Using avatars as an alternative to a name

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Does anybody find that the word used for someones name is less important than their avatar?

Like, do they find the actual avatar a visual replacement for a name? Like a pictograph.

Do people find it confusing/ think differently about a person when they change their avatar?

I do associate people with their avatars up to a point. And I've noticed that certain changes of avatar also change my perceptions of a certain user's post and general tone.

I associate people with their avatars, due to the fact that I'm a very visual person.

I never pay attention to names, to the point where if you asked me if I could name one username here, I couldn't even do it. If you asked me to picture avatars, I can picture tons of them.

Well, when I first started using a message board back in 2007, I initially associated posters with their avatars as a kind of 'online face'. But that quickly stopped once I found that many regular posters would change their avatars every 2 or 3 weeks (while I stuck with the same avatar for a long while). I primarily identify posters online by their posting style and the content of their messages, their interests, philosophies, etc. It's kind of a good thing that the choice in avatars tends to be more arbitrary and unpredictable, since it means you're going to value what a poster has to say, instead of how they 'present themselves' visually.

I do this on almost every website I go on. I know a few of the usernames here, but other than that, I identify everyone by their icon.

I use Tumblr too, and I've confused people because of their avatars more than a few times. This got me into trouble when I confused this one girl for a person she hated because they had the same character as their icon at the time. I probably need to be more careful about that.

I sure do! Not completely of course, but it's helpful, especially if someone has a username that's unpronounceable or has lots of numbers in it. This doesn't happen so much on this site, but more popular sites where many names get taken quickly, it's a lot more common to have gibberish-type names. I guess I see a username then try to hear it, and I will audibly hear the username in my head when thinking about it or referring about them, if at all possible.

I always associate accounts (and by extension, people) to avatars. I honestly forget who people are if they change their avatar.

I do too. It's a lot quick to scan down the side as I scroll and find an avatar.

I changed my avatar a few weeks ago because I figured I was making a bad association with my old "warning" style avatar.
I'm hoping my kitty here will make a better impression