What Is That Blue Glow?

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The discussion revolves around a blue glow around profile pictures in a forum, which users are curious about. ChizbeJoe asks what it means, and kewubenduben suggests it indicates the last poster when the user is the original poster (OP). zogstrip recommends hovering over the avatar to see a tooltip, though this may not work for keyboard users or tablet/iPad users. featheredtoast confirms the glow highlights the OP if they also made the last reply, and featheredtoast adds that it appears on desktop but not always on mobile, possibly due to design choices. patrickemin questions why multiple avatars sometimes show the glow and asks about mobile visibility and settings. featheredtoast clarifies that only the OP’s avatar should glow if they replied last, and there are no settings, though it can be customized via themes.

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I was just wondering, what does that blue glow around people’s profile pictures mean?

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The photo display
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last poster when you’re OP?

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Have you tried hovering the avatar and wait a little bit for the tooltip to show up? :wink:

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Let’s hope ChizbeJoe isn’t a keyboarder, because if he is, he’ll have a problem. :wink:

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Or perhaps tablet / iPad user.

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IMG_20121020_133408.jpg1536×2048 380 KB

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Sorry, can’t read that image, as I am blind. :sunglasses:

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Thankfully OCR is a thing. :smile:

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At first - after reading just the large test (“Don’t Rely On Hover” and “Testing on the Toilet”), I thought that the poster was about ‘hovering’ over the toilet seat :laughing:

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Hi, I have the same question, what is that blue circle? Thanks.

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This answer is accurate:

IE the person who started the topic is the same person who replied last. Their avatar shows up highlighted to indicate this, rather than appearing twice in the list.

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As there is only one OP per thread, there should be only one highlighted avatar no? I can see several on some threads (on my site)

Other questions:

  • I can see this glow effect on mobile but not on PC (as designed?)
  • Are there any settings for this functionality ?

Thanks

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I see it on desktop here - Only the first avatar is highlighted.

Screenshot 2025-08-19 at 4.36.44 PM

Mobile is a bit smaller, so having a glow there may be more distracting with the compression of information. Simplicity is key on smaller UI devices.

There are no settings for this, but it is simple enough to customize it through a theme if you wish.

1 Like
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That’s weird, this is my experience on smartphone (and none on PC):

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image840×714 86.5 KB

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