there is a problem with the avatar check in the SVN, the following does NOT work with SVN install, but works on the site:
http://gravatar.com/avatar/ece08e582d2c69e687f3ef18162a511c?s=80

this may also be the same problem that does not allow the following from the site either:
http://paulwratt.110mb.com/ss/?ss/avatars/avatar-80x80.png

That last one requires a valid http_referer variable be filled

BTW this site is still experiencing intermittent problems

I am unable to test this atm, it may be because of this OS install, or the PHP install (not allowing fsocket connections), but it is failing from a localhost install, where the actual PHP library function fails:
php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed:

I will try later from another install. If this is an fsocket issue, then there needs to be a test for it in the installer (at least so devs know)

There also needs to be better checking with this image_info function, as some urls that fail verification, still supply valid images (maybe a redirect issue or similar http related problem)