I am really surprised on how this has gone south.
Some points:
mz tracy 25: First of all you have agreed by the rules of this forum once you signed up. A requirement of the rules is to be civil and respectful. From your posts (and topic title) you are anything but respectful to me. I will let this one go for the third time but consider yourself warned. You don't have to like me, you don't have to like what I type but you must be respectful as I am to you. For that, my name is Nikos - pleased to meet you (it says so in my signature).
I have tried to respond as I always respond, with respect and professionalism. I am sorry that you cannot see my point - I really am. I cannot satisfy everyone, that is a fact. I always try to use a middle route so as to keep as many people happy as possible.
A small history lesson, which I am sure that some of the members that have been here since 2004 or earlier can remember.
When I got involved in this forum, everything I did was for free. A lot of the things that I do even today are also free. Today I do get compensated - truth to be told - but the work vs. compensation ratio is not equal. Back in 2004 it was Beverly's credit card that was keeping this place running and my free work. For those that are knowledgeable about running a website, there are numerous costs like bandwidth, webspace etc.
At the time we could not afford people to upload avatars. It would require a lot of space and we just could not pay for the extra charge. This is why we used the stock ones. The ones that I uploaded had a lot of variety, from cartoons, actors, nature etc. Through the years the list was shortened because people were no longer using them and because people could upload their own.
The question about the avatars came up once more relatively recently. You can use the search engine and I am sure you will find the relevant post. The same thing was said again: point me to what you like and I will happily upload them. The OP at the time opted to upload her own.
The issue is not that I do not want to upload avatars. The issues are:
a) I do not know what you (plural) like so someone has to point me to the information,
b) the images must be royalty free and
c) it really is not my job to go and find content for the website.
This is a forum, and thus the content is generated by the users. My primary job is to technically administer the forum so that it runs as smoothly as possible for the users and to help with everyday queries.
If you did not know what my tasks are in this forum, now you do. The way you present your argument, it sounds that I do not want to upload any avatars. That is not true. Like I wrote, I can search for 'women of color' and look at images in Google and I will get a few billion results. I have a day job and I cannot devote all my time to upload the avatars that you perhaps like just to satisfy you. I am sorry but that is the naked truth.
You also mention in your last reply that I can upload other avatars. The whole argument started because 99% of the avatars here were not from women of color. If you state now "They do not have to be black avatars as I stated. They can be cartoons, animals, nature; anything under the sun." what was wrong with the ones already there? Your initial question did not address this.
The fact remains that we did have some avatars and we offered them for members to select from them in addition to the ability to upload your own. If you do not like them, don't use them. Simple as that.
Do you think any majority non-black forum would have majority black avatars? No. Even if they were easy to find and free? No. But it's cool, we're black, we'll take whatever. No big deal.
I am by no means comparing myself to these outstanding men, I'm just trying to simply get avatars changed. I can only imagine the names black people; their own people, called Martin Luther King, or Malcolm X... just for trying to stand up for them and get them the respect that they deserved. I'm sure they said something like, "He just need to leave well enough alone, we comfortable at the back of the bus. I don't want to eat in their restaurants anyway. they can't cook."
Smh, It's a shame.
As for the above, I would caution you again since racially motivated remarks like the above will get you banned.
erplexed
