Profile pictures and first impressions - in what ways do you judge people online?

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El Sloth

Banned
So, I got linked to this article (warning, it's the Daily Mail) on how people immediately get a negative impression from certain profile pictures on social networking sites:

The detailed examination of how opinions are formed also included 18 different category of photographs which are commonly used on social networking sites.

Photos which were likely to lead to a positive opinion were either a respectable picture of themselves or a shot within a sensible-looking group of friends.

A shot taken of themselves was also seen as positive as was a wedding picture. Pictures including children or shots taken on a beach are also good for one's image.

Unsurprisingly, a smile was also hailed as being important.

Images with negative connotations are photos of cars, which will lead visitors to a 'boy racer' conclusion and bikini shots which have a 'loves herself' feel.

Making rude gestures and looking generally angry can also make up people's minds very quickly, it emerged.

Other images which will lead to the forming of a negative opinion on social networking sites are shots where the subject is seen holding an alcoholic drink or if they are drunk.
Even photos of them in passionate clinches with their other half are likely to offend, the report found.

Warping your face using camera trickery was also given a thumbs down as was having a cartoon character for a profile picture.

Positive opinions after face-to-face meetings were likely to be based on a smile, sense of humour, the tone of the voice and general mannerisms.

The report also found we quickly form positive opinions of online companies, but are then regularly let down by poor customer service when dealing with them.
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Most of these seem like pretty obvious things to me, but I got to wondering how do you guys judge people online by their profile pics if at all? What are some positives and negatives?

Other than social networking profile pictures are there things in forum avatars that give you a bad impression of people?

Other ways you judge people online?
 
Avatars used to affect my browsing on forums, now I browse forums without avatars showing. It's much more pleasurable experience.

My current avatar was initially used to see who could could detect subtlety.
 
I don't judge people by their avatars, but they often set the tone.

MetalAlien said:
I don't have a profile pic anywhere but my avatar is specifically designed to piss off GAF. No joke.
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Why would that piss anyone off? I don't get it.
 
echoshifting said:
Why would that piss anyone off? I don't get it.
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Back in the day there was a lot of guff on GAF about violent crime being blamed on video games. So I made this avatar using real bullets.
 
MetalAlien said:
I don't have a profile pic anywhere but my avatar is specifically designed to piss off GAF. No joke.
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I've never taken a good look at your profile pic before. Those are some big-ass bullets.
 
I try to judge people first and foremost by their behavior (how considerate they are, how rational and in touch with reality they seem to be, how clearly they express their arguments and opinions, etc.), but an obnoxious avatar can be hard to get past, especially if it's an avatar that was clearly chosen to try and provoke a response or send an annoying message.

And then there are the avatars I could "get past" if I didn't find the poster so obnoxious, which means seeing the avatar itself starts to piss me off (maybe even seeing whatever the avatar is depicting, but I would have to really loathe someone for that to happen, which is uncommon). And then there are avatars for posters I already dislike, and I see the avatar and I say, "Yeah, it just fucking figures that poster would pick that to be a visual representation of themselves," which just feeds into a cycle of negativity. But I recognize this about myself and try to keep it in check.

Basically, I can't make any claims to being unaffected by silly things like user avatars, but I try my best.

MetalAlien said:
I don't have a profile pic anywhere but my avatar is specifically designed to piss off GAF. No joke.
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Might want to photoshop in a crucifix. You've got the gaming side covered. Now go for the OT!
 
In regards to facebook, I try not to judge people based on their profile pics since you can create misconceptions and a distorted view when you see them in person. It's tough to not do this, but I think I do it anyway.
 
Night_Trekker said:
I try to judge people first and foremost by their behavior (how considerate they are, how rational and in touch with reality they seem to be, how clearly they express their arguments and opinions, etc.), but an obnoxious avatar can be hard to get past, especially if it's an avatar that was clearly chosen to try and provoke a response or send an annoying message.

And then there are the avatars I could "get past" if I didn't find the poster so obnoxious, which means seeing the avatar itself starts to piss me off (maybe even seeing whatever the avatar is depicting, but I would have to really loathe someone for that to happen, which is uncommon). And then there are avatars for posters I already dislike, and I see the avatar and I say, "Yeah, it just fucking figures that poster would pick that to be a visual representation of themselves," which just feeds into a cycle of negativity. But I recognize this about myself and try to keep it in check.

Basically, I can't make any claims to being unaffected by silly things like user avatars, but I try my best.
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Reading your post and seeing your avatar made me think about how he used to be winging that controller around so awesomely. Then I thought about all the other formerly animated avatars that are now static. Almost all of them lost their entire charm. In conclusion, I miss animated avatars. :(
 
Online, I form impressions of people mainly by the quality of their writing. I don't believe avatars affect how I evaluate GAFers. On sites where people post pictures of themselves, I'm obviously biased in favor of whoever I find attractive. But if they communicate like a dolt, their looks don't count for much.
 
I don't normally go by the profile pic on facebook when I'm finding more out about the person before I've actually accepted the friend request or sent one of my own out. I try and check what sort of things they're into before I accept it. It also comes down to whether I actually hang out with that person or if they're people I'd actually want to contact period.

I kind of get the thing in the OP about the profile pics though. Whenever I see just pictures of a car, it gives me an idea of what sort of person they are based on other people I know who do this.

