It has nothing to do with the server speed, and everything to do with software incompatibilities introduced during a recent upgrade. Once the people that make the software I use update their code, we'll be flying along with no problems again.

As far as the Avatar, it's in your profile under the 'personality' tab. I certainly haven't uploaded the avatar's that other people use...did you not notice that several people have set their own?

Roll over the 'Users' tab next to the Message tab, up top center. Pick Profile.