Krush,<div>
</div><div>No you don't have to sign up to Gravatar if you don't want to, it's not a requirement. If you want an avatar, use it, if you don't, then don't worry about it!</div><div>
</div><div>It is an improvement from our point of view as:</div><div> - We can filter out xrated avatars, currently the site is set to accept PG rated only</div><div> - We improve page loading times as the images are located on other serves</div><div> - We drastically reduce our bandwidth usage</div><div> - It has a decent API which makes menial tasks really easy</div><div>
</div><div>So there are lots of benefits, but again, having an avatar is not a requirement to use the site so if you aren't comfortable using Gravatar you are not required to do so.</div><div>
</div><div>Tom</div>