SUMO community discussions

Gravatar for avatar

  • 18 Replies
  • Last reply by philipp
  1. Kadir Topal
    Kadir Topal 1215 posts
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    For a long time we have had small avatars on SUMO, but with the shiny new profile pages they look out of place. So we are going to support bigger avatars soon. But there is a twist. We won't just increase the size of the avatars, we are switching to Gravatar instead. Gravatar is used by large number of online services including mozillians.org. This means that you don't have to manage your avatar on SUMO separately unless you really want to. You can just upload an image once on Gravatar and have it show up on all kinds of webservices you are using.

    Now, what does this change mean for you?

    1. If you are a new user and have a Gravatar account already, we'll automatically use that when you create a new account on SUMO
    2. If you are a new user and don't have a Gravatar account yet, you'll get the default avatar as always and you can change your Avatar by going to the Gravatar page (linked from your profile on SUMO)
    3. If you are an existing user with a Gravatar account, we'll replace the avatar you have here with the one in your Gravatar account.
    4. If you are an existing user without a Gravatar account nothing is changing for you. But if you want to change your Avatar later on, you'll be linked to Gravatar.

    If you don't want your standard Gravatar image to be shown on SUMO, you can change your email address here on SUMO. You don't have to actually use a different email account. Just append "+SUMO" to it. So if my mail address is atopal@example.com it would become atopal+SUMO@example.com. This way you still get your email to atopal@example.com, but Gravatar won't show the image here that you have set for atopal@example.com

    We'll have this on our staging server before it's rolled out to everyone, so there will be plenty of time to try it out, but if you have any questions, let me know please.

    For a long time we have had small avatars on SUMO, but with the shiny new profile pages they look out of place. So we are going to support bigger avatars soon. But there is a twist. We won't just increase the size of the avatars, we are switching to [https://gravatar.com/ Gravatar ]instead. Gravatar is used by large number of online services including [http://mozillians.org mozillians.org]. This means that you don't have to manage your avatar on SUMO separately unless you really want to. You can just upload an image once on Gravatar and have it show up on all kinds of webservices you are using. Now, what does this change mean for you? # If you are a new user and have a Gravatar account already, we'll automatically use that when you create a new account on SUMO # If you are a new user and don't have a Gravatar account yet, you'll get the default avatar as always and you can change your Avatar by going to the Gravatar page (linked from your profile on SUMO) # If you are an existing user with a Gravatar account, we'll replace the avatar you have here with the one in your Gravatar account. # If you are an existing user without a Gravatar account nothing is changing for you. But if you want to change your Avatar later on, you'll be linked to Gravatar. If you don't want your standard Gravatar image to be shown on SUMO, you can change your email address here on SUMO. You don't have to actually use a different email account. Just append "+SUMO" to it. So if my mail address is atopal@example.com it would become atopal+SUMO@example.com. This way you still get your email to atopal@example.com, but Gravatar won't show the image here that you have set for atopal@example.com We'll have this on our staging server before it's rolled out to everyone, so there will be plenty of time to try it out, but if you have any questions, let me know please.
  2. Kadir Topal
    Kadir Topal 1215 posts
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    This is now live on our staging server: http://support.allizom.org Please give it a try and let me know what you think. You can also comment directly in the bug for this: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=918854

    This is now live on our staging server: http://support.allizom.org Please give it a try and let me know what you think. You can also comment directly in the bug for this: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=918854
  3. philipp
    philipp 1300 posts
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    it seems to introduce mixed content and therefore block the secure site indicator. see https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/975586 for example.

    it seems to introduce mixed content and therefore block the secure site indicator. see https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/975586 for example.

    Modified by philipp on

  4. James (doing minimal support)
    James (doing minimal support) 1651 posts
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    So people are aware, Wordpress.com accounts are created when you use Gravatar to create an "avatar".

    https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/975031 https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/975627

    So people are aware, Wordpress.com accounts are created when you use Gravatar to create an "avatar". https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/975031 https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/975627
  5. Kadir Topal
    Kadir Topal 1215 posts
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    Yeah, it kinda sucks that Wordpress is not more careful with the emails they are sending out, but I'm assuming this is a hiccup caused by the recent changes to combine your Wordpress.com and Gravatar account, and they'll sort this out shortly.

    We are very clear about the fact that you have to change your avatar on Gravatar and Gravatar in turn is not hiding the fact that it's also creating a wordpress.com account for you.

    Would I like to have a service that is completely stand-alone for avatars only? Yes, absolutely, but under the given circumstances Gravatar is still the best choice. It's already used by a plethora of sites, especially on Mozilla properties, like Webmaker, Mozillian, AMO and others.

