Icon
The user-picture for a member of any LiveJournal/JournalFen, Deleterius, FandomWank, or other online forums. Most commonly used in the expression Icon Love, denoting admiration for the 100 x 100 maximum picture.
The accepted way to create an icon is to crop a section from someone else's photograph or artwork without permission and add blinking text in a font you haven't paid for, using one or more pieces of software you either pirated, or that still flash up their annoying shareware nag whenever you load them up. This magical incantation gives you the inalienable right to scream "Icon theft!" at anyone who then uses your stunning original creation without permission.
Massive amounts of ridiculous and ultimately pointless drama have stemmed from icons, and their perceived theft. Many LJews who make icons demand "credit" be given for their squares of annoying flashing handiwork. So many of these people exist that there is a community to rant about it and try to force others to credit, 
i_theft. In one of the most visible instances, kkk_membership nearly drove one of the members to madness by using an icon she made.
Let us not forget the user caroljoy, she had a shit fit when someone shooped the kitty cat image she blatently heisted from a copyrighted page, what a cunt.
Several LJers have been suspended over icons and icon theft, as in the case of Rose Quoll. LJ Abuse must take action with any valid DMCA requests by law, but as always are quite overzealous in the process.
General Icon Evaluation Guidelines
- If a female user has no icons which are actually pictures of herself, she is almost certainly fat or a guy or both.
- This probability goes up exponentially when many of the icons involve Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, LOST, Firefly, Buffy, Angel, Naruto, or Supernatural fandoms. Research is inconclusive regarding whether the effect is magnified with multiple fandoms at once.
- If they have a cartoony-looking character in at least half of their icons (with the only real difference being the character's moods and shit), they're probably a furry on top of being fat.
- Remember - anyone can look cute at 100 x 100. See misleading thumbnail.
| Icon is part of a series on Language & Communication | |
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Languages and Dialects • Grammar, Punctuation, Spelling, Style, and Usage • Rhetorical Strategies • Poetry •
The Politics of Language and Communication • Media • Visual Rhetoric
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