Are there rules for a profile picture?

[Chel]

Quick question, are there rules about the profile picture that you must follow? Like I know that having like, let's say, a racist picture (e.g. a picture of a KKK person), as your profile picture would be completely wrong, but are there actually specific rules for one's profile picture? Mine's of a cat wearing an orange astronaut suit, as it looks like Jebediah Kerman except in feline form. So are there actually specific rules for your profile picture? And what happens if you don't follow the rules? (DISCLAIMER: I do NOT support the KKK in ANY way, I am COMPLETELY against them, I was only using that as an example!!! ). Yeah, so are there actually rules for one's profile picture?

[Alshain]

If I am not mistaken, the Guidelines apply to all possible content on any Squad sponsored medium.  An avatar is a means of communicating to others (it help communicate your digital identity) so it falls under the definition of rule 2.1

 

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/guidelines/

 

FWIW: I'm not a moderator but I see nothing wrong with your avatar. (Though I feel like I've seen it before, and if it is used by a moderator/staff member you may have to change it, I'm not sure where I saw it though)

Edited May 9, 2017 by Alshain

[Snark]

Moving to Kerbal Network, since this is about the forum rather than KSP itself.

8 hours ago, The_Cat_In_Space said:

Quick question, are there rules about the profile picture that you must follow?

There aren't special or specific rules for profile pictures, a.k.a. avatars.  However, they're subject to the same rules as all other content (e.g. no politics, drugs, profanity, racism, sex, etc.)

Avatars that are designed to try to imitate (i.e. impersonate) moderators or Squad staff aren't allowed, same as with forum titles and usernames.

Moderators deal with inappropriate avatars the same way we deal with other rule-breaking content: remove it, and apply any measures that may be indicated based on the severity of the offense and the user's record.

8 hours ago, Alshain said:

FWIW: I'm not a moderator but I see nothing wrong with your avatar. (Though I feel like I've seen it before, and if it is used by a moderator/staff member you may have to change it, I'm not sure where I saw it though)

You're thinking of @Beetlecat, who has been using that same avatar for as long as I can remember.

Perhaps they're both Klaxons fans? 

[Beetlecat]

9 hours ago, Snark said:

You're thinking of @Beetlecat, who has been using that same avatar for as long as I can remember.

Perhaps they're both Klaxons fans? 

Avatar Buddies!!!     And, yes -- maybe so.

Greetings, @The_Cat_In_Space. I like your choice in suits.

[Chel]

Yes, Beetlecat. We have the same avatar! Meow! *Bats 'follow' button on profile with paws*.

[NSEP]

On 10/05/2017 at 9:02 AM, Snark said:

Avatars that are designed to try to imitate (i.e. impersonate) moderators or Squad staff aren't allowed, same as with forum titles and usernames.

So the Sal_Vager tribute thing was supposed to be against the rules but Sal_Vager was exeption because of the tribute to him?

Now i understand.

[Snark]

1 hour ago, NSEP said:

So the Sal_Vager tribute thing was supposed to be against the rules but Sal_Vager was exeption because of the tribute to him?

Basically, yes.  It's the sort of thing that normally would have been frowned on, but was allowed as part of the tribute.

We (the moderator team) didn't plan it out all that well, frankly.    It was on the spur of the moment.  Originally, the "Hey, let's use sal's avatar as a tribute!" thing was just an idea that we moderators had, so we set our avatars to it.  It's okay, because we're not impersonating a moderator, because we're moderators, right?

...And what happened then was something that we didn't anticipate but probably should have.  Regular users started doing it, too.  Technically, not appropriate... so we had a bit of a quandary.

After some discussion, though, we decided to allow it in that case.  For one thing, we didn't want to discourage the community spirit around honoring sal_vager.  For another, sal has actually gone now (which means he's not making forum posts), and also he switched his avatar to something very different a while before he left.  Therefore, the chance that someone might see a post from random-user-with-sal's-old-avatar, and mistake it for a post from a moderator, seemed reasonably remote.  And that risk is the reason for the rule in the first place.

So we decided to let it be, in this particular case.  However, please don't take this episode as any sort of license to do that sort of thing with any other moderator's avatar, name, title, etc. 

TL;DR:  Don't do anything that may cause other users to mistake you for a moderator when you aren't.

[Vanamonde]

8 hours ago, NSEP said:

So the Sal_Vager tribute thing was supposed to be against the rules but Sal_Vager was exeption because of the tribute to him?

Now i understand.

Well, the occasion was that he's not Squad staff anymore... 

[Frybert]

@NSEP you made a banana cry

[NSEP]

@Vanamonde sorry banana.

You are still rich in potassium!