how do i do it? i want to upload my own...like from my computer....not one of the pregenerated ones.

It's not allowed. The site managers don't have the time to vette personal images for correctness.

cool deal, thanks

Why can't any of the several dozen admins do it? No the answer is they don't want to do it. And that's okay. I mean it is their site.

For the administrators to do the job of vetting pictures before they are posted, they would have to either set up a system in which images are submitted to them first, or continually scan the forums for objectionable material. The latter would parallel their task of checking posts for acceptability, and in that task already there is a significant time lag. The former works in dating sites but I don't know how much time and effort is spent is those venues.

We have been told it takes too much time, and it would appear most of us accept that answer.

It's not just objectionable material, as in content, but image size, like in bits and bytes and megs. I think I read something about having large memory requirement avatars would slow down the time it takes for the page to load. Personally, I think avatars are stupid, I can't think of any that raised my admiration for a poster, but I can think of a few that reinforced my feeling the poster was a jerk or idiot.

It is kind of nice for the original poster to so graciously accept the answer of it isn't allowed.

if only. I got several pics of nice chested women just wanting to jump out on da scene

They can be a useful way of adding "style" to an individual's postings. Coupled with handle, .sig, etc., you can get more of a feel for people.

They also help you zip through a thread to follow an individual's posts.