even if hubski did have avatars you could presumably choose to not have one. but even then you'd be judged on your lack of an avatar if having one is the norm. so really there's no escaping it!

I don't want to walk into a situation already feeling a certain way about the person I'm talking to. Pictures are much more likely to influence an opinion I have than a username. Let me figure out how I feel about you through words and discussion. Isn't that what hubski is about?

this is well put and i agree. i think hubski has a good balance between the two extremes of user personalization. the two extremes imo, is on one end a forum/comment section with mandatory social network connection (ghost accounts can of course be made but they will be shunned by a community that advocates real sounding name plus a human profile pic) which hopes to engender thoughtfulness instead of fanatical comments like on yt, twitter etc. the other end being the 4chan/bathroom wall situation i mentioned above.

p.s. has anyone here heard of ryder ripps' dump.fm? where communication is predominantly image based.