Hardly any of the Precious Few who read this have gone and gotten their
own Gravatar, so I hereby decree that you shall all be SOCK PUPPET BUNNIES until I change my mind.
Jayne, Shephard and Laurie, three who almost never comment here, have gravatars, so they will be represented by their own self-created (or at least self-chosen) avatars. The rest of you, go ahead and leave a comment (or go to a previous post and look at your comment), and you will see that you have become sock puppet bunnies.
To avoid this fate, just go to http://www.gravatar.com and sign up for your own gravatar. It’s free, and then you won’t have to be a sock puppet bunny. (At other sites, your default persona might be even worse!) If you don’t have a picture you want to use, there’s a huge library of free avatar images at Avatarity.com. Pick one and download it from there, then go to gravatar.com, sign up (with your real email address) and upload it there.
I’m tempted to try to explain what a Gravatar is. Let’s just say it’s a picture that represents you when you comment on blogs. Not all blogs have Gravatars implemented, but this one does, and more will follow.
It’s fun, it’s free, it’s kicky! You know you can do it, so come on, get to it!
May 23rd, 2006 at 4:29 am
I think I favor the sock puppet bunny…except I’m wearing a nice little hat.
May 23rd, 2006 at 5:39 am
Very effective bullying technique, Larry.
May 23rd, 2006 at 5:50 am
I spent half an hour goofing around with the gravitar thingy and I’m still a sock puppet … and now I’m late for work.
May 23rd, 2006 at 7:55 am
Laurie - Love the hat, babe!
Theresa - Your boss is lucky to have you at all. It’s true, the Gravatar web site can be slow at times. Also, your gravatar is delayed because they view and “rate” each one. You didn’t use one that’s too racy, did you?
May 23rd, 2006 at 9:14 am
I changed it about 3 times trying to get one that would work. I think the last one was a naked chik. Who knows what my impatience will get me.
May 23rd, 2006 at 9:40 am
I’d been thinking of doing that, so good. But when I went to the gravatar site, it had me leave a email address and password, then left me hanging. It did not proceed anywhere. Does it do that on odd or even days? Shit!
May 23rd, 2006 at 9:45 am
Hey, I enjoy being a sock bunny! But I can’t be one anywhere but here!
May 23rd, 2006 at 9:53 am
Oh, look Larry! I’m a Love Goddess … and I’m naked.
May 23rd, 2006 at 10:01 am
Pushy, pushy! But behold my non-sock-bunniness . . .
May 23rd, 2006 at 10:36 am
As they’d say in Catch-22, Theresa, you naked make me wanna ficky-fick for sure! Hubba hubba.
May 23rd, 2006 at 10:44 am
Sorry, that thing makes me work too hard. I don’t want to fill in the blanks a thousand times! fuck this shit.
May 23rd, 2006 at 11:09 am
Ron - Since this is really all for me on my blog, I gotta say “Thanks for trying big guy.” I know you did all you could.
Theresa - You are truly The Love Goddess! And the picture’s kind of small, but… yes, yes I believe you are unclothed.
Jayne - Out ahead of us all, as usual.
Ron (again) - Don’t keep doing the same thing over and over, and expect a different outcome. It could happen, but probably not.
May 23rd, 2006 at 12:42 pm
I want a sock bunny! Yay!
May 23rd, 2006 at 1:28 pm
Oooh. I’m so glad you brought this up again. I never followed through the first time. Yes. Yes. Sometimes I have commitment issues! So sue me!
I’m sort of excited to get my own in a few minutes and be a sock bunny now!
May 23rd, 2006 at 3:20 pm
kStyle - Looks like you are a sock bunny!
Blue Girl - The Great Jones has spoken: You are all sock puppet bunnies now! Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!
May 23rd, 2006 at 7:12 pm
BLUE GIRL GRAVATAR UPDATE:
I am now in Gravator limbo, waiting for *the man* to approve my custom gravatar.
fyi.
