With the new format, a lot of the avatar photos which I had previously seen now show up as an x. I haven't made any changes to my internet options settings, and this doesn't happen on other forums.
But, I think I've figured something out. The photos I do see are uploaded individual ones. The x's are replacing the stock photos from the old format. And for those who had no photos, there is now a capital letter corresponding to the 1st letter of their screenname.
Not a complaint, just curious.