Calling all readers: Want some new icons?

We at the El Reg Central Overseeing Commenter Soviet are considering whether to expand the available spread of comments icons to include some news images - the better for you, our beloved readers, to express yourselves with wit and elegance. Our existing comments icons If you reckon we need some fresh images to add to the …

[R J Tysoe]

we need...

Julian Assange angel and devil icons.

[Wize]

An icon for those...

...idiots who reply to the first post just to get their post near the top of page 1.

Erm... hold on...

[R J Tysoe]

And probably...

Lewis Page angel and devil icons.

[Evil Auditor]

Devil icon only?

Seriously, I appreciate controversial, clear writing - whether I agree or not. Therefore 'thumb up' will do for me regarding Page.

[Marvin the Martian]

Let's add more clutter

There's demands for love+hate Fry, love+hate Assange, love+hate zuckerberg, love+hate Facebook --- it will never end. There's already a love (heart), so just a generic hate will do and remove this clutter.

Actually, remove the gates/jobs icons; it's a false dichotomy anyway with an Ellison and a Ballmer to object to etc etc.

[MrT]

Surely for Lewis...

...it'd be "Lewis as Rambo" or "Lewis as CND poster-boy".

Not sure which is "good" and which is "bad" though...

[Patrick R]

Minister of Information

Can we have Lewis Page dressed as Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf ?

[peyton?]

"add" to?

It's getting a bit cluttered down there dontcha think? Personally would rather not spend 10 minutes hunting for 'that perfect icon'.

Now replacing some with new and improved versions - that idea I like!

[Lester Haines]

Re: "add" to?

Yup, we're also mulling retiring a few of the old ones. We'll see how it goes.

[Anonymous Coward]

Some stats please?

As in, tally all the icons used and some table (or a fancy pie graph or whatever, knock yourself out) tabulating the percentages? Ask the local db-botherer for the raw numbers, assuming the back-end is a db with a botherer. Oh and I don't think links dragged into the message should count as "used this icon", no.

Ideally we'd also tally all the times someone asked for an icon or used an icon "because no $other icon". But, well, that's more freeform text search type work, so more effort.

[Sorry that handle is already taken.]

Retirement

I don't even understand this one.

I can't stand "Paris" or "I'll get my coat" but I'd be pretty surprised if those two get culled.

I imagine you've got the usage statistics to help you decide which ones need to go though.

[MisterPhillip]

MIsterPhillip

So, where are the icons? New to the site and have NO clue how to actually view and save them. Help? From the non-flamers, if plausible?

[Eponymous Cowherd]

Do bears......etc

And / or No shit, Sherlock.

[Graham Marsden]

Hear hear!

For all those stories from the Department of the Bleedin' Obvious!

[MrT]

Photoshop needed...

...Sherlock looking puzzled as he examines a clean toilet bowl through a magnifying glass

Maybe just the word "Obvious" dripping with blood...

[Anonymous Coward]

Like the sherlock idea..

.. but it might be a little too detailed for a small icon. How about Captain Obvious' superhero cape?

[Alien Doctor 1.1]

The beer icon...

it needs to be changed to Real Ale not that lager or Boddingtons stuff it currently appears to. Maybe a nice bottle of King Goblin or Hobgoblin.

[Alien Doctor 1.1]

Poof?

A footstool?

Never in these enlightened P.C. times; I would call it a beverage of uncertain LGBT persuasion ;)

[Alien Doctor 1.1]

Apology goes here

Sorry, having found out that Proper Job is a St. Austell brew (from which part of heaven comes High Speed Death), then my apology is heartfelt, gutfelt, consciousnessfelt and wholly deserved.

[skeptical i]

"of uncertain LGBT persuasion"? Ew. "Probably radically inclusive" much mo'better

and less confrontational than "not het". Not that this has anything to do with the robustness (or lack thereof) of the beverage in question, mind you, since beverage choice runs the gamut from the deepest blackest stouts and trippelbocks to the lightest "lite" yellow fizzy water among LGBTQ quaffers.

As for icons, how about a "meh smiley" -- with a horizontal line where the smile would be if it were denoting joy -- the one that's usually typed :| (colon pipe)?

[Eponymous Cowherd]

Trouble with that real ale stuff

It tends to make you:

Grow a big bushy beard and large gut.

Think socks with sandals is a good look.

Appreciate the finer point of morris dancing.....

[Anonymous Coward]

One more problem with drinking real ale

As well as becoming a morris dancing beardy-weirdy, you also turn into a grumpy old git with no sense of humour.

[Alien Doctor 1.1]

Hmmm, maybe not...

I started morris dancing then took up archery - if you'd like do discuss this I'd be more than willing to meet you on the field sometime.

b.t.w. I can't even grow a frickin' beard - all I get is an visage akin to Zappa

[Anonymous Coward]

OK, buddy

Your real ale and bow vs my bourbon and 12 gauge?

[Alien Doctor 1.1]

Hmmm

You won't see me sneaking up on you (although you may smell the hops) and I'll have an arrow in your head before you can raise the shotty.

I use a 100lb longbow (bickerstaff) with homemade arrows (and I don't buy the dowels from B&Q) and a team hoyt recurve (60lbs) with 32.75" carbon fibre arrows.

[Anonymous Coward]

Nah, that's just what happens when you discover....

....that the world is totally fucked and unfixable, and you're being taxed to make it worse instead of better.

[Peter Gathercole]

Socks with sandals

I personally find that sandals with socks is far preferable to sandals and naked feet, bent toes, broken nails, cracked heels, corns and all.

As long as they are tidy and relatively clean, I can only find fashion reasons against wearing socks, whereas I can find many, many reasons for wearing them, and I am completely unrepentant in this attitude.

When it comes down to it, it really depends on how much a slave to fashion you are.

I've never grown a beard, and morris dancing has only a passing interest, but the rest applies!

[Alien Doctor 1.1]

Socks and Sandals

I'm fast approaching 50 y.o. and, even though I can somewhat agree with you, I find my mind harping back to the late 70's early 80's and the festivals - after trekking back from the late night artist socks were just a regal pain in the arse:; leave 'em in the tent and you'd wake up to a chemical warfare attack, leave 'em outside and they'd be full of nasties.

I prefer a decent pair of hiking sandals and nothing else.

[Alien Doctor 1.1]

When I mentioned...

"nothing else", I meant what I was wearing on my feet - I was always clad in tie-dye, denim and whatever else I could remember to put on while completely wasted on several flavours of hash and weed (and lots of Real Ale).

Then I went back to fixing equipment whilst working at Burroughs, then Unisys then...somewhere else...

[Mike Flugennock]

re: socks and sandals

Right on, there, man. Cripes, if it's cold enough out that you need socks, just put on some goddamn' shoes.

For the warm part of the year, I've got a pair of nice sturdy hiking sandals, and flip-flops for those summer days when I'm feeling really lazy, but the wife needs me to run down to the corner grocery.

[Peter Gathercole]

@Alien Doctor 1.1 re. chemical warfare attack

I did say "clean". I would be interested (in an academic sense - I have no dirty sock fetish) in finding out what made your socks such foul things. If you wore them for days on end, or paddled through mud in them, or maybe didn't wash your feet than I can understand. If your feet get wet, then maybe the choice of sandals was wrong in the first place.

Maybe I'm lucky, but my socks come off at the end of the day only a little more smelly than they were at the beginning, and even less so if I have been wearing sandals..

[Gotno iShit Wantno iShit]

@Trouble with that real ale stuff

Whats the matter lager boy, afraid you might taste something?

[David Evans]

I've said it before...

...and I'll say it again; we need a "(Won't Somebody Please) Think of The Children?" icon (Maude Flanders subject to copyright).

Also need an "evil google" icon to go with the Apple and MS ones (you can't get rid of Saint Steve while you're at it).

Finally, a Freetard Alert icon.

[CD001]

(Won't Somebody Please) Think of The Children?

Pedobear?

[Mike Flugennock]

Freetard alert icon?

That'd be a shot of someone's feet wearing sandals with socks.

[ForthIsNotDead]

Shrug?

We need a 'shrug' icon for those 'who-the-fuck-cares' stories :-)

[TeeCee]

Re: Shrug?

