Selected Avatar did not activate?

When I created my account, I selected a non-standard avatar. But when I showed up in SL, I was just the normal-looking avatar? Why did that happen, and how do I get the non-standard avatar?

This happened with an alt I created in the summer. The problem was not that the selected AV style was missing, but that all and any customization was missing - it was a "stock" AV if one exists. More plain even than the Boy/Girl next door AV currently offered (*the* starting AV of old), this was an androgynous, potato-faced AV dressed in a white texture-free body suit. It would have been very alarming to encounter as a new user (OH God I'm ugly is SL!!)

I saw myself as this AV once after teleporting, so I recognized the glitch. The difference with the alt is that it didn't go away. I decided to preserve the effect instead of correcting it, and now occasionally log in as one of the very few unattractive avatars roaming SL.

Maybe a bug?

In any event, in your Inventory/Library folder, all the avatars and their clothing/attachments can be worn to get the same look you wanted to choose on the web site.

Ah, the "Ruth Syndrom". In the library folder are a lot of good things to help remove the unwanted "Ruthing". It was the first avatar, from which all avatars are modeled, or so I'm told. To appear in this form at any time is refered to as being 'Ruthed' or 'Ruthing'.

My suggestion is to change shapes and skins, making sure that if it asks you to save changes, select No, or you will be perm-'Ruthed,' in that shape/skin/etc. Logging in and out also helps some, as does clearing the cache. And since you chose a non-standard, I'd recommend filing a bug report since maybe they broke their own code in fixing the grey-goo problem.

Anyways, Welcome to SL!

If you need more shapes/avatars/etc, feel free to look up Yadni's Junkyard to help you get started.