Cool the avatars off a bit?

Kindo · Post by **Kindo** » January 24, 2004, 3:07 am

I'm not one to say much usually, but the recent surge in questionable avatars has driven me to mention it. I mostly read VV from work and while there is not really any nudity to speak of, the avatars are really past the point of what I would call good taste.

I know they're fun to look at, but can you all contain the borderline-nws avatars to the appropriate forum?

Thanks!

Korell · Post by **Korell** » January 24, 2004, 3:18 am

Maybe to satisfy everyone that reads from work admin could add the ability to block specific, or hell, even ALL avatars? This has come up on other boards a lot.

noel · Post by **noel** » January 24, 2004, 3:55 am

Is this better Kindo?

(this is only up as humor for the weekend for Kindo. If the rest of you don't like it, that's really too bad. It will be gone by Sunday night)

Kwonryu DragonFist · Post by **Kwonryu DragonFist** » January 24, 2004, 4:20 am

Make a flash Ara!

Post by **Sylvus** » January 24, 2004, 4:55 am

I've said it before and I'll keep saying it, http://www.ad-shield.com/. Download it, install it, right click ANY image you don't want to see on a particular computer again and add it to your block list. Voila, in the 3 seconds it takes you won't have to PM anyone to remove an avatar or sig or anything. I use it from work all the time and swear by it.

Don't think I'm not sympathetic to your pleas, but it really is the easiest way. If someone from your network team gives you shit or something for installing a program, tell them it's an ad/popup blocker... they really should have no problem letting you install it or installing it for you.

Kguku · Post by **Kguku** » January 24, 2004, 6:23 am

What about people who can't install apps on their computers at work because of admin lockdowns? No ad-shield for them!

Sargeras · Post by **Sargeras** » January 24, 2004, 7:12 am

Plenty of avatars here! (work safe, but has sound!)

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/elvis.php

Kindo · Post by **Kindo** » January 24, 2004, 9:09 am

Yummy Aran!

Sylvus, I'll give that a try, thank you. I'm sure I've seen you mention that before but had completely forgotten about it. I have a bit of an odd situation at work right now, I'm sharing my office and my PC with the guy I'm replacing, his last day is Feb. 13. As soon as the PC is reimaged I'll download and install.

Revs · Post by **Revs** » January 24, 2004, 10:21 am

It's Brad Pitt in a Speedo!

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » January 24, 2004, 10:53 am

Yeah where I work we can't really install anything on our PCs. People should just realize and take into consideration that some people browse while at work on their breaks, etc. and pick a different avatar. Although I guess making everyone see some skanky chick with fake breasts feeling herself up gets them off somehow. Then sure.. Knock yourself out!

Kwonryu DragonFist · January 24, 2004, 11:07 am

I think im gonna use Aranuils Avatar instead!

Chmee · Post by **Chmee** » January 24, 2004, 11:29 am

I have to agree with kindo, its not really very work safe opening any thread anymore, and not everyone can install software on their work machines.

Krimson Klaw · Post by **Krimson Klaw** » January 24, 2004, 12:04 pm

The avatars trip me out, but I've about given myself whiplash on some surprise avatars turning my head around to make sure no area managers are walking by my desk. I have admin rights on my two systems though, but not everyone is that lucky. Thx for the link syl.

Kyria · Post by **Kyria** » January 24, 2004, 12:57 pm

*whistles at Aran*

<---Mine is now completely work safe! *bows*

noel · Post by **noel** » January 24, 2004, 1:28 pm

Acutally, there's something else you can do, that requires no software, and only a bit of work on your part. By modifying the HOSTS file that is on every windows machine (even the one you have at work) and pointing a URL to a loopback/private address, you can cause teh feared red X to appear.

The way it works is this Windows maintains a text file in c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc that does IP/hostname lookup. When windows needs to do a DNS query, it will first check the HOSTS file for an entry (this is faster), and use the entry in the hosts file if there is one. If not, it will as normal, perform a DNS query. Knowing this, you can fool windows by putting in a bad address for the hosting site of an offending avatar. The name of the file is HOSTS, and the contents look like the following:

Code: Select all

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
#      102.54.94.97     rhino.acme.com          # source server
#       38.25.63.10     x.acme.com              # x client host

127.0.0.1       localhost

Instead of doing a DNS query on a site, Windows will first check the hosts file to see if there's an entry for the site. If there is, it will use that address instead. So what you could do is create an entry to a loopback address or non-existent (perhaps private address space).