Er, not being arsed to comment at all sends exactly the same message.....

Hmm, this coat doesn't fit. Can we have a new icon in a size XXL please?

[Wibble]

Picture of a Frenchman

Image of a Frenchman comes to mind; beret, striped top, onions, head tilted to one side, hands held out and the word "baff" coming out.

That's what the bastard station porter did to me when he sent my bicycles on the wrong train in Nice.

[mitch 2]

Bof

You mean Bof!

http://www.frenchduck.com/2006/12/translating_the_french_shrug.html

More subtle than Meh!

[Rovindi]

FryCon

How about some kind of StephenFryCon?

FFS as well WTF

About time you had LarryE as well. He´s always up to shennanigans.

Definitely some Assangeness required as well. Second that one.

[Sir Runcible Spoon]

Sir

It would be nice to have a subtle sarcasm icon, or even an irony one (like goldy or bronzy..well, you know).

[Mark 65]

Gordon Brown

Something to resemble being hoist by one's own petard for those making overly grandiose statements like bringing about the end of boom and bust shortly before a sovereign state whose finances they control almost goes tits-up.

[LaeMing]

A cup of coffee icon.

To signify "I posted this far too early in the morning".

[Marvin the Martian]

Why?

Just delete/retract your posting, don't waste other people's time --- this icon is only useful for commenting on a shoddy comment by yourself.

[Stoneshop]

@Marvin

The cup of coffee is short for "I know it's early in the morning and I may not have made sense; you're free to make fun of this"

Of course, you're free to skip such postings, saving you a precious few seconds.

[Anonymous Coward]

a few for you

Facepalm

Love/hate facebook

Stephen Fry is god and I want to have his babies

Stephen Fry is satan and should burn in hell

Pictures, or it didn't happen.

[Geoff Campbell]

Seconded on the FacePalm

Or alternatively a Homer Simpson "D'oh!" icon.

GJC

[Anonymous Coward]

On that note:

Playmobil, or it didn't happen.

[Mark 65]

Pictures or it didn't happen..

What about a copper battering a photographer for indicating when someone's exercising a little control freakery?

[Havin_it]

RE: Facepalm

I'd prefer *HEADDESK*, more visual.

[MrT]

Double Facepalm

...there's a neat picture of Picard and Riker simultaneously applying face to palm out there, "Double facepalm - when the fail is so strong, one facepalm isn't enough"

http://dontyouhavetimetothink.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/ox2w_yk_f1vhaav5_bhqoe.jpg

Might not shrink to an icon though.

[Z 1]

Also

Where's the Lindsey Lohan angle?

[Anonymous Coward]

You're proposing her as the new Paris then?

Can't decide if that's an upgrade or a downgrade.

On a practical note: Should that icon track the (ex-)PARIS (possibly-)LOHAN team's current whatchamacallit?

[BossHog]

You don't mess with the Lohan

That is all.

[Anonymous Coward]

and also ...

zuckerberg .... bitch

[Code Monkey]

Prob just the horns would be enough

He doesn't have many fans on here (writers or we commentards). No need for a halo.

[Stoneshop]

Actually

For me ust two icons, one a stylised set of horns, one a halo, would replace the entire set of Gates/Jobs/Zucky/Ellison/Schmidt/Brin/Page/whoever just fine. Whoever is hated or praised will be clear from the article (and whomever it isn't clear to is probably beyond help anyway).

[AshC]

nah..

zuckerburg... socially inept dickwad.

[Bill B]

zuckerburg... socially inept dickwad ....

but with tons of money.

He probably doesn't care what we think .. he's richer than all of us (unless Ellison is a commentard as well)

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes please

Gates has retired, so should his icon: Sweaty Steve as his replacement, ta. And open up the rogue's gallery for Google, Facefuck, WackiWackiWorldOfWiki, etc

The flame thingy doesn't immediately convey its purpose. Or indeed have anything to do with flaming.

Paris to be replaced with Lindsay.

[Anonymous Coward]

Replacing Paris?

You cannot replace Paris! She's bloody non-disposable live-stock at Reg!

[dogged]

Wiki

adequately covered by "Badgers".

[Anonymous Coward]

Bigger conflagrations

Nuclear mushroom cloud instead of the flame (or perhaps the pineapple).

Not sure about LL. We definitely need a 'strumpet to lust after' icon, but who? The women I lust after are (probably) not, by and large, strumpets, and are therefore out of the frame.

I forbear to comment about La Modératrice, though visions of a certain film starring a young Gérard Depardieu do arise unbidden in my mind.

[Mark 65]

'strumpet to lust after'

What about Liz Hurley, she's fallen from grace. I mean, Shane Warne? Jeezuz.

[Mike Flugennock]

not that she's an object of lust, but...

...this "strumpet" discussion has got me thinking that for those articles that elicit a general reaction of "big damn' deal", we need an icon of Catherine Tate(?), that "Am I Bovvered?" chick.

As far as a Strumpet To Lust After Icon, though, I'd rather like a shot of Carol Cleveland in her Monty Python prime, but I'm dating myself. (she really was ultra-hot, though)

[Stoneshop]

@Bigger conflagrations

"Nuclear mushroom cloud instead of the flame"

Err, anything that even approaches a roasting-ish flamewar-y thingie, something that would barely register on Usenet Pyrometers, tends to get moderaticated into the great bitbucket of non-publication. But maybe the icon could stand for the writer's pre-self-redacted verbiage.

[Uncle Slacky]

You could remove a few first to make room

The thumbs up/down, stop/go and happy/sad face icons seem to serve pretty much the same purposes. Similarly WTF & FAIL.

Also, seeing as Bill Gates is not longer at MS (at least in an active role) a set of Ballmer (& chair?) icons would be more appropriate.

How about some Shuttleworth horns/halo icons?

[lIsRT]

multiples

Could we have multiple icons per post?

Sometimes more than one would be apt.

[LaeMing]

I was thinking similar.

Then I realised entire posts could be constructed of strings of icons!

Can't decide if I like that idea or not.

[Rafael 1]

THIS IS WHAT I'M SCREAMING ABOUT

Make the title optional while you're at it.

[Mike Flugennock]

SPEAKING OF WHICH... uhh, speaking of which...

A comment-sized version of the Screaming Janet Leigh from "Psycho" would also be great.

[Anonymous Coward]

Multiples

And if you make the icons (or short strings of them) somehow represent different phonemes then it's almost as if you could express speech using them!!1! Just think of the possibilities of that!!

[Anonymous Coward]

the google twins

You have Jobs, you have Gates.... is the lack of Page and Brin down to them not being evil, or because they weren't born when the icon set was first implemented?

[jonathanb]

Monkey boy

Saying as Bill Gates retired from Microsoft a few years ago, we need some sort of Steve Ballmer icons. Maybe some chocolate factory icons as well given the rise of Google since the last comment icons were done.

[LaeMing]

At icon scale...

...I'm not sure Balmer looks that much different to Jobs? The existing icons may be able to serve as a generic Steve icon.

[Gotno iShit Wantno iShit]

Done to death laready

Agreed get rid of Gates but lets not bother with Ballmer, get shot of Jobs too. Both are very boring now. Get rid of the celebutard too, the Paris because..... 'joke' has been done to death many times over.

How about an Eye of Sauron picture with the popup text: Google - <strikethrough>Don't</strikethrough> be evil. That'd get a lot of use.

Quite like the idea of a 'we need an icon for....' but I've no idea what it could look like

[Stoneshop]

Recursion

We need an icon for "We need an icon for ... "

[Francis Boyle]

Get rid of Paris?

Just when the joke was becoming funny again?

What am I talking about. The Paris joke is always funny.

[LinkOfHyrule]

Don't take my Paris!

Don't take my Paris! Please! Seriously, don't, she is responsible for most of my upvotes (experience points) thanks to all the cheap shots I have at her expense!

The Frycon idea is good, quite interesting in fact - boom boom.

Maybe replace the grammar Nazi one with the Guardian's logo?

An icon representing Big Society? Maybe it could be a boarded up council library or a malnourished child?

Picture of a fluffy kitten for hard hitting serious stories? I'm out of ideas now.

[Keith T]

Update Jobs Icons

They have Jobs devil and angel, but the photos aren't good, don't look enough like him. (He is the last 2.)

