Oh my god, you’re trying to get your pro-avatar cooties all over this board. Now I need a flea comb and some raid and some Febreze and some smelling salts and a cool cloth to put on my forehead for the faintness.
I always have been a rabble-rouser, baby. 
Don’t you know? The Dope is SPESHUL!!! We’re “not like other boards”. WE CANNOT BE LIKE TEH INTRAWEB PLEEBS!!!
Agreed as well!
See, if we had avatars, I’d take all four of your avatars and desecrate them and post the new versions. 
Assuming they are default off, optional on, no animations, don’t tire out the hamsters and perhaps are discouraged from changing very often. I don’t see any negatives.
Major positive being it’s easier for us folks who need some kind of visual to form memories of identities.
Other positive being, people who want them can have them and people who don’t want them will never have to see them. Seems like a win-win to me.
Interesting how the results so far of the various polls seem to differ widely based on whether they are default off.