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I've noticed that very few people on Stack Overflow have an actual picture of themselves as their profile picture. Which makes it very suspicious when I see a user ask a question and they have a profile picture that would more likely be found on an online dating website than Stack Overflow.

Is it ethical for a man to use a picture of a beautiful, but normal looking woman as their profile picture? What I mean by beautiful, but normal should be obvious, but I'll reluctantly explain anyways. The picture would not look like it was taken from a glamour magazine nor that the woman was an actual model, but would look like it was taken on some random night when she was out with friends and the light was shining just right.

  1. Is it ethical for a male Stack Overflow user to do this for the likely increased help he will receive from the community?

  2. Is it ethical for a female to use a good looking picture of herself on here to attract a better quantity and quality of help?

I do apologize in advance for not posting any relevant examples.

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  • What if it's a picture of an unattractive female?
    – StackedCrooked
    Dec 23, 2013 at 19:59
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    I guess this makes me a "fraud", along with half the people from Anime.SE. :)
    – Mysticial
    Dec 23, 2013 at 19:59
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    I question the premise that you'll get increased attention / help / rep for having a picture of a pretty girl as your profile picture. [citation needed]
    – Josh Darnell
    Dec 23, 2013 at 20:00
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    How about sexy ponies? Would it be bad because of all the people from 4chan who might be on Stack Overflow?
    – user146787
    Dec 23, 2013 at 20:00
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    Please ask this on ethics.stackexchange.com
    – Johannes Schaub - litb
    Dec 23, 2013 at 20:00
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    Better question is "who the hell cares". Bad posters will be voted down to oblivion regardless of their avatars.
    – Cat Plus Plus
    Dec 23, 2013 at 20:00
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    I'm actually a doorknob in real life in case anyone was wondering
    – Doorknob
    Dec 23, 2013 at 20:00
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    People using fake images online, where?!
    – Travis J
    Dec 23, 2013 at 20:01
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    Also ahahaha that heinous crime of internet point fraud.
    – Cat Plus Plus
    Dec 23, 2013 at 20:01
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    OMG our avatars have to be the real thing? I thought they were supposed to be just part of a persona, so I used a real picture of me as a cover, as everyone would think it was false! Now everyone knows I am really a robot. How will we get this revolution going after such a blunder? Wait, maybe I talked too much already.
    – R. Martinho Fernandes
    Dec 23, 2013 at 20:13
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    @codehorse: You're getting downvoted (partly) because you haven't met your burden of proof. We might take you more seriously if we see actual examples of what you consider to be instance(s) of this happening. And even if you did, is this really such an issue as you make it out to be? Do you honestly think that potential answerers on this site are such that a picture makes a noticeable difference in the way they write their answers?
    – In silico
    Dec 23, 2013 at 20:14
  • This is stupid and petty.
    – DJSpud
    Dec 23, 2013 at 20:46
  • How would you know that my profile picture is not what I actually look like? Have we met? Is that you, mom?
    – ЯegDwight
    Dec 23, 2013 at 21:04
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    It is as appropriate as pretending to be a horse that knows how to write code.
    – Uphill Luge
    Dec 23, 2013 at 23:59
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    Perhaps if you change your avatar now this question will bounce back
    – OGHaza
    Jan 16, 2014 at 17:04

6 Answers 6

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I don't think there's any assumption that a profile picture is related in any fashion to the user of said profile picture, except that they like that picture.

Now, ethical != legal/allowed, and certainly if you're actually trying to defraud people into helping you I suppose you might be behaving unethically in your heart; but I don't think there's any community rule or code against it, nor would I consider it to be particularly bad.

It almost seems like a good thing to test, sort of like those job application studies where people sent the same resume with obviously ethnically black names versus a more generic (white-sounding) name, and had significantly higher interview ratios with the latter.

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19

It is entirely appropriate to have a profile picture of someone/something that is not yourself.

It is inappropriate to claim to be someone that is not yourself. If you, for example, were to use a picture of a famous programmer as your profile picture, use their name as your username, and otherwise impersonate them in your "about me" text, that would be a violation of the rules.