Update the Jobs icons with the new skinner Jobs.

[Mike Flugennock]

Chocolate Factory icon?

A close-up of Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka would be ideal, yeah.

[Shark? what shark?]

(no) evil

In homage to google, perhaps a red bordered circular traffic sign with the word evil crossed out in the centre.

And to reflect reality, an identical sign without the crossing out.

[Anonymous Coward]

To clarify

A red bordered traffic sign with the word evil crossed out means "No (No Evil)".

Without the crossing means "No Evil".

[JimC]

An Evil Google icon would be nice...

"lets do evil"

[Schultz]

Falling off cliff

We need the stick man stepping off the cliff while gazing at the sky.

Happens all too often!

[Jamtea]

So where is the...

Lindsey lohan angle?

(and how do the mobile device users post with icons anyway!)

[Steven Raith]

FFS

A FFS icon in a stop sign (in the same vein as the WTF icon) would go down swimmingly, as a riposte to commentards who show sandwich-degree levels of intellectual ability.

Myself included, if I've had a couple of glasses of wine...

Steven R

[Ammaross Danan]

Nah

Nah, FFS doesn't quite work as RTFA (A for Article, as opposed to the common "M" for Manual).

[Mage]

Also

Hello Kitty, Kitten, meerkat,

dram of whiskey icon

The current selection are ok apart from last four which are pointless

Maybe a waste bin icon?

Maybe change the text hover on some of them?

[ViagraFalls]

I have a dram!

It's a dram or a whisky. Both are Scottish terms. Whiskey is not.

[John I'm only dancing]

Misguided dram

Dram is not a Scottish term alone. it is in fact a sub division of the imperial measures.

[Mike Flugennock]

A Dram? A Whisk(e)y? M'eh.

Would that be what we Colonials call a "shot"? In that case, yeah; a Shot Of Whiskey Icon would be good, though it'd be a bit redundant as we already have the Pint Of Beer Icon.

[Jacob Lipman]

A tit le is required

-A "WIN" icon to go along with the "FAIL" icon - perhaps a bit of meme use is in order, with the use of Patrick Stewart's image as the background?

-A middle finger icon to go with the thumbs-up and thumbs-down gestures. Suppose that might be mildly NSFW.

-A picture of our favorite Moderatrix in full black leather regalia, wagging her finger. For... Hrm. Forum reasons. Communication. Yes.

-A cross-eyed face, to indicate confusion.

-A picture of Steve Jobs with steam pouring from his ears. He gets mad a lot.

-The "none" icon should be replaced by the image of a clergywoman in full habit, because puns.

[Sarah Bee]

Re: A tit le is required

- A wanker icon. For wankers.

[Eponymous Cowherd]

Just use the thumbs up icon

and squint.

[Jacob Lipman]

Re:Re: A tit le is required

I like this idea. Can it be an animated GIF?

[Code Monkey]

Wanker

In honour of Reg's April Fools story, could we have an iPhone iCon for wankers?

[Wize]

Re wanker icon

Good idea, shame we couldn't get away with that one or my idea of...

A cock waving icon - for all those posters claiming theirs is bigger or better (eg operating system, games console, smart phone)

[Anonymous Coward]

Wanker icon?

Here's one, and it's Creative Commons.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Fingers_and_thumb_in_circle_downward_motion.jpg

[Munchausen's proxy]

Get Crazy

Malcolm McDowell played a character named Reg Wanker in the titularly-mentioned movie.

Here's one image:

http://blogs.citypages.com/amadzine/reggiemacwanker.jpg

[Goat Jam]

or Leo Wanker

http://cdn.berryreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/leo-wanker-2.jpg

[MrT]

re: Leo

The icon could just be a fire extinguisher in action...

It would need a 'Croc Dundee' icon for all those who are too young to remember the Paul Hogan Show...

[Rattus Rattus]

"A wanker icon. For wankers"

I don't understand - we already have two Steve Jobs icons.

[Annihilator]

re: the "WIN" icon

Patrick Stewart's image for it? I think not, may I modestly suggest Charlie Sheen instead?

[Anonymous Coward]

Elephant..

Available as "in the room" or "White" varieties.

[Paul Crawford]

@Elephant..

And a pink one as well.

Thanks!

[Moz]

Only one icon needed.

Goatse.

[The Pope]

Picard FacePalm

http://www.nastyhobbit.org/data/media/13/picard-facepalm.jpg

[Andy Farley]

And

the infamous double Picard.

Definitely.

[lawndart]

says:

A "We need a new icon" icon is clearly required (although this may create a self-referential feedback loop).

Also a "Playmobil reconstruction required" icon; however if we exclude the spectacular PARIS event it has been at least 18 months since the last one, so this may be a lost cause.

Finally a "You clearly haven't actually read the article so your foaming at the mouth about it only makes you look a fool" icon for the comment responders to use.

[Anonymous Coward]

Eep. 18 months.

Second the playmobil, also more reconstruction required. A new new icon icon is nice in theory but, er, dunno about practical. See also: Bee and vetoing submit-your-own. There's death-of-el-reg that'll substitute, though if I use that in anger my posts get rejected. Bummer. Anyway. Not disliking the idea of the YDNRTFA icon but again practicality: It'd easily supplant all other icon use. I think I'll prefer variety.

[Anonymous Coward]

DIY Icons

As well as the current icons, how about a blank icon square where users can draw / paste in their own icon. That would be fun to do.

[LaeMing]

Since posts are all moderated

this might work, since anything dodgy can get stomped before display.

More work for the mods, though.

[Sarah Bee]

Re: Since posts are all moderated

Yeah. So no. I have enough on my plate with you lot.

[LaeMing]

I figured...

...that might be the case.

[Anonymous Coward]

Fat Cat Icon

see title.

[Dave 126]

Kill Bill (Gates)

Or rather retire him... it doesn't help that the Evil Steve Jobs icon looks a bit like Steve Ballmer, though.

Mark Zuckerberg and something Cruel and Unusual- in the same icon.

The hand grenade is all well and good, but could surely be updated with laser range finding and remote detonation capability in this day and age.

More lasers. In fact every icon should have one.

Does Paris need a question mark?

The Welcome Mat and T1000 could be combined... somehow.

Likewise the Ill Get My Coat and Joke Alert.

[Evil Auditor]

@Dave 126

A picture of Zuckerberg IS cruel and unusual.

[vic 4]

Rounded edges

are needed, no icon as there are none suitable

[Anonymous Coward]

"Two fingers icon"

We definitely need one

[vic 4]

Also

Can we have them arranged differently, preferable in rows of 4 so those with an iPhone or recent Samsung device feel more comfortable

[Annihilator]

A couple..

An Android pro/con icon. An "oh my God, Orlowski has comments enabled" icon ;-) for those rare occasions.

But most importantly, an autofilter for the fools that drag the icons into the text box (ironic example coming up..)

http://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/graphics/icons/comment/paris_hilton_32.png

[DJV]

Or even better

Use some nifty HTML5 (or Web2.0rhea if you prefer) code to implement icon drag and drop properly.

[Big_Ted]

we need

we need an evil and angel andoid

plus replace Bill Gates with Steve Bulmer

[David Webb]

A whip

A whip for when replying to Sarah Bee or giving a comment to Sarah.

Anonymous mask for Anontards

A sheep for "I totally agree with whatever the previous Appletard commented on"

[Paul Crawford]

Anonymous mask

V for Vendetta :)

[Mike Flugennock]

Anonymous Mask for Anontards

That would be a Guy Fawkes mask, wouldn't it? If so, yes, absolutely.

[Parax]

Title

Wot no Title icon, for post that don't need no stinkin title. (see above)

Playmobile reconstruction Icon. self explanatory.

Camera Icon = "Pics or it didn't happen" or for abused photogs.

[Nick Ryan]

Icons...

Shaking Fist (or just rage, such as purple head spitting). Could be the Flame icon is good enough?

Generic Angel / Demon icons

Balance / scales

Moderatrix - need we say more?

Web 2.0 / marketing fluff

Lizard overlords - so special they need their own icon

Just improving the current icons would be a good start, some a pretty lame.

