Great topic, JoAnn_Fla. I have a problem with my profile, or should I say profiles? At first I had an AVATAR, and one day, for what ever reason, I was told I would have to sign in if I wanted to post. It was sign in, or not post, so I signed in again. Now I have two profiles. I know which one I would prefer to use, even though somehow the background design has been changed, but not by me. I don't know if any AVATAR shows on my posts. I have asked for help, but to no avail.

Per your urging, JoAnn, I chose an avatar. It is a photo of a screw pile lighthouse that kept boats off the rocks and out of the shallows in southern Maryland until it burned down in 1939. All that is left is a rock pile with a signal light on it. It does not necessarily represent me but it showed up in the circle. BTW I am a woman.

I've always had my dog as my profile picture.

My cat!

Sue, Click on "Your Houzz" in the top right corner. You will see up in the top left corner a "Change Photo". Click on that to change your image.

I pay no attention, they're too small to make out no matter what the image is. Those with garden or animal images don't facilitate identity recognition anyway.

Look for each entry's name to save yourself from confusion.

Elmer, in my case, the entry's name would not do a thing to save any confusion!

Rusty

Sure, but Rusty is a gender neutral name. That's your choice. An unrecognizable photo of a dog or a fuchsia adds nothing to determining a person's gender, if that's of concern to someone- that was my reaction to the original comment.

I'm too tech-challenged to post an avatar. And I'm not all that interested in learning how to do it so don't anyone post instructions.

I don't even look at the avatars so I'm not trying to be particularly private either.

It looks like everyone is showing a male silhouette ??? I think its just nice to know who we are speaking with, I like seeing someone's photo too. No offense to anyone.

"I'm too tech-challenged to post an
avatar. And I'm not all that interested in learning how to do it so
don't anyone post instructions.

"I don't even look at the avatars so I'm not trying to be particularly private either."

Perfectly said, add my name to that post.

Rusty you sound exactly like a dear friend of mine also nicknamed rusty, she lives in Arkansas. I have had the gender questions because of my name, especially when in computer Help Forums they were sure I was male. I have even had people start wrestling conversations and I had no idea why because I don't watch it, not familiar with it. Apparently there is or was a wrestling person with that name and people assumed that's why I chose Raven as my name. Lol

I like some color in the avatar spot over the bla gray but it is totally up to you what you choose to use.

No, never-ever and not for any particular reason other than they're hard to see and/or serve no purpose.

We didn't have them when it was Gardenweb, and I don't see the purpose. I don't even notice them as I look for the person's name. I don't feel they serve any kind of purpose, as they are so small anyway.

I like them and it helps me recognize who is responding, no matter what it is.

I agree FlamingO, I an find mine right away to see where I left off and I can recognize other peoples when I see it. I just like using them. I don't like that dull silhouette.

Sherry_7bAL, as I mentioned, I have TWO profiles. I have to assume the second one happened when I was told to sign up (again.) It was not my choice. The one I had to begin with is there also, but with a different background. The one that shows up, as seen here, in this post is not my choice. To make matters worse, when I look at my yahoo mail, they tell me I am being followed by guess who? My other profile. I am reluctant to make any change because I might lose it all. We never had "AVATARS" at Gardenweb. It was very simple and straight forward to use. I just don't understand why Houzz has made things so complicated, which has caused them to lose a large number of members, ie customers.

It's kind of like if someone tells me not to do something.... of course, I will go ahead and do it, to show I can.

JoAnn I put one up when Houzz took us over. I used the same one at a different forum already, and thus, it came naturally. LOL

I like the little bitty pic... and I never wondered why others didn't put one up.

Guess I am one of the contrary peeps. LOL

Moni

Rusty, I always thought you were male! Wow, was I wrong. I totally pictured you differently.

sushi, I always thought you were female. I have no idea why?! If you are/aren't makes me no nevermind, but I do find it interesting that I am assigning genders when there is no way to do so. Crazy me!

We can't choose the silhouette, it's all the same (male).

I'm assuming sushi is female, I always figured Rusty was a woman.

For years, I thought RavenCajun was a man.

Too soon old ...

... too late smart.

o j