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    You should be banned for pretending to be a pattern... thingy.
    – Cat Plus Plus
    Dec 23, 2013 at 20:06
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    WHO AM I?!?!
    – qwertynl
    Dec 23, 2013 at 20:07
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    @CatPlusPlus Contrary to popular belief, sentient fractal unicorns are actually a thing, and I'm one of them...
    – Servy
    Dec 23, 2013 at 20:08
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    I'm Jon Skeet, everyone!
    – hichris123
    Dec 23, 2013 at 21:53
  • @hichris123 Not to be confused with Jon Skeet, naturally.
    – Servy
    Dec 23, 2013 at 21:57
  • @Servy Whatever. Thank's for helping me to remember how to spell my name! :)
    – hichris123
    Dec 23, 2013 at 21:57
  • You don't suggest that taking the picture or the name alone is ok? Your post could be understood that way.
    – Danubian Sailor
    Dec 24, 2013 at 8:52
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    @ŁukaszL. I used "and" rather than "or", when listing all of those things, so it seems rather clear that just one alone wouldn't be a violation of the rules. There are obviously people who will share the same name as someone famous; having the same name couldn't be a violation of the rules.
    – Servy
    Dec 24, 2013 at 14:53
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We have very few rules on what a profile picture can be. Basically, as long as it's not offensive and is safe for work, you're likely in the clear. The profile picture is meant to help identify you uniquely when your display name fails to do so. It's quite a small icon next to your name, so it's hard to even see what's in the photo sometimes without going to their full profile.

I don't think anyone's profile picture helps them get more help or attention on their questions. I barely even look at them.

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  • So, you can use a picture of someone else, as long as that person does not participate in SE, or how should I understand your point?
    – Danubian Sailor
    Dec 24, 2013 at 8:54
  • @ŁukaszL. As long as you don't actively try to impersonate them you're fine. For example if I'm a fan of Jon Skeet it would be fine for me to use a (public domain) picture of him as my avatar. But if I then start using his name as well I've moved from being a fan to impersonating him
    – Richard Tingle
    Jan 6, 2014 at 18:31
  • @RichardTingle, so you mean if I were to set up a Tom Riddle account with a picture to match, you would report me to the real Dark Lord? ;)
    – Wildcard
    Aug 7, 2017 at 23:50
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I've noticed that very few people on Stack Overflow have an actual picture of themselves as their profile picture. Which makes it very suspicious when I see a user ask a question and they have a profile picture that would more likely be found on an online dating website than StackOverflow.

Who cares? The questions here should be judged on their own merits. And in my experience, this has been the case.

Is it ethical for a man to use a picture of a beautiful, but normal looking woman as their profile picture?

How do you know it's a man behind the account? For all we know it could be an actual picture of them. Of course it's an issue if they're impersonating someone else, but that has nothing to do with the sex of the individuals involved.

Is it ethical for a female to use a good looking picture of herself on here to attract a better quantity and quality of help?

Wouldn't you want your public-facing pictures to be the best picture of you possible? And who says that having better pictures attracts better quality answers on this site? We need to see actual evidence of this if you want to be taken seriously on this point. The burden of proof is on you.

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  • I assumed this is either asking prior to the OP actually doing this, or asking because the OP knows of someone (IRL) who is.
    – Joe
    Dec 23, 2013 at 20:02
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    I agree. How do we know Jennifer Lawrence doesn't have the occasional HTML question?
    – Pekka
    Dec 23, 2013 at 20:03
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    I'm somewhat staggered that this is the only answer to mention the "women having good pictures of themselves" question; even in the middle ages women were allowed to be seen in public!
    – Richard Tingle
    Jan 6, 2014 at 18:35
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Ummm no,

My picture is real.

You just cannot remember it.

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  • Weird deja vu... @TheFestivus
    – qwertynl
    Dec 23, 2013 at 20:21
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It seems that SE rules are very liberal in using photos of other people in profiles, not requiring even a disclaimer that the person on the picture is not you.

However, using the photos of other people can make you liable under many legal systems. At first, using picture stolen from some website without asking is copyright breaking. Second, under many legal systems you can't publish a photo of other person without their permission, for example in Poland. There are exceptions, when people are the background or the crowd members, but profile photo is clearly not that case.

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