I like the idea of players being able to put a picture in their profile. Playing online, especially in correspodence, it's easy to forget there's another player out there. More often it feels like playing against some pieces on a board. Anything that helps bring the person behind them to life is a welcome addition.
There are some simple ways of moderating this. Preventing provisional players from using this option for starters. As long as some boundaries are defined for what's appropriate, there shouldn't be too much trouble from established members if it's made clear they'll be penalized or banned for breaking them. Adding an easy report abuse feature would essentially self-moderate and discourage most stuff to begin with. Limiting the frequency users could change their photo could also prevent abuse of this feature.
i think some pre-set avatars would be nice. i don't think miguel wants to spend extra time reviewing avatars that players might upload so perhaps miguel could set up 20 pre-set avatars ( say photos of animals, or 20 cartoon characters, or 20 chess avatars, or 20 plants, etc. ) and you could choose 1 of the 20 to upload for your avatar...this would eliminate miguel having to review them for propriety...the avatar of your player could be to the right of the words CHESS: in the top bar above the chess board.
