Custom Avatars Being Included In The Avatar Selection List

I've noticed that some personal avatars originally associated with specific members are now being used by other members.

A little investigation shows that some of these personal avatars are now available in the avatar selection list.

I'm thinking maybe there was a little snafu during the last "house-cleaning" that may have caused this problem.

I'm hoping this will be corrected and the personal avatars will be removed from the avatar selection list -- as it can get really confusing because sometimes we assume a specific member when we see a personalized avatar.

Thanks in advance for looking into this.

k

Is that anything new? I've assumed all along that once avatar images are created, they are fodder for anyone's use. I never thought there were private avatar images.

Were there at one point?

You can choose from a limited selection on MySCF page. In addition, you can ask for a personalized avatar in this Forum. What seemed to have happened was that some of those personalized avatar requests accidentally were inserted into the public selection list for anyone to choose. This appears to have happened around Feb 5. I just checked and see that those personalized avatar choices have now been removed from the selection list (thanks, Admin/Mods!). However, currently anybody who chose one of them in the past month still retains the avatar.

Good point, Revenuecollector. To me, it is not an issue of public domain. It's just confusing. For example, you have a very nice and distinctive avatar. Even if it is now public domain, I've associated that special avatar with you. It would be confusing to me if suddenly 2-4 others started using your avatar.

I've gotten used to the many users who choose generic avatars or no avatar (such as myself). But I've also gotten used to the users who have special avatars.

Yeah there was about a half dozen that weren't applied to specific accounts. I must have been half asleep when I did those or it was when they introduced J-lo while I was watching American idol, that tends to distract me a little.

If any one can point out the members that shouldn't have them I will fix it and email them an explanation.

lol. I was going to change mine to the 13c U.S. stamp with the Indian Head penny.