As of today, there are many commenters on the Disqus network that look like this:

Either all of these commenters come from the same (question marked) mother, or we aren’t doing a good enough job encouraging people to set a buddy icon.

Why set a buddy icon (or avatar)? This seemingly trivial bit completely changes how involved someone feels with a website. Seeing faces makes the conversation come alive. It makes it that much more real.

Recently, I had a chat with my friend Joshua of