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Your profile tells the world who you are - keep it current!!

Your profile contains key information about who you are, how to contact you via e-mail and even what you look like!! It should always be kept up to date.

There are several different ways for you to edit your Profile. The easiest is to simply click on your name at the top of most screens. This will display your current profile along with a button for you to edit your profile and another button to change your password.

When you click on the "Edit Profile" button a form will be displayed. The top portion of the form contains fields that you must complete such as First Name and Email address. The lower portion of the form, contains optional fields. One optional field that we encourage you to complete is the New Picture Field. We encourage you to do this because this picture will be used in various places to represent you, such as when you are in a chat room and when you post to a discussion forum. For this reason, the best images to use are a close-up of your face, but you can use any image you like. The picture must be in JPEG or PNG format (ie the names will usually end in .jpg or .png).

You can get a picture file using one of three methods:

  1. Using a digital camera, your photos will most likely already be on your computer in the right format.
  2. You can use a scanner to scan a printed photograph. Make sure you save it as JPG or PNG format.
  3. If you're artistic, you might draw a picture using a paint program.

To upload the image, click the "Browse" button on this profile page, and select the image from your hard disk. NOTE: Make sure that the file is not larger than the maximum size listed, or it will not be uploaded. Then click "Update my Profile" at the bottom - the image file will be cropped to a square and resized down to 100x100 pixels. When you are taken back to your profile page, the image might not appear to have changed. If this is so, just use the "Reload" button in your browser. Please note that images that are used must be pictures of you. Icons and other avatars should not be used.

You should now be viewing your updated profile. Below the box with your information you should see a button labeled "Change Password." Click this button to update your password. You will now see a form where you will need to enter your current password along with a new password and a confirmation of that new password. When you have completed the fields click on the "Change Password" button. You should then see a screen that confirms that your password has been changed. Please ensure that your passwords are not trivial or easy to guess. A combination of letters and numbers usually works best.

There are many other important elements that you can control when you are updating your profile. Items such as who can see your e-mail address and automatically being subscribed to a forum when you post to it, are a few of the elements that you can update while modifying your profile. Give it a try now and make your profile as unique as you are!