Why don't people have a picture of themselves on Fluther?
Asked by
comity (
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)
December 7th, 2011
What you see is what you get. Not that I take such great photographs, but IMHO, you can see better who I am and whom you’re talking to. Many members don’t do that. Why? Is there a danger to being out there?
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92 Answers
I’m afraid that someone who knows me might recognize me. I am more open with you guys than I am with my neighbors and co-workers.
Fluther does have a Photobucket group. This was the first group that was started some time ago.
Here is the most recent group made this year.
Some users don’t like using their photos as avatars for many reasons. Some like to stay anonymous. No big deal. Personally, my husband and I like to use avatars that are related in some way, and we like to change it up now and then when we get bored with what we are using.
Heinz Christofel is more iconic than I am. Should I find a picture of myself I feel like sharing I might link it in my profile.
@jonsblond Thanks for sharing! Nice to see some of the people I’m talking to (and their animals).
For me, it’s just a personal preference. I’m not very photogenic.
I always use a picture of something that is important/makes me happy at the time. Pictures of myself are so boring, I want to log on to see something that makes me smile and I think that can say as much about me as a picture of my face. I am not shy though and I am friends with a number of jellies on Facebook so they know what I look like.
Fluther’s an incredibly interesting paradox of anonimity and transparency.
Oh, I didn’t know about the photobucket group. I just put my picture on.
I put mine up from time to time for a little while. Here I am, in my avatar, on the beach in the Redwoods near Eureka Ca. last year. :-)
I too like to see others faces, but respect everyones desire to share or not.
I am very open on Fluther. I do not want people in “real life” to read my postings.
I do it for privacy and anonymity. Everything we do here is searchable via a google search. I don’t want everyone in the world knowing I am missing a prostate, or how I get frustrated with my kids, or any details of that wild weekend in Bangkok with a couple of drunked up jellies and a set of Thai triplets.
It is our secret.
Google Goggles is only a push button away from full facial recognition. I want to slow them down a bit.
@worriedguy
Well ya know, those secret trips to Thailand could come back to bite you in your Mai Tai. haha
Anyone in real life wouldn’t find out anything about me here that they don’t already know. Happy brownies and all, I’m an open bakery. lol
@worriedguy But we have fake names. Can they still find us?
@comity It depends on how closely associated you are to your username. I’m augustlan all over the web, including my email addresses, so it’d be easy for someone to find me. Then, you also have the odd case of someone you know in real life stumbling on to the site (or you inviting them to join), and upon seeing your picture, they’ll recognize you.
I do. Le Penguin, c’est moi!
@augustian Oh well! But, I haven’t said anything they don’t know. I’m a talker!
@comity Same here… I’m pretty much an open book, so I’m not too worried about it. :)
I’m not allowed to have my picture up where people I don’t actually know in real life can see it.
Personal preference here. I prefer my pictures of Nuclear Kittehs and chocolate porn, over pictures of myself. I did post a pic or two on the photobucket group, though.
@comity A few months ago there was a big bruhaha about Google Goggles and using it for facial recognition. It was possible for someone to take a picture of someone else and then have that picture compared with Facebook and others to look for a match. A person could theoretically see a woman at a bar or restaurant, take a picture with their phone and immediately find out her name, and depending upon her privacy settings, where she lives, her education, where she works, her marital status, and friends. That function was disabled, but we all know it is coming in another form.
Coloma and Augustian do not need to be embarrassed about our little jaunt to the Transvestite show last week. But as a straight male, I am. I only went because they insisted. (Take that Google Search.) ;-)
@laineybug Your parents raised a very wise child.
@worriedguy Another cute guy on Fluther! Aaah! Where were the likes of you when I was younger?
@worriedguy But is that cute guy in your Avatar really you? Penguins want to know.
I was going to use my picture once and they (fluther) accused me of being a narcissist.
Oh yeah, there is a danger. I don’t know if you have read much of what I have written, but just for example, I have written much about my fight with bipolar disorder. My parents in the real world don’t know and neither does anyone else in the family. Were they to see who I am, it would be a disaster.
The wonderful thing about this place is that you can be anonymous if you want. Not everyone leads exemplary lives as you do. Some of us have things we wish to talk about, but we wish to hide from those who would use it to hurt us. I have many secrets I can talk about here because no one knows who I am. If any of these secrets got out in the real world, I could lose everything I have—my family, my wife, my job. I probably wouldn’t lose it all, but certainly some of it.
So you will never see my picture until I am dead. An truth be told, what do you care? I could put up any old picture, randomly drawn from the internet. I could put up a pseudo picture that is computer generated. I could be beautiful or ugly or diseased or strong or male or female or anything I want and you wouldn’t know if it was the truth or not.
I will tell you this: you are truly thankful you don’t see my picture. If you saw it, you would wish you could unsee it.
I usually do, no problem.
@wundayatta Just curious why. Thanks for your response. As you can see my picture is nothing to write home about. I just tell all in writing and photographs, but I’d love to have the guts to pretend I was a 25 year old bomb shell ; )
I’ve had my pic up here from time to time, it’s just that I don’t have that many photos of myself, mainly the kids & I ain’t putting their pics up, not on the interwebz.
Besides, I like to change my avatar more often than I change my socks, coz I can.
@wundayatta I don’t think those of us who don’t care about anonymity lead exemplary lives. I know I don’t, anyway! It’s just that I’m extremely open about my life. Anyone who knows me at all well knows pretty much everything about me, the good, bad, and the ugly. Sometimes to my detriment, but it’s just how I’m built, I guess.
I totally understand that some people can’t (or feel they can’t) be that open, though.
Yeah, why don’t we – Oh, wait, I do.
