Custom Avatar Question

[GK_3GO]

I used the search function here (I swear!) and I found some interesting posts that basically answered my questions.

I still had one that I was curious about. If the custom avatars are stored in the "customavatar," what format are they in? I mean are they turned into a vB type format?

[tubedogg]

Avatars that are uploaded (either from the user's computer or transloaded from another website) are stored in the customavatar table as binary data and spit back as binary data (GIF or jpg).

[GK_3GO]

Originally posted by tubedogg
Avatars that are uploaded (either from the user's computer or transloaded from another website) are stored in the customavatar table as binary data and spit back as binary data (GIF or jpg).

1. So nobody else on the net can link to the avatar's and steal bandwith, correct?

2. I tried the avatar function last night and disabled it for now. How do I go about deleting an avatar that I inserted from the database? I'm running myPhpAdmin.

[tubedogg]

1. No, because if a user links to, f.e.,
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/avatar.php?userid=6
they would get the avatar since there is no permission checking on who can view avatars.
2. You went to your User CP > Edit Options then Edit Avatar and uploaded an avatar? Just go back to the same place and choose No to use avatar. That will delete it from the database.

[GK_3GO]

What if I decide to enable Custom Avatar's for one month and I decide I want to disable them again (watching for bandwith usage).

If I disable them, all the CA's are still in the table using disk space still, right?

If so, how would I kill them then?

Thanks!

[tubedogg]

DELETE FROM customavatar;
UPDATE user SET avatarid=0;

[GK_3GO]

Yet another question....

Is it possible to let people use avatar's that they link to only? So instead of people uploading images, they link to stuff they have on their own servers.

[tubedogg]

Yes. Admin CP > vBulletin Options > Avatars and look for the option about uploading and set it to No.

[Cluster]

Originally posted by tubedogg
Yes. Admin CP > vBulletin Options > Avatars and look for the option about uploading and set it to No.

Somewhere around here I read that if a user links to an avatar from another web site, this will still upload that image to the local server and then use it from the database.
Is that true, or will vBulletin simply show the image from the other web site?

[tubedogg]

It will upload the image to your site since doing otherwise would be considered leeching by most webmasters and would bring a considerable amount of 'bad will' on you from them.