FYI, to get the avatar animation to work, I had to make the avatar smaller.
The easiest way to do that was to go to GifWorks.com (http://www.gifworks.com)
To resize an animated image:
<ul><ol><li> In the top navigation bar, click on "Free Online GIF Tools"
<li> On the top of the next window click on "File"
<li> In the drop down menu click on "File Open"
<li> Next you can either upload the GIF image file you want to work with if it's on your computer, or put the link to where Gif Works can find the image you want to work with.
<li> Click on "Upload Image" or "Fetch Image"
<li> You should now see your animated image
<li> Click on "Edit"
<li> In the drop down menu click on "Resize/Crop" and then "Resize"
<li> Enter the desired new width and height, keeping the "Constrain Proportions" box ticked, and press "OK"
<li> Your resized image should now appear.
<li> If it looks good, right click on the new resized image and click "Save Picture As" and save it to your computer.
<li> If it's not right, go through the Edit/Resize until it's correct.
</li></ol></ul>
Forum avatars should not be any larger than 100px X 100px
If they're any larger than that, the animation will probably not work.