I sometimes forget that you know a lot more about me than I know about you. I mean, you know that I'm a hooker, that I had a possible nervous breakdown while sitting in my closet ... you even know what kind of toilet paper I use.
I meet people all the time who know me from my blog and during our conversation it's entirely possible they might bethinking "Hey. I wonder how Karen's yeast infection is doing."
Well, did you ever think that it might be nice for me to look at YOU for once and think, "Hey. I wonder how her itchy lady parts are doing.".
Let's make that happen today. Not the yeast infection, (that's a special spell I have reserved for people who park sideways and take up more than one parking spot at Ikea on a Saturday), but the recognizing you bit.
This is what 70% of you look like to me and everyone else who reads this blog.
Faceless blobs of air. Who are you people? I don't know. In my head and the heads of everyone else reading the comments on blogs you possibly looking something like this ...
So what are those little pictures and why doesn't your photo show up?
Those are called Avatars and they're put there by something called Gravatar. Which stands for Globally Recognized Avatar. Almost all blogs and websites are Gravatar enabled which means they are all ready, willing and able for your picture.
All you have to do is go to the Gravatar website and upload your photo. Then Gravatar basically attaches itself to you and whenever you comment on a blog, Gravatar follows you there and includes your photo.
How to get your photo to show up in blog comments.
- Go to the Gravatar website.
- Sign up.
- Create your profile which includes uploading your photo.
- Done! Now when you comment on any blog or website that is Gravatar enabled your photo will show up. Pretty much every website has Gravatar enabled on it by the way.
- You can change your profile picture whenever you want by going back to the Gravatar website and uploading a new photo.
In the profile section of the Gravatar website you can fill out your name, where you're from and a little bit about yourself.
Why would you do that? Well there's a little surprise to Gravatar that not everyone knows about. If you hover over someone's photo on any blog comment if they've filled out their profile, that information pops up! So you can tell the world a little bit about you and you can learn a little bit about your fellow commenters.
And don't worry if you're a little bit shy you can upload a photo of anything. Your dog, your cat, your kid. I prefer to see recent photos of the actual person but the choice is yours.
I've only used 3 different Avatars on this blog since starting it but I might switch it up soon.
O.K. now it's time for you to try to do it yourself!
I'll be here. Waiting. And itching.
To see your pictures. ;)
bill keiser
One word: zipties. Okay, that was technically three words. Now it's . . . oh never mind.
Caitlin
Hopefully I am able to follow directions correctly....
Karen
Indeed you are! Go you! ~ karen
Leah C
Testing... testing... :)
Karen
You're in! ~ karen
Liz G
Wow, thanks Karen for bringing me into the 21st century!
Karen
Welcome! We have microwaves and red light cameras here too. :) ~ karen!
Elissa Rioux
Gee,I even forgot to press "activate". Hope the photo is there now!
Karen
Still no photo Elissa. Keep trying. :) Make sure your email address matches here and on Gravatar and that your photo did indeed upload to Gravatar. ~ karen!
Elissa Rioux
Hi Karen,
It's amazing how much I don't know how to do on the computer. Thanks for taking that list down a notch.
I live my small farm fantasy thru you. Thanks for the fun blog that I look forward to getting and the smiles you give me ?
Lillian Logan
Sweet--now who won the Lee Valley gift card????
Karen
It was announced in Monday's post Lillian. It wasn't you I'm afraid, but a nice lady named Jen. ~ karen!
Maria
Learn something new every day over at Karen's place. I think I'm all gravitar-ed up.
Linda J Howes
Cool, hope this works!
Linda J Howes
Pooh, it didn't. :-(
Linda J Howes
Here we go again, :-/
Linda J Howes
Pooh, again :-(
Karen
Just make sure that the email address you use here is the same as the email address you use in Gravatar. And also make sure your photo did indeed upload to Gravatar. ~ karen!
Linda J Howes
I have three email addresses attached to it and my gravitar and info all seems good, they sent me messages to confirm, I honestly can't think where I am going wrong.
