Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

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dualstow
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Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by dualstow » Thu Apr 02, 2020 10:59 am

Mark Leavy, I love the bandana. Didn't realize it was multiple skulls.

You could be the Punisher's sidekick, or perhaps a supervillain's henchman.
RIP Marcello Gandini
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by Mark Leavy » Thu Apr 02, 2020 11:16 am

dualstow wrote:
Thu Apr 02, 2020 10:59 am
Mark Leavy, I love the bandana. Didn't realize it was multiple skulls.

You could be the Punisher's sidekick, or perhaps a supervillain's henchman.
Thanks dualstow.
I'm more of a "cleaner". When people ask me for help, I tell them that they can fix the problem or I'll fix it for them. I'm quick and effective and no-one ever asks for help twice.
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by dualstow » Thu Apr 02, 2020 11:28 am

Ha! Victor and that film was also my introduction to the term "cleaner." The only scene I remember, though, is when he walks up to some guys with one hand calmly raised
hold it, there guys, everything is fine
{ sound of four successive suppressed shots }
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by dualstow » Sat Apr 04, 2020 3:56 pm

I’m lovin all the avatar changes, guys. I noticed 12 Monkeys was on Showtime (free this month. Thanks, Fios) very recently.
A friend of the family who has various 1-second-or-less parts in various films was supposedly in this, driving his alfa romeo. I’ve never caught it.
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by Tortoise » Sat Apr 04, 2020 4:02 pm

dualstow wrote:
Sat Apr 04, 2020 3:56 pm
I’m lovin all the avatar changes, guys. I noticed 12 Monkeys was on Showtime (free this month. Thanks, Fios) very recently.
A friend of the family who has various 1-second-or-less parts in various films was supposedly in this, driving his alfa romeo. I’ve never caught it.
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by Tortoise » Fri Apr 10, 2020 8:19 pm

Sorry if you already mentioned it elsewhere, dualstow, but I have to ask: What’s the story behind your giant sloth avatar?

And Mountaineer, are you a Kubrick fan?
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by Hal » Fri Apr 10, 2020 9:48 pm

Tortoise wrote:
Fri Apr 10, 2020 8:19 pm
And Mountaineer, are you a Kubrick fan?
I think you could add Tyler :)
He had the red 2001 computer camera avatar for some time

Hal (9000?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARJ8cAGm6JE
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by dualstow » Fri Apr 10, 2020 9:59 pm

Tortoise wrote:
Fri Apr 10, 2020 8:19 pm
Sorry if you already mentioned it elsewhere, dualstow, but I have to ask: What’s the story behind your giant sloth avatar?
There's no story to tell. I just like megafauna and dinosaurs.
I spent way too much time trying to find my original ground sloth avatar. Seems to be gone.
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by Mountaineer » Sat Apr 11, 2020 6:57 am

Tortoise wrote:
Fri Apr 10, 2020 8:19 pm
Sorry if you already mentioned it elsewhere, dualstow, but I have to ask: What’s the story behind your giant sloth avatar?

And Mountaineer, are you a Kubrick fan?
I am somewhat. My favorites are 2001 and Dr. Strangelove.
DNA has its own language (code), and language requires intelligence. There is no known mechanism by which matter can give birth to information, let alone language. It is unreasonable to believe the world could have happened by chance.
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by Tortoise » Mon Apr 13, 2020 1:19 pm

I've seen a few comments over the past few weeks suggesting that multiple forum members aren't too fond of "vertical avatars" that are noticeably taller than they are wide, because posts by members with such avatars take up a lot more space and make it more annoying for people to scroll down through threads. If that's the case, perhaps a simple fix would be to place a smaller limit on the number of avatar pixels in the vertical direction?