[Greg J Preece]

Web 2.0 / marketing fluff

Perhaps blue sky with a flying whale. Or if you like Guide references...a falling whale...

[ZankerH]

Stallman

How about an icon of Richard M. Stallman, neckbeard freetard extrodinaire, st. Ignucius, founder of the Free Software Foundation and sole inventor of the GNU/Emacs operating system?

[Evan Essence]

Re: Stallman

Yes! No namby-pamby penguins, no wishy-washy open source. We want the thunderous, angry, righteous, jealous old testament god of Free Software. Who sometimes reveals himself as a saint:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/78834508%40N00/236753476

[Anonymous John]

Playmobil icon

Simples.

[Aleksandr Orlov]

Meerkat Icon.

Me!

Simples.

[Ian 56]

3 for you

The "Professor Brian Cox" ... lookit that's AMAAAZING!

The "Double Rainbow" ... caution, ephemeral internet meme alert.

The "Tumbleweed" ... gosh, what an interesting comment / article, moving on.

[Mike Flugennock]

Carl Sagan Icon...

...to indicate that There Is A Perfectly Rational Scientific Explanation For This, And Here It Is...

[Stoneshop]

Mythbusters icon

... to indicate that You're Just Repeating An Established Bit Of Nonsense And We're Going To Prove It (By Blowing It Up)

[Anonymous Coward]

letters are yummy

How about a 'No Comment' icon for those rare occasions when you can comment on an Andrew Orlowski article, but still feel the need to point out that oftentimes you just can't and it's pissing you off.

--or--

In addiction to a 'Joke alert', a 'Drivel alert'. Please modify the underlying Javascript to up the mod points for whichever poster uses this one because although they're talking drivel, at least they have the good sens to realise it, and so there's hope for them yet.

--at least--

Have a 'middle finger' in addition to the two thumbs-buttons, as it so often and accurately portrays the feelings of the poster.

--although--

BillyG has been around a long time, maybe the crew at El Reg has heard of a new sheriff in town. Goes by the name of Ballmer. Rumour has it he's going to turn this whole Microsoft thing around. Instead of producing copycat non-functional overpriced crap, Microsoft will from now on produce only the finest softwares available.

--wait what?--

Never mind, turns out this Ballmer guy has been CEO for the past decade. My mistake. You should still update the icons to reflect this though.

--all in all--

More of a refinement to the existing set. Not too many bright ideas before lunch, sorry.

[Anonymous Coward]

Andrew's inbox is never closed

and he regularly posts a summary of the best and worst that it receives.

[Andrew the Invertebrate]

there, fixed that for you

"and he regularly posts a summary of the best posts that agree with him and worst of those that don't"

actually a "there fixed that for you" icon would be handy

[Stoneshop]

actually a "there fixed that for you" icon would be handy

suggested icon: roll of duct tape, or a multitool.

(chosen icon in reference to the Combat Engineers' way of fixing problems)

[Daren Nestor]

replace the flame icon

replace the flame icon with a radioactivity one.

[AndrueC]

Rolling eyes

..and not smiling, please!

Either that or face palm.

[Parax]

Minecraft Creeper

Griefer, Troll, Green Penis, stealthy ninja, thing that go bang, etc..

[countd]

Rage guy and something for the fandroids?

We need to address the fandroid's chronic underrepresentation, particularly in the smartphone wars.

Rage guy? Well, he just makes me smile.

[Mike Brown]

can you get rid of the need for titles?

get rid of paris. the jokes well and truly over.

paris , as id like to see the back of her.......

[theblackhand]

Someone redecorating a wall in a lovely shade of brain

For all the Apple/Android/MS "discussions" where defending your purchasing decision is more important than facts or listening to alternative views.

[Anonymous Coward]

Where is the Annon?!

Guy Fawks because we are all annons!

[min]

can we...

..have an icon in honour of Mike Godwin, for everyone who wants to introduce Nazi comparisons into their comments? i'd like that.

oh, and one of Jobs in drag.

[Anonymous South African Coward]

facepalm

facepalm icon

[Spartacus]

Sheep (in a vacuum) - Reg Standards Icon

Post complies with official El Reg standard units of measurement.

[Anonymous Coward]

POPCORN

We need popcorn for those stories that we know will generate 100's of comments and deteriorate into a slanging match.

[DJV]

POPCORN...

Also known as a ZDNet icon </sarcasm>

[Samuel Williams]

I remember when the internet was just fields

How about something for reminiscing, those were the days, etc?

[Anonymous Coward]

Correction icon..

I remember when the internet was just tubes.

[Admiral Grace Hopper]

Excellent Idea

I propose a punched card.

[Mike Flugennock]

...when the Internet was just fields...

Perhaps an icon of a TRS80, or a BBC Micro, or Doug Englebart.

"I remember when our Admin used to get us all up at 3am and make us lick the Internet clean with our tongues -- but you tell the youth of today that, and they'd never believe you...!"

[Stoneshop]

Two tin cans and a piece of string

Or a typewriter

[Anonymous Coward]

Or an acoustic coupler and an ASR-33?

A body is also required, but frankly the title has entirely captured the idea I wanted to put across already.

[Eponymous Cowherd]

While we are at it.....

Being able to sort posts by thumbs up / thumbs down would be nice.

Which reminds me. There isn't a "pretty please" / grovel icon.....

[Keith T]

On knees praying? Hands clasped in prayers?

On knees praying? Hands clasped in prayers?

[G C M Roberts]

how about...

Given topics of much commentness of late:

A 50s style atom and a mushroom cloud

Some Richard Dawkins and Pope ones

and other thoughts are

Definitely bring that Sir Humphrey to the forums

Perhaps a pile of cash icon too

[Stoneshop]

"Definitely bring that Sir Humphrey to the forums"

Lyttelton or Appleby?

(yes)

Both are known for spouting vast tracts of nonsense with a straight face, but only one of them does so for comical purposes. So, which one is it?

[Pete 2]

Fondle this

I'm not a great icon user as few of them "speak to me". In fact I'd have to say I don't know what most of the ones with a face on them mean - or are for. They're too small and too busy to have an immediate impact.

We keep getting told that tablets are the way of the future, providing we keep taking them. So I'd suggest a fondleslab icon - I'll leave the details of what, exactly, should be fondled up to t'committee.

[Efros]

Controversial

Retire Paris, she's given good service (nudge nudge) but is well past her sell by. New Charlie Sheen Nutjob icon. I think a lube icon of some kind vaseline, astroglide, just to hint that we may be getting shafted.

[Marky W]

Dunces hat icon

For responding to spectacularly dumb comments.

Like this: http://bit.ly/hVxUVo

Alt Text: 'I believe your understanding of the issue is somewhat lacking'

[Marky W]

One more

A cartoon singing whale for marketing tomfoolery.

Alt text: 'This comment comes with an overpowering smell of incense'

[ViagraFalls]

Facepalm

I second the request for a Picard icon. Facepalm ftw.

[Anonymous Coward]

orbital cheese Icon

For Elon Musk related stuff.

Tesla, spacex, paypal etc. and other cheesey needs.

[Mike Flugennock]

re: orbital cheese icon

"For Elon Musk related stuff.

Tesla, spacex, paypal etc. and other cheesey needs..."

Oh, yeah... that would be a Wallace & Gromit On The Moon Icon.

[Stoneshop]

Space

Wallace and Gromit on the moon.

[LaeMing]

@ The multitude of "IT personality" icons

Thinking move the personality icons to the bottom two (new) rows, which would allow 12. Second from bottom row is their 'angelic' form and bottom their 'demonic' form in the same order, so they are above/below each other. May allow that number of personality icons without appearing cluttered. YMMV, but might be worth a mock-up to see.

[Anonymous Coward]

not only do we need Annon

But we also need more Facepalm

maybe some more cow bell too!

[HFoster]

Kettle of fuckery

As suggested by Sarah Bee and seconded by me on the story of the Asian sex-orcist story from last year.

[Sarah Bee]

Re: Kettle of fuckery

Ooh, and we definitely need an ODFO.

[Francis Boyle]

ODFO

FTW

[TeeCee]

@HFoster

I haven't got the slightest Scooby what a "Kettle of fuckery" is or might look like, but it made me laugh so hard I upvoted this one anyway.

