Choosing the Perfect Avatar for Hubpages

hi thanks for the plug-- in fact you are exactly correct, my family is from Transylvania! in fact teh lower part has seven castles (couldn't get that on here) long story short, my family are Saxons, and Transylvania is known as Sienbenburgen or seven castles =) Stumble Upon and rated up!

Personally, I really like your current avatar. It always reminds me to look for the whole picture, not just my first impression.

Before I opened this account, I looked for a picture that I felt reflected me from the heart. I had no idea what 'avatar' meant, but would say it is a very accurate word.

I have never seeen the hag in your avatar. Not once... never... ever...

I, being the shy and self-effacing gentleman that I am, have always seen the beautiful your woman looking longingly away from me. Which, of course, has kept me awake for days on end dreaming dreams and scheming schemes that might someday get you to turn around and notice that I am there... here...

If you change your avatar to the one in your proposal, we might very well end up everafter keeping our relationship on a strictly professional basis. Because, you see, my dreams of wooing the beautiful young maiden would be dashed, I would succumb to an irreparably broken heart, and you would have to return to your former profession to take care of me.

This is a beautifully devious Hub and I am ever so flattered to be a part of it. May your AdSense earnings protect you from the counselling profession for evermore!

Very poetic, interesting article, filled with intriguing details, fun, eclectic and informative contents.

By the way, thanks for sharing my pics, that's me in the office sofa.

You can even join me on my new website, create a free backlink to all your hubs. http://www.wikihubs.com/

http://wikihubs.com/

Thanks for sharing this

Cheers

Great hub! I must admit I was aware of the dual nature of your avatar but for some reason couldn't see the beautiful woman until I looked at the larger version now (no offense!) Thanks for the mention and the link back too. My avatar (larger version: http://s1.hubimg.com/u/2463676_177.jpg ) is just what I would look like if I was a simpson character. Probably with some enhancements :) Oh, I reckon you should keep your avatar or "modify" it slightly - kinda like what I did with mine - just have the same one in perhaps a different environment, or presented slightly differently.

what a fun hub! I love avatars, they can be so mysterious and say so much. I like the avatar you currently use, it draws you in,you want to find out more about this writer. good work.

:) plus I met some new hubbers!

I like your avatar because I like ambivalent images. But I like the category three avatars best. I guess there's something about being comfortable with how one looks, or something? I don't know. I just know I would only use a pic of me. I want people to know what I look like. I thought once of using a pic of me as a child, but thought better of that also.

Thanks for an interesting Hub.

Love and peace

Tony

Thank you for including me in your Hub. That is a real live male alright. It is yours truly. That tie is from my personal collection. The city (or country) behind me is real. It is Monaco. This photo was snapped of me while there on holiday.

drbj, thanks for introducing yourself! Do keep your original avatar, it's so much more mysterious and provocative than that sorry angel.

As for myself, I used to use an illustration of my own creation - a lonely green lotus that looked more like a glorified artichoke. Since January I've shown my true face, and I hold the little green lotus/artichoke in my hand. For the record, my stats have improved dramatically.

I must say that I loved this Hub! You're not only a hoot, you've managed to promote some of my favorite Hubbers with brilliance and unprecedented originality. A big thumbs up!

Thanks a lot for your support.

Look forward to reciprocate the same at the best available oppertunity.

May god bless you

I like yours, Marco's and Hai's.

They are unique. (I like cartoon stuff)

I would have chosen yours as favourite, if only the boy didn't have his head turned away... :)

Yup, drbj, that's the "hidden meaning" of my avatar. The book on the handlebars is Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, the bag on the back is full of baguettes, and if you look carefully there are PC motherboards strapped to the rear pillion! :)

My avatar. No words really. I don't even know where I found it. Had it dumped in my images for a long time prior to joining HP.

I remember when I joined, dreaming up really silly usernames. The one that matched my mood was 'frogdropping'. Then of course, being slightly anal, I wanted an avatar that matched the username.

After searching for one, I remembered the one I now use. It seemed quite apt.

I'd also been drinking Vodka, some time before. There is, of course, a moral.

