Avatar Trouble

[Martin L. Shoemaker]

I have to hatch my own personality before I can hope for an alter ego. Trust the process, right?

Indeed. Erm.

Gator started out as a mere avatar, then became so much more...
In fact, she wasn't so much hatched, as bought. Even though it was 8 years ago I vividly remember buying her. Her mugshot was displayed on a wall in Second Life, alongside the mugshots of a whole range of other googly-eyed animal avatars by the same maker. The frog was quite nice too but there was no doubt in my mind she was the cutest. But did I really want to be an alligator? Who on earth wants to be an alligator? I knew nothing of alligators. I'm British, I don't even remember seeing a real life alligator. Surely they're just these crude, cruel, stupid, aggressive, giant, ugly things that sometimes eat people? (Wrong, of course, I know better now, they are complex creatures, are rather timid, have their caring side and even use tools! ) Hmm, but being a gator could be amusing, said a small voice somewhere. So I bought her. And so it began.

I'm smiling here. Such a great story!

[E.CaimanSands]

I have to hatch my own personality before I can hope for an alter ego. Trust the process, right?

Indeed. Erm.

Gator started out as a mere avatar, then became so much more...
In fact, she wasn't so much hatched, as bought. Even though it was 8 years ago I vividly remember buying her. Her mugshot was displayed on a wall in Second Life, alongside the mugshots of a whole range of other googly-eyed animal avatars by the same maker. The frog was quite nice too but there was no doubt in my mind she was the cutest. But did I really want to be an alligator? Who on earth wants to be an alligator? I knew nothing of alligators. I'm British, I don't even remember seeing a real life alligator. Surely they're just these crude, cruel, stupid, aggressive, giant, ugly things that sometimes eat people? (Wrong, of course, I know better now, they are complex creatures, are rather timid, have their caring side and even use tools! ) Hmm, but being a gator could be amusing, said a small voice somewhere. So I bought her. And so it began.

I'm smiling here. Such a great story!

Yes, just be sure not to repeat it in front of her majesty. She doesn't remember that day, or so she claims. She thinks she was hatched like a regular gator.

[storysinger]

Thanks for the help guys. I finally found something that loaded but it shows an ad now and then.
It's a start of a learning curve I'm sure.

[bobsandiego]

Thanks for the help guys. I finally found something that loaded but it shows an ad now and then.
It's a start of a learning curve I'm sure.

oh it's a real ad -- I just thought it was hipster irony!

[J'nae Rae]

Ok, most pics I have online are on Facebook, but it doesn't seem to want to let me link there. Any suggestions?

[disgruntledpeony]

Ok, most pics I have online are on Facebook, but it doesn't seem to want to let me link there. Any suggestions?

Photobucket tends to work for me.

[Beth Powers]

Ok, most pics I have online are on Facebook, but it doesn't seem to want to let me link there. Any suggestions?

I used a Twitter picture, but Facebook should work the same--if you right click on the image, you should get the option of "Copy image address." You can then paste it into the "Link off-site" on the avatar section of your control panel. If I remember correctly, I had to specify the dimensions (100x100) in the provided boxes to get it to work.

You might run into problems if the image isn't public on your Facebook page, but I'm not sure.

[J'nae Rae]

Ok, most pics I have online are on Facebook, but it doesn't seem to want to let me link there. Any suggestions?

I used a Twitter picture, but Facebook should work the same--if you right click on the image, you should get the option of "Copy image address." You can then paste it into the "Link off-site" on the avatar section of your control panel. If I remember correctly, I had to specify the dimensions (100x100) in the provided boxes to get it to work.

You might run into problems if the image isn't public on your Facebook page, but I'm not sure.

Facebook refused to work, but Twitter did. Thank you.

[Beth Powers]

Facebook refused to work, but Twitter did. Thank you.

Good! After I posted, I was thinking that I might have tried Facebook first too (it's been awhile since I changed it)--I don't know why Twitter works when it doesn't

[Jeremyteg]

I hate to resurrect such a long-dead thread, but I can't seem to get the avatar system working. I've tried linking to pictures from Twitter, Imgur, and Photobucket. None have worked, even when I enter the dimensions in the appropriate boxes. Is anyone else having this trouble post-update? Thanks!

