I originally wrote this over two years ago in answer to a member's request on how to select and set an avatar. The same procedure remains. You must have 50 posts (achieve the coveted rank of Wacko) to display an avatar.

You set your own avatar. There are some ones available to choose from or you can make your own.

To set the avatar:
• Click on my profile
• choose 'view/update profile'
• scroll down to where the avatar display box is. At this point your profile would show no image in the avatar box.
• next to this box is a link 'select a different avatar image' - click this link which opens a new window
• You can work your way thru the choices that are there. I like it when folks use different avatars - as you are speed scrolling thru a thread you recognize folk's avatars
• If one of the available avatars strikes your fancy click on it. The image will appear in the box at the top left side of the page. I believe there are several pages of avatars available.
• If this one doesn't suit you, clck on another until you have one you like.
• Go back to the top left and click 'select this avatar' which will close the window and insert the chosen image into the previously blank image box on your profile.
• Scroll to the bottom of your profile and click 'update profile'. It will then update your profile and take you back to the Forums.
• You may need to exit from the Forums and then re-open them to get your avatar to display.

Now, you can also create your own avatar from an image of your own. It needs to be cropped and/or resized to 75x75 pixels - very small. Then you can upload it to the lighthousekeepers picture storage. When you open the avatar selection page you would put the URL into the box yourself (the exact same information you would use to post an image). Click the 'set url' and it should display your image at the top of the page. Choose 'select this avatar' and proceed as before.

There one other thing you may have to do to update your profile if you have been registered for a while. Over the past few years, we have added required information to the registration process. The newer additions are interests and number of lighthouses visited (doesn't have to be exact, but must have information).