./images/avatars directory not writable even though...

[Snowhog]

The change won't save.

<!-- NEXT LINE COMMENTED BY SNOWHOG 2012-11-18 -->
	<!-- <vb:if condition="$show['avatar']"> -->

<!-- NEXT LINE ADDED BY SNOWHOG 2012-11-18 -->
<vb:if condition="$bbuserinfo[userid] == 1816 OR $show['avatar']">

I get:

The following error occurred when attempting to evaluate this template:
Unclosed Tag
This is likely caused by a malformed conditional statement. It is highly recommended that you fix this error before continuing, but you may continue as-is if you wish.