Another quality article drbj. I must check out your websites and other hubs :)

Came back to add - as a consequence, if you use google images and search for 'frogdropping' all that turns up, pretty much, is me. There's an irony in that somewhere. I also wanted to write anonymously.

Thanks for this really informative hub.

Fabulous hub!! I always noticed the young girl in your avatar and never noticed the old lady until now! That is awesome!! Now I have strain to see the young girl again! So funny!

Not being familiar till now with your avatar -(then in the larger version), I noticed the old lady in it first, though I usually see both portrayals in double-interpretable images. When you mentioned that there was a second one, I saw it. I notice that in smaller thumbnail which appears on your comments, the young woman is the one most quickly noticed. Most interesting.

'Avatar' has been an idea which has fascinated me for many years. I wrote a poem with that title in the early 1970s in fact, The poem gave it a somewhat religious inference. I was rather surprised to hear it used as it is on the net, but thought it corresponded with the industry's use of names like 'Intuit", "Lotus", "Quicken", icon and various words I'd formerly associated with more esoteric ideas. ( (I'd long considered myself an iconoclast! Again. a slightly off-beat religious connection.) But now being applied to technological programs & symbols, It struck me that software makers and net-language-coiners deliberately link their new fields to these much less technological concepts. Stirred my interest - still does,

Forgive the digression. Your article tweeked it.

I heartily agree that the interesing icon of the crone/beauty is the preferable one! Your study and classifying of avatar choices is totally fun. Then the hubbers' comments about why and how theirs were chosen is quite good, too.

I use my own photo, though I've a caricature I'd consider using.

I've consistently used my own name or a related nickname online, though once I briefly tried a non-identifying nickname & avatar: a shaggy dog & 'LeavNtrax'. I didn't like the reception it got, though at the time I was a bit disgruntled which might have been the cause rather than the name & avatar.

But I've no impetus to be mysterious. I'm such an odd-ball character. Truth is stranger than fiction anyway! I just prefer transparency.

Drbj, I'm a hearty fan already & will eagerly devour your delightful writings. By the way, your resume does not suffer from lack of tinker, tailor. . . etc.! Wow - what an amazing person you are!!

First of all thanks for your lovely 'fan comment!' I am so excited with this form of communication and expression: hubpages.

I like Rebecca E's avatar. I also like the 'real ones' like mine...I used to have a pic of some nature scene.

Will catch up w/ you later!

Interesting hub! Every time I see your avatar I just have to marvel about the two possible images. Mine is me - as Popeye would say, I yam what I yam! lol

hmmmm why is it that i feel I have been here before!! Well even if I was it was a great read the second time around:) Rated up as always .. useful as well:)))

This was a fun and entertaining read. Great job.

My avatar has been many things but is currently one of myself. I tend to change them all the time because I get bored with the same one lol

Drbj-first glance of your avatar appears if some billiards player pointing his cue to find the right angle on the ball in a white shirt,(while in commenting mod) and see thats what you are exactly doing here.

Now look at your avatar from another angle,look at the left eye as ear,the black line under the nose as neck line(chin line),the other eye(only eye brow)pointed towards right side,and under the nose line that is now converted in to neck,further down you can see the part of the chest,scarf is still scarf.Now you can see a young girl.

Haha, I like your avatar now, drbj... although the hag is an interesting thought but I'll probably laugh every time I look at it.

This Hub was really interesting. I was going to say that I didn't think much about my avatar but that would be a bold-faced lie. I actually put mine together in photoshop, combining music and psychology. Ever noticed? ;-)

Thanks for an interesting read.

drbj-I have Always seen the old lady or hag as you put it. I am trying to see the young girl and will be obsessing over this today until I see her. I agree with everyone that this avatar is just perfect. I think if you changed it you would have sad followers, especially niteriter. He would be crushed!

Had to let you know that I finally see the young girl. It was because I had scrolled up higher so I could see the eyelash and chin line. When It is a bigger picture, it's hard to see the young girl for me.

Until today I only saw the old crone. When you blow up your avatar I can see the young girl so clearly but not when its small. Perhaps ugliness is easy to spot a mile away and true beauty needs a closer look?

