I'm a little embarassed to say that my comments about saving ComputerHope some workload on their web host server were invalid. I forgot that adding an avatar in this forum can only be done by pointing to a URL independent of ComputerHope.com. So, the data traffic consumed with poorly optimized graphics is a matter of concern only the individual forum member using that image.
However, I still think ComputerHope would want forum members to avoid bloated image files because they could still have an impact on website/forum performance from the visitor's perspective, especially for anyone using a dial-up connection. All the images on screen, regardless of where they are hosted, must be loaded into the visitor's web browser.
My confusion may have come from the fact that I am an adminstrator for a new forum I helped install for a local organization. When a user installs an avatar, they can choose among three ways to do that. Here's a screen capture of what a user of that forum sees when electing to insert an avatar:
As you can see, the first two options actually upload the avatar to the server hosting the website and forum. The third option shown there works the same as ComputerHope's forum; the avatar resides on a server specified by the user, not on ComputerHope's server.
Note the 6KB limit on file size.
