My test avatar is 600x716.
Like @psychonaut I never bothered with an avatar at the old board. I like my pilcrow, though!
I like it too, CairoCarol! Plus I learned a new word. 
What happened to transparent backgrounds for avatars? I had one with a transparent background which worked nicely but I decided to try another transparent png image. That one showed with a white background so I re-uploaded my original avatar and now it too has a white background…
I guess you can look to the left to see if I’ve resolved it since writing this…
I’ve seen the pilcrow before, but not such a graceful sign though. It looks like a musical symbol or something.
One of these days should try and work on my profile. There’s a profile header and user card background too.
FYI, the user card background is very faint.
Indeed, thank you. One must be ingenious to use this feature effectively.