Do you judge people by their avatar?

[Fluttershyfan94 5,742]

I usually just judge people by their posts, you can see what kind of person that person is by his/her post. Although you could say a lot about me based of my avatar, since I try to have something I either like or I feel like represents me. So I guess you could judge me by my avatar, but I don't judge others by their avatar.

Edited June 2, 2013 by Fluttershyfan94

[Level3rd 128]

 

 

Somewhat. If you have a poorly cropped, mediocre-looking OC

 

Can you explain?  I've seen some bad avatars too, just curious to see what other people consider a "Bad avatar"

Back to topic, I'll be honest I kinda do too.  Obviously if someone has an avatar portraying an angry or aggressive pony, I'll assume that person to be slightly as such.  That's about the only thing I can think of.

[Vermillion 613]

nope i have never judged anyone by their avatar to be honest i have never found any reason to judge anyone for it

and probably never will

[Limey 524]

Depends on what you classify as judging someone.

 

For example, if someone has an avatar with Link on it, you can be pretty sure that they're a fan of Zelda. Therefore, you're judging them to be a Zelda fan, which isn't a bad thing.

 

However, I'm guessing the question here is do I judge people negatively according to their avatar? The honest answer is I'm afraid I do. If someone has an immature avatar (e.g. a penis) I'm going to judge that person to be a juvenile idiot and I'll steer well clear of them. Of course, a lot of the time this is justified, as an avatar is basically a representation of you on the internet. If you have an avatar like that, people are probably going to judge you as-

 

*sunglasses*

 

a bit of a dick.

 

YYYYEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

[Kenny 232]

 Can you explain?  I've seen some bad avatars too, just curious to see what other people consider a "Bad avatar"

 

I guess if I were to get more specific, find OCs with highly saturated colors that poorly compliment each other unappealing. Basically, stuff that would look out of place in the actual show.

[Celtore 2,770]

I do my best not to judge based on avatar, I mostly use them to recognize posters at a quick glance. I mean sure, I could probably guess a person likes Phoenix Wright if their avatar features an OC that looks exactly like Godot, but I can't really learn anything about what type of person they are from a forum image.

[drawingpandapony 84]

Maybe a little bit.... But I don't treat people differently. When I see their avatar, I usually think they like whatever their avatar is.

[TBMF1001 37]

I don't, I see it as a completely silly thing to do. I understand there's some that do take offense to things. But judging someone because of a little image? I don't see the point to it.

[Inactive01 5,299]

An avatar is meant to be a facade of what the person really is. It's their vision of why they see themselves to be. Take my avatar. I chose it because it reflected the roleplay I went through as Sterling Crimson, my OC. In all retrospect, I don't know any of the people I meet on the forums unless I added them on Skype or Facebook. Because of that, I don't really judge the people I see with their avatars other than what they like or what they did on the forum. I don't judge gender, age, or even personality from them. 

[Stalliongrad 982]

I don't judge people by their avatar but i remember people by the one they use. It's why when people change their avatar its like i don't even recognize yall anymore!

[DITR 180]

If their avatar is a character, I read their posts in that characters voice. So for all I know you're reading my posts in a cockatrice's voice. Wonder what that sounds like

[Krys9 456]

I judge people by their avatars just like how I judge people out in real life by how they look. I just want to clear up the fact that judging a person isn't always bad because my views aren't always saying negative things about the person. When you see someone your brain tries to put together what kind of a person they are based on the information you have on that particular individual. Usually I just have the looks so I try to piece it together that way. My views can change depending if I actually took the time to talk with the person and analyze how they talk, what they talk about and their mannerisms. 

[RockinRarity 1,605]

Sort of.

 

Ever since joining this forum, I knew not to judge people's genders based off who is in their avatar. Actually, I did know that doing that before was kind of silly, but this forum I knew for sure would have tons of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash and Applejack avatars. I will, however, usually believe that someone is a boy because of their Rainbow Dash avatars, since boys are more likely to view RD as their favorite.

 

Aside from the gender thing, I'm not sure what there is to judge based off their avatar without seeing a post from them first. I think that I'm more likely to judge based off the content of their post than the picture that they choose for their avatar.

[Smarts 1,622]

Nope. It's silly to judge someone based solely on their avatar. It's just a picture next to a name. I care more about what the person's personality is like rather than what their avatar is.

[Flutter's lover <3 8,205]

I ry not to judge, but I"m guilty of it sometimes. Usally it's on non-pony websites/forums.On a couple mountain biking forums i"m on, people have pics of their bikes and riding gear in their pics,or they have some isntagrammed thing....usually when I see instagrammed photos, it makes me think they're one of those hipsters....

 

though, sometimes on Pony boards, I tend to only judge if it's an OC, because usually they relate to the person.

Edited June 25, 2013 by Flutter Dash

[ePONYmous 215]

Truth be told, I don't normally judge people by their avatars, at least 99% of the time. The 1% is only reserved for someone that has a very questionable or controversial avatar, I guess. Which I haven't really encountered very frequently. Otherwise, I do the usual association thing that others have mentioned. I'll associate you with your avatar, basically put a picture to a name. Especially if I see it frequently enough I'll just look at your avatar, and know it's you without even looking at the username. The only other thing is I'll make some little guesses here or there when I see an avatar, akin to seeing someone wearing a certain kind of shirt in real-life.

