avatars and usernames should be bigger so it's easier to grow a sense of community
I think the apps and the web ui should increase the size of the users avatars and make the username a bit bigger so it’s easier for people to start recognizing eachother and grow a sense of community. Back in the forum days people would remember eachother’s usernames/avatars for their contributions and it would be easier to grow a sense of community making things less hostile and easier to create community events
While I agree, I'd like to add that it's not hard to recognize and remember the very active and/or notable posters.
Actually for the fun of it, I'll name a few on top of my head:
QuentinCallaghan: Sopuli founder and avid commenter.
Ategon: Hot in the tech subs, seems like a really nice fella.
Picard Maneuver: Memelord and legend
Flying Squid: Meme master and commenter
Dessalines: Dev for Lemmy, Jerboa (and the keyboard I use, thanks this is great).
Ruut: Lemmyworld founder.
And some more whose username I can't recall at the moment.
Also it'd be fun if you commnted some more. :D
I agree, back in the day my "attention removed" avatar had much more impact.
Since you mentioned "forum days", I'm still wondering when did we decided we should get rid of those blinking gifs with our usernames we used as a signature for every post! I hate them, but I also miss them...