Unless... the primary email has to be the email used here. If that is the case I may need to update preferences here.
Karen
Yes, that's exactly the problem Linda. ~ karen!
Kirsten
I think I did it correctly? We will see? They don't use our info to send us pesky emails or try to sell things to us do they?
Karen
Nope. No emails from Gravatar. It's literally just a global avatar site. So everyone you see who has a photo showing up on a blog is doing it through Gravatar. It's the sole purpose of the site. ~ karen!
MaggieB
Actually, I'd really like one of your fancy dancy super dooper portraits wot you put on up earlier in the post. Do you do commissions? Alternutively, (bow to Chippie) how do you do that?
Amanda
well now...that's cool
Karen
See?! Who knew you had blue hair! NO one! That's great. ~ karen!
Melissa
How true that we know WAYYY more about you than you know about us....thanks for sharing so much about yourself and being so honest!
Just 'itching' to see how this avatar thing works....
Karen
And there you are! ~ karen
Bek
Hey. Nice post.
Cred
Hi! My name is actually Cindy. How do you do?
Karen
I do fine. How do you do? ~ karen1
Gayle M
.
Gayle M
FINALLY ! ?
Karen
THERE you go! ~ karen
Jean in BC
Thanks :) I did this before when you had mentioned it a few years back. Should update my photo though.
Erin
I was thinking the same thing!
Cynthia
But what if we join weird forums that talk about stuff we don't want anyone to know about, will out photo show up?...and what if our a**hole ex-husband does a photo drop google search on us and finds all the places on the information superhighway where we love to talk to other weirdos? Nice weirdo's not a##hole ones like him.
Am I the only one who is paranoid? Surely not. Not highly puter savvy so tell me if I am fussing over nothing. I can be a silly sausage as well as a weirdo cyberworld lurker.
MaggieB
No, actually I feel that way too. Thats usually why I never put up photos of myself. And do nice weird things like changing my comment name for different forums. I only comment on three so not so hard to remember. Uuuccckkkk!
Linda J Howes
Why are you joining weird forums and talking about stuff you don't want anyone to know about in the first place?
MaggieB
Because when you realise that you are not dysfunctional and that when you find a group of people that "speak" to you you are so grateful that you may not always use the right words, because you had lost the ability to see the fun and weirdness of life and then being able to express yourself in a safe place. And it's not about anyone its about a particular someone. And that of course is just my opinion for myself. Heaviness over. Eggnog and glühwein all around. Cheers!
Karen
I drank almost an entire carton of Eggnog this week. Not the little box. The big box, lol. ~ karen!
Linda J Howes
LOL, you are my kind of people and you are very funny. Friends have often described me as either weird or wild and when asked, I often describe myself as weird, wild and wonderful. I threw in the wonderful part myself. I also love alliteration. °J°
Karen
Yes, your photo will show up everywhere. So in your case you can just leave your photo blank. I don't think you have anything to worry about but no sense sending you into fitful worry. ;) ~ karen!
Gayle''
Fun! Thanks, Karen. Say "cheese" everyone!
Gayle
I guess it helps to use the right email, right?
Gayle
? Still a faceless blob of air, I guess. I must be making this more difficult than it needs to be! Oh, well.
Gayle M
Maybe? I just noticed that auto correct messed up my email address.
Karen
LOL. Yes, I can see that every time you fill in your email address (I'm the only one who can see it) you fill it in differently. So you have to make sure your email address here matches the email address you used with Gravatar. ~ karen!
Marlene
Heeey - this is an old post! I want a new post, gimme, gimme, gimme.
PS: Hope the cream worked (for the itching) :-)
From a happy faceless blob of air.
(Saves me from explaining my scary self to the unsuspecting.)
Karen
No, lol. It's not an old post. It's an old topic that needed to be revisited. :) So I rewrote it entirely and republished it. That's why you see older comments. I do that the odd time with posts that are good topics but haven't been seen by the majority of my readers. ~ karen!