Often new WordPress users ask us about how the grey icon that shows up next to their name. Sometimes we get emails from users asking us how can they turn this grey thing off. Well this grey icon is known as “mystery man” gravatar. In this article we will discuss what is a gravatar and why you should start using it right away.
History: Avatar
Before we dive into what is a Gravatar, we should first cover what is an avatar. An avatar is a graphical representation of a user. It could be the person’s picture, or a random icon they want to associate with. Back in the days when web was sort of anonymous, people would use icons for identification purposes. Largely it is still the case in the gamer community. One of the coolest part about discussion boards, forums, is that you can recognize active users fairly easily because of their avatar. While it is hard to remember names, it is very easy to identify a specific image. If you were part of numerous discussion boards, you would start to recognize a same group of people everywhere. As the web evolved and blogging started to become more mainstream, it was fairly hard to have an identity as a commenter. With forums and other services, users were required to register. Each user had their own profile, so they could easily add an “avatar” to their profile. However, blog commenting doesn’t require registration in most cases. So how do we identify users? Well that is when Gravatar comes in.
What is a Gravatar?
Gravatar stands for Globally Recognized Avatar. It is globally recognized because millions of people and websites use them. Most popular applications like WordPress have built-in support for Gravatar. When a user leaves a comment (with email) on a site that supports Gravatar, it pulls their Globally Recognized Avatar from Gravatar servers. Then that picture is shown next to the comment. This allows each commenter to have their identity through out the world wide web.
Why Should I add Gravatar?
If you want to be identified on the web, then you should use a gravatar. If you are a blogger, non-profit, small business, or anyone who wants to build a brand, then you need to start using gravatar. Chances are that you read and comment on blogs. At first your gravatar might not get as much attention. But if the same person sees your comment at numerous sites they read, they will probably end up visiting your website. We as publishers find it really easy to identify our loyal users by their gravatar.
In our opinion, gravatar makes your comment stand out.
How can I get a Gravatar?
It’s simple and it’s free. Simply go to Gravatar’s website. Signup with the email that you use the most often to comment. Add an avatar of yourself. This could be a picture of yourself, your company’s logo, or something unique. You really have to do it one time. Chances are you won’t be changing your avatar a lot. So it’s more like set it and forget it.
Most WordPress themes already come with gravatar integration with comments. If your theme doesn’t, then you should seriously consider adding it. For further branding purposes, you can change the default mystery man gravatar on your site and put something else. Here is a tutorial on how to change the default gravatar in WordPress.
To see the live demo of gravatar in action simply comment below. Hope to see new faces in our comments. If you have a gravatar, then make a comment below. So we can recognize you.
Thank you. Useful
You’re welcome
Very helpful tutorial.
This is a test to check it works and to say thank you.
Glad our guide was helpful and it looks like you have it set up
Thanks for the great tutorial. Checking if it is working…
Looks like you set your Gravatar
Thanks for the interesting post – One Question, if I have multiple websites should I have Multiple Gravitars and manage them accordingly?
Normally no, the gravatar would be for you, not the sites you run.
I wanted to know about gravatar for a long. Thanks for sharing.
Glad our guide was helpful!
I am a regular reader of your site. it’s very impressive. Now I am Testing my gravatar.
It appears to be set
Thanks a lot for this tutorial.
You’re welcome
As you suggested – checking out if my gravatar works. I am enjoying your site and helpful courses
Glad our site is helpful, you may want to ensure you’re using the same email as your Gravatar account
I really like gravatar.
Glad you like it
`Very concise and informative artical! Thanks!
You’re welcome
Awesome! I love Gravatar!
Great Article, very helpful, now let’s see if mine loads
Glad our article was helpful, don’t forget to use the same email that you used to create your gravatar account.
Thank you for this article.
It was really helpful.
You’re welcome
Commenting to check if its working
Looks like it is working
just testing my gravatar setting out. i hope this is working
It appears to be working
Thank you for the article, also testing if it worked.
Looks like you set it up
Testing 123, Gravat is cool and will help a lot
Looks like you may have not set your Gravitar for that email address
Testing to see if this works!
It looks like you set it up correctly
Testing Gravatar, this is cool
It appears to be set
This is quite interesting!
Glad you liked our article
checking my gravatar works or not
It appears to be working
Thanks for this post. This was very helpful. I am just learning about this.
You’re welcome, glad our guide was helpful
Thanks for this and enjoy my gravatar!
You’re welcome, glad we could be helpful in setting it up
Checking my gravatar. Thanks by the way
It appears to be working, you’re welcome
Tried to sign up with gravatar but it keeps forcing me to build a website. All I want to to is upload a photo..
Gravatar currently requires you to have a WordPress.com account, you should be able to skip creating a site and go back to Gravatar’s site if you created an account on WordPress.com.
Checking gravatar for gravitas! thanks
You’re welcome, your Gravitar appears to be set
Nice read, great concept.
Thank you, glad you like our content
Checking to see if my gravatar works. Good info!
Looks like your Gravatar is working correctly
Thanks. Allow me check to see if my avatar is set…
It appears your Gravatar is set
Just checking my Gravatar
It appears to be set
Wow Very useful content. Keep it up
Thank you for your kind words
Thanks for the info!!
You’re welcome
Does mine work?
It appears to be set up
test testing my gravatar I dont think its working
From taking a look it appears that your gravatar is set
Found it to be a cool concept, especially from the point of view of building a brand. Really useful for such lot!
Thanks for sharing your opinion of Gravatar
This is great thanks!
You’re welcome
Checking gravatar
It appears to be set
very nice this is really useful
Thank you, glad you found our content useful
aloha ! Does it work ?
Looks like you set it up correctly
Thanks for the information
You’re welcome
Thanks for sharing. Just checking to see if my Gravatar works.
Looks like you set it up correctly
Thanks for this tutorial. This is also a test as this is my very first comment!
You’re welcome, looks like you set up your Gravatar correctly
Testing my Gravatar
Looks like it is set up correctly
hi just a test gravatar!
Looks like you set it up
Test avatar
Looks like you set it up correctly
Gravatar test
Looks like you set it up correctly
Gravatar Test
Looks like you set it up correctly
Gravatar test
Looks like you set it up correctly
Gravatar test
Looks like you set it up correctly
Interesting article!
Thank you