diff --git a/app/models/user.rb b/app/models/user.rb
index 9e5c3a8..585a608 100644
--- a/app/models/user.rb
+++ b/app/models/user.rb
@@ -9,11 +9,11 @@ class User < ApplicationRecord
   validates :full_name, presence: true
 
   before_validation :set_default_username, on: :create
+  after_save :generate_open_graph_image
+  after_save :download_and_store_avatar, if: :saved_change_to_avatar?
 
   serialize :tags, JSON
 
-  after_save :generate_open_graph_image
-
   def parsed_tags
     if tags.is_a?(String)
       begin
@@ -30,9 +30,34 @@ def generate_open_graph_image
     OpenGraphImageGenerator.new(self).generate
   end
 
+  def download_and_store_avatar
+    return unless avatar.present? && avatar.start_with?('http')
+
+    require 'open-uri'
+    require 'fileutils'
+
+    begin
+      avatar_dir = Rails.root.join('public', 'avatars')
+      FileUtils.mkdir_p(avatar_dir) unless File.directory?(avatar_dir)
+
+      file = URI.open(avatar)
+
+      filename = "avatar_#{id}_#{Time.now.to_i}#{File.extname(avatar)}"
+      filepath = File.join(avatar_dir, filename)
+
+      File.open(filepath, 'wb') do |local_file|
+        local_file.write(file.read)
+      end
+
+      update_column(:avatar, "/avatars/#{filename}")
+    rescue OpenURI::HTTPError, SocketError => e
+      Rails.logger.error "Failed to download avatar for user #{id}: #{e.message}"
+    end
+  end
+
   private
 
   def set_default_username
     self.username ||= email.split('@').first
   end
-end
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/views/links/user_links.html.erb b/app/views/links/user_links.html.erb
index 0c7d868..b7273a1 100644
--- a/app/views/links/user_links.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/links/user_links.html.erb
@@ -3,7 +3,12 @@
 <div class="profile-header max-w-4xl mx-auto px-4 text-center">
   <div class="avatar-container flex flex-col items-center">
     <div class="avatar">
-      <img src="<%= @user.avatar %>" alt="<%= @user.email %>" class="rounded-full border-4 border-white object-cover" style="width: 8rem; height: auto;">
+      <% if @user.avatar.present? %>
+        <%= image_tag @user.avatar, alt: @user.email, class: "rounded-full border-4 border-white object-cover", style: "width: 8rem; height: auto;" %>
+      <% else %>
+        <!-- Provide a default avatar image or placeholder -->
+        <%= image_tag "greg.jpg", alt: @user.email, class: "rounded-full border-4 border-white object-cover", style: "width: 8rem; height: auto;" %>
+      <% end %>
     </div>
     <div class="user-info mt-4">
       <h1 class="text-xl font-bold text-white text-stroke"><%= @user.full_name %></h1>
diff --git a/lib/tasks/download_avatars.rake b/lib/tasks/download_avatars.rake
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..116199c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tasks/download_avatars.rake
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+namespace :users do
+  desc "Download and store avatars for all users"
+  task download_avatars: :environment do
+    User.find_each do |user|
+      user.download_and_store_avatar
+      puts "Processed avatar for user #{user.id}"
+    end
+  end
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/public/avatars/avatar_1_1723378561.jpg b/public/avatars/avatar_1_1723378561.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..34bb308
Binary files /dev/null and b/public/avatars/avatar_1_1723378561.jpg differ