What Does It Mean When a Contact's Picture Is Shaded Out on Yahoo! Messenger?
Yahoo! Messenger buddy image areas sometimes contain a generic image of a shaded male or female silhouette. Seeing one in your contact list could mean a variety of things. Your contact may not have uploaded a picture, or he might have had trouble uploading one. He also may want to maintain anonymity. Regardless of the reason you see Yahoo! default profile image icon, chances are high that the shaded-out picture has nothing to do with your settings.
Other People Are Reading
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Contact is a New User
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A shaded-out picture may mean that your contact is new to using Yahoo Messenger. Wait a while and see if he uploads a picture in the near future. It may take the contact some time to find an image he feels comfortable sharing. If the lack of an image makes you feel uncomfortable, politely ask your contact why his picture is missing. You may find that he has made a deliberate choice to not share his image.
Privacy and Security Priorities
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Maintaining security online is a serious issue for some people. A shaded-out contact picture may mean that your contact prefers to protect his privacy. Since an instant messaging environment isn't always a secure one, not uploading a picture is a reasonable choice. Some worms can hijack a contact's name and image to spread worms to others -- and you can't blame a contact for not wanting his picture associated with that type of activity.
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Contact Doesn't Know How to Upload Picture
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A missing contact picture could indicate that the contact doesn't know how to upload a picture so that it will appear in Yahoo! Messenger. Inform the contact that he can choose picture from Messenger's display image gallery, or browse for one on his computer's hard drive. If the user is new to Yahoo! Messenger, walking him through the process during a chat could be a helpful way support your contact in getting rid of the default silhouette.
Contact Has Trouble Uploading Picture
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The contact with a shaded-out picture may have had trouble uploading an image to Yahoo! Messenger. Four types of images can be uploaded for display in Yahoo! Messenger. Perhaps your contact has tried uploading the wrong image format and quit trying to upload a picture. If this is the case, advise him to upload photo that has a file extension of PNG, BMP, JPG or GIF. Use of one of these file types during the image upload process will enable your contact to overcome image uploading trouble.
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