Default avatar to mystery-man icon prompts users

Our club is new to FTH. Getting our members setup with a profile photo has been a bit of a challenge.

The default user profile avatar is the TM logo. For anyone without a legit img, I changed it to a 'mystery man' icon. This better represents a missing photo whereas the TM logo does not.

You may have heard the term gamification as it relates to websites. This is where subtle prompts encourage users to take some action. In this case it is hoped users will fix their missing photo.

If this does not work as expected, I may ramp it up and add picaso-like face elements to it :-)

Feel free to use my mystery-man icon for your own use.

We also had a problem getting members to edit their pictures and profiles. We tried the Scavenger Hunt with a little success. We just take pictures of members and have them sign the release. Then we upload the pictures. We also include a "nudge" for them to consider making their profile public in the welcome email sent when they are signed up for the website account. We suggest it as "doing their part" to help bring in new members.

The nice thing about taking the photo's ourselves is that we can control the background with a photo editor software ans make it a bit more standardized; however, some members have edited their pictures.

We did not have members sign a release as the default profile setting is private.

FTH is new to our club and we are still in the 'oh no, not another password to remember' phase. Moving to a new system is most always uncomfortable but eventually our members will realize the benefits.

Past experience tells me if something is left to dangle for too long, it tends to be harder to be adopted later on. So for user photos, I scoured the web for public online imgs of our members and populated them myself in FTH.

If the photo is freely available (not privately shared) I figure it is fair game. If the user does not like the photo then it can always be revised. Of course I always chose the most flattering photo if several are available. Since these are usually profile photos, the users tend to already like them.

Some members are quite shy about having their photos taken at meetings. The reluctant ones are usually females that tend to be more 'mature' and therefore less likely to have a social media photo available for scraping. The excuses:

• My hair is not quite right
• These clothes are terrible
• My makeup needs to be touched up.

It does not matter when I tell them this is a tiny 100x100 pixel photo and flaws tend to be obscured at this small size. Instead I promise I will Photoshop them to make them look like a 17 year old. That most always gets a laugh and they usually warm right up to the camera.

While in this cheery mindset I quickly take several photos and they tend to be good. After all, if you tell yourself you want your photo taken you tend to stand up straighter, have a genuine non-forced smile and show more confidence.

We all like the idea the person behind the camera knows what they are doing. It comes across better than just a quick and dirty amateur photo effort. Giving the subject posing suggestions really helps in getting a good confident picture. Try directing your subject, the results are amazing. It is important to sell the role that you the photographer know what your are doing.

Operating under the it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission mantra has worked quite well for our club. The reality is most everyone preferred their photos just being handled.

Hi Brad,

I like your animated icon idea, but I do not see where to change it.

Thanks, Dom

The animated graphic in this topic thread is intended to clarify the before-and-after of using the mystery-man icon instead of the default TM logo.

If you want to download this mystery-man icon for your own use, click the file link in this topic thread. This is what is looks like. After downloading to your computer, then upload to your FTH site for each user who does not yet have a photo.

We use animals, it gets a laugh!