I had to laugh when I read the first part of your hub regarding your current avatar. I saw this picture for many times before. The last time it was in Stephen Covey's book. He was describing the perception and how two people can see the same thing in completely different way.

And the funniest thing was that every time I looked at your avatar I saw young lady. I haven't even noticed until now that it is THAT picture with an old lady on it too.

I first didn't know what to put for my avatar. And since I had so many photos of my daughter I decided to use one of those. She has such a special look in her eyes, and I feel blessed every time I look at that photo, so I don't want to change it.

Some may find me not serious enough when they look at my avatar, but I'm quite serious :o))

Drbj, this hub popped up in my cell-phone screen today, for some reason. It's interesting, I have always wanted to mention to you that I remember your "avatar" icon from high school psychology class! We studied it and analyzed "perception" and many of the things you mention here. I changed my hub pages "avatar" many times before arriving at the present one ~ but I may change it again ~ who knows:)

..you have a veritable smorgasbord of hub material - something for everyone - so much entertainment and always enlightening - I will never starve here - I cannot go hungry - there are many intellectual calories - and I always go away - well fed!!!

My avatar graphically illustrates the inhumanity of birds towards horses, counterbalanced by a cat in a riding helmet, which eats birds but will not ride a horse except sidesaddle. The cat eats the birds, not the helmet.

Looks like you picked a winner subject for hubbers-- (since almost everyone has one). I do like yours and I am familiar with it, since I have always enjoyed teaching the lessons of perception and optical illusion in my classrooms.

I think yours suits you well.

After reading this, I am thinking I should choose something more enigmatic and meaningful, but as Popeye the Sailor was fond of saying " I yam what I yam".

I can only see the old woman :O... I've seen this picture bfore and know that there are two women one is old and another is bful but I've always failed to see the other woman.. :O

btw amazing hub :) I would have never thought of writing a hub on choosing avatar images.. cheers!! xD

omg.. I am FINALLY able to see that grl. thanks for the card trick or else I would have never been able to see the shy grl looking away..lol.. but for me the old woman is more prominent.. :D .. but now I can clearly see the old lady's mole and eyes are the young grls nose and ears respectively..lol you rock :D

drbj,

I keep trying to remember the first time I saw this image.... I'm sure I was told early enough that there were two ways to look at it, and so I have always known that I should see both ways, and so I do. The old woman is easier for me to see than the young woman, especially with the color. I'm not used to seeing it in color.

Did you decide to keep the picture as your avatar then? I like it. Double Image Optical Illusions have always intrigued me. Maybe I will pick a new Avatar with a similar theme some day.

Great hub, drbj!

~AC

I only saw the old lady when first looking at your avatar. After reading your hub and all of the comments (whew!), I looked at it again and immediately saw the pretty young lady. Fascinating. I wonder what it means.

Loved your hub. Unique, fun and thought provoking as well. I am so lucky to be your newest BFF. Thanks

Great hub! I love the way that you started it. Avatar is one of my favorite movies. I just watched it again during the thanksgiving weekend.

I definitely agree that it is all about perception. We all say "Don't judge a book by its cover" but the fact is, we all do. It is built into our DNA. It is difficult to escape from this even if we consciously try to do so.

I have tested with some different profile pictures, and it is really interesting what reactions I get based on them. I also used to role-play characters on online games which is also extremely interesting.

I like your current profile picture although I must say that all I see is the young girl. No matter how I squint I can't see the hag. Maybe I'm an optimist. :D

drbj- I have little imagination. I just grabbed a pic and went with it. I like consistency so I'll probably stick with it. God bless!

Drbj,

Your avatar, interesting as it is, has been causing me grief. I've only ever seen the old woman..and after reading this thread, tried for a very long time to see the young woman, without success. I began to worry. ..why can't I see it? do I lack all perception? am I a chronic pessimist?

Eventually I did see it, after much effort. Then I rationalised....I've been looking at that picture for several months and the old woman is imprinted on my brain as the right way to see it. Anyway, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Even now I can only hold the image of the young woman for a few seconds before it starts to revert to the old one.