Also, I know this has probably been discussed before, but shouldn't we consider it basic forum etiquette to avoid posts that are 95% quoted text (or 10 levels of nested quotes) and only 5% original text at the bottom? The members here used to be better about this, but in recent months I've seen a lot of posts by several different people that consist of a giant wall of quoted text followed by a one-line pun or other short reply at the bottom. Am I the only one who finds it annoying to have to scroll through page after page of such posts?
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by Tortoise » Mon Apr 13, 2020 1:44 pm

MangoMan wrote:
Mon Apr 13, 2020 1:28 pm
Yes, agree. Really f*ing annoying. And I use a full size desktop computer/monitor and mouse. I can only imagine how bad it is on a phone or small tablet.
I think quoting only the most recent reply in the thread (like I just did here) gives readers enough context to follow along -- i.e., all 10 levels of nested quotes usually seems like overkill.

And if even the most recent reply is very long, just quoting the most relevant portion of it, or the first and last sentences with "..." in between usually seems sufficient and saves a lot of screen space.
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by Xan » Mon Apr 13, 2020 1:47 pm

Agreed on the massive quoting, and on the tall avatars. There doesn't seem to be a super easy fix for the avatar issue. It isn't as simple as a max number of vertical pixels, because people upload files of all sizes to be avatars, most of which are way more huge than what gets displayed. The issue is the aspect ratio.
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by Tortoise » Mon Apr 13, 2020 1:59 pm

When someone uploads an avatar, clearly the forum software applies some kind of scaling, and what ends up getting displayed on the screen has some maximum height and width.

In other words, even if someone were to upload an avatar that consists of a single vertical line, the displayed line will have a certain maximum height. Isn't that maximum displayed height adjustable?
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by dualstow » Mon Apr 13, 2020 2:31 pm

Tortoise wrote:
Mon Apr 13, 2020 1:19 pm
Also, I know this has probably been discussed before, but shouldn't we consider it basic forum etiquette to avoid posts that are 95% quoted text (or 10 levels of nested quotes) and only 5% original text at the bottom?
I was going to quote the entire first page and then write "Yeah" under it. Let's just pretend I did. O0

No, I raised a stink about it once upon a time, but I am well aware that I've been too pushy about too many things, which can be worse than just being sloppy. So I try to pick my battles.

Either in this forum or another, the response I got was that it's just easy to hit the quote button on the phone and then type. I find phone typing cumbersome, so I almost never compose on a device where it's not easy to select (and DELETE!) text for slim, efficient quoting.

I realize that not everyone has this option.

That said, quoting the entirety of a multi-paragraph post that is directly above one's own post is bad form and eventually it gets bad. As MangoMan said (and I quote), really fcking annoying. Sometimes I'll just put someone on block for a day at a time. Not to block them block them, but that way I can just expand one (massively bloated whale of a quote) post at a time.
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by Tortoise » Mon Apr 13, 2020 2:59 pm

I really like the model of sites like Reddit where each comment on a thread can spawn its own sub-thread, and any sub-thread can easily be collapsed with a single click or finger tap. With that approach, quoting isn’t even needed most of the time.

But alas, traditional forums like this one don’t work that way and must rely on common courtesy and etiquette to fight laziness.

Regarding quoting on a smartphone: I agree that selecting and deleting blocks of text on a smartphone isn’t quite as fast as on a laptop or desktop, but it’s still fairly fast if a person invests a few minutes into learning how to do it on his or her phone. Plus, there’s not as much to select and delete in the first place if everyone uniformly adheres to the don’t-quote-the-entire-thread etiquette.
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by vnatale » Mon Apr 13, 2020 5:48 pm

dualstow wrote:
Mon Apr 13, 2020 2:31 pm

That said, quoting the entirety of a multi-paragraph post that is directly above one's own post is bad form and eventually it gets bad.
This is your style. And, because you oftentimes do not quote what you think is " a multi-paragraph post that is directly above one's own post" this is not the case by the time I've read it because someone else has popped in ahead of your response thereby leaving me no context for your comment. Also, I'm lost in this style of comment by you when it turns out that your post is the "last unread" one I'm brought to. Then I have zero context for your comment.

