no, okay, I see why we're on two different pages here. a drop shadow never has "blur," it has "size." the black glow around your avatar is just that, a black glow. it's not a drop shadow because 1. it isn't actually functioning like a shadow, and 2. it has blur. additionally, drop shadows are offset by definition. you'll never see a drop shadow that isn't offset by at least 1 pixel. the glow around your avatar isn't offset at all, it's centered.
my avatar's glow was added to create the illusion that it is a separate entity from the page, that it's "popping out" if you will. it does this due to the fact that the glow makes itself appear as a shadow.
if you were to create sort of a lighting engine to simulate the drop shadow effects of elements and you positioned the source directly above the object, would the darkness around the object suddenly not become a shadow anymore?
again, it's a shadow with zero offset. it looks like a shadow so calling it a "black glow" would be stupid, haha.