What's the meaning of your avatar? (NO. The meaning of your absence of one.)

I'd like to slow things down a little.

I've been a very active member of ATS for just shy of a decade (if you consider lurk time of course.)

When I say very active, I mean that I've had times where I went on manic posting sprees, and I've probably vowed to quit this site more than once. Even when I am not posting, whining, or trolling I am an avid reader (almost daily in all this time.) I may not be able to read every single post, but I spend a lot of my own time skimming and scouring--learning from you. Luckily I've had jobs with either some expected downtime or no supervisors looking over my shoulder. Sometimes for me toilet time is ATS time.

I'm with you folks. I am starring your posts and flagging your threads. I have a lot of pride in my membership here, and yours, and in this community.

To be honest, I think I have come very close to being permanently banned in the past. But I felt in my heart that being honest and apologizing to the community was the best course of action overall. Well I'm still here anyways, and for that I am grateful.

blah blah blah.

Anyways ignore all that tripe. The real question I want to ask some of the members here. Why don't you have an ATS avatar?

Sure there's been plenty of threads asking the meaning of your avatar and username handle etc.

But what's with all the blank faces out there? I'd like to hear your story and why you choose the blank slate?

Do you not feel the need to express yourself? Personify your username creatively? or perhaps to show some pride and identity in being an ATS member?

I'm interested in your angle and what you have to say.

And obligatory, if you've never participated in one of these threads before maybe tell us what your avatar is about if you do have one (username as well if you like.)


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Oh if you want me to start...

Well I've had different avatars over the years. For the most part, they have always been some variation on the current theme. The ATS UFO has been present for a great many years. My interest in aliens and UFOs from childhood mostly led me to this site. This particular avatar was crafted by our OperationMindcrime and they did an excellent job. I supplied them with a couple of reference photos and the theme "The road to El Dorado."

Truly we have many talented artists on this site!

El Dorado, the fabled city of gold, represents to me the very best presence of body, mind, and spirit that we can achieve within ourselves. I am always striving to be a better person than I was in the past.

The handle NarcoBuddha. Well, to be honest it just came to me on the fly. I am not a practicing buddhist, but I am a very spiritual person believe it or not. I am infatuated with the idea of dualities, conflict and balance etc. I do actually have the sleep disorder narcolepsy. So a narcoleptic is one who suffers from spells of drowsiness and sleep. And a buddha is one who is spiritually awakened and alert. Perhaps there is some deep and profound meaning there, but in all honesty I just used it as a temporary login with the assumption that I could change it after creating my account on this website. (I'm still waiting on that feature, ATS )


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Anyways this thread probably sucks.

But please do tell why you choose not to don an avatar (at least tell us about your username.)

And any newcomers with avatars please spill the beans if you like.

Love (most of) you all! Just kidding. Everyone's been great and we're all part of ATS even if we butt heads at times. Here's to many more years guys and gals.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

I had a few avatar changes in the past but also went completely without it for some times. For that you have to know I lost my gmail account and this is not the original nickname I registered with.

Without the avatar I did not feel as exposed as with one, because posts seem to draw less attention. Since I am here to talk and not shy to express my sometimes strong opinions, I don't mind this "exposure".

I think the biggest reason I ended up using an avatar was, because I am a visual person and can follow the conversation a bit better when I have optical clues like avatars. That does not mean I ignore avatarless posters but the avatars give the site more structure and since there are a lot of side-conversations happening, it's easier then to get an overview for me who is talking to who, as opposed to just text.

Also the avatar is some kind of telling a bit about me, as with the ladder and apple tree, it was to express I really like nature, plants, springtime and it was my first avatar when I joined. The ladder might represent the challenge I faced, I had almost no experience writing in English and I did not knew this place.

My current avatar isn't about witchcraft but being a single mother (love like a mother) I am on myself with my kid. Besides that I am still a human with needs (play like the maiden) but have to navigate this world and teach my child compassion but also logic and wisdom (think like the crone).