In the case of my avatar, it would be like:

127.0.0.1 halo14.home.mindspring.com # block Noel's pic!

The first part is the IP address you want the query to go to, and the second is the hostname of the offending avatar. The part after the # is just a comment.

What would happen at this point is that without any software installed, your browser would attempt to download the picture, but go to the loopback/private address, so you'd get a red X instead. This should definitely work, but as I just woke up, I might be forgetting something, so anyone who is more awake than me, please feel free to correct me.

Edit: Clarity

Edit2: I NEVER CONTRIBUTE ANYTNING TO THIS SITE!!!1!11

miir · Post by **miir** » January 24, 2004, 2:30 pm

Another thing that's getting a bit annoying are the huge animated GIFs some people have... seriously guys, there's no fucking need for a 200-300k avatar pic.

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » January 24, 2004, 3:05 pm

One the Aranuil has forgotten.. if you're on a work PC you could be running through a proxy server, in which case you'll need the "Bypass proxy server for local addresses" option checked for this to work.

You could also need to empty you explorer cache and/or reboot to clear your DNS cache as well.

Colal · Post by **Colal** » January 24, 2004, 4:08 pm

Well, defualt permissions on the hosts file dont allow anyone but administrators to modify it. So its likely that most people that can't install ad shield wont be able to modify their hosts file either.

noel · Post by **noel** » January 24, 2004, 4:37 pm

Thanks, Zae. I totally forgot about that.

Colal: Yes, in a truly locked down environment, that's not an option, but I have worked on a large, number of networks across the country and I am of the opinion that the majority of users are local administrators. It's still worth a look if you can't install software, but can mod the hosts file.

Another less palatable option would be to turn off images in your browser. ><

Kguku · Post by **Kguku** » January 24, 2004, 5:15 pm

Aranuil wrote:Another less palatable option would be to turn off images in your browser. ><

or people could switch back to work safe avatars

Shashonna · Post by **Shashonna** » January 24, 2004, 5:42 pm

most avatars seem ok to me. Just not liking my son coming in when I am reading and seeing the ones with the females grabbing their various body parts and then he going Whats that? hes only 3 Im not ready for that lil convo

hehe

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » January 24, 2004, 5:49 pm

Sylvus wrote:I've said it before and I'll keep saying it, http://www.ad-shield.com/. Download it, install it, right click ANY image you don't want to see on a particular computer again and add it to your block list. Voila, in the 3 seconds it takes you won't have to PM anyone to remove an avatar or sig or anything. I use it from work all the time and swear by it.

Don't think I'm not sympathetic to your pleas, but it really is the easiest way. If someone from your network team gives you shit or something for installing a program, tell them it's an ad/popup blocker... they really should have no problem letting you install it or installing it for you.

If this were a plugin, it would install at work but in bigger corporations, there's usually pretty strict policies on what can be installed. I have to give sexual favors just to have a little app called Wordweb installed which is a mini dictionary/thesaurus.

So you should be more sympathetic : ) Popups are handled extremely well via googles free toolbar plugin. I'd recommend that to anyone needing an easy, free pop-up stopper.

http://toolbar.google.com/

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » January 24, 2004, 5:49 pm

Kguku wrote:
Aranuil wrote:Another less palatable option would be to turn off images in your browser. ><
or people could switch back to work safe avatars

Heaven forbid we have that as an option!

Aranuil also forgot another option: Don't web browse at work. That will put a sopke in their wheel.

And yeah, I'm not a local admin on my PC at work. At home I don't care what people choose for their avatars.

noel · Post by **noel** » January 24, 2004, 10:29 pm

Aslanna wrote:
Kguku wrote:or people could switch back to work safe avatars
Heaven forbid we have that as an option!

Aranuil also forgot another option: Don't web browse at work. That will put a sopke in their wheel.

And yeah, I'm not a local admin on my PC at work. At home I don't care what people choose for their avatars.

Totally agree that people should be conscientious of other when choosing an avatar.

Should I just not attempt to help people anymore? I realize my option won't work for *everyone*, but it's completely viable, and relatively simple. Fuck.

a_guide · Post by **a_guide** » January 25, 2004, 12:44 am

miir wrote:Another thing that's getting a bit annoying are the huge animated GIFs some people have... seriously guys, there's no fucking need for a 200-300k avatar pic.

As you wish.

