Avatar Confusion

Avatars here are a source of multiple perplexity, to put it mildly. I explain:

1 The Rules talk about signatures, there’s also a sticky, but avatars are not mentioned.
2 Avatar specifications changed without any announcement, at least not a prominent one.
3 My animated gif avatar I had for years, suddenly stopped working.
4 On trying to re-upload it, I then (and only then) got the message that gifs are not allowed. To my knowledge, this is not mentioned anywhere.
5 I see no reason why gifs are not allowed if their size and dimensions are within limits. They are no greater burden to the board than simple images of same size.
6 The avatar dimensions given as allowed are 80x80. However, my 80x80 avatar appears as 60x60. So do most others.
7 The avatar size allowed is 19.5kB, which is a lot for a 60x60 image. One would expect either the image size to be reduced or its dimensions to be increased.
8 There are some scattered posts, difficult to find, about avatar specs depending on member postcount. This appears to be something of a secret, not given anywhere to my knowledge. As a result, nobody seems to know for sure.

To put some order to all this, I make the obvious suggestion that a paragraph be added in the Rules about avatars. Alternatively, a sticky.

The image type, size and dimensions could also be reconsidered and clarified at the point of upload.

 

http://forum.phun.org/showthread.ph...s-new-format&p=5984193&viewfull=1#post5984193

 

Thanks TheRiver, that reference does throw some light as regards changes, though it doesn’t address most of the confusing inconsistencies and lack of info I mentioned. So, I suppose the real meaning of the quote is to have patience till things settle down and then come back with suggestions. But just a few words of info on (current) avs in the meantime could save a lot of confusion and fruitless efforts by members.