XBOX 360 avatars can be extremely customizable and are stored in a 3D format on MS servers (and likely on the console itself). The recognize many friends online because of their avatar.
I'd pay $$ to have a 3d printout of my XBOX 360 avatar...perhaps even with articulating appendages.
Some HN members know other HM members in real life. You have business or personal relationships with others that also read, post, and comment on this forum. Some of you have never met any other HN member in real life, but do consider some HN members as friends and acquaintances.
I, on the other hand, have met none of you and don't carry on a virtual relationship with any other HN member. I consume your news and up-vote articles that I want to see more of on this forum. And on rare occasion I will post a comment.
All that said, besides PG, I absolutely don't care what the USERNAME is of the original poster.
I do scan the front page to see if there is any article is an extraordinary number of POINTS or COMMENTS. POINTS and COMMENTS are probably 75% of the reason why I click on a link of the front page. And the more comments a link has, the most likely, I will click on the COMMENTS thread before I even read the article. 25% of the time I will click on a link because it contains a keyword (to include the URL snippet) which is in regard to something I care about.
Most of my passwords are written down on a sheet of paper. Even if you knew that the sheet of paper contains some of my passwords, I don't think you'd be able to extract them since there's a layer of encryption between my eyes and my fingers.
Some artists are realizing that they can expand their online presence by using other apps to create digital art while publishing into Instagram's ecosystem.
I'm never going to print out a 612 x 612 image to hang on my wall. I will contact an artist to ask for a higher resolution image to purchase and display.