do they have to be a specific file type?...I have been trying to upload a pic and it finishes saying update complete but the picture hasn't been uploaded. Thanks

Finally I was able to figure out how to get an avatar

This is what I did. After down loading my picture to photo bucket at avatar size. I then e-mailed this picture to my mail box. After opening the picture in my mailbox , I right clicked and clicked on properties, then clicked on copy then rebrought up my profile page and clicked on paste on the avatar line and the picture appeared. I had tried for days and days doing it from the photobucket site with no luck. So e-mail the picture from photobucket to your personal e-mail  copy from your e-mail site and paste on your profile site here and it should work.  Good luck

Congratulations!!!! Down loading an Avatar is a big accomplishment!!!

Next goal: Learn to down load an actual picture on this web site