[Mike Flugennock]

"Kettle Of Fuckery"?

I think that may be related to "clownshit".

[moonface]

My Suggestions

mushroom cloud - no fukushima problem here icon.

Striesand's nose - for the effect icon.

Darwin and Christian Fish icons.

Hitler cat - Godwins law

[Anonymous Coward]

Seconding the kitler

We should likely have a godwin icon and a kitler sounds as inoffensive as it's likely to get.

[The Beer Monster]

I will happily donate my Kitler to the cause.

Well, a picture of him, anyway.

Poor little furry bugger.

[stucs201]

limited +1

for the evolve/darwin fish and nuke cloud.

[Keith T]

you mentioned hitler -- you loose

Twice, by directly mentioning hitler, and secondly by implication when bringing up godwin's law.

[Goat Jam]

Loose?

Loose what?

[Stoneshop]

@Keith T

Go read Godwin's Law, OK? It's not just mentioning Hitler or Nazis that invoke it.

(this post invisibly adorned with the Grammar Gestapo icon next to the visible Fail one)

[TRT]

RoTM

Rise of the Machines, and have you got any non-alcoholic beverages?

[TeeCee]

Just read this article.....

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/20/black_threats/

I'd like to nominate a plain, black square with the word "Friday" written on it (I'm torn between plain white and dayglo multicoloured horror for the text here, although Comic Sans has to be the font), to be used when making a point about any meejah atrocity. Like that one.

I'd also like to nominate Ms Black for an award for providing us with a handy yardstick to measure crapness with.

[Stoneshop]

ISAGN

"I'd also like to nominate Ms Black for an award for providing us with a handy yardstick to measure crapness with."

Which should definitely find its way into the Reg Standards. A first estimate sets the Black in the order of 100k dogturds.

[Amazon Wageslave]

I for one welcome our icon-modifying overlords

How about good/evil Amazon? I would suggest Jeff Bezos, but despite working here for 5 years I don't have a clue what he looks like.

And on the subject of improving el Reg even more, any chance of moving the "back to the forum" link on the up/down vote page? Using a netbook means scrolling down past the comment to get to the link; it'd be nice if it was beside the "we're glad you liked this post" text. Pretty please?

Using the browser back button means the thumbs up/down isn't updated unless you refresh the page.

[Code Monkey]

Father Ted and Dougal

Down with that sort of thing.

[sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD]

Careful now

Mmmm.. might be lost on more than a few though, I suspect.

[Sarah Bee]

Re: Careful now

Lots of stuff around here is lost on many.

[ShaggyDoggy]

and

a JEDWARD icon to be used to signify the total pointlessness

[AshC]

A horse icon.

- I'm on one.

[Marvin the Martian]

Swamp Castle, plus dustbin

There's often enough a pointless and repetitive story, of human endeavour pointed the wrong way. Which deserves a swamp castle.

Obligatory quote:

<<When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. And that's what you're going to get, lad, the strongest castle in all of England. >>

And I second earlier call for a dustbin, as "good riddance" is an often-relevant emotion.

[Anonymous Coward]

The title is required, and must contain letters and/or digits.

A more welcome change to the comments system would be the removal of the title field from the list of required fields.

[Anonymous Coward]

0

I wonder why the post was downvoted?

[Richard IV]

Holy wars

A generic holy wars icon to replace the Penguin, Gates & Jobs set. {Possibly something like the crozier St Dogbert used to drive out the demons of stupidity}.

It'll give Opera users something to use ;)

[Anonymous Coward]

If you want slashdot, you know where to find it.

They heavily bias posts, also meaning anonymous posts basically remain unseen. Also, their use of ever-increasing amounts of javascript and other tomfoolery mean I rarely even bother to read any comments any longer.

I'm sure that's a wonderful idea sir. Let's see, this here's sir's coat, I believe. Good evening sir.

[MrMcginty]

I get Slashdotted...

...using 'Anonymous Coward' entries most weeks, they really don't care who submits or how, since they log IP addresses and use those to enforce temporary bans where needed.

Though I admit, I too am sick of the endless dicking about with the comments.

New icon: Robbie The Robot ("***k off, I'm having a geek moment"), to limit the use of the 'Reg gravestone' whenever an article on geek movies/TV etc goes up.

[Jeremy Chappell]

Icons

Inverted Facebook "F" - for a fail on or about Facebook.

Ditto Twitter. (Fail Whale?)

A Stormtrooper (Nazi or Starwars, doesn't matter).

Replace Bill with "that sweaty, over excited bloke"?

Where the heck is RMS?

A "broken brain".

Buzz Lightyear (self dilution - "You are a Toy!").

Yoda ("impenetrable marketing speak this is, hmm, hmm?").

Plug lying next to socket (user error).

BSoD.

Joypad.

Slide rule (for "it was better in my day", or "isn't this browser just like a terminal?" - an "old fart's icon")

[Anonymous Coward]

not sure about the rest ...

but a "Slide rule" icon would probably do quite well.

Possibly do want to limit the good/evil icons, an Evil penguin might in the long run be a better icon ... or similarly good/evil Google, good/evil browser,etc ...

I thought about suggesting an Evil/Good FSF (free software foundation) ... but it might look to much like the FFS! proposal :)

[Anonymous Coward]

I like the idea...

of an evil penguin icon.

Could go for a BSD icon as well. Though if you pick Beastie, it might be a little hard to tell if he's a good Beastie, or an evil Beastie.

While not strictly under the purview of icons, changing the title and body requirement to just one or the other and not loading a new page when clicking on the thumbs up/down buttons would be nice too.

[Subliteratus]

Muppets!

A nice picture of Fozzie Bear for when a person of organisation's slackness and incompetence can no longer be stoically borne.

[FozzyBear]

HEY!

Watch what you're sa....

Hmmm my very own icon - I second that !

[Stuart Moore]

Definitely a mupped icon...

Although personally I'd go for Beaker

[Anonymous Coward]

How about....

... a picture of a Eurofighter crashing & burning, specially for Lewis' articles?

[Greg J Preece]

Opera blah blah

How about Opera ones. Instead of angel/devil, you could have one covered in speed bubbles, and one gagged...

[The Alpha Klutz]

icons

A Back To The Future 1.21 gigawatts icon, caption: "needs moar jiggawatts".

A Homer Simpson Homemade Prozac icon, caption: "needs more icecream".

A "Can it run Crysis?" icon.

A "Can it run Solitaire?" icon.

A Vaseline icon.

[DJV]

V for Vendetta icon

Please please pretty please. Ah go on you know you want to...

[Anonymous Coward]

you mean you want...

More Guy Fawks!

[Mike Flugennock]

more Guy Fawkes

A bunch of us here have already mentioned the coolness of a Guy Fawkes Mask Icon, but another iconic image from "V For Vendetta" -- one which would better articulate rage -- would be that shot of the top of Big Ben being blasted away. What an awesome shot that was.

[Denarius]

suggestions, my beloved

Oompa Loopas for chocolate factory. With or without red slashed circle.

Suggest Eye of Sauron only for snooping governments.

swinging door (outwards) for "its Friday and not on call " ? Not to be confused with I'll get my coat...

I'll second the sky gazing cliff step off

Replace the Gates of hell with the yacking yatchsman Larry E

PHB type icon for dumb and dumber management (anything to do with large corporates and Governments ?)

Toy train for bleeding obvious aka Clue Train.

Third coffee icon suggestion. By morning tea I have usually downed 6 cups and need a pick me up as the effect is wearing off.

Please leave Paris alone. We need some traditions.

Back to the ubuntu abomination now...

[Ninja Wabbit]

Horde and Alliance

Horde and Alliance icons.

For the HORDE!

Also:

- Facepalm

- Newbie Alert

- Recklessly Clueless and Cluelessly Reckless icons

- WIN (or FTW) to counter FAIL

[sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD]

No Alliance icons, please....

Sorry, I've just got to stop you there.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

Forget icons, why not roll out the color coding system devised a decade ago into the comments pages

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/02/01/the_color_of_irony/

[iMess]

Need a Sarah Palin one

Cos you know..

[Anonymous Coward]

how about..

Tina Fey

[JeffyPooh]

Beer glass good...

