The argument against avatars because it's traditional is based on a series of falsehoods, by the by.
"It's traditional", but so is starting major mod projects and not finishing them here, so, you know, tradition is not automatically good and right. More seriously this argument hinges on a perceived specialness of HLP. It is traditional in many, many places to have avatars. This has not resulted in the sky falling in on them or caused them to spontaneously combust. The sole reason to value this tradition more than any other tradition is the belief that it makes us unique and better.
If the argument is "so that people will focus on post content" then the corollary is "so that people will not focus on the poster". (I'm going to point out that if the assumption is that "so posters don't focus on who has the shiniest avatar" that this is not something that happens to people past the age of 12 and if the reason admins have them is it's really such a concern that they be inherently shinier and more worthy of respect in the eyes of 12-year-olds then...well, the dubiousness of that position should be obvious.)
First, it's pretty obvious without even looking at the poster name (and if applicable, avatar, because we regularly violate our supposed tradition for admins) when you're dealing with a Luis post, a Battuta post, a Dragon post, or a Goober post. And you will evaluate the content's usefulness and trustworthiness accordingly. We have blatant examples of people in the moderation dismissing the content of others' posts in this very thread because of who posted it. People will focus on poster and not content regardless if they are minded to do so. Nay, do not make the hackneyed argument that avatars would somehow make it “easier” to do so. These are opinions that can only emerge from having observed the poster's content across weeks or months. If someone regards a poster as contributing nothing to a discussion, they will not be swayed in that opinion by having to take a tenth of a second longer to identify that poster. (We have already proved this, right here.) Nor will they be swayed from considering someone as having things to offer to a discussion by making it a tenth of a second less time to identify the poster.
Second, "so that people will not focus on the poster" is at odds with the fact that administrators wear their avatars at all times, even when not acting in an administrative capacity and when their posts have no reason to be accorded special weight, in effect prompting others to focus on the poster even when the poster is supposedly irrelevant. "I am specialer than you" they say. "Pay attention to me." If the goal is truly to make all posters be judged equally, this is not only counterproductive but actually speaks to a desire that the administration be accorded special weight they are not, by the supposed logic of having no avatars for everyone else, due.
Third, the fact that we have custom text colors for users more or less destroys the argument that we are trying to enforce some kind of poster uniformity to encourage judging solely on content. BW and Mobius and Maeg had their own tags coded into the board to let them post in their own colors, making them even more instantly identifiable than an avatar would, because it's taking up far more of the visual area, and does not even require a momentary diversion of the eyes from the center of the screen where they would normally rest to identify who's posting.
Fourth, does this not sound a bit Orwellian? If one wishes to create a uniformity of posters so that all may be judged solely by their content (as impossible as this dream is it is a worthy one to pursue), it would be hoped that among all us American and European types it would already be understood that the way one does so is to raise all posters to the same level, rather than restrict away the opportunities for individual expression in a majority. One creates equality by extension of rights, not by hording them.
The argument that HLP's “traditional” approach to a lack of avatars makes HLP somehow better is undermined, thus, by the inherent dynamics of people posting on forums, by the implementation of avatars for certain people anyways, by the creation of workarounds for posters who desire to establish instant recognition regardless of the lack of avatars, and finally by good old-fashioned Enlightment principles. It should not and can not be taken seriously.