FolioVision

There’s one problem with Gravatars. They are very slow to load. Each page with comments on them makes one call per comment to the Gravatar server. While a single call takes only a 100ms, on a page with hundreds of comments, we are talking about major slowdowns. Page loads can take 20 seconds and more.
This plugin solves this problem by:
<ul>
<li>
caching gravatars with WordPress cron job..
</li>
<li>
caching gravatars on comment submission
</li>
<li>
maintaining a single copy of the default gravatar instead of downloading it again and again for all the email addresses with no gravatar associtated
</li>
</ul>
<a href="http://foliovision.com/seo-tools/wordpress/plugins/fv-gravatar-cache/installation" rel="nofollow ugc">Installation guide</a>
<a href="http://foliovision.com/seo-tools/wordpress/plugins/fv-gravatar-cache" rel="nofollow ugc">Support and more information</a>

FV Gravatar Cache

I deactivated plugin but still contains elements in Database

Database Junk

Speeds up your website by making sure the gravatars are stored on your website and not loading from the gravatar server.

peterwsterling

Adds local (private) avatars for your users. Maybe your users don’t want a global avatar, aren’t IT savvy enough to set a Gravatar up, simply want a private avatar for your blog, or any other reason too… Well, from WordPress 2.5 onwards, you can manage local and global avatars with this plugin. Plus you can use your Twitter avatar too!
From v9.0 Avatars requires PHP version 5.1.3 or greater.
The plug-in now delivers the much requested feature of allowing users to upload their own local avatar. And, the latest new feature allows your users to use their <a href="http://twitter.com" rel="nofollow ugc">Twitter</a> avatar. The order of precedence is; Local, Twitter, then Global. In other words; if you define a Local avatar for a user, that will be used, if there is no Local avatar defined and a Twitter ID is given for a user, the plugin will try to use that avatar. Lastly, where no Local avatar is defined and no Twitter ID is given (or Twitter doesn’t return a match), a unique Global avatar (<a href="http://gravatar.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Gravatar</a>) will be generated.
The local avatar feature list:
<ul>
<li>Have global or local avatars for your users.</li>
<li>Use Twitter avatars for your users.</li>
<li>Allow avatars to be included in posts. This is achieved securely; e-mail addresses are not exposed.</li>
<li>Detailed control over the default avatar to use for those users who do not have a global or local avatar. Allows a choice of a custom image, ‘mystery’ blank image, blank, Wavatar, Monster ID, or Identicon.</li>
<li>Wraps avatars in code to support SnapShots (www.snap.com), should your site use these.</li>
<li>Permits users to upload their own local avatars.</li>
</ul>
You may also be interested in the sister <a href="http://www.sterling-adventures.co.uk/blog/2009/01/01/comments-with-avatars/" rel="nofollow ugc">Comments with Avatars</a> plugin.
Plus there is now a new sidebar widget extension to the plug-in that provides a feature allowing users to manage their avatar from the sidebar without having to use WordPress’ profile administration page. It provides the same capability as the profile page. This new feature provides yet more support for users who may not, for example, be savvy enough to use the WordPress administration interface. Get the extension <a href="http://www.sterling-adventures.co.uk/blog/2008/03/01/avatars-plugin/" rel="nofollow ugc">here</a>.
<a href="http://www.sterling-adventures.co.uk/blog/2008/03/01/avatars-plugin/" rel="nofollow ugc">Donations</a> are welcome and help keep development going.
<h3>Thanks</h3>
A lot of hard work has gone in to this plug-in, much of it at the request of people who use it, and I hope it is useful to you too! Please consider these things…
<ul>
<li>Please recognise your use of the plug-in on your blog. Maybe post an article (with a link back to http://www.sterling-adventures.co.uk/blog/) to say how you’ve integrated the plug-in into your site? Or simply make sure the Author Credit option is enabled on the options page.</li>
<li>Remember that a lot of the features of the plug-in are a direct result of people asking for them. So, please get in contact and let me know what you think.</li>
<li>If you do find value in using the plug-in, please consider a donation at http://www.sterling-adventures.co.uk/blog/2008/03/01/avatars-plugin/ Size isn’t important, it’s the thought that counts!</li>
</ul>
Enjoy!
<h3>Internationalisation</h3>
Avatars provides support for language translations. Ensure WPLANG is set in your <code>wp-config</code> file. 
To help with the available translations create a .po translation and compile a .mo file. If you would like this to be included in the general distribution please send these files back via the <a href="http://www.sterling-adventures.co.uk/Comments/feedback.php" rel="nofollow ugc">feedback link</a>. I can’t accept any credit for these languages files, nor can I guarantee they are correct.
Available translations, from the English default, are:
<ul>
<li>Persian (WPLANG = fa_IR). Thanks to Mustafa Sufi.</li>
<li>Russian (WPLANG = ru_RU). Thanks to Levati.</li>
<li>French (WPLANG = fr_FR). Thanks to Adrien Schvalberg.</li>
<li>Spanish (WPLANG = es_ES). Thanks to Naceira – http://www.naceira.com/</li>
<li>Ukrainian (WPLANG = uk_UK). Thanks to Vadim Nekhai, website: http://onix.name/portfolio/</li>
<li>Portuguese Brazil (WPLANG = pt_BR). Thanks to Steff.</li>
<li>Japanese (WPLANG = pt_ja). Thanks to Kazuhiko Maeda.</li>
<li> Czech (WPLANG = cs_CZ). Thanks to Dominik Chrástecký.</li>
</ul>

Add Local Avatar

When I tried to add the user avatar the plugin showed the link as
//image-file.jpg 
Basically the plugin is broken.



It simply does not work

This plugin adds the ability to manage global, local, and use twitter avatars.

FV Gravatar Cache vs Add Local Avatar