We just wanted to let you know of a feature update that you may have already noticed: Avatars! You now have the option to upload your own avatar, which will can be displayed on topics and replies. You can still select an emoji if you'd rather, but once you upload a photo, your avatar will be selected by default instead of the notepad or cell phone icon.

Here's how to upload your avatar...

• Go to your profile page
• Click (or tap) the three dots to the right of your profile photo
• Click "Edit profile"
• Click "Upload photo"
• Select (or take) a photo
• Use the cropping tool
• When finished, click "Save"

If you had previously linked an avatar, you can find that URL in your account settings under "User Profile." Just save that file to your computer, then upload it using our new system.

IMPORTANT: Any photo uploaded that violates our user agreement will get removed and your account will be banned from uploading photos in the future, both on your profile and in the forums. Also, if you come across an avatar that needs to be moderated, go to their profile, click the three dots next to their avatar, click "Flag profile photo" and select a reason.

The next step in this will be to give you the ability to upload photos into the forums. There are a lot of things that Bear Insider has to consider when agreeing to host photos (legal, technical, moderation, etc.), so we are going to get those things right using profile photos first.