About 3 years ago, Herself & I were having problems with neighbor kids trespassing into the back yard. Not the "Oh crap, I accidentally kicked the ball over the fence" way - which never bothers me, but the "wander around the place while they're at work, dump out the potted plants, tip the rainwater barrel over, pee under the pergola, and worst - break into the locked yard-box & pour all the fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, etc., in a big pile, killing a good chunk of the garden and making a potentially lethal chemical cocktail.
Even after several iterations, the parents denied everything, and the police couldn't/didn't get there fast enough to catch them in the act.
If you can't beat them one way, we're firm believers in beating them in a different fashion.
So... we gathered up a few old (and maybe even antique) doll heads, & put them on stakes among the plants.
The effect was *immediate* - The vandalism stopped completely.
I know we completely creeped the little turds out - that's what we intended to do. Thankfully the family has since moved, so there aren't doll heads in the garden anymore.
I do understand snowbank's discomfort with (FM)'s avatar, although I don't share it at all.
In fact I have *much* more creepy/weird things in my house as art/knick-knacks.
So, is the avatar creepy? Kinda/sorta.
Is it over the line somehow? I don't think so at all.
At base, it is a picture of a child's toy with some missing bits.
Judging from some of the stuff that I've seen at the movies and in video games, it is not in any way improper for a PG-13 audience.
It would seem to me that those disturbed/offended should be the ones blocking the image as the most proper solution.
But if (FM) chose to change it because of being asked nicely, that would be very cool too...
And FWIW, I find clowns to be *much* creepier and waaay more disturbing...