From time to time I wonder from where people have gotten their avatars. It usually doesn't seem like a big enough deal to PM them over but sometimes I like the art or otherwise want to know more. If a bit of text were added (perhaps as the image's title attribute or buried in the profile if that would be too distracting), I'd be pleased. The images are all used in "fair use", of course, but it would also seem more respectful to attribute them.
So what do others (obv. esp. ML) think? Are you ever curious to know where avatars came from and do you like the idea?
Search the googles.
I made mine myself all on my own.
Mine uses the power of your imagination.
Mine comes from the lack of imagination.
Mine was originally by Archon, and then modified by Mark Oates iirc.
p.s. Yes I am one of those people that would leave christmas lights up all year. If I put them up to start with. I don't. So I don't have to even think about taking them down 
I wonder about the origins of people's avatars (here) a lot too. That's when I decided to put that info into my profile. So if people by chance, hovered the profile icon to perhaps get information about the avatar (,like I sometimes do,) they would actually get that information.
(Looking at my profile, I didn't do a very good job... Fixing...)
I can't say I have the most interesting of avatars... And one could argue that not knowing where it's from is one of the charms of (certain) avatars. I personally like the ones that look 'home made'.
You shouldn't force people to give a (nonsensical) description of their avatar, I think. Although I do like the idea of putting an alt-text as part of the user profile, it would get messy probably. On a text-only browser it would get confusing, and people would of-course make 'creative' use of it.
By the way, Ben, how could you post something like this and not tell about your own avatar?
This turned out longer than I thought... and more boring. Spoiler tag FTW.
Short version: look at my profile.
Mine was created by Elias and selected as the new official Allegro logo.
My avatars are from Doctor Who off of the bbc website. The current one is a CyberMan.
I don't think I need to explain mine...
Mine is the Master Chief, slowly modified over several years into the Holiday Master Chief.
He will finish the fight. And the milk and cookies.
Mine was originally by Archon, and then modified by Mark Oates iirc.
Yea, I put the danglies and the presents on there. Back in the day... 
Mine is a photo of myself I took about 3-4 years ago. I've decided to keep it and use it on other forums and profiles. I modify it on here from time to time, but not too much. I don't want to confuse anyone. 
Neil, for some reason I thought yours was from Transformers or something.
Mine was created by Elias and selected as the new official Allegro logo.
I created it? It's a good choice then 
Pasting in my avatar there gives me this so I'd say google is next to useless for it.
Yes I am one of those people that would leave christmas lights up all year.
Haha, I'm about the same I suppose. My avatar was the face of some bum, I stole it from a picture captioned "it's friday, bitch!!!!!" Then, I hacked a skull face onto it for halloween. Then, I tossed on a santa suit for Christmas, and it's been that way since.
Mine is a not so obscure internet meme. I changed it to this because, I figured you guys would get tired of looking at my ugly mug.
Whoops! When did Google get reverse image search? That was retorical: I'd Google if I really cared to know. I thought the best reverse image search was TinEye, which is a direct search only, last I checked. Google's "similar images" feature can fetch scaled images very well (most avatars) but is also good for finding an image that fits a particular visual theme.
My Avatar is based on official art for the Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening for the original GameBoy or GameBoy Color as the "DX" version. I had a Christmas version which I took down somewhat late into the year.
I like how Google just flipped on their little reverse-image-search switch somewhere and destroyed TinEye. 
[edit]here I made a picture:
{"name":"604888","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/d\/3\/d326acbab5abf6cd21d646ed52f448d7.png","w":822,"h":245,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/d\/3\/d326acbab5abf6cd21d646ed52f448d7"}
Do I need to have a Google account to use this? 
Ah, I see.. It just doesn't support Opera
Hand made.
Anyone remember the year of goateed avatars from 2002-2003?
Anyone remember the year of goateed avatars from 2002-2003?
And the Last First Name fad.
Mine came with my Arch Linux install, I was poking around in the /dev directory, looking for what on earth the portable hard disk was calling itself, and came across a cool image: {"name":"null","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/a\/c\/acfd3f3a189cc471bf6f5570bca493bb.jpg","w":1024,"h":553,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/a\/c\/acfd3f3a189cc471bf6f5570bca493bb"}
Edit:
why does <img src="/dev/null" /> give a minecraft screenshot...?
Mine is from an old puzzle game called Xor which I played on my Atari ST.
Here's a review from someone who apparently doesn't know how to play the game. (They liken it to Boulderdash, which is waayyyy off the mark. Apparently the fact that this is a puzzle game completely escaped them. Anyway, I'm just linking to that review because it has a screenshot.)
why does <img src="/dev/null" /> give a minecraft screenshot...?
Either we know what Matthew thinks of Minecraft, or what he thinks of the people playing it.
{"name":"null","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/a\/c\/acfd3f3a189cc471bf6f5570bca493bb.jpg","w":1024,"h":553,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/a\/c\/acfd3f3a189cc471bf6f5570bca493bb"}
Woah, it's the seckrit portal into allegro.cc!!! 
I was given my avatar for my special forum skillz... I dunno where it came from.
Mine's a spaceship, and her name is Ryo-Ohki.
Someone on a.cc needed a squirrel for the main character in a game. I still can't figure why he refused my 30 s art work. I even had a name for it.
{"name":"604895","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/4\/0\/404d7b4d5531294220cd179bfbecd50f.png","w":421,"h":266,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/4\/0\/404d7b4d5531294220cd179bfbecd50f"}
I seem to remember a thread where we discussed a squirrel platformer back in the days when I still had the energy to keep my post graph going up at a decent rate...
The shark is based on a 3D model of a leopard shark, kindly offered for free download by someone somewhere on the internet (along with some 30 other sealife species); I used them as test data for my 3D engine, and the leopard shark stood out for its fantastic facial expression. The avatar is actual output from that render engine (which also makes it kind of unique, since I haven't published the renderer nor anything else it output).
Looks like a nice model for a game.
My first idea is a shark racing game, you get powerups from eating fish that swims in the race track area.
3D racing in the ocean, imagine the scenery you could make. 
Mine is my photo.
Mine is me in my christmas clothes.
I took mine using a sony cyber-shot, its a feral cat living on the university campus engineering building around 9 pm at night under palms. I have a much larger version of it.
@verthex: It would be great if you could post the full copy, I am curious to have a look at what they look like full size.
I am curious to have a look at what they look like full size.
You've never seen a cat in real life
Its more the evil glowing eyes, and the tail, that makes me want to see the full sized picture.
This is Australia, so I have seen cats, and seen feral cats that would make Texas jealous, but I haven't seen that cat in real life.
I have it backed up on some dvd and I don't have the time to search through my collection, sorry.
No problem, my curiosity shall survive I am sur.... ooh shiney.