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Are there any rules concerning what I can put in my profile?

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Generally speaking, your profile is (to an extent) fair game, as it is a reflection of you as a person, not the site as a whole.

Self-promotion, your e-mail address, humor, (if you know HTML) imagery and even the f-bomb are allowed there.

There are reasonable limitations for all of those, but generally speaking, unless you're a hard-core spammer or you put something truly offensive / crazy in there (like hate speech or pornography), you'll be OK.

Also, understand that all links are no-followed, so SO doesn't actually give you Google Juice from your profile.

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    "Introducing new Google Juice (beta)! Now you can get your daily allowance of 1-10 of 1,500 recommended minerals in 0.34 seconds! Enjoy delicious flavors such as Berry Page, Sergey Brine, or the newest flavor, Better Than Apple! You have 10 invitations to try Google Juice (beta) remaining."
    – Hilarious Comedy Pesto
    Commented Dec 1, 2009 at 20:42
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    Your home page is not nofollowed once you reach 2000 rep, though. (Neither are internal links, but they won't give you any Google Guice. (Oh, wait, Google Guice actually exists. That takes the fun out.))
    – mmyers
    Commented Dec 1, 2009 at 20:54
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    @mmyers: I'll be welbogged; I never noticed that.
    – John Rudy
    Commented Dec 1, 2009 at 21:20
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    clarification: the URL field is unfollowed at 2k rep as a courtesy
    – Jeff Atwood
    Commented Dec 1, 2009 at 22:07
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    What does that mean @JeffAtwood. Unfollowed?
    – Prof. Falken
    Commented May 20, 2012 at 21:11
  • @Prof.Falken: It's mentioned here: The 'nofollow' attribute is set in user profile website link... why? – and explained in more detail in this MSO post: 'rel=nofollow' in Profile links
    – V2Blast Staff
    Commented Feb 15, 2022 at 16:03
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Your profile page is yours. You can put pretty much anything on there. But I wouldn't put the following:

  • Anything offensive - if you don't want your grandmother reading it, it probably shouldn't be on there
  • Advertising that could be linked to spam - The fact that you sell viagra is irrelevant on Stack Overflow, but if you provide IT consulting? That could be useful.
  • Profanity - Generally considered 'bad form', but I don't know if anyone has had any thing other than hardcore profanity removed.
  • Offensive Gravatar images - Some people think it's funny to see Jesus on Stack Overflow. Others do not.
  • A Wall of Text - No one reads those. This isn't against the 'rules'; just not a smart move.

Jeff covered some basics in this Meta answer.

Update: No, Profanity isn't removed. And there are always exceptions to the rule.

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  • You know, nothing succeeds like excess! :)
    – John Rudy
    Commented Dec 1, 2009 at 20:08
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    You don't know Welbog's grandmother.
    – Henk Holterman
    Commented Dec 1, 2009 at 20:10
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    @Henk: I met her once. Long story short, I couldn't eat roast beef for months afterward.
    – Hilarious Comedy Pesto
    Commented Dec 1, 2009 at 20:34
  • How about this profile that contains foul language in its nick name: askubuntu.com/users/1062493/nam-pizda?tab=topactivity in russian pronunciation? Could it be somehow penalized?
    – Gryu
    Commented Apr 3, 2020 at 11:28
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If you have to ask, the answer is "No".

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    But if you have to know, the answer is "Ask".
    – mmyers
    Commented Dec 3, 2009 at 16:32
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    I so want to flag this as not an answer... but it is an answer
    – Malachi
    Commented Jul 3, 2014 at 17:02

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