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha
Because I'm not young enough to be part of the culture that gets obsessed with having avatars, so I wasn't motivated to tackle the artistic and technological challenges of trying to create one.
Having a personalised mini-profile background colour is good enough for the purpose.
P.S. It cost me 200 ATS points, Worth every penny.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha
Mine is of Breda Anansi who, often takes the shape of a spider and is sometimes considered to be a god of all knowledge of stories, he is also a trickster over comes beings great than himself, often playing the fool to catch the wise, he of Akan or Ashanti mythology, which passed into the West African diaspora in the Caribbean, he resembles Br'er Rabbit so closely, some think he is one and the same..Bugs Bunny is his latest incarnation..that's mister Nancy from American Gods.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

Been here a while now, not sure how long, because I don’t know how to check which is also why I’ve never dabbled with an Avatar as well I click around and maybe due to mobile version never seem to see the options. So alas I throw two cents in the fountain here and there.

The name though I dreamt up due to all the insane thinking going on..... I’d hoped I could imply some “SaneThinking” and from reading what I post you can surmise maybe I was wrong😂🤣. Needless to say I’d create something as a look into my thinking.... if I knew how? 🤷‍♂️

SaneThinking

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

Yes, I seem to recall you had a different avatar recently. I did not recognize you!

What a beautiful triad of wisdom along with the 3 faces of your avatar: play like the maiden, love like the mother, think like the crone.

Thanks for sharing

a reply to: DISRAELI

Indeed DISRAELI, you've been here longer than I and I think you've had this beige backdrop all this time.

It is distinguished and you.

a reply to: Spider879

Thank you for sharing!

I am always intrigued by members who use sculpture or stonework figures as their avatars. My very first avatar was actually a stone glyph from the ancient world as I used to want to be an archaeologist.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha
This is what I mean, we are used to faces or at least some kind of optical clue when we have conversations. DISRAELI's background color does the same for me actually.

When I had the side profile of my face as an avatar, I noticed a lot more people replying or making comments towards me. This is why I took it down because I want people to converse with me because of what I write, not how my avatar looks.

a reply to: Itisnowagain

Identity crisis eh?

Supertramp ahhhh

Mine represents my life.philosophy.

Dont spend good drinking time on dumb snip.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

When I joined I had a blank face as I didn't know how to insert an avatar and couldn't be bothered to learn , then I decided I wanted one so sought out the information needed to achieve that , like you I've had several over the years with this being my first.

Kinda fitting for a conspiracy site I thought.

As I mostly frequented the Aliens and UFO's back then I moved on to this , it remains one of my favourites to this day.

Giorgio

After several changes I settled on Ötzi The Iceman , or rather a recreation of how Ötzi would have looked in life , deep down I envy the freedom he and his people had at that time and the reality of the life they led , Ötzi is my brother from the past who knew more about life and the freedom to live that life than I ever will in this slavery we call life today.

I think these days we all need to keep in touch with our inner Ötzi to remind ourselves who we really are.

originally posted by: gortex
Ötzi The Iceman

Been wondering about that for ages! Thanks for posting, Gortex.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

The avatar i use is the Battle Flag Of Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentary Army during The English Civil War.

Even though The Monarchy is Head Of State, Parliament is still sovereign and answers to the people.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha
I have about 20 I rotate ...depending

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

I'm not telling you about the one on my main account but the one on my sock puppet account is to alert everyone to the fact that I'm a retarded unicorn...

I navigate ATS entirely through my iPhone which doesn’t seem to show avatars- in fact, I wasn’t even aware that I could make one.
Will this work?

originally posted by: apydomis
I navigate ATS entirely through my iPhone which doesn’t seem to show avatars

That is the best way to experience ATS in my opinion. I found myself taking the time to read and absorb more posts when the avatars are invisible.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus
I guess your avatar is to compensate for a traumatic incident involving teddy bears and ewok looking dogs that can walk upright. That in itself is terrifying enough but Taylor Swift bear for the rescue, it's your 001.

The statue has to be Augustus, you know, the guy responsible for making Maria walk on pregnancy feet and bear baby Jesus in a crib.