Lol..no,no dragons and thanks for the reassurance.

I'm so glad you decided to keep your avatar!! When I go to 'hubbers I follow' your's is about the easiest to pick out.. Not sure why, but I like it!

I love this hub of yours. Avatars are something often undervalued, but they say so much about a person.

I love the current avatar. I have seen something pretty similar to this (maybe in a class, I can't remember?) I loved the hub! You are so dead on with everything. Your magic wand is certainly not broken!

I think it is all so interesting. I took several classes in psych and sociology but some how I could never seem to apply things to my own self. I guess that is probably good though. I don't always trust my own self!

Very interesting that you point that out. When I took the RPSGT exam, even though the questions were not clustered, I received a perfect score in that area. That was a huge surprise to me.

You know, It would have to be my husband. I think he knows nearly everything about me. Though I think everyone keeps their cards close on some topics:)

Yes right? Haha! I am sure it's all irrelevant and healthier to keep some things out of the discussion. I.e., previous relationships. No one wants to really hear about that junk. I wouldn't want to know some things about him as well. My grandmother used to tell me, don't ever go looking for things you don't want to find!

Yep she was wild for a grandma:) Hilarious lady!

Hi, drbj - when I see your avatar first appear, I see the old woman. But when I come to your page and see the larger size, I see the young one. Every time. My own avatar shows me shoveling chicken manure. I put that one up when I was writing a lot of gardening hubs. Now I've been writing a lot of fashion history hubs and some how it just don't go. haha.

THTNK ABOUT THIS--GARDENING REQUIRES FERTILIZER AND WASHINGTON DC PRODUCES AN ABUNDANCE OF IT.THERES GOT TO BE A PONEY IN THERE SOMEWARE.

drbj, I just stumbled across this hub and its so interesting! I love your avatar, we have a lot of mutual friends so i've seen you often and have been meaning to visit you for a while. Its funny, I always see the old lady in the little version and now that you explained it, the young one is all I see in the big version. I love the fairy avatar, and I'm partial to fairy tales so I believe my opinion would be prejudiced, but your current avatar suits your personality - intriguing and layered.

I guess my avatar is in the realism category. I used to use cool pictures (usually a cool one of a silhouetted fairy against a sunset) until I got some decent pictures of myself and felt like a real hubpages writer. It was a self-confidence thing with me.

Great hub and awesome discussion starter. Take care!

Hi, again-- glad to see that this has so many great comments.

Dang, (as Teresea McGurk would say) I wish I had thought of using this avatar. I now realize that people might see me as an old woman, but I know my 'younger self' is still in there. I'm sure you understand.

Owls don't show their age.

I have seen this old crone many years ago and I knew their was a young woman in there somewhere but it took a while for her to appear. The perception switch (Gestalt,I know I'm showing off teaching Grandpa to suck eggs; but hey what can I do?) I have used the gestalt switch when teaching (duck/rabbit). In really helps the students to understand that things are not always what they seem but more how we see them. Great hubs I will be back for more. voted up. Cast your eye over my profile picture (it's me) and let me have your clinical assessment of what it represents. Just for fun. Go on you know you want too!

Hi drbj I will be visiting your hubs regularly; you've written many topics that are interesting. I like your interpretation of my profile picture,I can see the reasoning. Thanks for taking the time to think about it and make a comment. I agree with your assessment; spot on. Hubpages is a new experience for me and I have spent much of my teaching career warning people not to disclose information on the web. The picture was taken a few weeks ago at an army day that I took my grandchildren too. They got to see the big trucks etc. I am holding a world war II lee enfield 303 rifle. The picture was taken by my son. We play war-games online so it was taken for that purpose. When I came to Hubpages I thought I'd use it; as it represents (for me) my intention to take aim on topics that I think need exposure, illumination or education. If you check the 3 hubs titles I have written so far you will get where I'm coming from. Great to meet you and thanks for the input. You are an inspiration. Voted up

Your welcome drbj and you've earned the appellation. I've just read another of your hubs. They are brilliant. Well done. Voted up on both.

