ok so i did what i said i would not do and made a random avatar kit. the advantage to doing this is that i can just ignore any further comments or questions about random avatars.
how to get a random avatar
1) download this file: http://nate.metroid2002.com/avatars/random_avatar.zip
2) use a program such as winrar or stuffit expander to unzip the file. (if you are using mac os x, there is a 99% chance you will just be able to double-click the file and have it unzip without having to download additional software.)
3) upload both files you see (avatar.jpg and DELETE_THIS_PART_BEFORE_THE_PERIOD.htaccess) to a folder on your webspace with your avatars in it. this will become the folder the script uses to pick a random avatar from.
4) rename the uploaded (on your webhost) file DELETE_THIS_PART_BEFORE_THE_PERIOD.htaccess so that it is now called just .htaccess (delete the part of its name before the period/full stop). the file may disappear at this point - that is fine; you don't need to mess with it again anyway.
5) link to your new rotating avatar at http://your_webhost_here/your_avatars_folder/avatar.jpg. keep in mind that with this script, that web address "becomes" the random avatar, so you will need to link to that address (ending in avatar.jpg), not to the random avatar image it becomes if you enter the address into your browser.
notes: our very own carlmmii modified the script so that the image will change every time you view a thread. previously, firefox was caching the result of the script, so that you had to hit "reload" to see a new random avatar every time you loaded a forum thread.
how to get a random avatar
1) download this file: http://nate.metroid2002.com/avatars/random_avatar.zip
2) use a program such as winrar or stuffit expander to unzip the file. (if you are using mac os x, there is a 99% chance you will just be able to double-click the file and have it unzip without having to download additional software.)
3) upload both files you see (avatar.jpg and DELETE_THIS_PART_BEFORE_THE_PERIOD.htaccess) to a folder on your webspace with your avatars in it. this will become the folder the script uses to pick a random avatar from.
4) rename the uploaded (on your webhost) file DELETE_THIS_PART_BEFORE_THE_PERIOD.htaccess so that it is now called just .htaccess (delete the part of its name before the period/full stop). the file may disappear at this point - that is fine; you don't need to mess with it again anyway.
5) link to your new rotating avatar at http://your_webhost_here/your_avatars_folder/avatar.jpg. keep in mind that with this script, that web address "becomes" the random avatar, so you will need to link to that address (ending in avatar.jpg), not to the random avatar image it becomes if you enter the address into your browser.
notes: our very own carlmmii modified the script so that the image will change every time you view a thread. previously, firefox was caching the result of the script, so that you had to hit "reload" to see a new random avatar every time you loaded a forum thread.
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