Gravatar Support

[rebelsheart]

Title:
Gravatar Support

Area:
icons, OpenID

Summary:
Add support for Gravatars for OpenID accounts with validated email addresses.

Description:
A gravatar is a "globally recognized avatar", as is explained on their website at http://www.gravatar.com. A user creates an account there and links it with a specific email address. Dreamwidth can then take an email address associated with an OpenID account and check to see if a Gravatar is available for that email address. The Gravatar can then be used as the OpenID account's icon.

This could, theoretically, be done in lieu of giving OpenID accounts icon slots. It could just be an option.

Sadly, I can't think of any way this would benefit regular users directly.

Poll #1016 Gravatar Support

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 33

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
6 (18.2%)

Should be implemented with changes.
4 (12.1%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
15 (45.5%)

(I have no opinion)
6 (18.2%)

(Other: please comment)
2 (6.1%)

Comments

[aveleh]

I like the idea of making it easy for people (including, but not limited to OpenID users) to import an icon from the Gravatar website, just like they can from LiveJournal and other clones. I dislike the idea of icons being hosted off-site.

[cheyinka]

I like the idea of "Have a Gravatar? Import it here! Has your Gravatar changed? Update it here!", yeah, except the Gravatar terms of service (http://en.gravatar.com/site/terms-of-service) say that third-party websites can't copy or store submitted icons (i.e. anyone's Gravatar), so having an easy-import link would seem to violate that.

[yvi]

Ah, damn, there goes that alternative. And linking to icons off-site is bad, in my opinion. If the site goes down we end up with broken images.

[cesy]

+1

[(Anonymous)]

I really don't like the idea of icons being based off-site. This just seems like a bad plan.

[azurelunatic]

It would be great if it could be made to work. I have no idea how it could be made to work given what others have said here.

[triadruid]

*scratches head at the issues*

If Gravatar.com went down, it should revert to the default OpenID icon, of course.

It should perhaps be possible for people to 'disable' seeing Gravatars, in case they get some OpenID chump who wants to troll them (DW can't enforce somebody else's ToS).

Other than that, seems reasonable.