Why is it no one has profile photos of themselves here?

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I would love to see real faces here. how come everyone has either cartoon faces or crazy icons?

I don't like pictures of myself.
If I had a picture of myself on my avatar, I'd have to look at it all the time, ugh.

I had one but I was uncomfortable with the possibility of people recognizing me in real life. I will never have one again after the assholish comment someone made because of the way I looked.

People make assumptions about you when they know what you look like.

I prefer the nonphoto icons because I find it distracting, overwhelming, and uncomfortably intimate to have to look at people's faces while I'm browsing the forums. Once I know what someone looks like, I'm liable to have an image of the face popping into my head against my will, which is unpleasant.

Also, I think that a lot of us are strongly attached to these cartoons we have in our icons. I loved X-Men the animated series, and Apocalypse is cool as f**k.

There are several members of WP who use their personal photos as avatars. It's probably not common here, because that's a fairly social thing to do and people with AS and HFA are not especially socially open by nature.

For myself, it would be an act of intimate disclosure and would make me extremely uncomfortable, which is precisely the opposite of the reason I come here in the first place.

Not to mention that directly associating your face with what some insist on perceiving as a mental illness could leave a person open to all sorts of hateful discrimination.

1. Some people do use actual photos of themselves as their icons.

2. Not all of us feel that we are attractive enough to warrant letting others know what we look like.

3. Sometimes, it is difficult to maintain a connection long enough to post a message, more so to upload an image.

Security measure.

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER put personal information of yourself on the Internet in a way that could easily be tied to your real-world identity. There are computers running 24/7 to mine data from every forum and website and try to match them to real people.

This information can be used to determine your suitability for employment or promotion. Nothing ever stays buried on the Internet. Those who know how to look will look.

It's why I don't Facebook or Twitter. There's maybe 2-3 places online that I use my real identity, and that's for job searching/career advancement. If they knew I was zer0netgain or could determine that by matching profile pictures, then I could be in a world of hurt on what people could learn about me before I know anything about them.

The world is full of intolerant jerks (putting it nicely). Don't give them the ammo to hurt you.

Because it's simply, and obviously personal.

Privacy and security concerns, as the others have stated. I am careful to not reveal much about myself on the Wrong Planet (e.g. name, photo, dates, specific places, etc.). Now, I am fine with being an Aspie. In fact, it's afforded me distinct edge (although it can hard too, of course).

For these reasons, remember that the Wrong Planet is not a social networking site or directory listing. Instead, we have our common neurology with lots of variation on the theme. Regardless of right/wrong, being an Aspie is simply unacceptable to many/most in this world. For those of us with professional positions, for example, disclosure is not appropriate. I cannot, and will not, give any specifics about my identity. Otherwise I'd be happy with sharing photos and all.

I did when I first starting using this forum. But I changed it because I think it was naive of me. I've attracted too many weirdos and since I'm a private person anyway, it's just not for me.

I did when I first starting using this forum. But I changed it because I think it was naive of me. I've attracted too many weirdos and since I'm a private person anyway, it's just not for me.

I'm totally with you on this.......too bad, but the world is not tolerant of AS. Apart from that, I see some in my own profession who disclose waaay too much on fb (or twitter)! As if they do not realise that practically anybody can see there silly (or even damaging!) posts. Their prerogative, of course, but ouch for them.

I guess being an Aspie makes me value my privacy.

Thanks for all the replies... I understand and respect your reasons... I was just wondering... Isn't it easier to work on social skills on the web, where people have a face, but you don't have to interact with each other face to face?
2. having said that, I understand the security reasons... i wonder if it shows up on google if you were to google your name?

It doesn't show up. We are careful here to go by our usernames. For certain, there are at least a few prominent individuals in this world who are Aspies but never reveal it professionally. Now, it might be known 'round the way' but not directly. I sometimes wonder why certain prominent individuals finally do reveal, but that's their prerogative, I guess.

In a sense, I wish I could be more open, but the world is not really copacetic with Asperger's. Sigh.

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edit: This is the only place on the entire internet with my picture.. It's like, people put their pictures everywhere, people much prettier, important, "interesting for "datamining"", so I'm not worried about that aspect. Next to that, if anyone recognizes me in real from the picture here, then I wouldn't mind them coming up and talking to me.
And those tied together also make me feel comfortable enough to make this the one place on the entire internet where I do show my actual face.

Well in the ideal world where people are tolerant of differences I would be happy to post using my full name and to use a photo of me as a profile photo, but sadly we do not live in an ideal world.

Some people might not like some of the views I hold / express, or the fact that I gave them a low mark on their university work or that I refuse to jump to support their pet ideas, I would rather not give such people a new tool to make my life difficult with.

Imagine some lazy good for nothing waste of space person finds me the prof making some statement (such as the fact that they should not pass a unit) not to their likeing, I do not want them to be able to play the "crazy prof" card and make a complaint that I am medically unfit to be a prof to the student union. As an alternative I am not sure if some people in industry want to have dealing with a real life "crazy prof", while I might not be a "crazy prof" some people wrongly think prof with AS = crazy prof.

That is why I am a crypto-aspie, I do not reveal my face here nor do I give out my name here. A few trusted people on the wrong planet know my first name but even that is a sensitive matter.

I think that about the last good picture I have of myself was during a 1978 hiking trip in Alaska.