Question Editing User Avatars

As an admin, how can I edit a user's avatar?

When I access their profile I dont get the edit button as I do when I enter my own profile.

Cheers

Hello,

You can edit his avatar in kunena user manager in backend, if you delete the user avatar the default one will be set instead

Thanks,

But if they have a current avatar and I wish to change it for them to another one, how can this be done?

I think the edit button should appear to admins as well no?

G'day, monthehoops, and welcome to Kunena.

I wrote this comment a little while ago and I would like to share these few observations with you:

No-one can edit someone else's profile in K 1.6 just like no-one could edit another user's profile in K 1.0/1.5 either. When I say that no-one can edit someone else's folder I mean from the front-end.

Moderators and administrators can remove some details using the frontend interface (such as removing an offensive avatar image or avatar image) and site administrators can change some details about a user's profile at the back-end. But the simple answer is that you can really only edit your own profile.

Even back in K 1.5, when a similar question was asked, I replied then with the general advice that the site administrator's job should really be more about guiding their users and helping them to work co-operatively with one another. In the time that I have been a moderator here, at www.kunena.org , I have not encountered a situation where it was necessary for me to even think about changing someone's avatar image. (To be completely honest with you, although we have removed some user accounts for not adhering to the code of conduct, I do not remember any occasion when we have requested that a user change their avatar image because it contravened the code of conduct).

Of course these are only my personal opinions and I'm writing them as a someone who has been managing web-based discussion forums for over a decade, but it's my opinion that website administrators should never change any personal details of another user's account. In certain circumstances, if a user's account contains information that is contrary to the site code of conduct, then it might be necessary to remove that information. A user's avatar image is one possible case where a site administrator may need to excercise "editorial discretion"; Kunena allows the site administrator to remove (but not otherwise alter) a user's avatar image.

sozzled wrote: I have not encountered a situation where it was necessary for me to even think about changing someone's avatar image.

How about this one

Im a coach at a youth football (soccer) club. I have built their new site and included a kunena forum. The majority of the club staff are of the older generation and are just learning to use forums, while many of the visitors will be kids, parents and people associated with other teams.

Now, for visual effect it would be nice for all of the staff to have head/shoulders pictures of themselves as avatars. However, I know a lot of people are going to struggle with doing this - thats just a fact. So to be able to do this for them would make life a lot easier.

Not all forums use avatars as a means of self expression on the part of the user. Some use thems as means of ID/Rank/etc.

I remember on an old gaming clan I use to be a part of we'd have military style rank badges on the avatars and use our sigs for individuality.

I would greatly love to be able to edit users avatars!

mohsen wrote: The majority of the club staff are of the older generation and are just learning to use forums, while many of the visitors will be kids, parents and people associated with other teams.

Now, for visual effect it would be nice for all of the staff to have head/shoulders pictures of themselves as avatars. However, I know a lot of people are going to struggle with doing this - thats just a fact. So to be able to do this for them would make life a lot easier.

A lot of the "older generation" use Facebook - my 80-something year-old mother (who doesn't know how to manipulate digital images) uses Facebook and she uploaded her own avatar image without anyone doing it for her - and so I don't easily accept the argument that "older" people are incapable of conquering the technology. Some older people have difficulty, just like some younger people do, too. For anyone who has never uploaded a picture of themselves, they need help. The key is to make the process as easy as possible.

Although this is an interesting side issue, the fact remains that only the user's account is able to upload an avatar in Kunena. Just like it is with Facebook, Twitter and most social networking systems in use in the world today, Kunena is no different in that respect.

If people want to spend their time manipulating images for use as avatars for other people, that's fine, too. But the end user - he or she who owns the account for which such images images were intended - is responsible for accepting whether they want to use them or not.