Invisible Gravatars | Articles | the bombsite

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Posted by: Stuart

I enjoy working with HTML, XHTML, CSS and designers as a web developer. At home I enjoy listening to music, playing music, reading and food.

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Posted on: 19 July 2005

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Comments: 26

Invisible Gravatars

If you visit here regularly you will know that this was a gravatar-enabled site. I noticed about three days ago that the gravatars weren’t appearing but put it down to the Gravatar site being temporarily down however when they still weren’t appearing last night I decided to investigate.

If you Google for the Gravatar site then click on one of the links you will be told that it doesn’t exist. I then found a short on Phu Ly’s site which explained that the Gravatar site hadn’t been re-registered and it also appears that the man-in-charge is on holiday.

Phu has detailed a work-around for the problem but I have to say that I have never been over-keen on thebombsite.com relying on third-party sites so I have removed them instead. Sorry, but they probably won’t be returning to this site and I suspect a few others will think the same way.

Comments ( 26 )

Jess
What amuses me is that I just changed mine a few days ago. The site was up then but I never got the rating e-mail one usually gets.

Ahh well, it seems to have been fitful at best.
19 July 2005, 21:27
Stuart
It’s had it’s up and downs which, combined with the current problem, has forced my decision.
19 July 2005, 21:43
Myisha
I wasn’t to really hip on the gravatar craze, I’ve tried to install it several times, but never had any luck. When I decided to install Gemini Colored theme by Geeksmakemehot(originally by Root) which had the gravatar actually installed I was ready to go then, but shorty after the site went down.
20 July 2005, 03:52
joss
Just noticed that the gravatar icons are not working on some of my other blog reads. Thanks for the heads up Stuart. I shall wait to see what happens.
20 July 2005, 13:01
sekhu
Agree on the whole anti-gravatar third-party site business. I really want my site to remain inclusive and not to depend on other sites for something to work.

The one at the moment that’s driving me up the wall is Audioscrobbler. I hope someone just tanks the servers cuz the whole thing is just abhorrent. I’ve signed up, and I got all excited but what I want is plugins that do all these fancy features but within the host environment. If I want to list MP3s I listen to, let it access my Winamp and call directly to my host via the plugin and not depend on the downtime of other sites.

Same with gravatars. I remember when they first started and everyone was jumping on the bandwagon: “you gotta have one! Gotta catch em all” and all that jazz. Another one I got suckered into, and another one that basically stinks. The idea is very sound, a global avatar, but it’s still dependent on THEIR servers. Now if something similar, like, er, avatars could be set up in TXP where a user can upload their choice of img with your approval it would be 1) faster and 2) more likely to work 3) you’re in control.

I remember a similar instance of a site that was saved thanks to someone else buying the domain after the owner forgot to renew it.

Why do grandmothers talk so deafeningly loudly?
20 July 2005, 22:16
Stuart
I think it’s because they have their hearing aids switched off. I noticed that Gravatar was back up but I’m not putting them back in. I would think your idea for having avatars within TXP is perfectly feasible. I have them in my forum after all. It would probably need an extra table adding to the database but that’s not a problem. I think that would be better than simple image uploads.
20 July 2005, 22:36
sekhu
Well here’s another thought – once it connects to Gravatar, you get the option to cache the image locally, if it’s the same image. I;m not sure if the images are hashed in a specific way which would make this difficult to do though.

Gonna make a request for a plugin :)
21 July 2005, 05:28
Stuart
Good luck with it. I think people are steering clear of new plug-ins at the moment because everything is changing too fast.
21 July 2005, 11:28
sekhu
yeah i mean it was 502 a few days ago for me, and we’re already 55 revision past that…pretty hard to keep up with. I think Rob some very important and valid points, it’s a shame that few others see it like. Does nothing for TXP’s rep
21 July 2005, 17:44
If..Else
_“I remember a similar instance of a site that was saved thanks to someone else buying the domain after the owner forgot to renew it.
... I noticed that Gravatar was back up”_
That’s pretty much what happened. Alan Bell very kindly renewed the gravatar domain and it’s business as usual.

The nice thing about gravatars is that it makes it easy for people to scan comments by providing an immediately recognisable visual identifier. The ease of setting up and the hassle free use is what makes it particularly appealing.

It’s a shame if this minor incident puts people off using them as, IMO, they’re a fantastic usability and community aid.
22 July 2005, 01:08
Stuart
Hi Phu. Yes I read that somewhere, may have been your site, can’t remember. I’m having second thoughts about bringing them back but if I do it will be part of a bit of minor redesigning. I’m fed up of people complaining about my choice of font for my comments.
22 July 2005, 11:38
Stuart
Ok then, they are back with a bit more style methinks.

As for your new one Jess, I had a feeling you might pick one of those naughty photos.
22 July 2005, 15:21
Jess
It’s not naughty! XD I like the new look with the boxes.
22 July 2005, 17:38
Stuart
I thank you. I like the colour. Might change the shades all over when I’m in the mood. And yes it is. :P
22 July 2005, 17:53
Jess
It isn’t! Hey, did I ever tell you I thought the permalink icon was a running man on fire for the longest time? Hah!

I look forward to seeing the new scheme then. :)
22 July 2005, 18:11
Stuart
I thought it was a shopping trolley.
22 July 2005, 18:16
sekhu
hmm i thought it WAS a man on fire – so it’s not? What is it then?
22 July 2005, 18:17
Stuart
It’s someone pressing their finger on the word “link”!! I’m going to have to find something else now aren’t I? I’m going to be dreaming of people running round with their hair on fire pushing shopping trolleys. Bugger bugger bugger.
22 July 2005, 18:24
sekhu
people running around with their hair one fire pushing shopping trolleys screaming “Bugger, bugger, bugger” – you all right Stu? :)
22 July 2005, 18:33
Stuart
I was. I think.
22 July 2005, 18:47
Jess
Haha, that would be an excellent dream.
22 July 2005, 19:42
Joni
You know, Stuart, the link graphic is kind of an optical illusion. And I can clearly see the finger and the link now that you point it out.

This site has some nice icons if you’re interested.

Graphic Push Icon Sets
23 July 2005, 12:24
Phu
_“You know, Stuart, the link graphic is kind of an optical illusion.”_
Hmmm, now I’m disappointed; I can only see the boring finger on link image.

What do I have to do before I can see this “person running round with their hair on fire pushing shopping trolleys” picture? :)
24 July 2005, 00:05
Stuart
Drink lots and lots of tea.
24 July 2005, 00:13
If..Else
I’m not sure if I should drink the kind of tea that you guys are drinking
24 July 2005, 21:04
Stuart
Ha ha. I’m not sure I should. I actually think that I should simply enlarge the graphic a little. If you can read the word link better it would all become very clear. Now another cuppa might be in order.
24 July 2005, 21:10

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