No need to appologize guys. Whatever you do is good for you. Hey, I made it rhyme. I was just curious.
<—- Zuppy is too cute to languish in the shadows. He is welcome to the limelight.
Because we can’t all be as attractive as I am… :P
Jklolsauce
@comity You see? My brief indiscretion in a moment of levity just outed @augustlan to her child. A perfect example of why some of us remain anon.
And just for the record, the only similarity between that avatar and me is hair color, sex and the worried look I had upon my face when I first heard my PSA results.
I’m smiling now!
It depends on the reasons one is online. Obviously if you’re on fluther posting about legalizing weed you don’t want your employer to see your picture. Also, if you’re posting about personal issues and want to remain anonymous that can be very understandable as well.
I’ve posted pictures of myself on other sites, and even on fluther before but for some reason now it is telling me my digital pictures are too big. I only have one way I post pictures of myself so if my old way doesn’t work anymore than the phony avatars will do for now.
I had a very nasty run in with the Salvation Army a few years back and there is still a bounty on my head.
fuckin’ bell ringers. i got yer change . . .
I use this picture of this talented, handsome actor for a few years now already. ~
I don’t want people at my job to say, “Hey, I didn’t know that quiet shy who sits in that cube over there is really a sadistic dom who keeps naked slave girls locked in a cage in his bedroom and writes these bizarre stories about torturing and enslaving women. Who’d a thunk it?”
A lot of people here like to be anonymous; it’s more comfortable for them.
Anonymity. That’s the word.
That’s me on the left in my avatar though. I was a bit younger then.
@janbb
Now, now, don’t be greedy, save a few of the cute young guys for me. hahaha
Alright…enough of my face, take a gander at the original Christmas goose, my darling Marwyn.
Deck the halls with bowtied ganders…..:-D
He looks beautiful. Does he get a bit nervous at Christmas time?
@Bellatrix
Nah, he’s a ham, really, he loves to be the center of attention.
I have better pictures but his head gets chopped off in the avatar. haha
I can talk more easily about personal subjects if I feel anonymous. I’ve talked about some things here that I’ve never told anyone. I love to be able to put a face with a name too, but I like being who I am here too much to go along with the idea of everybody having a photo ID.
@Coloma… that is a bad image for a goose at Christmas. He gets his head chopped off…
He looks very handsome with his bow. Are your geese just pets, do you collect and eat their eggs? (Never had goose eggs myself so not sure what they are like). I know geese can be used as security too.
I haven’t put up anything yet because my first attempt experienced operator failure. Maybe some other time…
Most of my acquaintances don’t know about my suicidal tendencies. If I know any of you all in real life, I’d like to keep it that way.
We’re not all as photogenic as you @comity – I don’t understand the question.
Today with reverse image search technology, you may as well include your home address and phone number.
I think I’ll stick with Picard. You may use your imagination, or ask JLeslie if I’m cute.
The daisy is a lot more representative of my personality than what I actually look like.
@zensky Photogenic? At 75? Gray hair, belly and all? I think I love you : )
I switch through avatars, but I had my picture up for a long time.
Mine is me and I have no issue with it. If someone can recognize me by mine it means so much more.
I’ve had my picture up periodically. Actually, I have a picture of myself in that dress (I mentioned it some months ago and had a few requests for a picture) and I may make it my avatar for a short period and replace my silly dog.
—<——Zuppy says ” @tranquilsea , I like your silly dog! Woof.”
@tranquilsea I really want to see a pic of you in that kick-ass dress. At least add it to the photobucket group!
Ok, it’s up for limited time only lol. The stupid uploader chopped the top of my head off <sigh>.
I have a new picture of the dog too. He is such a patient puppy.
Va Va Va Voom! Wow! I want me one of those dresses! Although I doubt I would wear it as well!
Jill, my husband was weird about this dress. When I told him that I was going to wear it to the Christmas party he slowly suggested I wear the one I wore last year and when I told him that I was going to wear this one he suggested the one I wore two years ago. He was clearly uncomfortable with it which made me wonder why. Although, as you see, it didn’t stop me lol.
He didn’t want any guys saying what I just did! ;-)
I never understood husbands who try to control what their wives wear. It’s so wrong on so many levels; it would mean actually caring about the article of clothing; looking for a fight about an article of clothing; and the worst – tryig to control what another person does or wears. What an immature waste of energy.
@zensky I don’t know that he was trying to control it per se, he was uncomfortable and didn’t know how to articulate it beyond “suggesting” something else. Look at how for it got him.
If I was your husband, I probably would have torn that dress right off you. Although, not because I didn’t like it. Do you have any idea how hot you look?
Maybe he was afraid the dress would arouse the same feelings in other guys.
@wundayatta I wanted to look nice and, quite frankly, the dress I wore last year was much more form fitting but in a different way. I love this dress. It was form fitting without being super revealing plus it was very comfortable. Hubby was severely in the dog house due to very bad behaviour on my birthday the night before so frantic removal of clothes that night did not happen. Thank you for the compliment.
It’s not an animation, it’s a clip from a movie. JS.
It’s an animated GIF. Close enough.
Animated GIF is a good call. Noted.
Love the dress, love you in it!
@augustlan It’s great when you find a dress that works. I’ve had my share of tragedies lol.
I would but I wouldn’t want anyone to throw up. I am pretty ugly.
I am so ugly that when I went for my prostate exam, the doctor stuck his finger in my mouth.
I am so ugly that when I was a kid playing in the sandbox, the cat buried me.
I am so ugly that when I walk by a mens room, all the toilets flush.
And I am so ugly that when I walk past @city_data_forum, they pull him up on stage and crown him king of the city!
Dude! You should pay me to stand next to you all the time!
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