I vaguely remember that when I was new here I couldn't upload a custom image so I settled for one of the (900 or so!) stock avatars. It's possible that I just hadn't found the control for uploading yet, or that it wasn't working for me yet -- or that I didn't even try it because I didn't expect it to work.

As I understand it, new members currently need 5 approved posts to be able to post links or images. I don't know if a similar requirement applies to uploading avatars or not.

Anyway, I notice that colmnach now has 17 posts and has apparently managed to upload his own avatar. (Is that... an eagle?)