...now add red wine glass, white wine glass, various hard liquor glassware, etc.

[The Beer Monster]

Beer.

There is only beer. Anything else would be wrong.

[Rodrigo Valenzuela]

Hard liquour

For the kind of stories that let you wishing for a stiff drink, either to erase the memory by killing those brain cells or because is friday and you realize that the weekend is ad portas and it looks more boring that staying in the office.

R

[Number6]

BS

A steaming turd icon, for declaring bullshit.

How about a proper two-fingered salute too?

A mushroom cloud to replace the rather tame and weak grenade - if you're going to have an explosive rant you want the biggest effect.

A banana skin for those who've slipped up.

[A Non e-mouse]

No more people

No more people - just more generic ones. e.g. an Angle and a Devil.

[The Beer Monster]

Acute, right, obtuse?

:nonchalant whistle:

[Anonymous Coward]

Please add the icon 42...

For things that just ARE! Like PI. The sky being blue, on this planet anyway.

[Anonymous Coward]

The horned phone!

- The Horned Phone(tm), for those ranting IT moments regarding our users. Please release it for our perusal. Plus the final art is already complete.

- A capital red G with a devil's tail. You can figure it out. Make it blue if red is not suitable.

- The radioactivity Icon with the subtitle pop-up "Prolonged exposure to this comment may cause life span reduction" or sorts.

- I liked the playmobil idea.

[Eric Crippen]

New Icons

The Picard facepalm would work, but I'd rather have a Kirk facepalm if one exists.

As far as actual face icons. They could be used for a year or two and then a fresh batch voted in. I'm for Paris being a permanent icon though. Maybe an Einstein or Betty White to balance it out.

A dead horse icon.

Cartoon baby face crying (squirtin' tears).

A ninja (in star wars p.j.'s if the res was good enough).

A picture of dog poo or Mr. Hanky.

Pink elephant.

A knight with no arms or legs.

Sheep icon.

Sheldon Cooper/Penny icons.

Skunk.

[Red Bren]

Dead Horse?

Like this one?

[clean_state]

skeleton in the closet

I want a "skeleton in the closet" icon. Or just a skeleton will do.

[Mark Malley]

Thanks for thinking of the little people

I'm quite happy with the selection, but the realm of good and evil does seem to ever be expanding.

[AceRimmer]

Kerching

A big gold plated dollar/pound sign for those Kerching moments

[Anonymous Freetard]

Chicken Little

For all those "the sky is falling" pieces that El Reg enjoys so much. You know, all the Fukishima scare stories that Lester has been peddling ;)

[Sarah Bee]

Re: Chicken Little

On a practical note, I'd like an obnoxious EDITOR NEEDED icon for typos and such. Easier to spot which to act on and reject (with thanks if you're nice, and nowt if you're not).

[taxman]

Re: Chicken Little

You mean like when the nice kind readers have made a bit of a boobie?

Hey, there's a thought............

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Practical note

Yesh, that might be useful. Buuut... I don't really want any of that in my inbox, as my comments don't go there already. And I do feel fairly strongly about your workflows --your rules, fine, I'll stick to your script-- not also interfering on mine --my rules, my script, and you can stay well out of it, thanks.

So a "ta" rejection-notice would be useful. I mean, if you're going to abuse the rejection button for that, might as well add the function required to mark that rejection with just what function it was rejected for.

If not, then we'd better stick to the standing practice to send notes to the author using the link-and-webform and no icon is required, or useful.

[Select * From Handle]

Rebecca Black icon?

With the letters FAIL over her head?

i would like to see that hahah

[Mike Flugennock]

Rebecca Black icon

Good idea, but you don't need the FAIL plastered over her. Usually, when one glimpses Rebecca Black, one instantly thinks FAIL.

[Youngdog]

How about this one

http://worldpoliticsblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/dr_strangelove.jpg

For anything DARPA/NWO related

[Anomalous Cowlard]

Yes,

please.

[Pinkerton]

My suggestions...

I can't be arsed to read through all these comments so there's a good chance this has already been said and I'm contributing nothing but noise to the discussion:

- A 'La la la not listening' icon

- An 'I haven't read the article properly before posting my comments so it's probable I'm commenting on something you didn't actually say but only what I thought you said' icon

- An 'I can't be arsed to read through all these comments so there's a good chance this has already been said and I'm contributing nothing but noise to the discussion' icon

[Pete 2]

The default

> I haven't read the article properly before posting my comments

You'd have to make that the default, as everybody does that.

p.s. you might have suggested that in the rest of your post, but I didn't read any more ....

[stucs201]

Something for laser discussions

Deathstar? Shark?

[NoneSuch]

My incoherent list

Get rid of Bill Gates angel / devil. He retired years ago.

The aforementioned Assange angel / devil sounds like a winner to me.

No to Facebook, No to Twitter, No to any flash in the pan website fad.

Change the terminator icon from "Your foster parents are dead" to "AI is coming and may already be here"

Dr Stephen Hawking in place of the round blue gent with the specs.

A generic angel and a devil.

The Piratebay logo to mark Freetards.

You have Paris, add Lohan... and Biel, and Mother Theresa.

Eye of Sauron AND a Ring.

No to Zuck. A Reg icon is a thing of honor and he simply does not deserve it.

You have an exclamation point, but no question mark???

A "No Suitable Icon Present" icon.

Last a "Pie-in-the-sky" for all these half-baked ideas that keep floating to the surface.

[Anonymous Coward]

copyright issues with use other peoples logos..

but perhaps instead of hosting the image file if you just used a url that linked to it on the original site you wouldn't have any copyrighted material on this site...

now where have I seen that defence before.. oh yeah pirate bay.

[Atonnis]

So much...

Get rid of:

Paris (that was amusing for all of a week)

The 'I'll get my coat'/'Mine's the one with the...' - everyone who uses it thinks they're funny, and they really arent.

The blue 'may contain scientific stuff' - does anyone ever use it?

Web2.0 made of badger's paws - sorry, it's just stupid.

The pictures of people with halos and horns - focus on companies more than individuals.

The gravestone - really? why is it there?

Add in:

Company love/hate logos.

Bacon - because it's bacon and bacon is only for things that are awesome...like bacon...mmm...bacon.

Something that says 'I originally wrote a 4 paragraph post to explain this, but then deleted it all and just wrote this one line because that's all you'd understand anyway.'

Facepalm

A Toilet - because that's where this tripe should be flushed.

A TARDIS - there are plenty of comments that either go on about historical stuff, or future stuff.

[peter 5]

*facepalm*

attonis wrote:

«The 'I'll get my coat'/'Mine's the one with the...' - everyone who uses it thinks they're funny, and they really arent.»

Actually, that means it's *working*: just IGNORE thee comments with a COAT. Now I'll get mine - because, well, how could I not?

[Anonymous Coward]

also

A picture of Neo when the agents remove his mouth.

A bigger megaphone.

"Do you want fries with that?"

A police helmet with the flashing blue light on top

"Needs more cowbell"

A tinfoil hat / Faraday cage

A sarcasm detector

[moonface]

more suggestions

Must have a "Think of the children" icon was thinking along the lines of a "Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" icon.

Also could have.

Judge Dredd...over the top police equipment/justice.

Gagged Gimp or similar....gagging orders and censorship.

[Graham Jordan]

Tits?

For us normal people who just happen to be good at IT stuff.

I do not fall into this category. I just don't get to see many tits.

[sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD]

Riiiight.....

And you don't have your own pr0n collection....

I think we need a bollocks icon.

[Anonymous Coward]

How about a change to Anonymous Coward...

Make it so that if a post is downvoted more than 20 time it reveals the real name. Stop people hiding behind it...

[Sir Runcible Spoon]

Sir

or how about just re-naming it 'Anonymous Arsehole' ?

Personally I'd like an Astorn Martin icon, just for showing off :)

[Anonymous Coward]

mmm hmmm

You need a Dr Evil icon for that suggestion!

[BugsMan]

A pile of shit

Multi-purpose icon: http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/3720/turd.gif

[Mephistro]

A spiff icon

For all those comments that own their very existence to a small amount of THC. Useful for commenting on other's posts -"What are you smoking?"- or for your own posts -"This is what I'm smoking!"-. :D

[BossHog]

For those mobile fails...

