# How does this banned poster from 17 years ago have an avatar? **URL:** \ **Category:** Site Feedback\ **Created:** [September 24, 2021, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-this-banned-poster-from-17-years-ago-have-an-avatar/951232 "2021-09-24T01:22:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-this-banned-poster-from-17-years-ago-have-an-avatar/951232/1 "2021-09-24T01:22:33Z")
From an old thread someone linked to: @dorkusmalorkusmafia. We were still on vBulletin back then of course, long before Discourse. So how does he have an avatar? I seriously doubt that the avatar Greasemonkey script that some people ran 10 years ago would cause an avatar to carry over. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-this-banned-poster-from-17-years-ago-have-an-avatar/951232/2 "2021-09-24T01:36:44Z")
Hmmm. Best guess is that, at one time or another, the standard VBulletin avatar upload section of the user control panel was active, even if those avatars weren’t displayed on the forum pages. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-this-banned-poster-from-17-years-ago-have-an-avatar/951232/3 "2021-09-24T02:11:46Z")
I seem to remember that that profile pic (only visible on your profile page) became your avatar when we swapped over, if you didn’t have an avatar. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-this-banned-poster-from-17-years-ago-have-an-avatar/951232/4 "2021-09-24T02:13:00Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I seem to remember that that profile pic (only visible on your profile page) became your avatar when we swapped over, if you didn’t have an avatar.  From my vague recollection of the Dope on VB, that sounds most likely. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-this-banned-poster-from-17-years-ago-have-an-avatar/951232/5 "2021-10-18T21:09:44Z")
Is the _post_ from 17 years ago, or was the user _banned_ 17 years ago? Possibly it’s just an old post from a user who was banned sometime after avatars were enabled? If they were banned 17 years ago, then I got nothin’. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-this-banned-poster-from-17-years-ago-have-an-avatar/951232/6 "2021-10-18T21:16:01Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > If they were banned 17 years ago, then I got nothin’. A quick check of his posting history shows him getting banned in 2004 for starting a thread in which he admitted (and encouraged other’s to do the same) that he was a sock for previously banned poster. Looks like he was banned about an hour after he started the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-this-banned-poster-from-17-years-ago-have-an-avatar/951232/7 "2021-10-18T21:39:00Z")
Wow, that’s weird, because I remember that user name and thought he had been around for awhile. Memory sure is funny, huh?