As someone new to myLot, the variety of avatars you see might be one breathtaking sight. Some users have put up their personal photos; others have uploaded snapshots of their pets. Some prefer pictures of sceneries, while others like their favorite cartoon characters. Occasionally, you will see users come decked in green - in the default myLot newbie avatars.

You ask yourself, "Should I get an avatar too? Do I really need one?"

Since you are asking me, my opinion is yes. If you are able to get an avatar to replace the default one, do it. I do understand that some users may be on a public computer and so cannot download one of the many free ones available. Some do not have the time to do this "extra" thing. Others just cannot decide which picture to choose. Fair enough if you feel you have a legitimate reason, otherwise, do get an avatar.

I wouldn't say it is illegal or against myLot rules not to change your avatar. However, there are reasons why you want to voluntarily get a picture. For a start, this world is a harsh one. Users with the default avatars literally scream NEWBIE so if you make a friend request and get rejected, you can sort of guess why. You might argue that everyone was a newbie too so what's the discrimination about? But this is how the world works, my friend. Not everyone is as nice as me who accepts all friend requests. :P

Another reason is that when people look at "you", they first see your avatar before even noticing your name. You may have lots of ideas and intelligence, but if people don't remember you, you are not going to get too popular at myLot. You want people to notice you (not for the wrong things though) and with an unique avatar, people will remember you easier. Imagine growing up in a world where people are all wearing the same mask. How are you supposed to differentiate one from the other? Avatars thus help you stand out. If you don't change your avatar, don't complain when no one bothers responding to your discussions.

There is one category of people whom I call the hit-and-run terrorists. These people come to myLot with the single aim of making money. Nothing wrong with that on its own, but the modus operandi of these people is such that they spam the community with many ridiculous discussions, then hope to get paid before myLot notices it and deletes all their discussions.

These people are typically in a rush. They don't care about fostering friendship with other myLotters. As such, they typically just use the default green. Also, since they are worried that their IP addresses might be banned, they like to strike from cyber cafes. If one IP address is banned, they can always change to another cafe. As I have mentioned before, most public computers do not allow downloads to the local drives. Hence, they have a problem getting avatars anyway. If you don't want to be mistaken for these spammers, try to get an avatar if possible. Once again, I do acknowledge that there are legitimate users who log in from cyber cafes.

For a discussion on avatars, you can check out this discussion I have started at http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/898607.aspx . At this time of writing, 158 myLotters have already expressed their opinions on this issue. So this is more food for thought for you. ;-)