I still get a big kick out of this hub, do you have more people/avatars upcoming?

Informative and interesting hub. Thanks for sharing

Good Morning, drbj! I have wondered about your avatar for a while; finally went back to your profile. I remembered you live in S. Fl. as I do, then I saw this Hub. Maybe, I'll get an answer! I did. Now, I know. I have NEVER seen an old hag; only a beautiful young girl with a scarf on her head. Wonder if that makes me normal or abnormal???? See you around....

Doc,

Since I've read this wayyyy after it was posted, I believe I'm safe in assuming you decided to NOT go with the fairy God-mother with the broken wand.

I'm really happy you didn't. The poor thing looks annoyed, tired, weak and she's wearing granny clothes.

In regards to your current avatar, and the only one I know you by, yeesh, please don't laugh but, in my zipping and skimming, I'd not paid much attention to it, and until not long ago, I thought it was a guy in a rumpled white shirt with brown slacks, his elbows on his knees, and not showing his head.

I know. I can be such a dork, lol.

But, as soon as I realized that it WASN'T what I'd thought it was and looked more closely, I did see both ladies.

I don't think I can do avatars. I've used photos on facebook for my profile pic, but everyone on fb knows what I look like anyway. I do still switch it out on occasion to keep away the boredom.

And now I'm thinking I should maybe do that here as well.

Heaven knows I hate to be bored and don't want others being bored either.

:)

femme

I love the style of this hub, the flow is simply flawless, thanks for this piece.

Drbj, I only see an old woman and no matter how I look at the picture I never see a young woman.

My picture is of me. I wasn't clever enough to choose anything else.

Hi Drbj :) Every time I see your name, or your avatar commenting in any of my hubs, my attention is on "it." Maybe because I always love cartoon and anime and I find cartoon avatars cute. In fact, most of the time I would used a cartoon as my Facebook avatar. I didn't know there was a hag there as I always see a maiden, looking at her right side, or maybe looking at a leaf or handkerchief (whatever that greenish thing is that seems to have flown away by breeze.) ^-^'

Anyway, just curious, have you ever changed your avatar or tempted to change it? I feel that way. I don't even know why I ended up with a five-starred lemon... maybe because it was unusual ^.^' Voted up!

Thanks for the education on avatar...I have not seen the movie as I rarely go to movie theaters..long long ago I went to one..but I do watch videos at home so will have to check out the movie.

Maybe I will come up with something clever for mine..someday.

Sending you Angels on day 21 of this new year. :) ps

Hi drbj,

I arrived here via Martie's amazing hub this day, and I am glad I did. You have provided great insight as to one's avatar and what it represents! I love your new avatar, but don't know that I've seen the previous one. Guess I need to see the movie too. Hmmm, just pondering what a Faith Reaper Avatar should look like?

Voted up +++++ and sharing

God bless, Faith Reaper

I was just checking in to see if you had written anything of late. You have been missed my friend. I hope you are well.

Bravo on this hub.....and I loved the new avatar for Faith.

Have a great weekend.

bill

drbj,

I took a cue from Faith Reaper to land on this page.

Avatar is a Sanskrit word, wich means incarnation (You have already explained the word). One of the basic principles of Hinduism is Avatar of God. The Hindu God Vishnu has taken many Avatars. Ten Avatars of Vishnu is very popular in Hindu religion.

In the western language, the word Avatar was made popular by social media to indicate the profile picture.

Hi drbj,

I linked this hub to my new avatar hub. You have been missed.

Hugs, Faith Reaper

Thanks so much, drbj, for linking and for being a great inspiration as to creating a new design for an avatar. This hub is very insightful as to the importance of avatars.

Blessings, Faith Reaper

how to create an avatar online free??

I guess I got here too late to see your original Avatar, that's a pity. I knew what Avatars were because I have sons who used to play video games at home (before they grew up and left, anyway). Avatar, the movie, OMG yes, it's got to be the greatest CGI movie ever made! Top that, Hollywood! Anyway, looking at Avatars on HP is interesting, and I love them. This is a good informative hub. Voted you up and useful.