random question for userpic nuts

[eirias]

Hey, userpic nuts! What is the advantage of having a userpic that someone else has used? I get very confused seeing multiple users attached to the same image... it only comes up when reading big communities of strangers, pretty much, but still.

Comments

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

What's the advantage of wearing clothes that are the same style as other people's? I always assumed it was one of those fashion things -- a bunch of people simultaneously identifying what is cool, for some reason, and going with it.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, but with identical clothes people are still distinguishable! (Um, in most cases. :) ) I mean, sure, people with similar userpics are distinguishable by username, but because of the centrality of userpics to this forum, sharing them seems more akin to going to the plastic surgeon and asking for a Britney or whatever.

I mean, I'm sure you're right ;) but I'm still confused.

[eirias.livejournal.com]

(that was me)

[feuervogel]

Advantage? Why should there be one?

I like using community-specific icons in communities (fandom, mostly), and people make icons for sharing, so it's possible (and likely) that nifty icon #7 I snagged is the same one someone else snagged.

[eirias.livejournal.com]

Just because the disadvantage of potentially getting confused with other users seems striking to me. I wondered whether there was some advantage I wasn't seeing to balance this.

[feuervogel]

I don't really have that problem, I guess, and I'm in a lot of fannish communities. Though if it's a fannish community, and they're using a fannish icon, it trips the 'ok, fandom post' trigger. Then again, a lot of people use fannish icons on non-community posts. I don't really do the icon-association thing as strongly as you do.

[kirin]

Since I only get 6 userpics right now it doesn't come up. But if I had space for like 100, there are certainly a few existing pics I've seen that I might have grabbed, mainly due to the thought "man, that's nifty, I wish I'd thought of it." I think I'd generally try to only do it with icons from outside my friends-list, though, to largely avoid the problem you're seeing.

[supercarrot.livejournal.com]

because otherwise i wouldn't have this awesome icon. now you wouldn't want me to not be able to use this icon, now would you?


some people are just better at icon making than others. actually they're fantastic at making icons. they might even have a specific journal they keep just for their icons, and they update it regularly. it's a form of art. and some folks like to appreciate the art.

(also the gankers may not have the talent nor the program to make icons that express their feelings)

[eirias.livejournal.com]

I think I get it, a bit late :). I think of the icon primarily as a representation of oneself in some way, not as an expression of feeling. So to me, using someone else's icon seems to say something weird about identity, whereas to people who do it it's just an illustration for their writing, in some sense.

Thanks!

[cognative.livejournal.com]

When I had lots of icons I ganked plenty from other people just because they were awesome. Even though I've only got 6 now I have about 30 more on my computer in case I want to rotate.

[cos]

I don't think you're asking a question that applies. Maybe there's someone out there who uses userpics because they're used by someone else as well, but I haven't seen any evidence of it. People use userpics they like, or feel suit a purpose. If the userpic is used by other people as well, they either consider that a disadvantage, or unimportant. But they're not picking it because other people use it, so there's no reason to look for a specific advantage to that aspect.

"Why go to a concert so crowded you can barely squeeze in? What's the advantage?"
Silly question. People are there 'cause they like the band, not because they think the excess crowdedness has some advantage that makes up for its disadvantage.

[japlady.livejournal.com]

What he said....

[sagittalbreast.livejournal.com]

This also speaks about how creativity is not nurtured in this era of electrostatic, LCD, ear-bud instant gratification. I believe that there are three general types of people (in this sphere): Consumers, Producers and Hybrids.

Consumers make up "The Masses" and do not know how or cannot express themselves through artistic means (and posting a picture of yourself posing with a fake gang "sign" on MySpace doesn't count). These people may not have the confidence or adventurousness to try to produce a representative of their thoughts. This is the market that pop culture t-shirt designers drool over. They are the reason there is advertising. They may also read lots of books, but have nothing to say about them.

Producers are the small minority of humans that create and are unafraid to display things that they have created. They possess at least an adequate amount of confidence in creativity to externalize a thought in the form of verbiage, traditional art, music, etc.

Hybrids are merely those who exist in both worlds.

As far as userpics on the internet go, I would feel great shame if I ever used something that another person created as a representative of myself.

[leora.livejournal.com]

I grabbed all of my userpics from some degree of other people's art. At the very least, a picture of me someone else took.

I did this not because I don't consider myself capable of creating beauty (I am quite proud of some of my writing), but because I can't create visual art. I know my strengths and my weaknesses, and I see no reason not to use the art of others.

This icon is a picture of a centuries old statue. Some of my pictures are pictures of famous pictures or crops from them. Sometimes I see someone else using the same artwork or a different crop from one. Well, they have just as much of a right to it. Only a very small selection of my userpics are either pictures created by friends or userpics created by someone specifically for me.

[sagittalbreast.livejournal.com]

Oops. Brevity once again reveals that I am a jerk (and a hybrid).

That was mainly supposed to be a commentary on how current society does not facilitate "creativity" as it has in previous times and how easy it is to use another entity's product as a personal representative.

"I would feel great shame if I ever used something that another person created as a representative of myself." was only meant to represent the guidelines that I have set for myself [for userpics] and not to be a standard or judgment for anybody else.

Everybody should feel free to make their own [legal] choices based on standards that they choose. Many times, people make similar choices (communities).

At this point, I would like to "virtually flog" myself by admitting that between 1991 and 1998 I owned and wore 7 different M.C. Escher t-shirts. The BBird of Happiness was a personal witness to this awful tragedy.

[leora.livejournal.com]

But Escher's art is awesome...

Well, you can feel the way you want to feel. I wouldn't feel bad even wearing a shirt with someone else's comic strip on it, if it were particularly good. I'm fine with showing appreciation for someone else's creations.

[eirias.livejournal.com]

Hee hee hee!!
I don't think of it as a tragedy either. I remember those shirts fondly.
A little garish, sure, but what wasn't garish in the early nineties?

I think Graham has an Escher T-shirt or two.