How to add a profile picture

[nolan]

A profile picture is called an avatar on a forum.

(If you are connected to the site via Facebook, scroll down for instructions on how to use your Facebook avatar on the site.)

You can add your own avatar by hovering over the profile link, then clicking on the Forum Profile link in the drop down box.

Your profile will open which shows the info you have entered when you signed up.

Now you have various options -

1) Choose one of the standard avatars

Click the circle next to "Choose avatar from gallery", then you can select to have [no pic] or [actors] or [musicians]. Let's say you select [actors], then a list will open which shows the pre-installed pics of actors. If you click on the names you can see what the avatar looks like.
If you are happy with your avatar, scroll down and click the button marked Change Profile.

OR
2) You have an avatar uploaded to a free storage site which you use for various forums and also want to use it here.
Click the circle next to I have my own pic. Then type in the web address of your avatar in the white box to the right.
Remember that your avatar must be a maximum of 65x65 pixels.
To save your settings, scroll down and click the button marked Change Profile.

OR
3) You have a pic on your computer you want to use as an avatar.
If possible use a small picture or you are going to wait a while for your avatar to upload. In an ideal world your avatar would already be resized to a maximum of 65x65 pixels. You can use a free resize program like IrfanView to resize it if it is very big.
Click the circle next to "Upload an Avatar", then click the browse button. Find the pic you want to use as an avatar, select it and click Open. Scroll down and click the Change Profile button. The site will upload your avatar for you.

How to find more avatars
There are sites on the Internet that have avatars for you to download to your computer, which you can then upload to the site using option 3) above.
To find these sites, go to Google and tpe in "free avatar" and you will find lots of sites.
Always remember when choosing an animated avatar off the Internet, that the more intricate and longer the animation, the slower you make the website. So keep to simple animations or stick to static avatars. Also animated avatars cannot be resized by the site, so they need to already be a max of 65x65 pixels before you upload them otherwise the site will just reject them and you will have wasted your time.

Fair Use
If you see someone has a cool avatar on a forum, please don't steal it. It may be a personal avatar which is copyright. So you could end up being sued, and I'm sure you don't want that.

Types of avatars allowed
Please remember that this is a family site with no age restriction, so if your avatar doesn't fit that description, one of the moderators IS going to remove it.
Also your avatar may not be an advert.

If you are clued up with graphics, you can make your avatar animated showing your family / pets / cars, etc. Just remember that animated avatars slow down the site, so keep it simple. The standard size for your avatar is 65x65 pixels. The format for animated avatars is .gif (animated gif)

Facebook Avatar (for those connecting via Facebook login)
Hover over the Facebook Connect link, then click on the "Import FB Avatar" option, as easy as that.