really needs to be featured prominently on some AB pages.
The other way to find that guidance is for users to simply key "getting an avatar" or "avatar" in the AB search box and it throws up the AB Ed's thread
Hi B00....Viv and I are o.k. ....have a Ta for asking.!! :-) Hope you are also o.k. Today Viv is visiting a friend and as the weather here in Gower is awful I thought I would think of something useful to say on AB.
factor30...I'll be quite honest and, not being able to find the Ed's clickable link, I pumped in 'AVATAR' and was then able to find what I wanted from the answer which you personally gave to ilovemarkb. Anyway we'll let sleeping dogs lie on that one.!! (ilovemarkb got her Avatar within an Hr of your advice.)
Hi boxtops.... I fully agree with you. Also I like the way you phrased your comments....somewhat poetical. Hope the Ed, heeds what you've said; because he's often reacted to my attempts at poetry.
A thought has come to mind that an Avatar is somewhat a safeguard against one's identity being stolen.
O.K. I know that it's easy to slightly alter a username and then perhaps be accepted as a new member into AB. However, such action would involve having to publish, initially, with the 'jelly babes' as an Avatar and this might give cause for concern; especially if one remembered a persons Avatar: which I do not think can be copied .
It is purely my opinion that one should establish an Avatar and then stick with it. Changing the 'photoprint' can cause confusion as to whether a real or make-believe person has posted into AB.
It takes less than 30 seconds to use any avatar (plus a couple of minutes for AB to pick it up). An avatar is just an image displayed within a page, same as most pictures that appear.
I think you can copy any avatar by right clicking on it and saving it, then put it on gravatar.
The vivandron bit can't be copied as an image into the avatar. A user would I think have to set up a new user name which looks like yours but has a minute difference- such as vlvandron or vivandr0n or \/i\/andron, but of course they'd have to wait 10 days befor ethey could use theavatar
It just takes 4 clicks to use your, or anyone else's, avatar; it not possible to use exactly the same name but a single character change can be easily overlooked by most people and so would suffice (e.g. vivandoron).
Just realise I got your name wrong missed the 'or' out.
But how many would immediately spot the difference between vivandorron and vlvandorron.
Wasn't it alleged that this happened on Saturday night on Chatterbank?
Yes there is the delay before an avatar can be uused but it's very straightforward to set up some sleeper id's i.e. register and post some innocuous answers to threads (e.g. a busy one on CB when people will hardly notice ) and then just wait to unleash the trolling.
bibblebub and factor30.....I find it quite frightening to know that such things are possible. It shows how little I know about computers and identity theft.
Anyway thanks folks for having enlightened me. (if that's the right word.) :-)