Vinny
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by dualstow » Mon Apr 13, 2020 5:54 pm

Give me an example so I can work to improve it, because usually if I see another post just before mine, I quickly edit in more (quote) context. Also, if I see that my comment has started a new page, I edit in the last relevant post. It’s time-consuming.
I thought I was being conscientious. O0
EDIT: Just did it again in fact.
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by vnatale » Mon Apr 13, 2020 6:10 pm

dualstow wrote:
Mon Apr 13, 2020 5:54 pm
Give me an example so I can work to improve it, because usually if I see another post just before mine, I quickly edit in more (quote) context. Also, if I see that my comment has started a new page, I edit in the last relevant post. It’s time-consuming.
I thought I was being conscientious. O0
EDIT: Just did it again in fact.
1) I'll let you know when I see it in the future.
2) It's ALWAYS time consuming being conscientious! But being conscientious is a key personality trail that can assist one in going far. Therefore, I'll NEVER discourage it in anyone.

Vinny
Above provided by: Vinny, who always says: "I only regret that I have but one lap to give to my cats." AND "I'm a more-is-more person."
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by dualstow » Mon Apr 13, 2020 6:31 pm

You can post it here, or better yet under ‘Forum Stuff.’ Anyhow, I take you mean this is something that cannot be solved by simply scrolling up.When we were talking about threads veering off course and becoming a big hodgepodge you said that you didn’t mind because you systematically read all posts, or something to that effect.
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by vnatale » Mon Apr 13, 2020 6:37 pm

dualstow wrote:
Mon Apr 13, 2020 6:31 pm
You can post it here, or better yet under ‘Forum Stuff.’ Anyhow, I take you mean this is something that cannot be solved by simply scrolling up.When we were talking about threads veering off course and becoming a big hodgepodge you said that you didn’t mind because you systematically read all posts, or something to that effect.
I'm an extremely methodical person so my method in reading posts here is to:

1) Going to the oldest unread Topic.
2) Go to the "First Unread Post" within that topic.
3) Continue reading until I reach the last post of that topic.

It might be solved by simply scrolling up but it is not an imperative enough for me to try to determine to what you are responding. IF I scrolled up, for the most part it might be obvious. Sometimes not. But I don't even attempt. Too many new posts to read that have never been looked at.

Vinny
Above provided by: Vinny, who always says: "I only regret that I have but one lap to give to my cats." AND "I'm a more-is-more person."
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by CT-Scott » Thu Apr 16, 2020 7:33 pm

I'm pretty anal-retentive when it comes to writing. I can be very verbose, but I also will edit, re-edit, and edit some more my posts after-the-fact to get it to read better. I have a reputation at work for writing very lengthy, detailed emails that a lot of my colleagues are too lazy (IMO) to read. But I like having a paper trail of defining business requirements and specifications, which in this day and age seems to be rare. In fact, in the world of "agile," documenting requirements and specifications is considered to be old-school, and yet it's often the case that people don't know what the requirement for something is, because it was never clearly defined. See?...now I'm getting wordy.

I personally like this style of forum better than the Reddit-style, but I agree that people are often sloppy/lazy in these kinds of forums such that they'll quote an entire post and add a one-sentence (if that) reply. I go to the trouble of editing the quoted portion to cut out the parts that aren't pertinent to my reply. I'll even go to the added effort of splitting a single quoted post into multiple pieces so that I can reply to specific parts separately.

Getting back on-topic...I haven't given myself an avatar here yet. I'll have to think on that more.
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by vnatale » Thu Apr 16, 2020 7:50 pm

CT-Scott wrote:
Thu Apr 16, 2020 7:33 pm
I'm pretty anal-retentive when it comes to writing. I can be very verbose, but I also will edit, re-edit, and edit some more my posts after-the-fact to get it to read better. I have a reputation at work for writing very lengthy, detailed emails that a lot of my colleagues are too lazy (IMO) to read. But I like having a paper trail of defining business requirements and specifications, which in this day and age seems to be rare. In fact, in the world of "agile" documenting requirements and specifications is considered to be old-school, and yet it's often the case that people don't know what the requirement for something is, because it was never clearly defined. See, now I'm getting wordy.
I can relate to all of that. At our staff meeting (two days ago) I complained that our 45 minute discussion of a topic was being done in an "extroverted" style with none of it being done in an "introverted" style.

