Avatars....
Causes lag if you are on dial up maybe. Otherwise, no it doesn't. Plus, EA rarely comes here anyway, so good luck getting their attention.
Forum Discussion
Worried over nothing. This is 2012 not 2002. I have been in forums with tens of thousands more members than this one, many who had animated avatars and there were no problems. If your pc can't handle gifs you need an upgrade. The servers will be fine.