Oh, and on GAF part of it is the avatar for me. Anytime I see someone with that trollface in their avatar, I can usually guess what type of poster they want so much to be.
 
white dynamite said:
In regards to facebook, I try not to judge people based on their profile pics since you can create misconceptions and a distorted view when you see them in person. It's tough to not do this, but I think I do it anyway.
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This is what I try to do. Some people just just happen to take obnoxious pictures. I shouldn't let it cloud my perception of them, but in the same way you do sometimes I feel like I do so unconsciously anyways. Damn duck faces...
Satyamdas said:
Reading your post and seeing your avatar made me think about how he used to be winging that controller around so awesomely. Then I thought about all the other formerly animated avatars that are now static. Almost all of them lost their entire charm. In conclusion, I miss animated avatars. :(
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Stop reminiscing about the past, old man!
 
Satyamdas said:
Reading your post and seeing your avatar made me think about how he used to be winging that controller around so awesomely. Then I thought about all the other formerly animated avatars that are now static. Almost all of them lost their entire charm. In conclusion, I miss animated avatars. :(
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As do I. What I'm using is just a lazy placeholder since I can't find anything else I would rather use :/

I do hope that wasn't a perm-ban...
 
My profile pics are usually me drunk or me with my friend's kid who I love to death. Because that's when I can smile enough to photograph acceptable.

Occasionally I put up one with me and my husband where I'm having a good enough time to not be flaring my nostrils in fear at the camera but I have to be with a lot of people I love and making a ton of dirty jokes, preferably about their mothers.

On GAF, I am incognito, because I used to have that gif of laughing Bikini from Phoenix Wright and I am just still not over her loss I just miss her so much
 
MetalAlien said:
Back in the day there was a lot of guff on GAF about violent crime being blamed on video games. So I made this avatar using real bullets.
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Alrighty. But I don't understand how that avatar would piss anyone off.
 
Monocle said:
Online, I form impressions of people mainly by the quality of their writing. I don't believe avatars affect how I evaluate GAFers. On sites where people post pictures of themselves, I'm obviously biased in favor of whoever I find attractive. But if they communicate like a dolt, their looks don't count for much.
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When it comes to forums this is generally my line of thinking. Avatars are just little images I vaguely associate with the things people have already written.


Somewhere like Facebook however, I do think it a little odd when people (particularly women) have only their children as their profile picture. It tends to make me feel like they have no identity outside of that. Then I feel bad. There are a few good posters on GAF who have pictures of their children so I mean nothing against you guys! It's just a first impression type of thing.
 
Monocle said:
Online, I form impressions of people mainly by the quality of their writing. I don't believe avatars affect how I evaluate GAFers. On sites where people post pictures of themselves, I'm obviously biased in favor of whoever I find attractive. But if they communicate like a dolt, their looks don't count for much.
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Funny that they didn't mention that in the article. Maybe it was too obvious.
BocoDragon said:
^ was that the post responsable for the ban?
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I believe it was.
 
MetalAlien said:
I don't have a profile pic anywhere but my avatar is specifically designed to piss off GAF. No joke.
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2 30mm rounds and some unknown caliber rounds?
It's hard to tell what the smaller ones are with that tiny resolution. I was going to say .50bmg, but the case profile looks off
What is it?
 
slopeslider said:
2 30mm rounds and some unknown caliber rounds?
It's hard to tell what the smaller ones are with that tiny resolution. I was going to say .50bmg, but the case profile looks off
What is it?
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The blue ones are dummy 30mm, all the others are live BMG rounds.
 
If we had profile pics in neogaf, I'd use this jaxword.jpg as my pic.

NcylV.jpg
 
MetalAlien said:
The blue ones are dummy 30mm, all the others are live BMG rounds.
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I need to see if my local pawn shop will sell me a single .50bmg, It'll go on my shelf to contrast the tiny pistol casings I have stacked in a row.
 
slopeslider said:
I need to see if my local pawn shop will sell me a single .50bmg, It'll go on my shelf to contrast the tiny pistol casings I have stacked in a row.
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You don't appear very pissed off? I'm such a failure.
 
El Sloth said:
Funny that they didn't mention that in the article. Maybe it was too obvious.
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Who doubts it? Humans have a powerful tendency to favor attractive individuals, even when we're evaluating attributes that have nothing to do with someone's viability as a smang partner or mate.
 
Dresden said:
from my detailed study of the topic people with anime avatars are all murderers.
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I can't agree with you. Tell me your name and address so we can... discuss it personally.
 
Seeing a profile on a social networking site will only tell you so much about a person so it's easy to jump to conclusions, especially if an individual has outlandish pictures or expresses particular strong views online.
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Well, I think I've got that covered.
 
MetalAlien said:
You don't appear very pissed off? I'm such a failure.
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I always thought it was some soldier overseas taking a pic of his favorite ps3 controller amongst some ammo. Not very pissed off making, no.
 
I flip my finger to my sister who is smiling on my profile pic, so the article says that's bad. Hmm everybody likes it.
 
Definitely do not agree.
article-0-0E2930DF00000578-773_468x286.jpg


First impressions: Holiday snaps like these posted on Facebook won't help you make friends, according to new research
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I'm sorry, a whole lot of people would want to make "friends" with that profile pic.
 
I judge people who take self photos in the mirror and the camera is in the shot negatively, especially if they have used flash. Pro people use the reflection of the viewer and a self timer to take their own photo.

MetalAlien said:
I don't have a profile pic anywhere but my avatar is specifically designed to piss off GAF. No joke.
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That's not a furry or pony avatar.
 
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