No one presents their thoughts in writing prior to the meeting. Everyone just talks at the meetings.

That for me is basically starting from scratch and just hearing whatever each person has to say from the "top of their heads".

The only support I got was that we could provide a way for someone like me to have my form of preferred input, not that any of the other 8 or so participants also preferred that type of input.

The organizational style is to almost to never provide anything written prior to a meeting but, instead, to be expected to, on the spot, absorb all that is thrown at you verbally.

I actually attempt to take almost verbatim "notes" during our meetings but everyone talks so quickly with little pause that even with fast typing skills I still miss getting a lot of it down. It's impossible for me to listen to it all, think about what is being said, and provide a meaningful response.

Vinny

Vinny
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by Mark Leavy » Thu Apr 16, 2020 8:02 pm

vnatale wrote:
Thu Apr 16, 2020 7:50 pm
No one presents their thoughts in writing prior to the meeting. Everyone just talks at the meetings.
Vinny, have you ever read up on Amazon's six page narrative memo requirement for executive meetings? I've never used it, but I like the concept a lot.
At Amazon, instead of asking his senior leaders to brainstorm great ideas for the company, Bezos asks them to submit six-page, dense, narratively structured memos. He then often holds a silent meeting, where senior leaders table read these memos, prior to starting a discussion.

Writing memos forces his team to think through their ideas in high-resolution detail. Instead of wasting time with impromptu brainstorming sessions, writing memos ensures that group discussion is based on the critical review of the relevant ideas, not on hypotheticals.

Most importantly, it makes it impossible to hide any logical inconsistencies in the ideas that people put out there. By imposing a rigorous, standardized template on the process of idea generation at Amazon, Jeff Bezos raises the bar and raises the quality of his team's thinking.
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by vnatale » Thu Apr 16, 2020 8:10 pm

Mark Leavy wrote:
Thu Apr 16, 2020 8:02 pm
vnatale wrote:
Thu Apr 16, 2020 7:50 pm
No one presents their thoughts in writing prior to the meeting. Everyone just talks at the meetings.
Vinny, have you ever read up on Amazon's six page narrative memo requirement for executive meetings? I've never used it, but I like the concept a lot.
At Amazon, instead of asking his senior leaders to brainstorm great ideas for the company, Bezos asks them to submit six-page, dense, narratively structured memos. He then often holds a silent meeting, where senior leaders table read these memos, prior to starting a discussion.

Writing memos forces his team to think through their ideas in high-resolution detail. Instead of wasting time with impromptu brainstorming sessions, writing memos ensures that group discussion is based on the critical review of the relevant ideas, not on hypotheticals.

Most importantly, it makes it impossible to hide any logical inconsistencies in the ideas that people put out there. By imposing a rigorous, standardized template on the process of idea generation at Amazon, Jeff Bezos raises the bar and raises the quality of his team's thinking.
I have not. But, of course, I would love it. However, it goes totally against the organizational culture, which starts at the top. Provide as little written as possible but, instead, just spew it all out verbally.

It's a highly social group and I view our meetings as yet another venue for the group being able to be social. I'm there to get things done. Being social is not one of my needs or goals.

We also have "shared" leadership at our meetings, which is the same as "shared" responsibility. I live by the creed, "When everyone is responsible, no one is responsible."


Vinny
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Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

Post by Mark Leavy » Thu Apr 16, 2020 8:41 pm

And to bring this thread back home... it looks like Xan has adjusted the avatar settings to scale the image to a maximum (height OR width).

Nicely done.
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