    Yeah, it kinda sucks that Wordpress is not more careful with the emails they are sending out, but I'm assuming this is a hiccup caused by the recent changes to combine your Wordpress.com and Gravatar account, and they'll sort this out shortly. We are very clear about the fact that you have to change your avatar on Gravatar and Gravatar in turn is not hiding the fact that it's also creating a wordpress.com account for you. Would I like to have a service that is completely stand-alone for avatars only? Yes, absolutely, but under the given circumstances Gravatar is still the best choice. It's already used by a plethora of sites, especially on Mozilla properties, like Webmaker, Mozillian, AMO and others.
  6. Kensie
    Kensie 666 posts
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    Reps Portal uses libravatar.org, does anyone know why other Mozilla sites aren't using it?

    Reps Portal uses libravatar.org, does anyone know why other Mozilla sites aren't using it?
  7. kobe
    kobe 97 posts
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    philipp said

    it seems to introduce mixed content and therefore block the secure site indicator. see https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/975586 for example.

    I dont see mixed content with this.

    Profile: https://support.allizom.org/en-US/user/881192

    Unless if it requires a restart to turn MCB back on.

    ''philipp [[#post-54854|said]]'' <blockquote> it seems to introduce mixed content and therefore block the secure site indicator. see https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/975586 for example. </blockquote> I dont see mixed content with this. Profile: https://support.allizom.org/en-US/user/881192 Unless if it requires a restart to turn MCB back on.
  8. philipp
    philipp 1300 posts
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    i think it got corrected in the meantime. now the avatars are loaded through a secure connection from https://i1.wp.com

    i think it got corrected in the meantime. now the avatars are loaded through a secure connection from https://i1.wp.com
  9. kobe
    kobe 97 posts
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    Did this just hit support.mozilla.org????? For some reason my Vince Carter gravatar now shows on the stage and here....

    Did this just hit support.mozilla.org????? For some reason my Vince Carter gravatar now shows on the stage and here....
  10. Kadir Topal
    Kadir Topal 1215 posts
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    Yes, Gravatar was activated on production yesterday/today, after changes made that came out of the testrun on staging. If you don't want your Gravatar to show up here, you can just add +SUMO to your email address, so if you are using waka@example.com you can change it to waka+SUMO@example.com Then you can select a different avatar for that email address on Gravatar.

    Yes, Gravatar was activated on production yesterday/today, after changes made that came out of the testrun on staging. If you don't want your Gravatar to show up here, you can just add +SUMO to your email address, so if you are using waka@example.com you can change it to waka+SUMO@example.com Then you can select a different avatar for that email address on Gravatar.
  11. Ricky Rosario
    Ricky Rosario 328 posts
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    KadirTopal said

    Yes, Gravatar was activated on production yesterday/today, after changes made that came out of the testrun on staging. If you don't want your Gravatar to show up here, you can just add +SUMO to your email address, so if you are using waka@example.com you can change it to waka+SUMO@example.com Then you can select a different avatar for that email address on Gravatar.

    `gmail.com` handles the `+SUMO` trick, but I don't think all email providers handle that. If so, that's news to me.

    ''KadirTopal [[#post-54895|said]]'' <blockquote> Yes, Gravatar was activated on production yesterday/today, after changes made that came out of the testrun on staging. If you don't want your Gravatar to show up here, you can just add +SUMO to your email address, so if you are using waka@example.com you can change it to waka+SUMO@example.com Then you can select a different avatar for that email address on Gravatar. </blockquote> `gmail.com` handles the `+SUMO` trick, but I don't think all email providers handle that. If so, that's news to me.

    Modified by Ricky Rosario on

  12. Andrew
    Andrew 1232 posts
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    Waka_Flocka_Flame said

    Did this just hit support.mozilla.org????? For some reason my Vince Carter gravatar now shows on the stage and here....

    Guess it happened for me as well! Silently ;)

    ''Waka_Flocka_Flame [[#post-54891|said]]'' <blockquote> Did this just hit support.mozilla.org????? For some reason my Vince Carter gravatar now shows on the stage and here.... </blockquote> Guess it happened for me as well! Silently ;)
  13. Kadir Topal
    Kadir Topal 1215 posts
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    Ricky you are right that not all email providers may support that. It's not Gmail specific though, it's part of RFC 3696 §3: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3696#section-3

    Postfix and Sendmail support it, and so should most providers. No guarantees though.

