For the past few years, I have been using Gravatar, which is a “globally recognized avatar.” A gravatar is something to give your blog comments a small, but nifty image. It is an attribute that WordPress and other blog content management have designed plugins to to display them within blogs both free-hosted, self-hosted, or even free-hosted comments like Haloscan.
Personally, for me, when I go through my site comments, the gravatars are the first thing I notice. That does not mean that I do not read the others, it is just that my eye is drawn to them, especially if they are well designed. This also does not just apply to my site, but when I visit and comment at other sites. Sometimes I will see an amazing avatar and will want to go see that person’s site.
Not long ago, gravatar was not accessible for new accounts. Members at that time could see their gravatar display whenever they commented, but they could not update. Since its move to Automattic, Gravatar has been accessible, so for those who might still be thinking the site does not work… well, it does now and has been for the past year.
For those who do use gravatar, how do you like it? Are you apt to visit people who have an interesting avatar (gravatar)?
Although I read all of my comments, I do tend to read the ones that have at very least, used something other than the default gravatars first. After that I’ll get into reading the other comments, but I too am drawn to commenters who have interesting gravatars.
I like Gravatar. I find that I don’t update mine as often as I thought I would originally. I think it’s a great idea; it definitely adds a personal touch.
Kelly’s last blog post..SELF RESPECT & RANDOMNESS
I truly like the lips of Aminat of season 12. She looks amazing with her enormous hair but she might doesn’t fit on a catwalk in Milan or Paris. So long
I find my eye also scans over each gravatar to see if I know them or to see what image is if I’ve never seen it before..
Each time I’ve wanted to change my image I’d had to use IE which is a pain cause I like using firefox.
Their log out/sign in button doesn’t show up in firefox or safari. 🙁
Yes, I often do that too. I also like to see how creative people are with their gravatars 🙂
It’s nice to have a gravatar. It could prevent other to think that you are a spammer because you just reveal yourself to them. It is better that those pictures with square or circle.