Cheryl Baumgartner   Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
Paula consider yourself lucky if that is all you have seen. Both Bill (Bjantinques) and I were unlucky enough to have a close-up of someone's naked nether regions show up! Needless to say it was approved neither time.

I'm also constantly presented with celebrities. Someone actually used the promotional Poster from The curious Case of Benjamin Buttons bearing Brad Pitts photo.
Oct 24th 2010 21:12   

Paula van Dun   Retired
Ha. Nudes do not upset me. i just think they are not appropriate for a business network. Unfortunately I am not very familiar with celebrities, except perhaps britney spears and mr bean. So I might have approved some of those by mistake
Oct 24th 2010 21:23   

Cheryl Baumgartner   Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
Oh when I said close up of their naked nether regions I meant VERY close up, like zoom lens close up. That was not a nude it would have made an appropriate centerfold in any gay porn magazine. Definitely not appropriate for any social network unless it was Gay Harmony dot com!
Oct 24th 2010 21:31   

Andy Anderson   Owner Yuma Bloggers
Do these folks not realize, and maybe they do, but your photo is how you wish to be remembered in the mind's eye. We will retain an image faster than a name. We can remember 3-4 names in a day but nearly 1,000 different faces. What you put up there is your identity and a bad picture or unrelated image means if we do remember you, it will not be in a good way.
Oct 24th 2010 22:59   

Cheryl Baumgartner   Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
Thank you Andy, you just spurred and awful thought. I now have a very bad pun inside my head just dying to get out. But I will control myself and NOT say that perhaps our exhibitionist wanted to be known as the network A-hole.

Phew! see I typed it instead.
Oct 24th 2010 23:20   

Katrina O.   Indiana Water Filters
lol...funny but so true. If a person is online to earn a serious, honest, income, a true photo is in order! Gaining credibility is hard enough without literally showing ones a**!
Oct 25th 2010 04:19   

Meghan   
I've been thinking about posting about this for some time, so I'm glad someone brought it up. I completely agree that cartoons, celebrities, and nudity are not appropriate for business.A profile picture should only be of you, your logo, or your city of residence (if your business is localized like in real estate).

I find it disturbing when I see people using pictures of celebrities, especially when it's clear they are trying to pass themselves off as the person in the photo. I once knew a person from a foreign country who felt the only way to appeal to Americans was through their "looks". So, they searched for "beautiful people" and saved a picture of a teenage celebrity from the Disney Channel. They didn't know who it was and needless to say it didn't last very long.
Oct 25th 2010 07:55   

Meghan   
Forgot to mention, I totally agree with Andy. When I'm on social networks, I find myself remembering icons/pictures more than names.
Oct 25th 2010 07:56   

Paula van Dun   Retired
As said before I am not familiar with celebrities. I suggest when you see such a picture you report it to the admins.
Oct 25th 2010 08:10   

Bj aka Bill Brown   Hosting and Backup Service provider
we gave the privilege of approving profile pics to members tnat had achieved level 3 and above.

This was done because we thought that those of level 3 and above would be the ones that have worked the site and therefore would be sensible and responsible enough to carry out this task and relieve the amount of work pressure that is on the admins.

Unfortunately this has turned out not to be the case. I have therefore asked Wincer to change it to level 4 and above.

The rule is simple it states clearly in red

Please upload a photo of yourself, NO company logo, NO product picture. Or your photo will be REJECTED by moderators.

and in black it states

(Image must be in JPG or JPEG format, less than 2Mb. The ideal image size is 96x96. You must have the permission to use or be the copyright holder of any images you upload to this site.)

so lets look at the one in red. It says a personal picture.
That means of you, not your children, not a logo, not your cat or dog, or anything else.

@megan sorry your thoughts are wrong.

Now the second item is extreamly important.
If you are uploading pictures for posts etc. you must have permission from the copyright holder to use those images.

If you buy images from sites like photilia or Big Stock Photo for example then make sure you read the license information on each individual image as they do vary from image to image. some need multiple site license some are only for personal use.

you own the copyright of any photo you have taken yourself, and when you publish it on a site you automaticaly have copyright protection. It is NOT an explicit requierment to have registered your copy right BUT it does give more protection and increases the damages you can claim if it is used by others with out your permission.

Be careful if using photos of people with out their permission - try and get a release form signed if you are intending to publish them.
Oct 25th 2010 08:54   

Dawie Bezuidenhout   Systems Engineer I.T.
@bjantiques, i am so glad you discussed that with Wincer, i wondered about this same issue. Level 3 people that still approve cartoons and junk etc. Just goes to prove once more that the hp points don't mean nothing, it's the content you contribute to the site that will ultimately prove your value.
Oct 25th 2010 09:21   

Paula van Dun   Retired
I have a question. How many levels are there in Apsense and how many points are needed for the different rank? I tried to find it in ASK Apsense but couldn't.
Oct 25th 2010 09:26   

Muriel & Graham Legg   Make your website mobile friendly
Just to put our pennyworth in. True business people should always use their own photo or logo. Personally I would not take anything else as a serious business proposition, if people want to hide behind a false photo. what else is there to hide?
Oct 25th 2010 09:29   

Cheryl Baumgartner   Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
I'm not sure Paula. I can't remember how many points I had when I hit level 4
Oct 25th 2010 09:32   

Paula van Dun   Retired
I was just curious, it is not important. I agree with Dawie. I qoute: "that the hp points don't mean nothing, it's the content you contribute to the site that will ultimately prove your value". I have seen free members with shield nr 1 with much better content than some shield 3's
Oct 25th 2010 09:38   

Bj aka Bill Brown   Hosting and Backup Service provider
You will find the different levels and relevant information in these two faq posts.

http://www.apsense.com/faq_90.html
http://www.apsense.com/faq_91.html
Oct 25th 2010 11:16   

Katrina O.   Indiana Water Filters
Great information! This is one group I will be referring members to in our team training next week. We will be showing our new members how valuable a tool APSense is and how to use it correctly!

Setting up a professional profile, including a good photo, is so important to be taken seriously and build good relationships with other serious colleagues.

I agree, when seeing an offer or any other information from someone hiding behind a cartoon, I don't really pay attention, except to maybe suggest they use their own photo.
Oct 25th 2010 11:54   

Meghan   
@bjantique I apologize, because I wasn't speaking of just Apsense. I was speaking of business networking in general.
Oct 25th 2010 13:13   

Bj aka Bill Brown   Hosting and Backup Service provider
@Meghan ok i thought you were meaning APSense - don forget each site has its own rules and it is a members duty to read the terms of service of any site the join.
Oct 25th 2010 16:11