Canoe · Post by **Canoe** » January 25, 2004, 1:50 am

Unfortunately I have to agree with the majority here...

Don't get me wrong, when i'm home I like the shaking boobs and all, but I can't even come to VV from work anymore b/c I'm afraid to open any threads and have the wrong person walk into my office and assume i'm surfing "porn sites".

And no... the laptop they give me for work does not give me local admin access - only user access, so I do not have any ability to do the aforementioned "fixes".

Siji · Post by **Siji** » January 25, 2004, 3:06 am

Perhaps the "Show Avatars" option could be permitted in the message board, or the board software upgraded to whatever version has that option..

Potentially NWS or not, some avatars are annoying and it'd be nice to be able to turn them all off in one fell swoop.

valryte · Post by **valryte** » January 25, 2004, 5:26 am

WTF are you doing reading non-work related forums when your at work? Get the fuck back to work or your're fired!

Noysyrump · Post by **Noysyrump** » January 25, 2004, 5:43 am

OMG kwon, dont u dare change your avatar, i linked that to my desktop so it runs constantly right there all the time!!!!~

God i love that girl.

Aslanna, dat gurls hot! so dont be knockin her!

Xyun · Post by **Xyun** » January 25, 2004, 9:47 am

What the fuck is wrong with you people? I can't believe you motherfuckers actually expect people to change their avatars so that you can get away with doing something you're not supposed to be doing in the first place. It is such a preposterous fucking notion, that people should refrain from expressing themselves freely so that others can get away with fraudulent behavior. It's down right fucking sickening to watch you people complain. If people's avatars are NWS, then guess what? This entire site is NfuckingWS. Clear and convincing evidence of this is the existence of this whine infested thread. Simply put: visit this site at YOUR risk, not at OUR expense.

p.s. sup gorr?

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » January 25, 2004, 10:25 am

Xyun wrote:What the fuck is wrong with you people? I can't believe you motherfuckers actually expect people to change their avatars so that you can get away with doing something you're not supposed to be doing in the first place. It is such a preposterous fucking notion, that people should refrain from expressing themselves freely so that others can get away with fraudulent behavior. It's down right fucking sickening to watch you people complain. If people's avatars are NWS, then guess what? This entire site is NfuckingWS. Clear and convincing evidence of this is the existence of this whine infested thread. Simply put: visit this site at YOUR risk, not at OUR expense.

p.s. sup gorr?

Blah blah blah. How the fuck do you know what we're not supposed to be doing? Unless you happen to work at the same place I do and know for a fact their internet use policy is different you can STFU. My employeer is perfectly fine with me web browsing during my personal time (ie breaks, lunch, after my 8 hours are in) as long as it's not considered porn (along with a few other categories).

Fraudulent behavior indeed.

(Edit.. Typos own me)

Xyun · Post by **Xyun** » January 25, 2004, 10:50 am

How the fuck do you know what we're not supposed to be doing?

Obviously if you're asking people to change their avatars so you can view the page, you're not supposed to be viewing the fucking page.

Canoe · Post by **Canoe** » January 25, 2004, 10:55 am

You know.. it's a simple request, not something to put you out or something xyun...

Go take some ridilin and calm the fuck down.

That's fine with me if the entire site is not work safe, we're just bringing up the point that some people can't browse it like we would like too as not all "not work safe" stuff is in the right forum due to the avatars.

And no... I can look at whatever I want at work as long as it's not porn... however out of respect for women co-workers who I do not know very well (as any decent human being would) I do not view things that could potentially offend them for any reason.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » January 25, 2004, 10:57 am

Xyun wrote:
How the fuck do you know what we're not supposed to be doing?
Obviously if you're asking people to change their avatars so you can view the page, you're not supposed to be viewing the fucking page.

It has nothing to do with the page itself. What people here are commenting on are the avatars. Thus the requests by numerous people on this thread. It's a simple request really which people are free to ignore if they so choose. It's not like we're spamming the mods to have them change them to something else. It's a matter of courtesy. But perhaps that notion may be a bit too hard for you to comprehend.

Kindo · Post by **Kindo** » January 25, 2004, 11:10 am

Aslanna said it before me, but I will reiterate her point. During personal time (breaks, lunch, before work if by some miracle I'm early, after work hours if I'm waiting for some process to finish, ect) I can surf at my leisure and go to any site I wish, within reason of course. The avatars on this page have nothing to do (for the most part) with the content of this site. They are an added perk, added by the creators of this board, for a bit of personal expression. Did you see me throw a hissy fit and demand that anyone in particular change their avatar? Newp, I'm just asking that folks show a bit of common sense in the selection of them.