And Apple with a worm coming out; a Window with a broken pane; and an Android in "kill all humans" mode.

[drinkturps]

Vulture 1

I'd like an icon of Vulture 1. No particular reason just think it would look nice.

[Colin Millar]

Hm could be a business opportunity here

We've had smiley's - maybe we need a new range of icons for the new intertube age - they would be called "igno-rants"

Get in early with these

A cartoon of (Insert famous politician of choice) as an icon for "I don't know anything about this subject but I'm going to spout on anyway"

OR

an icon of a big gaping mouth for "I didn't read the article but jumped straight to the comments section"

[tirk]

Old Farts Like Me

Need a punched card and slide rule icon. Both for confusion about kids these days and their twitterbooks, and for the nostalgia!

[OutOfContext]

Drop the Joke Alert

Posts with this are never funny.

[Eugene Crosser]

This is exactly why it is necessary,

you know...

[Anonymous Coward]

Question mark.

We have 'WTF?' and you could use Paris (lol. Everybody else has.) but there isn't a bog standard question mark icon.

I would also vote for a trollface icon.

[Getter lvl70 Druid]

A Pie icon perhaps

For those 'Oh Yeah? Yo Momma!' posts..... Ran into that today in fact.... The 'Suck on This' sometimes just doesn't cover it.

;)

[Andy 97]

How about.:

A Nelson from The Simpsons "Ha-Ha"

[copsewood]

What a muppet

Could use a selection including:

Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzy Bear, Animal, Gonzo

[Anonymous Coward]

rounded squares.

You have my permission to make all the icons square with rounded corners.

I am the owner of "square icon with rounded corners"

because I made a square icon with rounded corners for a program in windows 3.1,

P.S. I think you need a flying pig.

[Anonymous Coward]

Paris

may be getting a little long in the - er - tooth, these days, and perhaps should be replaced by a more dynamic model.

Kate Middleton, anyone?

[Michael 77]

Cobol

as "in that's so yesterday."

or maybe it's just about Cobol.

[Kimo]

Too lazy to read them all...

...but if not yet said, I would like a facepalm icon.

[Anonymous Coward]

The scales, the scales

To maintain balance there should be Mark Shuttleworth devil and angel icons.

[Michael 77]

A Pin?

shorthand for prick .....

[Anonymous Coward]

Tardis

For "obscure sci-fi reference"

[MrT]

Not TARDIS...

...but "The Spock-Lizard Expansion" diagram. A TARDIS isn't obscure enough... ;-)

[IR]

Icons schmicons

How about just making it so if someone posts an internet link it doesn't create scroll bars that cover the last word on every row of their comment?

For a tech site, that shows a surprising lack of robustness testing.

(added icon I have very rarely seen, since it will probably be gone soon)

[MrT]

good idea...

... but just turn any posted link into a clickable button with "Link" on it...

[David Evans]

If the stories I'm reading elsewhere are true..

...it looks like you need a combined evil Jobs/Big Brother icon. And to set fire to your iPhone.

[Mike Flugennock]

some quick ones off the top of my head...

...as I didn't have the time/motivation to pore over all two hundred-odd comments (sorry if any of these have already been suggested):

- I'm pretty "down" with the Ellison, Schmidt, Zuckerberg, et. al. with devil's horns. I suppose corresponding icons with angel's halos would only be fair, but nobody I know likes those guys.

- Perhaps a wider selection of beer icons. Right now it's just an ale; I like ales OK, but I really dig stout. Perhaps a similar pint of stout icon for when you really want to adamantly affirm the desire to "buy that man a pint".

-"No shit, Sherlock" icon. Definitely. I suggest a close-up shot of Basil Rathbone with pipe and deerstalker, from the classic 30s/40s film series.

-Bozo The Clown icon, perhaps foto/close-up from the old 50s/60s US kids' show, for those times you really want to blurt out "jeezus, what a bunch of clownshit!" (See SF NewTech article)

-Ballmer As Crazed Dancing Monkey Boy Icon. Close-up shot of crazed, sweaty Ballmer from the infamous Developers' Conference video. For when Microsoft does something really whacked.

-Facepalm: For those articles that make you... you know, facepalm. That shot of Captain Picard from the widely-circulated Demotivational Poster would be perfect.

-"My God, It's Full Of..." Icon. The famous extreme close-up of Bowman from '2001' as he watches the video explaining his mission (http://www.sportsbabel.net/2001bowman.jpg) -- for those posts that make you think "holy fucking shit...!"

-Insanely Smiling Noddy Holder Icon. Close-up of ol' Noddy with that hat with the mirrors all over it, gleefully leering, for those inevitable Reg articles discussing brassieres, ladies' underwear, "jubs", or Bulgarian Airbags... because Noddy wrote so many great songs about getting your hands into ladies' underwear.

.

Print of beer icon, because it's about noon here on the US East Coast, which means it's probably around beer o'clock-ish in London right now(?).

[Mike Flugennock]

Oh, damn; I knew I'd forgotten one

-Benny Hill Saluting Icon: close-up of Benny Hill doing that bit where he's saluting, with the little glasses on the end of his nose and that dumb-assed grin on his face, for all those articles about UK Govt Fucking Up Massively Again.

[Munchausen's proxy]

Snoopy

ASCII-art Snoopy for good use of presentation or statistics in an article,

pacman/pie chart for bad use.

Punch card for old-timey IT.

A picture of a Great Tit might be a little too obscure (or not), but most would probably understand a blue-footed booby for the appropriate discussions.

[Pascal Monett]

My choices are

1) a nice little donkey, viewed from behind, to signify that I think the idea/comment/article/whatever was written by an ass

2) a fairy in a woodland landscape, to signify that I think the idea/comment/article/whatever comes from/is written by some lunatic in lalaland

3) a pitchfork, preferably on a flaming background, to signify that I would really, really like to skewer the idea/comment/article/whatever and be done with it

Oh, and let's get rid of the Gates icons, replace them with Jobs icons and it'll be fine.

Thank you for your attention.

[Goat Jam]

By all means

get rid of the Gates icon, but do we *really* need two sets of Jobs icons?

[Will Godfrey]

eltiT

I'm delighted that El Reg has finally identified a great need (clearly lots of other people agree).

I prefer generic to 'personalised' icons.

I would like a sarcastic "Well I never knew that" icon - haven't a clue how you'd implement it though.

A/Cs should not be able to chose an icon, but would get a fixed one of a character pointing and laughing.

[Haku]

No Shit Sherlock

or Captian Obvious icon please, for replying to articles or other people's posts who state the bleeding obvious.

Also a "Low Flying Chairs" icon for when Microsoft are pissed off at something, perhaps.

[Anomalous Cowlard]

How about

Bonsai Kitten

Le Pétomane

"We are not amused"

BOFH

PFY

The Boss (pointy haired)

[Petrea Mitchell]

Nominated for removal

Escape key

Joke Alert

That guy in black and white that I don't recognize

That other guy in black and white that I don't recognize (yes, I demand that El Reg be organized to suit my world alone)

Terminator face

[Petrea Mitchell]

One thing I might like to see

Like many others, I've been forced to repurpose the "May contain highly technical content" icon to mean "Watch out, I'm about to become extremely pedantic". Perhaps we could have a separate icon for this latter usage?

Mine's the anorak, of course!

[Anonymous Coward]

Such as...

the "Pedantic grammar nazi alert" icon. (BTW El Reg, "nazi" should be capitalized.) Or is that insufficient for your level of pedantry?

[Petrea Mitchell]

Yes, it's insufficient

Of all the things I have had the urge to be pedantic about, grammar has never been one of them.

[robert lindsay]

Any icon that makes andrew orlowski cry

Then I'd post here every day

[Haku]

Pot & Kettle

for hilighting hypocracy, and:

Ninja - it could be an animated icon; stays blank for most of the time and then suddenly a ninja zooms by

[stuwaldy]

Happy with the selection

I can't think of anything off the top of my head. But I would like to say nice one to the dad who was arriving at Strikerz at Turton School tonight wearing the 'Badgers' T-shirt. Good work and carry on.

[Robert E A Harvey]

more suggestions

"Please explain" - big question mark

"I remember" - Grandfather clock? abacus? punch card?

