I forget all the time that people are NOT their avatars!

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Contrary to my account details, I am neither a pair of glasses or an optician.

When I first started reading the forums, I recognized people by their avatars. So when they would change avatars, I would think they were a different person. I had to train myself to look at the username.

I also used to get whether people were male of female confused and just assume they matched their avatar. But with celebrity/model pics, they are usually somebody's personal favorite, so more often than not they're the opposite sex.

GreenTea,
She isn't that fluent in English to be a WPer yet,she prefers to sit on a key,such as fffffffffffffffffffffff, as those who dont know her well say, 'awwww,isnt she cute,she's writing a message',she's really just shuffling her bum into the right spot to get attention away from the screen.

Am also recognise people by their avatars as well,and use a forum that does not offer avatars-it's like speaking to self on there because of it.

Lab Pet ^

But I DO identify with my avatar! And my username, of course.

I like avatars & tend to associate members by their avatar.

I have Sid for an avatar, because though I'm human, I'm exactly like him.

Sid is also a gender neutral name. :

Sydney or Sidric
Patrick or Patricia
Shelby or Shelby

You get the drift. :O)

^ Hi Sid! I do associate Cockney Rebel w/ Sid & the double decker buses.

I have 2 bears, Hansel (Hans for short, named partly for Hans Aspeger) & Gottfried (just like the name). I consider Hansel & Gottfreid 'real,' just like any other being. So when I see an avatar I do take this as a 'real' image association, not just a picture next to a post.

When I went to the Neuroscience Conference I met 2 friends from Wrong Planet and I did refer to them by their username, not their 'real' name. Realization that I don't actually know the names of my best friends, Wrong Planet inhabitants, but just know by username and avatar instead. Just seems natural that way.
If this matters, my 'real' name is Amy. But I go by Lab Pet too, in RL.

My avatar is a direct result of specific forum and general computer ignorance. I'm one of those who can't understand written instructions ( I think because I over interpret ) and when I clicked on my current avatar my intention was only to enlarge it to get a closer look. It'll do for now.

I'm totally my avatar, except now I wear glasses.
But yeah I sometimes confuse people with their avatar.
I think an NT could make the same mistake, for example one person had a picture of a girl and it turned out they were male. How does a person avoid a mistake like that?

Yeah I do that a lot.

It's probably why I get agitated when someone's av has more than one person/animal/whatever in it.

Or if it's an eye. (No not the giant eye people! An autistic's worst enemy!)

...Now I feel bad about when I change my avvie...

Woof.
I often feel my name should be Mud.
I often struggle to get through the day are like I am mired in mud.
I try to keep a happy attitude in spite of my problems.

I consider myself more NT than AS (my son is diagnosed AS) and I'm finding this thread really interesting.

I don't pay that much attention to the avatars. I'm interested in people's words. Some avatars I notice because I particularly like them (Lab Pet's ) and some I notice because if it is an actual picture of the poster I like having the face to put with the words (those who post pictures of characters from movies I've never seen totally throw me - I can end up trying to figure out if it's supposed to be the poster or a character). Others I have to consciously avoid looking at, because there are a LOT of avatars on this forum that I don't "get" at all, and quite a few I actually find a bit disturbing.

Avatars do say something about the person. And, in a way, all the ones I don't "get" are kind of part of how different our minds work.

But the avatar doesn't say as much as the words do, so it's the words I focus on, and feel I "know" someone by. I don't really picture the people behind the words, unless they've posted a picture or described themselves.

PS - my avatar, btw, "is" me, or at least a cartoon version of me. My head isn't that big in relation to my body, and the cartoon leaves out the wrinkles and figure issues. But it was drawn to be me. Well, me ten years ago, but close enough

I hate it when people change theirs. That's why I keep mine the same and hardly change it. It's rare when I do.

LOL when they have those anime pics I always think they look like that without really thinking about it. I just associate the image with the person without really thinking.

This was the first forum I had ever been on, and I had to train myself not to think that a person was their avatar if they used a picture of a person or a cartoon character. I'm always confusing male and female when people use an avatar of the opposite gender. And since I don't follow popular culture, I don't always know the difference between a real person or a celebrity.

I also get confused when people change their avatars. It usually takes me a moment to realize that the comment I'm reading is actually from someone I know.

It's easier on the other forum I frequent. Not only is it smaller, but the members tend to use pictures of themselves or their plants (it's a cactus forum).