    Ricky you are right that not all email providers may support that. It's not Gmail specific though, it's part of RFC 3696 §3: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3696#section-3 Postfix and Sendmail support it, and so should most providers. No guarantees though.
  14. the-edmeister
    the-edmeister 603 posts
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    The Antisocial subscription filter list for Adblock Plus is collapsing all avatars on SUMO, including the user supplied avatars here and the default avatar. Not sure when that filter was added, but with 12876 hits in this Profile on that filter it can't be all that new. Although the "hits" might be counted for every avatar on every SUMO page that I have visited since Oct 29th.

    ||gravatar.com^$domain=~gravatar.com,~collapse


    Ed

    The Antisocial subscription filter list for Adblock Plus is collapsing all avatars on SUMO, including the user supplied avatars here and the default avatar. Not sure when that filter was added, but with 12876 hits in this Profile on that filter it can't be all that new. Although the "hits" might be counted for every avatar on every SUMO page that I have visited since Oct 29th. ||gravatar.com^$domain=~gravatar.com,~collapse Ed
  15. the-edmeister
    the-edmeister 603 posts
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    Based on the Page Source code in this thread, it looks like gravatar.com is pulling my avatar from https://support.cdn.mozilla.net/media/uploads/avatars/avatar-243.png" and passing it through gravatar.com to display it here.

    Is this the best thing to do? Seems to me that SUMO is adding another "tracking point" for everyone who uses this website

    Based on the Page Source code in this thread, it looks like gravatar.com is pulling my avatar from https://support.cdn.mozilla.net/media/uploads/avatars/avatar-243.png" and passing it through gravatar.com to display it here. Is this the best thing to do? Seems to me that SUMO is adding another "tracking point" for everyone who uses this website
  16. Kadir Topal
    Kadir Topal 1215 posts
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    Hi Ed,

    I don't know exactly how Gravatar is implemented, but in this case we contact Gravatar/WP only. In general you are right though, this kind of "tracking" sucks. That said, I don't think you can implement it any other way, if you want to offer a service like that. I wish avatars were part of the Persona protocol.

    Hi Ed, I don't know exactly how Gravatar is implemented, but in this case we contact Gravatar/WP only. In general you are right though, this kind of "tracking" sucks. That said, I don't think you can implement it any other way, if you want to offer a service like that. I wish avatars were part of the Persona protocol.
  17. the-edmeister
    the-edmeister 603 posts
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    I don't feel that using Gravatar is worth having a connection made to both Gravatar.com and WP.com from the Collusion / Lightbeam stand point and user security. My opinion is to back out that feature from SUMO. IMO, it doesn't add much or any value to rendering Firefox support, and it adds two more tracking points.

    And while we're on the subject, what does Optimizely.com bring to SUMO?

    I don't feel that using Gravatar is worth having a connection made to both Gravatar.com and WP.com from the Collusion / Lightbeam stand point and user security. My opinion is to back out that feature from SUMO. IMO, it doesn't add much or any value to rendering Firefox support, and it adds two more tracking points. And while we're on the subject, what does Optimizely.com bring to SUMO?
  18. Kadir Topal
    Kadir Topal 1215 posts
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    Gravatar/WP.com are kind of the same place, I'm pretty sure they are going to combine those two soon. At Mozilla we have to have a privacy audit before we can use any external service, and Gravatar is already being used by many other Mozilla sites, so our privacy officers have given the green light for it. And indeed, when you look at their privacy policy, it seems very reasonable: http://automattic.com/privacy/

    Like I said, ideally we'd have a federated system like Persona to rely on for Avatars, but as long as that doesn't exist Gravatar is still the best solution.

    Also, you can't see a difference today, but once we actually use bigger avatars the difference will definitely be obvious :)

    Re Optimizely: That's the tool we are using to A/B test changes on our websites. It's how I determined that related articles were actually not helpful. Optimizely allows us to easily change parts of a site without having to change the code on the server. That way we can test lot's of variations very easily.

    Gravatar/WP.com are kind of the same place, I'm pretty sure they are going to combine those two soon. At Mozilla we have to have a privacy audit before we can use any external service, and Gravatar is already being used by many other Mozilla sites, so our privacy officers have given the green light for it. And indeed, when you look at their privacy policy, it seems very reasonable: http://automattic.com/privacy/ Like I said, ideally we'd have a federated system like Persona to rely on for Avatars, but as long as that doesn't exist Gravatar is still the best solution. Also, you can't see a difference today, but once we actually use bigger avatars the difference will definitely be obvious :) Re Optimizely: That's the tool we are using to A/B test changes on our websites. It's how I determined that related articles were actually not helpful. Optimizely allows us to easily change parts of a site without having to change the code on the server. That way we can test lot's of variations very easily.
  19. philipp
    philipp 1300 posts
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    privacy issues with gravatar: http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/12/crypto-weakness-in-web-comment-system-exposes-hate-mongering-politicians/

    privacy issues with gravatar: http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/12/crypto-weakness-in-web-comment-system-exposes-hate-mongering-politicians/