How will *it* know to automatically put my gravatar here? I don’t get that.
May 23rd, 2006 at 7:34 pm
Blue Girl - I’m not sure they approve or disapprove. I think they rate them. This blog has no Gravatar rating restriction, though (see naked Love Goddess, above), so you’ll be OK here. SPECIAL BONUS: Your new Gravatar will show up in most Haloscan and TypePad comment windows, too. On this blog, I think it will be retroactive - not sure on others. How does it know to put your Gravatar here? It’s built into my oage template. Whenever the page loads, it goes and looks for your Gravatar. If it finds it, it is displayed. If not, sock puppet bunny for you…
May 24th, 2006 at 4:59 am
This is a test of the blue girl gravatar commenting system. Do not be alarmed. It is only a test.
May 24th, 2006 at 5:00 am
The Sock Bunny haunts me!
Damn the Gravatar Rating System and all that it stands for!
May 24th, 2006 at 8:05 am
Sorry, Blue Girl (and Ron). This seemed like a good idea at the time. And a lot of folks do have their own Gravatars. Theresa even got one yesterday, after I posted this, so we know it can happen. But I wouldn’t blame you at this point if you gave up. In view of all you’ve gone through, I may relent and turn you into something nicer than sock puppet bunnies.
May 24th, 2006 at 11:37 am
Well, don’t turn me into a fish! Ick. Anyway, I think I got the gravatar, if they send the next notice. phew!
May 24th, 2006 at 6:42 pm
No notice. Guess I’m still a sock puppet. At least I’m a bunny. Never been a bunny. Do bunnies get free stuff? That would be nice.
May 24th, 2006 at 7:46 pm
To Blue Girl, Ron and any who may be lurking and wondering if this whole Gravatar thing is some kind of cruel joke: For one thing, you don’t have to keep commenting here to see if your new Gravatar has been rated and/or implemented. When the image you’ve uploaded is approved, it will appear here with your existing comments, and any other blogs/sites that are Gravatar-aware. So while I always like to hear from you, you can relax, and just wait.
Also, there’s a support forum at gravatar.com, and this brief conversation is copied directly from there:
Q - “I signed up on Wednesday, uploaded the correct size gravatar etc and am still waiting for it to be rated/implemented. How long does this take?
A - “Your gravatar should be rated shortly. With the high traffic, it can take several days.”
The “Wednesday” referred to is just last week, so this info is pretty fresh, which means… just wait. While we wait, my heartbeat races in anticipation and love.
May 25th, 2006 at 12:25 am
can i get a monkey?
May 25th, 2006 at 5:56 am
Just dropping by to see myself as a Sock Bunny!
Am I a hand puppet sock bunny? Just thought of that.
BTW, Larry. I now have a Poland AND a Serbia.
Now I need a Costa Rica — are you NOT willing to join the Coalition of the Willing?
Am I going to have to report you to the liberal media?
May 25th, 2006 at 1:03 pm
Eeky - Welcome! If I had a monkey, it would be yours. Mi monkey es su monkey, preciosa.
Blue Girl - I can’t tell you how badly I feel about this wild goose (or rabbit) chase I have got you started on. As for joining your coalition of the willing, what’s the point of starting something when there is no identifiable enemy, and attacks come from no known location or state? Wait, let me rethink that…
May 25th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Okay, okay. Much as I like the sock puppet (and i really do like it), I did as you told me to do and got me some gravatarosity. Though I just did it five minutes ago, so it’s unlikely it’ll show up with this comment.
May 25th, 2006 at 8:54 pm
I have just selected and uploaded a suitable image.
But I’m told that a panel of experts will pass judgment on it. I suppose that makes sense, because the alternative would be for me to upload pictures of genitalia and so forth. Not good, right?
I’m submitting my comment now to see if, perchance, there is some automatic mechanism in place whereby my totally innocent selection is put into place next to my name.
