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I'm not asking that you merge the avatars on Area 51 with the rest of the Avatar system... I understand that there's not any interest in "improving" Area 51, so if this gets declined - I'll just keep the generic one. If it's still a separate Avatar list and I have to change it in both places, I'm OK with that but...

I would really like to have an avatar on Area 51 without requiring that I sign up for a service I've never heard of on any other website I use.

Is there any chance of removing the requirement to use Gravatar from the Area 51 Avatar equation?

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  • Possible dupe: Synchronize/change Area51 profile image.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 13:55
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    @ShadowWizard Hmmmm... But that one's asking for synchronicity. I'm not really asking for that. Unless I've misread it?
    – Catija
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 13:57
  • So what you suggest instead? Blank avatar? You just suggest to remove something, but without suggesting something to replace it with.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 13:57
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    @ShadowWizard I don't know enough about how the system works... but I was primarily thinking about adding the avatar upload module without necessarily connecting the systems. But, like I said, I don't know how it works. I'm not a programmer.
    – Catija
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 13:59
  • It's all about code. And code means developer time. And as it stands these days, SE is not going to spend dev time on Area 51, so "adding the avatar upload module" is not an option. Thinking about it, so is synchronizing it with other sites, that might take even more time, so I fear that chances for your request to be done are really close to zero. (for the record, I do support it)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 14:00
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    @ShadowWizard Which I noted in the question... Just wanted to put it out there. The Gravatar thing seems pointless to me... and I find it amusing that their own website still claims to have "Stack Overflow" as a customer despite Area 51 being the only place I know of it being used on the site...
    – Catija
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 14:03
  • Well, there is the default identicon created according to the email hash. Gravatar account is required only if you want to choose your avatar - which is kind of luxury.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 14:04
  • @ShadowWizard I have a custom avatar and (outside of Area 51) I've never been told to use Gravatar.
    – Catija
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 14:05
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    @Catija There was a time when Q&A sites worked the same as A51 in that respect. They've been upgraded. Area 51 is a separate codebase and most things we do never make it there. It's so far out of date and so far removed from the rest of our infrastructure that changes are hard (and some are impossible).
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 15:08
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    @AnnaLear Thanks. Is there a Meta topic anywhere that explains why Area 51 has been abandoned? Since it's such an integral part of the SE process, I'm curious to understand why it's treated worse than the red-headed step-child.
    – Catija
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 15:15
  • @Catija Not sure if there's a meta post. The gist of it is "it works well enough for the site proposal process, and we have a lot more higher priority work to do on Q&A + other projects".
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 15:16
  • If Area51 isn't important enough to maintain, should it be taken down?
    – Thraka
    Commented Mar 8, 2016 at 20:13
  • @Thraka Clearly not. It's still the only way that new sites are proposed and introduced. There's a huge difference between unnecessary maintenance of things that would be "nice to have" and keeping Area 51 working at all. If a bug exists that causes Area 51 to cease functioning, that is fixed... little stuff like this is non-critical.
    – Catija
    Commented Mar 8, 2016 at 20:15
  • @Catija I know.. I was being a bit silly.. or mean. Knowing that the site just doesn't work when it comes to profiles would have saved me the time of signing up at gravitar, and then the time I spent troubleshooting Area51 trying to get my profile to work correctly, signing up at meta, posting there which led no where.. etc... By not making the site work they impact user's time and energy. That's not nice.
    – Thraka
    Commented Mar 8, 2016 at 21:21
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    Nothing; it's a good idea, just ain't gonna happen unless/until something serious happens to Gravatar or Area51 or both, @ShadowtheHedgehogWizard
    – Shog9
    Commented Feb 1, 2018 at 15:54

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