 

For example, just as how I'd associate someone wearing a particular shirt with a band's name on it, I'd make the guess that was their favorite band, or, at the very least, a band they like. Same with an avatar. I'll make the guess that it'd be your favorite— whatever it is— be it a pony, or a character from another show, or something you are interested in, something you like, etc. If I don't understand where the avatar is from or what it's referencing, then I don't guess anything.

 

On a pony forum, guessing gender by avatar is futile, considering the majority of the ponies are female. Pony Creator generated avatars are just as fine to me as anyone else's avatar. Not everyone can draw. I've used the Pony Creator for my ponysona plenty of times before I finally decided to put a pencil to paper myself.

 

I don't even judge based on one's grammar, usually. I'm actually very good friends with someone online who has atrocious spelling and grammar skills, but it's not really his fault. I can understand him most of the time, anyway, and he doesn't mind if I ask for clarification once in a while. Turns out he's a great guy to be around, and fun to chat with, despite the occasional question here or there about what he says. He speaks much better than he types, so if I ever chat with him in a Skype call, it's even easier to understand him. I've encountered that a few times, actually, and each time, it wasn't really their fault.

 

For me, everyone starts off with a clean slate, and I don't make any judgements (or try my best not to) until I get to know you more. I'd rather judge on the content of one's character, than how they appear to be on the surface, to the best of my ability, anyhow.

 

However, for those that do judge based on avatars, I can't help but wonder what they think of me when they see an orange unicorn jumping out of a Portal cake, lol. By all means, feel free to tell me if you want, I am curious.

[GottlosMann 221]

Sometimes, but only if it's a picture of the KKK's logo, a photo of Adolf Hitler, EA's logo, or something insane like that.

Otherwise, not really.

[aoEAF2FBvC0MIo2Q 3,673]

Judge someone by their avatar? An avatar is more like a person's face. Judging someone by their face might come off as a bit racist, don't you think?

 

The analogy of your avatar being like your face on your forum goes further because I'm seeing--actually feeling--another similarity. It's the atmosphere that you create around yourself. Kinda like when you walk into a room with people. If your face looks all grumpy and you seem irritable, people pick up on that and later you're probably the one asking why was everyone so distant. Likewise if you put a smile on your face and you give off an air of compassion and openness, people pick up on that and will be more likely to come up and talk to you. 

 

It's not the person you're judging through the avatar but it's the atmosphere around the person that's being perceived. Not the same thing.

[Harmonic Revelations 8,835]

Judging people by their avatars is not something that I do. Their taste in avatars has nothing to do with their personality (Well, it does, but not in any way an outside observer can tell).

[MelancholicMemory 2,025]

Sometimes I make mistakes because of such judgements, but for the most part this isn't the case. I know that my current grunge Applejack is a pretty accurate representation of me.

[~Squishy Skies~ 756]

Absolutely not. I mean, some people choose avatars that mean something to them, or reflect their personality in a way, but others have certain avatars simply because they like the image. It doesn't have to be a visual representation of the person at hand. Just something you enjoy, and would like to look at every time you make a post.

 

I don't judge people by how they look, or what they like. I only ever judge people by how they treat other sentient organisms. 

[Nerdy Luigi 2,065]

I try not to do so. The quote "Never Judge a Book By It's Cover" explains exactly why. Because you shouldn't judge someone for a minor detail that doesn't matter in the end. *I admit, I occasionally judge people by things like that, but I try to avoid doing it.*

 

And this avatar is actually an accurate version of the hyper side of me, more particularly Rainbow Dash being the pony holding the M4.

 

If It were the more calmed version of myself, it'd likely be a picture of either Twilight or Fluttershy.

 

BUT, To summarize the relevant section, I do it but I try extremely hard not to.

Edited June 28, 2013 by Rainbow P.F. Sparkle

[Sugar Pea 2,682]

Judging by a silly picture?
Neigh.
It's stupid, really. In order to judge people, you must get to know a little more about them. Though their picture does say something about the user's personality, it doesn't exactly tell you about them entirely. I will think an avatar looks cool, but I do not judge by a picture. It's like looking at an old man an assuming he is a mean grump.

[SoarinBlue 202]

Yeah.  I tend to avoid people with really bad OCs as their avatars, as that usually means they're kids or otherwise really immature.  Same goes for most people with Fluttershy avatars, though that's based largely off bad experiences in a previous community, where everyone that posted Fluttershy either acted like a fragile child or fake hugboxed, or both

[Lume WMj 228]

I kinda do, to some extent... It's something entirely automatic - and pretty silly too, if you ask me. I judge people by not only their avatars, but also by their usernames and the way they type.

 

...Actually, I don't think "judging" is the best word for me to use. All I do is create a mere illusion of that person in my head. That illusion is often broken as soon as I hear the person's voice or see their real face.

 

It's practically impossible to compare one's online persona with their real self. I know from experience that we all act completely different on the internet, and end up giving a completely different impression of ourselves. After all, we can be whatever we fancy! Much better than reality~