If that doesn’t happen, will I get a sock puppet? (Which, by the way, is a rather nice image to have. I might have picked it had it not been deemed a booby prize by someone else.)
Thank you, Mr. Jones, for leading us into depths of geekdom!
May 25th, 2006 at 11:28 pm
Well, apparently Gravatar is sucking at this time. Ron, Blue Girl, Goldie and Blanca are having no luck. I have been looking into setting up something on revision99 so you all could upload your avatars here, but then they would only work here, and anyway I haven’t been able to figure out how to do it. I remain encouraged by the fact that Theresa got a Gravatar in about an hour, just like at Frame’n'Lens, but I am deeply concerned about the rest of you, and I’m sorry for adding this little stress to your lives. Not to mention the hundreds of readers who haven’t yet filed their complaints here.
Blanca, as I have said, when (and if) your Gravatar is “approved,” it will appear here automatically. You won’t have to keep commenting, although, as I have also said, I do enjoy the company. Also, you imply that the only two choices in image selection are a.) wildly inappropriate or b.) strictly monitored by management. Is this a statement about the inherent wickedness of humanity? Are you saying that we will do the right thing only if kept under rigid control by a superior force? Do you need a spanking?
May 26th, 2006 at 7:48 am
Mr. Jones! Did you hear that we now stand at the MISSION ACCOMPLISHED stage?
Did you see that Mr. Wolcott commented on my weblog?
I’m wondering if I’m still going to be a sock puppet bunny.
And why have all the bunnies shrunk so? They are just little itty bitty bunnies now.
May 26th, 2006 at 8:38 am
I shrunk the sock puppet bunnies because they were bigger than the standard Gravatar (40pxX40px, on this site), and I anticipate that soon you will have your own avatar and I didn’t want you to feel inferior to the bunnies. Also, because I am The Great and Powerfil Oz.
As for Wolcott commenting on your blog, you have arrived, I guess. Did you sleep with him?
Anyway, I hope your “mission accomplished” incantation works better than the President’s…
May 26th, 2006 at 12:16 pm
Pshaw, Mr. Jones! You know my heart belongs to Brad!
I’m having a party of at my place! There are martinis and 45s and swingin’ chicks and hip dudes.
All Sock Bunnies and Custom Gravatar Snobs are invited to come dance on my white shag carpet! (I’m only inviting the coolest of the cool people — don’t you all feel special?)
Sam Cooke may make an appearance — ya’ll better hurry now!
May 26th, 2006 at 1:07 pm
Blue Girl - Let the good times roll!
May 26th, 2006 at 5:52 pm
why don’t y’all come to my place instead and swill alcohol while watching me pack up my worldly possessions? it’ll be a blast!
May 26th, 2006 at 6:30 pm
Goldie - If you’re moving out, does that mean we get to trash the place? I’m in! Or is it the opposite? We have to vacuum and spackle the walls, so you can get back your security deposit? In that case, you should have thought of this before you put up all those pictures.
May 27th, 2006 at 3:05 am
I don’t have a security deposit at this place, but spackling will nevertheless be involved. Or toothpaste works, too, in a pinch. Not so much with the pictures–more with hanging pots on the wall in the kitchen. I can’t really trash a place, though; it’s not in me. Plus, the place into which I’m moving was left in deplorable condition and I can’t really do that to someone else.
May 28th, 2006 at 4:55 am
Also, I see that the gravatar-approval people are taking a few days off . . . luckily, I don’t mind being a sock-puppet bunny.
June 1st, 2006 at 6:48 pm
I love sock puppet bunnies!
June 2nd, 2006 at 5:39 pm
My gravatar finally showed up, but it looks like shit. I wish I didn’t have one.
June 2nd, 2006 at 5:42 pm
No, now it’s dark enough to see! I can’t fathom all this stuff! March me off the plank and be done with me!
June 9th, 2006 at 1:20 pm
There should definitely be more sock puppet bunnies on the internet. Nice choice.
~S