J: Haha! 
S: Yes it's a small move, we saw it as a possible opportunity. I'd disagree saying those listed are the only ways people are willing to be nice, your environment affects your behavior too. I am nice alot of times only because I want to feel nice, not because I empathize or know you, alot of times it's also because I see a smile on someone's face that makes me think the need for me to be not nice maybe is not so important after all. This may not be perfect but we're experimenting until users start screaming no.

As of now, compared with the generic silhouette, smiley offers more opportunity. (They're both generic right?!) We hope to continue to get more feedback and iterate from there. I hope that sounds reasonable.


On Tue, Oct 22, 2013 at 3:25 PM, Jared Zimmerman <jared.zimmerman@wikimedia.org> wrote:
Steven, it sounds like you're proposing we allow for user customizable photo avatars.



Jared Zimmerman  \\  Director of User Experience \\ Wikimedia Foundation               


On Tue, Oct 22, 2013 at 3:11 PM, Steven Walling <swalling@wikimedia.org> wrote:

On Tue, Oct 22, 2013 at 2:52 PM, May Tee-Galloway <mgalloway@wikimedia.org> wrote:
The smiling registered user icon might seem like a random idea but it isn't. Reason we decided to go with a more uplifting face is to help make WP a friendlier environment (yes small, but still a step towards somewhere). We want people to assume good faith on other users' actions but that is alot of times harder than it sounds. When someone makes an edit that you might disagree with and when you make an effort to find out who this user is, you are greeted first with a smiley and then a name, reminding you this is a person of emotion, be nice!

I am fully in agreement with your goal, but I think this is just a wrong way to go about it. It is just too obvious and weak a method for engendering a nicer community. 

People are nice to each other when they have empathy. People have empathy for each other when A) they know who someone is B) are able to put themselves in their shoes. I am not able to empathize with a generic smiley face. I'm able to empathize with a unique individual. So I think the smiley face icon both defies the normal design pattern here and doesn't accomplish the intended goal. 

This is similar the exhortation to "Be nice!" in the Flow input area. Wikipedia editors (new and old) are very smart people. They are just as likely to feel talked down to and insulted by cutesy instructions like this, and may in fact be meaner in reaction to it ("You can't tell _me_ how to talk to people."). We can collectively think of more effective ways of creating more friendly discussion spaces and creating empathy in general. 

--
Steven Walling,
Product Manager

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