why does the avatar that I choose does not appear on my profile?

Sometimes you can do everything right and still not get it to work. I'll post the directions just in case you missed something. If not, keep trying. I had to retry after a day or two and it finally worked.

Yahoo Answers User Image help.

How to change the gray square smiley on your Answers profile:

1. Click your own image box, or your user name. Or click the words ‘My Profile’ near the upper right corner of this page. ( http://answers.yahoo.com/my/my ) Any of those will take you to your profile.

2. Then click ‘Edit My Info’ in blue letters, in the same section where your image box is. ( http://answers.yahoo.com/my/my_edit ) That will open the editing page.

3. In the section marked 'Picture' you are given 3 choices.

a) The first choice lets you use a cartoon avatar. If you have already made one, there will be an avatar displayed in the first box. If you have not made one, or you want to make changes to it, click the 'Edit my Avatar' link. ( http://avatars.yahoo.com/ ) This will open the Avatar editing page in a new window or tab. Follow the instructions and be sure to save your changes. Return to your Answers profile window or tab, refresh the editing page and you should see your newly made avatar.

b) The second choice lets you use your main account profile picture. If you have one uploaded to your profile, there will be a picture displayed in the second box. If you have not uploaded a picture, or you want to choose a different picture, click the 'Edit my Profile image' link ( http://profiles.yahoo.com/ ) Your main account profile will open in a new window or tab. On your main account profile click 'Change Photo'. You can pick a photo that you have already uploaded or upload a new one. Follow the instructions and save your changes. Return to your Answers profile window or tab, refresh the editing page and you should see your elected profile picture.

c) The third choice is no picture, the gray smiley.

4. Make your choice by clicking the round button for one of the three.

5. Scroll down to the bottom and click 'Preview'. The page will change to list the options you've picked. Review them.

6. Scroll down to the bottom and click 'Ok'. You should now have your chosen user image next to your user name.

Your Answers profile has a link to click that shows you the public view of your profile so that you can double-check your choices. Maybe Yahoo will add this feature to the account profiles soon.

You have to go to edit my profile and then click the bubble with the avatar, not the silly face.