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.
Ahh well, it seems to have been fitful at best.
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?
Gonna make a request for a plugin :)
... 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.
As for your new one Jess, I had a feeling you might pick one of those naughty photos. :grin:
I look forward to seeing the new scheme then. :)
This site has some nice icons if you’re interested.
Graphic Push Icon Sets
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? :)