Avatars are the little pictures next to your posts on forums and blogs. Most forums or blogs require you to upload your own avatar each time you sign up. But there is a free service out there that allows you to upload an avatar that can be used on any site. It’s call Gravatar, or Globally Recognized Avatar.
The service works like this. You sign up with Gravatar using your email address, then whenever you post a message on a forum or blog that is Gravatar enabled, your picture will automatically appear. My blog is Gravatar enabled. So if you post a comment and you are using Gravatar, your picture will automatically appear next to your comment. The key is to use the same email address to sign up for Gravatar as you do to make posts and comments.
Here’s a link to a comment to give you an idea:
http://josephbales.com/2008/04/10/ie7-hacks/#comment-83
