If the longevity of Doper Pic Threads is any indicator, it seems most of us wanna know what everyone else here looks like. It’d be totally easy if we could have avatars with a stipulation that only poster portraits would be allowed, but this board has a justifiable aversion to avatars.
But what about our profiles? Would it be possible to include something in our profiles that would accommodate a G-PG rated image of ourselves?
I don’t know what anyone looks like and I don’t care to. Can’t imagine anyone wanting to see my pic either.
Please. No.
You could put the http address of a photo of yourself in your profile, e.g., from a site like Flickr.
Then don’t open the profile. :rolleyes: I agree with Inigo Montoya.
My bad. I thought he was calling for avatars. I don’t care one way or the other if it’s in a profile.
“It *would *be nice,” she said wistfully.
One more thing for the mods to police. Constantly.
They would have to go and look, fairly frequently, at every single profile picture posted.
Yeah, you’ll get people posting photos of porn stars when they really aren’t porn stars at all, probably.
“On the Internet, no one knows you’re a dog.”
Always remember this. Always.
We already having meaningless cruft here like the Location field. So what would be accomplished by allowing a pic in a profile? You could see what sort of sense of humor (if any) people have. Will you see actual pics of users? Probably not too many. And since so many would be fakes/jokes/whatever, the “real” ones wouldn’t be trusted. And every 4 years they’d all be changed to the pictorial equivalent of “Obama country”.
What if 100 users decided to use a pic of OpalCat (say) and OpalCat is not amused. Just more work for the mods with no gain in real terms.
I find it funny when people make all these “doom and gloom” predictions when someone proposes a new feature.
One example was when people requested the ability to allow editing of posts. People were predicting all sorts of chaotic repercussions that would undermine the integrity of the SDMB.
Then it was turned on. Life went on. The SDMB has not collapsed. Threads and debates are no less valid now than they were before this feature was turned on.
I am not making any doom and gloom predictions. I suspect that most posters who bothered would post a pleasant photo, just like they do elsewhere on the net.
I do, however, agree with the concern that this adds to the duties of the moderators. I think that, alone, likely sinks the idea. I would, however, be willing to offer my services as official portrait Gestapo officer. 
I am *vehemently *against avatars, and I see no problem at all with user pics. I say go for it! Lots of people won’t post one, and I never need see one if I don’t want to. But, if I am in the mood to see what someone looks like, then I can. It sounds like a great idea.
And each photo should be vetted before it’s posted.
I’ll volunteer to moonlight as a pic-checker if we can haz dem.
I really think that this site does a lot of self-policing already. The modz do a good job of complementing the already significant peer pressure to not turn it into just another trashy internet quagmire of L33T sprach and juvenility. I don’t think inappropriate pictures will be a problem. If someone abuses the feature, they get reported and potentially lose the privilege. Just another manifestation of “don’t be a jerk.”
Exactly. We’re not a complete group of savages, and we do a pretty good job of policing ourselves. Every pic posted will be viewed on average about seven million times, and if someone does abuse the ability to post a pic of themselves it will come to the proper attention pretty quickly I’d think.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
So some busybody takes a dislike to 100 dopers whose profile picture is of a cat/dog/Gorlock/that squirrel picture (you know the one) and reports them to mods. The 100 dopers tell the busybody to get a life. Lather rinse repeat. Mods have enough work, junior mods are not welcomed here.
Never underestimate the resolve of the easily offended.
Never, but that’s no reason to pander to them by not trying something that would be widely accepted. This is the Dope, not the real world.
Yeah, but at least once and for all we can find out how many socks Angelina and Brad are using here
You only see profile pictures if you look for them. Avatars are right there in a thread where you have no choice. ( I know you can block 'em) That being said, I would trust the typical Doper not to abuse the privilege. Maybe make pictures and avatars only for paid members?