Have you ever been mislead by a thumbnail avatar?

It still looks like that to me.

LOL, I have always thought it looked like a skull xray! Clever of you to say so out loud!

I thought ucme’s was a weird Lucy and Ethel pic.

I have. There was one avatar—I forget what it looked like as a thumbnail, but it was weird. You look at the full version, and it turned out to be a girl with a butterfly on her nose. Actually, now that I think about it, that was pretty disturbing all by itself.

@wundayatta : That was Miss Austen’s, and I thought it was weird in thumbnail, too.
By the Way, Fella, yours is pretty odd in thumbnail…just sayin’. ;-)

Hurray! I’m not alone. So then y’all might understand why I’ve nicknamed some standard avatars “skull”, “Georgia O’Keefe”, “Cousin It” and “Goatse”?

There’s one here I just thought was a My Little Pony… It was not.

My poor misunderstood avatar! I’ll have to switch again now that Halloween is over, but so many people thought that avatar featuring my daughter and a butterfly was so creepy until they saw it large that I can’t decide if I should go back to it or find something else!

Have you assumed that a user’s avatar was something other than what it turned out to be when you clicked for a closer view? Absolutely. It’s been a lesson in learning to click on the avatar to get a closer look as well as not to make any assumptions.

I thought @gailcalled’s avatar was an ostrich for the longest time. After they increased the size of the avatars, I found it was a vase of flowers.

@wundayatta For the longest time, I thought your avatar was representative of two giraffes approaching each other. Little did I know that it was of a butterfly until I took a closer look.

Hmmm. It seems that butterflies are trouble. It does seem to be the season for changing avatars, and I’m not particularly attached to this one. I’d go back to the old one, but while that is associated with me, it is not associated with my current name. But I’m not at all sure what would be appropriate. I’d probably have to change my name, and that wouldn’t work, so I think I’m stuck.

@wundayatta I didn’t like your other one. Not that you asked my opinion.

I also see @wundayatta as 2 giraffes chest-butting

HAhaha, I didn’t know it wasn’t a skull x-ray until you told me.

@chyna I think people liked it because they found it humorous and edgy and a little confusing. I think people didn’t like it because they found it offensive – they felt like they were being mooned. Maybe some of those who didn’t like it thought is was a version of nudity that wasn’t appropriate in their eyes. I don’t know if anyone didn’t like it based on aesthetic grounds. For me it was important symbolically for a whole host of reasons. The reasons came first and the avatar later. I had to search for the right one, using the term “zhopa.” It worked to express my sense of self at the time.

My current avatar meant a lot to me a year or so ago. Now: not so much. I don’t know what would be meaningful to me now. I still like the idea of something symbolic, that isn’t easy to figure out, but that expresses how I feel about the world I live in and my way of being in it.

@wundayatta I think everytime I saw it, I saw an ass and every time I would think, that’s not him at all, he’s not an ass.

@MissAusten‘s seriously looked like a zombie as a thumbnail.
Then you looked at the big version and went AWWWWWWW.
I like it.

FiddlePlayinCreoleBastard’s pumpkin avatar looked exactly like Animal yelling.

I couldn’t decide which I liked more!

Yeah, there was one person’s avatar that I always thought was a picture of a middle aged woman. Then when they created the larger avatars in the profiles, I saw that it was actually a young woman but the JPG fuzziness created the appearance of wrinkles. Yes, I felt like an idiot…

Many times. I liked your ass, @wundayatta. :p

I’m with @chyna on the ass thing. Wasn’t a fan of the global ass. It kinda creeped me out – and if it wasn’t Day’s, I’d have probably ignored the questions just to not see it – but I overcame the ickyness factor because of his brilliance and sensitivity. Not a fan of the avatar now either – but then I can barely see and I’m colourblind too – so what the fuck do I know.

For awhile I thought @wundayatta ‘s current avatar was a computer enhanced and colored larynx. Seemed appropriate.

I thought Jillthetooth’s was one of those dog toys on a wall….?
This is a great question, I thought I was the only one who’d been surprised!

I particularly liked augustlan’s pumpkin. But I love pumpkins in general, so I was easy.

@SundayKittens : A dog toy on a wall??? You’re new avatar is affecting your visual interpretations! :-)))

Yes! Those bumpy ones! It also looks like a baby breakdancing in a onesie.

I am (apparently) a woman of great mystery!

@SundayKittens I can totally see the breakdancing baby

@diavolobella High five!

You guys are too funny! XD

@JilltheTooth Your dog looks blue until you look at the bigger version and he/she is actually gray.

@erichw1504 : He’s black, actually, the lighting’s a bit funky. IRL he does look like a plush toy.

@JilltheTooth Wow!

I’m still chuckling about the “breakdancing baby in a onesie”. He acts like a breakdancing baby…

@JilltheTooth It can also be seen as a starfish wearing pajamas doing yoga.

Yes, I always thought it was spelled Loonula.

@JilltheTooth computer enhanced and colored larynx. Seemed appropriate.

Oh, how I am wounded. I feel faint. I need some candy, and yet, the only thing I see are Reese’s cups.

@wundayatta : I love larynges! I use mine all the time just ask @Katawagrey and I admire them in others, without them the world would be a much less interesting place. I’m sending you some Almond Joys to make you feel..er…joyful!

Umm. How does one go about loving a lyrynx?

Thanks for the Joy! I just adore Joy!

I’d answer that but it would get modded, I’m sure. ;-)

I’m not generally averse to the occasional PM. But never mind. I’m sure the image in my imagination is far more…. whatever…. than your answer.

Oops. There it goes. Now, my face is turning quite pink, you know ;-)

Most avatars on Fluther are too small for me to see what they are. I have to go look at the profile page to be sure.

Definitely. Thank god for the larger pics in our profiles! It’s funny how a picture can look so different at half the size.

One of Vunessuh’s avatars, which was of her and her dog sticking its paw in her eye, looked to me like two people getting ready to kiss, from far away. Upon closer inspection, I was like, okay, I need specs.
My real problem though, was when I was a kid and had to say what I saw in those Rorschach pictures.
Visual misinterpretation lawlzerz.

Also, skulls rule.

All avs look like Rorschach to me until I look at the profile av when it’s larger. Then, they all look like boobs, which is my visual default.

@seazen I think boobs must be your mental screensaver!

@Ron_C’s avatar looks like Blackbeard in a green coat from the corner of my eye.