"I agree wholeheartedly" - Big Tick? +1? Two heads?

"Der-brain" - big head, litle brain?

[copsewood]

A group of angels dancing on a pin

Questions about how many angels could balance on a single pin were reputedly the source behind various medieval theological flame wars. How apt.

[Anonymous Coward]

title

icons for anonymous and peado bear kthnx

[Keith T]

Sarah Palin, with maybe a stars & strips background.

Sarah Palin, with maybe a stars & strips background.

For any stereotypical dumb American ideas.

[Keith T]

Tony Blair or Pinocchio as an icon for bluffing, lying, er uh, mis-stating facts

Tony Blair as an icon for bluffing, lying, er uh, mis-stating facts. If Blair, should have the charming confident smile.

He's out of office, he's historical now.

Or Pinocchio.

[John Smith 19]

@Keith T

Pinocchio is good.

Widely understood

Timeless.

[Keith T]

A flying pig -- "it will happen when pigs can fly"

A flying pig -- "it will happen when pigs can fly".

For things that are unlikely to ever come to fruition.

[Shannon Jacobs]

Spam-related icon

The icon I most often want? How about a little can of spam? I recommend one of those ovalish ones, seen from above and tilted at an angle, with "Spam" visible on the top. You may think I'm fixated on the problem, but the Internet is really going to hell in a handcart these days, and I think the spammers are leading the parade of scammers and associated criminals. They're certainly operating on the largest scale.

Perhaps a little white hat icon for comments related to good and ethical hackers, and a black hat for the obvious usage?

Perhaps a six-shooter icon for comments about the currently increasingly lawless state of things?

How about a money icon for comments related to economics? Are you up to an animated icon that rotates or switches from the euro to the pound to the dollar to the yen (to a couple of others)? Maybe a morphing animated icon?

I'm trying to think of an icon for lawyers and legalese... Perhaps a mess of spaghetti? Or would that just be taken as the 'bad code' icon?

[AdamWill]

Never mind icons...

...I still want those sound effects we were promised on April Fool's Day one year.

[Arctic fox]

276 postings and rising? On a "suggest an icon" thread?

We posterbois certainly know how to get our priorities right, don't we? Could we please have an irony-alert icon - for those who tend to miss that kind of thing? The joke-alert icon (although often useful) doesn't always fit the bill, if one is trying to be a *little* bit subtle.

[Martin Huizing]

Hard liquor icon!

How about a picture of Chinese rise-wine (Bai-Jiu). Caption: 'after reading this I need something stronger than beer'.

[json]

Palin or George Bush Jr and Charlie Sheen or Gaddhafi

Palin/Dubya = FUD or simply being dumb

Charlie Sheen/Gaddhafi = weird ideas and actions caused by medication (or lack thereof)

[Martin Huizing]

'Calling on all Sara Bee's to reply!' icon

(yes, her name misspelled intentionally to get her attention...

[Anonymous Coward]

Since you ask...

Fred Fredburger says, YES!

[zen1]

definitely...

a 'stfu' icon...

[Winkypop]

Flying Spaghetti Monster

We need a FSM icon for all those Science versus Theology discussions.

I've picked the FSM as he loves everyone*

* May his noodely appendage caress you!

[Raoul Ohio]

WTF? icon?

A face of Sarah Palin for WTF?

[Dr Patrick J R Harkin]

Quill pen in bottle of green ink

I DEMAND that this USEFUL and VITAL icon is institued IMMEDIATELY. I AM UNABLE to comment IN THE way I WaNT withoUT IT.

[Anonymous Coward]

more....

Guy Goma face = for admirable attempt at IT bullshit.

Napoleon dynamite or Tron Guy = socially awkward extreme geekiness.

[Stuart Moore]

"I'm with Stupid"

How about an "I'm with Stupid" icon with an arrow pointing upwards, for when you're replying to an especially special post

[GBH]

Tommy

Some more icons would make it more informative and entertaining = fun. So go ahead and add some, I like the idea!http://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/graphics/icons/comment/thumb_up_32.png

Also, if possible, I would like to add a Scott ish icon from here: (example)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXIXIfYTBOE

[Adam Inistrator]

4chan trollface or equivalent please

I predict it will be MUCH used here!

[Anonymous Coward]

Must have...

John Bull

[Oneil Stuart]

an icon with 4 lights

.. or maybe 5 lights.

[Glenn Charles]

Icon

Bald guy with "hairy innit?" on it?

G

[bugalugs]

here's a few collected a while back ( attributed if not from an AC )

Oh, and we seriously need a 'police state' icon

And another thing -- couldn't we have the option of a Spitfire icon for comments?

Can we have a "facepalm" icon, please?

Can we have a radiation icon ?

We need an "atomic mushroom" icon...

Where's the 'fish with legs' icon? james oshea 201009271414

Where's the 2 cents icon? h6 201009290523

Can we have a Guy Fawkes Mask icon now, please?

Where's the Evil Eric icon, ffs? Bilgepipe 201009300856

we don't have a towel icon.. @ Stumpy20101004

Can we please have a turd icon?

And can we have a Monkey icon please ?

When are you adding a spade and hole icon??! @Steve Martins 201010081110

Where's the 'not sure' icon?@JB201010122148

Can we have a fire extinguisher icon please?@Michael.H.F.Wilkinson201010121539

Can I have an icon of a hand from the Deep South of America where there's a thumb

at the top and the bottom to indicate that it goes both ways?@Ihre Papiere Bitte!!201010141551

" there is no Gram icon ".@Disco-Legend-Zeke201010150926

(Hey! El Reg! Why isn't there a tinfoil hat icon, eh?)@James O'Shea201010192151

Where is that shoot-yourself-in-the-foot icon?@Destroy All Monsters201010220140

Posted whilst a bit pissed icon @bugalugs ( a fallen bottle or can )

how about a FYI icon ? many good ones in others' posts above too.

[Scarborough Dave]

FanBoy Icon!

Can we have a sycophantic icon, for fan boy posts?

[John Smith 19]

@Scarborough Dave

I'm thinking something a bit more general purpose.

1) Total fanbois *completely* under the control of Apple/Google/Linux/Microsoft/etc

2)User/site/company totally pwnd by virus/worm attack.

I give you the Gimp face mask from Pulp Fiction.

Distinctive.

Stood the test of time.

Leaves people in no doubt what you think of them.

[Mark York 3]

Bit late I know & I am not trolling through 300+ posts......

TARDIS\Sonic Screwdriver Icon

42\HHG.

Darwin Award

[thecakeis(not)alie]

Facepalm

That is all.

[Z80]

Something for those RTFA situations

We need an icon for use when responding to commentards who demonstrate a failure to take in information contained in the article or available via a link within in the article.

Maybe Penelope Cruz 'cos of her role in "Abre los ojos" - English title "Open Your Eyes"?

Also, with various cloudy networky type things breaking down recently maybe we need a titsup icon of some sort. I'll let you decide how literally to interpret it.

[Haku]

Get Off My Lawn!!!

is a needed icon for everyone who remembers when all this was just fields and the yoof of today are just a bunch of ungreatful little bastards who never had it so good

*mutter* *mumble* *grumble*

[John Smith 19]

Good icons are *tough* but I have a few ideas.

Most of them should be *timeless*. XX is good/XX is bad. Well there are *plenty* of people who divide opinions like that. The saints/sinners list changes over time (Larry Ellison and Peter Norton would probably be on it and might still deserve to be) .but the fact they divide peoples *opinions* on them *never* changes.

I'm not sure how to handle this one but perhaps a general "Halo" and "Horns with trident" pair (with who should be wearing them depending on what the stories about) might do it.

Question mark for "I don't get what the poster/author is trying to say or why"

Gimp mask from Pulp Fiction for both "you're a total fanbois" and their account/website/company has been pwnd and is completely under outside control. Either you're a gimp or you've been gimped.

I'd like something a bit more timeless than the Paris Hilton one but I'm not sure who. They'd have to be well know for being vacuous on both sides of the Atlantic. Marilyn Monroe perhaps?

Marie Antoniete with "Let them eat cake" has the right tone but might be a bit high brow.

Remember *Nothing* dates faster than ideas about the future.