Discourse plugin patches to use custom Avatar URL instead of Discourse's avatar system

javascript_overrides.js

  var safe = Handlebars.SafeString;

  Em.Handlebars.helper('bound-avatar', function(user, size, uploadId) {
    if (Em.isEmpty(user)) {
      return new safe("<div class='avatar-placeholder'></div>");
    }
    var username = Em.get(user, 'username');

    if(arguments.length < 4){
      uploadId = Em.get(user, 'uploaded_avatar_id');
    }


    return new safe(Discourse.Utilities.avatarImg({
      size: size,
      avatarTemplate: user.uploaded_avatar_url
    }));
  }, 'username', 'uploaded_avatar_id');

plugin.rb

  require Rails.root.join("app/models/user").to_s
  class ::User
    def uploaded_avatar_url
      uploaded_avatar.try(:url) || ''
    end
  end

  # user serializer changes to include User#uploaded_avatar_url

  require Rails.root.join("app/serializers/current_user_serializer").to_s
  class ::CurrentUserSerializer
    attributes :uploaded_avatar_url
    def uploaded_avatar_url
      object.uploaded_avatar_url
    end
  end

  require Rails.root.join("app/serializers/basic_user_serializer").to_s
  class ::BasicUserSerializer < ::ApplicationSerializer
    attributes :uploaded_avatar_url

    def uploaded_avatar_url
      if Hash === object
        user.uploaded_avatar_url
      else
        object.uploaded_avatar_url
      end
    end
  end

  require Rails.root.join("app/serializers/user_serializer").to_s
  class ::UserSerializer < ::BasicUserSerializer
    attributes :uploaded_avatar_url

    def uploaded_avatar_url
      object.uploaded_avatar_url
    end
  end

  require Rails.root.join("app/serializers/basic_post_serializer").to_s
  class ::BasicPostSerializer
    attributes :uploaded_avatar_url
    def uploaded_avatar_url
      object.user.uploaded_avatar_url
    end
  end

  require Rails.root.join("app/serializers/post_serializer").to_s
  class ::PostSerializer
    attributes :uploaded_avatar_url

    def reply_to_user
      {
        username: object.reply_to_user.username,
        avatar_template: object.reply_to_user.avatar_template,
        uploaded_avatar_id: object.reply_to_user.uploaded_avatar_id,
        uploaded_avatar_url: object.reply_to_user.uploaded_avatar_url
      }
    end
  end

  require Rails.root.join("app/serializers/post_action_user_serializer").to_s
  class ::PostActionUserSerializer
    attributes :uploaded_avatar_url
    def uploaded_avatar_url
      object.user.uploaded_avatar_url
    end
  end

  require Rails.root.join("app/serializers/admin_post_serializer").to_s
  class ::AdminPostSerializer
    attributes :uploaded_avatar_url

    def uploaded_avatar_url
      object.user.uploaded_avatar_url
    end
  end

https://meta.discourse.org/t/allow-polling-avatar-from-uri/275943/2?u=rokejulianlockhart