A small thing, but annoying.

September 24, 2006 12:23 AM

Why must I have an avatar?

My sbcglobal DSL mail service wants me to customize an avatar for my mail page. Currently a white and gray silhouette of a young black woman's head with trendy (?) worm dreads is always there. Plenty of lame options are offered but I want the graphic to just disapear from my mail page, but that option is not offered.
I understand that it isn't attatched to sent mail but still.

posted by longsleeves to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

You have plenty of options:

- Block the image in your browser with Adblock (Firefox) or the content filter in Opera.

- Write a Greasemonkey script to kill the image block, although this is probably overkill.

- Set up POP access to your SBC mail account so that you don't have to use the webmail.
posted by aye at 12:34 AM on September 24, 2006

Best answer: It's a part of the profile-ization of the internet. Silly, but it doesn't stop you from creating an image that is the same color as the background. If you're really against it, get used to the silhouette and leave it so that the avatar "conversion rate" numbers at SBC aren't changed by your "taking advantage" of this wonderful feature. Believe me, there are control freaks behind the scenes who pay attention to the number of people who change their images.
posted by rhizome at 2:02 AM on September 24, 2006

Wow, rhizome, that's an excellent point. I also second aye's advice to use Adblock. That was the first thing I thought of.
posted by agropyron at 2:12 AM on September 24, 2006

Best answer: If you really want them to get the message, call their support and ask them how to get rid of it. They won't have an answer, but don't let that stop you.
posted by aubilenon at 6:27 AM on September 24, 2006

I would just create a transparent gif the same size as the avatar.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 6:43 AM on September 24, 2006

I think SBC uses Yahoo mail. IF that is the case:

To delete your avatar:

1. Log in and go to the Avatar home page.
2. Select the "Preferences" tab.
3. Click "Delete My Avatar." You are asked to verify that you want to delete your avatar
posted by nalyd at 8:30 PM on September 24, 2006

If you use nasty images like Tubgirl, you're likely to get your account banned.
posted by IndigoRain at 9:28 PM on September 24, 2006

Response by poster: Belated thanks to responders.
posted by longsleeves at 8:46 PM on September 26, 2006

Response by poster: Nalyd, I tried that before posting the question. Preference link not offered
posted by longsleeves at 9:06 PM on September 26, 2006