Do You Have a Globally Recognized Avatar?
January 3rd, 2008
Do you have a Gravatar (Globally Recognized Avatar)?
As a loyal fan of the WordPress software that runs each of my weblogs, I feel that it is important to support WordPress in any way that I can. A couple of days ago I announced some big changes to the theme here at Kyle’s Cove, and probably the biggest change of them all was my switch from the MyAvatars plugin to displaying Gravatars with post comments.
You may remember that last October Automattic, the company behind WordPress, purchased Gravatar. In the time since, they have revamped the infrastructure of Gravatar to drastically speed things up, integrated it into the WordPress.com platform, and then updated the Gravatar WordPress plugin.
Now that Automattic is supporting it, I think that over time Gravatars will continue to grow and the service will get better, so it is with that decision that I decided to make that switch over to using Gravatar images on this blog.
If you don’t already have one, I recommend you sign up with Gravatar for a free account and then upload the avatar you want to use. Once done, you can leave a comment below to test it out and see if it works. You’ll need to use the e-mail address used for your Gravatar in the e-mail address field of the comment form (all lower case).
how can i add my website url on facebook for back link? 
Great work man! I only use SEO for firefox and SeoQuake 
No, Gravatar does not have an affiliate program. 
Does Gravator have an affilitate program? 
Great list. All the important ones covered. I've made my own Top 10 list at the following;
http://thatimportantblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/10-best-greasemonkey-userscripts-2009.html
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Pretty neat! I’d seen these around, but never heard of Gravatar, so I went ahead and created an account.
Josh – Great to see you are registered!
Gravatar was popular for awhile, but they had some internal issues which rubbed people the wrong way and MyBlogLog captialized on it, so people switched.
Now that Gravatar is owned by Automattic, it is already drastically improved, and I’m thinking that many blogs will make the switch back over time.
I have a feeling I’ll be switching too. No idea when though heh.
I personally like it. I am very happy to see this and will be updating on my blog soon too. It is a great way to show your support for WordPress, not to mention it also makes things run a little smoother. MyBlogLog can be buggy sometimes… I’ll have to give this a shot and see what happens.
I signed with Gravatar a year back.. I know it is great than MyBlogLog avatar. but didn’t had time to configure it in my blog yet. but will do soon. It would be great if WordPress comes in with native support for Gravatar.
Glad to see everyone have a Gravatar so far on this post!
Benedict – I think that is really up to the theme authors. There are several good Gravatar plugins available that work the same as the MyBlogLog one (MyAvatars). The theme author can make it compatible, meaning the author would then just simply need to upload and activate the appropriate plugin.
I don’t have a Gravatar (at least I don’t think so) and I don’t think that I have a MyBlogLog icon anymore either! ARGH! So much to do. But you know, maybe I need to take this time and come up with a logo icon for my site so I can really start branding myself. *shrugs*
The thing I like about this, at least from what I believe, is that it reacts to your email. In other words your readers don’t necessarily have to be logged in for their avatar to appear.
As a blogger I think that’s a major plus. I don’t want a bunch of blank faces next to comments, which I believe happens when a reader comments on a blog with that plugin without being logged into MBL.
I have a new theme in the works as we speak and I believe I’ll have Gravatar implemented as well.
Thanks Kevin!
I used to use Gravatar a couple of years ago, but stopped using it for various reasons. It seems to be on the rise again, so I think I’ll be making the switch as well as implementing it on my blog.
@Bush – You could always use your picture (like the one you have in the header), or at least do that in the meantime until you have created your brand.
@Josh – Yes, it pulls it from your e-mail address. As an author of multiple blogs, my favorite part is that I can set up a different gravatar site for each account (using that sites e-mail address) and use each individual logo for each website.
@Mark – Yes, Gravatar did disappear for a little bit, but it is back and ready to take names! Looking forward to seeing that you signed up!
Well I must say, I enjoyed reading your material.
Nice reminder, Kyle! This is in one of my long list of to-do’s in my blog and hopefully I’ll get to it soon!
Just updated my profile picture to the same one as my MBL’s. I am with Garry on supporting WordPress through this. WordPress rocks!
Hmm.. I wonder if it takes a while for it to propagate. My picture didn’t show up yet!
@K – When you first create it, i can take a little bit to show up, but once it is there, you are all set globally. Just make sure you use the same e-mail address for your Gravatar account as you use in the e-mail field for your comments.