Now take your high horse and go get stoned or something.

Arborealus · Post by **Arborealus** » January 25, 2004, 11:10 am

Xyun wrote:What the fuck is wrong with you people? I can't believe you motherfuckers actually expect people to change their avatars so that you can get away with doing something you're not supposed to be doing in the first place. It is such a preposterous fucking notion, that people should refrain from expressing themselves freely so that others can get away with fraudulent behavior. It's down right fucking sickening to watch you people complain. If people's avatars are NWS, then guess what? This entire site is NfuckingWS. Clear and convincing evidence of this is the existence of this whine infested thread. Simply put: visit this site at YOUR risk, not at OUR expense.
p.s. sup gorr?

Errmm those are requests...the above is a whine...idiot...

You sir merit no further notice ad infinitum...

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » January 25, 2004, 2:19 pm

Sweet, another thread that will go nowhere

noel · Post by **noel** » January 25, 2004, 2:32 pm

Xyun is just pissed because there is no internet access at teh bar.

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » January 25, 2004, 5:45 pm

Here is an idea for all those under the control of big brother, just rebuild your PC and lock out the LAN guys

Marb

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » January 25, 2004, 6:01 pm

Xyun wrote:
How the fuck do you know what we're not supposed to be doing?
Obviously if you're asking people to change their avatars so you can view the page, you're not supposed to be viewing the fucking page.

You're behaving more irrationally than usual.

We have a NWS forum on this site for questionable material. If you want to change that forum to pedophile and snuff film material and make the rest of the site porn then put it to a vote. Otherwise, this site works well with verbal abuse posted throughout the site and pr0n posted in a specific forum.

Deneve · Post by **Deneve** » January 25, 2004, 9:36 pm

Marbus wrote:Here is an idea for all those under the control of big brother, just rebuild your PC and lock out the LAN guys

Marb

i'm in favor of people pulling that, we got about 8 computers pulled out of our school by the remote admins for fucking with them...

*~*stragi*~* · Post by ***~*stragi*~*** » January 26, 2004, 3:40 am

Shashonna wrote:most avatars seem ok to me. Just not liking my son coming in when I am reading and seeing the ones with the females grabbing their various body parts and then he going Whats that? hes only 3 Im not ready for that lil convo hehe

is mine his favorite??

i've got a few more animated gifs waiting to be added to my collection as soon as i stop being lazy too!

Hellbunny · Post by **Hellbunny** » January 26, 2004, 3:58 am

I used to read from work all the time. Now I don't at all. its not just the avatars that makes it risky for me, its some of the crap people flame each other with. Its not that I don't get kicks from it. I just don't wanna deal with a VP who may not understand what he is reading. Better to play it safe at home.

I however agree that some avatars/ sigs are to much for most company policies. Should just have a disable signiture/avatar option.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » January 26, 2004, 4:36 am

Stragi's sigs = about a half meg. grats.

I guess the mods think it's cute. It is possible to be an asswipe and get your shits and giggles all for under 50kb if you apply your brain cell.

The mods need to realize some members are too stupid to to govern themselves. STFU button is ok but the text of the messages aren't the problem. Fucked up huge avatars, NWS avatars and huge sigs are.

Xyun · Post by **Xyun** » January 26, 2004, 5:13 am

No the problem is whiny ass stupid bitches like you.

noel · Post by **noel** » January 26, 2004, 5:28 am

Yeah because whining about people whining != whining.

Xyun, you are on occasion intelligent. This is not one of those times.

Siji · Post by **Siji** » January 26, 2004, 9:47 am

Quit whining and take care of it yourselves.. Jeez

Click Tools
Click Internet Options...
Click Advanced
Scroll down to the Multimedia section
UNcheck "Show Pictures"
Browse freely.

Leave VV and turn it back on. Damn, that took 15 seconds out of your life. Sucks to be you.

Shaerra · Post by **Shaerra** » January 26, 2004, 12:12 pm

Angry Winnow is comming out.

cid · Post by **cid** » January 26, 2004, 12:52 pm

WTF is NWS avatars?

Vetiria · Post by **Vetiria** » January 26, 2004, 1:24 pm

There's no whining about it. It's an unwritten rule this board has always had (hell, it might be written, I don't know). What's changed recently that allows people to have NWS avatars?