[disgruntledpeony]

I hate to resurrect such a long-dead thread, but I can't seem to get the avatar system working. I've tried linking to pictures from Twitter, Imgur, and Photobucket. None have worked, even when I enter the dimensions in the appropriate boxes. Is anyone else having this trouble post-update? Thanks!

I decided to try and re-save my current avatar as a test, and it said the URL is invalid every time I tried (although it didn't remove my current image). This problem may well be universal. On the upside, it's probably also temporary.

[Jeremyteg]

Thanks for double checking that. Hopefully its gets resolved soon. I feel weird as a blank slate.

[Dustin Adams]

I hate to resurrect such a long-dead thread, but I can't seem to get the avatar system working. I've tried linking to pictures from Twitter, Imgur, and Photobucket. None have worked, even when I enter the dimensions in the appropriate boxes. Is anyone else having this trouble post-update? Thanks!

Jeremy,
As a test, e-mail me your avatar and I'll host it. Maybe it needs private hosting?
Actually, PM me, and I'll send you my e-mail. Until the bots are taken care of, better to not post our e-mail addresses.

[Jeremyteg]

Despite Dustin's valiant efforts, I am still getting the "Invalid URL error."

[Dustin Adams]

Brad,

There seems to be a 6kb limit on the avatars.
That and the usual 100x100px.

However, Jeremy and I uploaded a 3kb pic at 50x50px and still got the same error.
So the 6kb limit doesn't seem to be the issue.

I'll do some more troubleshooting later on to see if I can narrow this down.

Meanwhile, that's the progress report.

[Lazarus]

This is frustrating.

I am doing everything correctly and the Avatar link keeps flagging the error: "The URL you specified is invalid."

Well the URL is perfectly valid: http://www.chernik.com/images/LazGray_100x100.gif

and the image is within the specifications: 100px X 100px, and under 6k (it's actually 4,242 bytes)

The code is obviously flawed. What is the work around?

Thank you.

Lazarus

[Jeremyteg]

This is frustrating.

I am doing everything correctly and the Avatar link keeps flagging the error: "The URL you specified is invalid."

This is exactly the problem Dustin was helping me with. I think we're still waiting for Brad to figure it out.

[Dustin Adams]

I can't change my avatar. Is the system out?

Love me some Jean Claude, but he's been screaming for like two years now.

[michaeljwyantjr]

I didn’t have any issues when I changed mine recently.

That said, I uploaded the picture instead of linking it externally. How are you doing yours?

... also, that Van Damme avatar is awesome.

[preston]

Jeez, new avatars can only be 16 kb or smaller? I couldn't find any images that small. I finally took my image (34 kbs), opened it in "paint", re-sized it down to fifty percent, and saved it as a gif file and got it down to 13 kb. Success!

[disgruntledpeony]

Avatars are still up and running, as is evidenced by the fact that I've finally changed mine. >_>

[RSchibler]

I’m not great at math, but that’s one too few babies for my satisfaction.

Just kidding, cute photo

[disgruntledpeony]

wotf001 I’m not great at math, but that’s one too few babies for my satisfaction.

Just kidding, cute photo

It's just my picture with the best hair. My favorite pic of the boys doesn't size well for avatars.

[Dustin Adams]

So are the avatar changes working?
Time to change mine, but don't want to end up with the little x in the upper left circa Netscape 1.0.

[michaeljwyantjr]

So are the avatar changes working?
Time to change mine, but don't want to end up with the little x in the upper left circa Netscape 1.0.

It was a couple months back... only one way to find out, I guess.

[disgruntledpeony]

So are the avatar changes working?
Time to change mine, but don't want to end up with the little x in the upper left circa Netscape 1.0.

It was a couple months back... only one way to find out, I guess.

Back when it wasn't working, it just... wouldn't let me change mine. No X happened because I already had one.