DavidGravatarLet’s give the TeleRead community some faces—human ones, especially of the smart, thoughtful people who regularly enrich our site with comments.

It’s simple. Just sign up for a Gravatar, an image that will show up in blogs and many other places online, based on your e-mail address. Gravatars are easy and free. No need to appear as just a random graphic. The Gravatar photo here is, as you can see, my own. TeleRead Editor Chris Meadows has one, too. Many TeleRead commenters, we suspect, just have not heard of the Gravatar service.

No, this isn’t for you if you’re on the lam from the law, at least not if you don’t take precautions such as a different e-mail address.  People can use mugshots and other photos to track you online via image searches leading to related pages. Then again, if you’re in business and want people to know who you are, a Gravatar showing up in many places can help build trust. Same if you’re a commenter on TeleRead or another Gravitar-friendly blog. Here’s to online identities for those wanting them! No, we’ll never require Gravatars, whether photos of faces, dogs, or other things. We just think they’re nice to have. What’s more, the use of faces can encourage civility.

Oh, and no need for an absolutely up-to-date photo. Mine was taken on vacation in the Appalachian Mountains longer ago than I’d care to admit. But I’ve kept it around, for now, because I’d like think it’s still reasonably helpful. Certainly it’s more interesting than an inside shot.

Related: Wikipedia entry on Gravatars. The term, by the way, means “globally recognized avatar.”

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