diff --git a/app/decorators/author_decorator.rb b/app/decorators/author_decorator.rb
index 73ccb09c..b12c5cef 100644
--- a/app/decorators/author_decorator.rb
+++ b/app/decorators/author_decorator.rb
@@ -5,22 +5,30 @@ class AuthorDecorator < ApplicationDecorator
   # to the user's page
   def avatar
     h.content_tag "div", :class => "avatar" do
-      h.link_to(
+      if author
+        h.link_to(
+          h.image_tag(
+            absolute_avatar_url,
+            :class => "photo user-image",
+            :alt => "avatar"
+          ),
+          author.url
+        )
+      else
         h.image_tag(
           absolute_avatar_url,
           :class => "photo user-image",
           :alt => "avatar"
-        ),
-        author.url
-      )
+        )
+      end
     end
   end
 
   # Make sure we're using the asset path if the user's avatar is the default
   # (local) avatar
   def absolute_avatar_url
-    if author.avatar_url.eql? RstatUs::DEFAULT_AVATAR
-      h.asset_path(author.avatar_url)
+    if !author || author.avatar_url.eql?(RstatUs::DEFAULT_AVATAR)
+      h.asset_path(RstatUs::DEFAULT_AVATAR)
     else
       author.avatar_url
     end
diff --git a/test/decorators/author_decorator_test.rb b/test/decorators/author_decorator_test.rb
index 4c5a59a5..63819354 100644
--- a/test/decorators/author_decorator_test.rb
+++ b/test/decorators/author_decorator_test.rb
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
       @author.website_link.must_match('http://example.com')
     end
 
-    it 'returns link to authors website when website is without http prefix' do
+    it 'returns link to authors website when website has no http prefix' do
       @author.website = 'test.com'
       @author.website_link.must_match('http://test.com')
     end
@@ -42,4 +42,69 @@
       @author.absolute_website_url.must_equal(nil)
     end
   end
+
+  describe "#avatar" do
+    before do
+      @author = AuthorDecorator.decorate(Fabricate(:author))
+    end
+
+    it "has a link to the author's page around the author's image" do
+      @avatar_html = Nokogiri::HTML.parse(@author.avatar)
+      link = @avatar_html.at_xpath("//a")
+
+      assert link
+      link["href"].must_equal(@author.url)
+
+      image_tag = link.at_xpath("//img")
+
+      assert image_tag
+      image_tag["src"].must_equal(@author.absolute_avatar_url)
+    end
+
+    it "has no link and the default avatar if author is nil" do
+      nil_author = AuthorDecorator.decorate(nil)
+      @avatar_html = Nokogiri::HTML.parse(nil_author.avatar)
+
+      link = @avatar_html.at_xpath("//a")
+      refute link
+
+      image_tag = @avatar_html.at_xpath("//img")
+
+      assert image_tag
+      image_tag["src"].must_equal(nil_author.absolute_avatar_url)
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe "#absolute_avatar_url" do
+    before do
+      @fabricated_author = Fabricate(:author)
+      @author = AuthorDecorator.decorate(@fabricated_author)
+    end
+
+    it "uses the author's avatar url if present" do
+      avatar_url = "http://example.com/avatar.png"
+      @fabricated_author.image_url = avatar_url
+
+      @author.absolute_avatar_url.must_equal(avatar_url)
+    end
+
+    it "creates a gravatar url if avatar url isnt present but email is" do
+      @author.absolute_avatar_url.must_match("gravatar.com")
+    end
+
+    it "uses the rstat.us default avatar if avatar url isn't specified" do
+      @fabricated_author.email = nil
+
+      @author.absolute_avatar_url.must_equal(
+        "/assets/#{RstatUs::DEFAULT_AVATAR}"
+      )
+    end
+
+    it "uses the rstat.us default avatar if author is nil" do
+      nil_author = AuthorDecorator.decorate(nil)
+      nil_author.absolute_avatar_url.must_equal(
+        "/assets/#{RstatUs::DEFAULT_AVATAR}"
+      )
+    end
+  end
 end