Why must I upload a photo with my face?!

[Andrea G]

Hi Rimsha,

I checked and it looks like we already enabled you to upload your picture with a veil once. Do you need to change your picture? If so, please let us know so we can assist you further.

Thanks!

[Rimsha I]

Thanks a lot, it works now. I have successfully updated my veil profile photo.

[Bojan S]

Hi Ayesha,

One of our team members will reach out to you directly to assist you with your request.

Thank you for reaching out to us.  

[Salma H]

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@Melissa T wrote:

Oh, Salma, this is a tricky one, right? I'm all for you earning your own income. I'm all for women all over the world, however they choose to present themselves, earning their own income. But, the rules of this platform are that you have to show your face in your profile photo. The "human element" in online freelancing is an important one for various reasons: the internet is largely impersonal and work is very personal, being able to see the face of the person with whom you are working brings the project from the anonymous internet into the realm of actual work done by actual people, it engenders trust. While your niqab in no way makes you less human, it does cover up a very defining human feature - your face. It's the same reason freelancers are not allowed to use profile photos in which they are wearing sunglasses - they visually obscure the face and serve to conceal identity. 

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I totally understand your point of view and I'm not against it. I would like my customers to build trust in me too of course. But It doesn't make sense to give up one of my beliefs in exchange to that right?

Like I said, there are lot of "more reliable" methods to verify my identity without having to upload a photo of my face, like verifying my idenity and face with my National ID through customer support or something like that (like I did in other websites) instead of posting a public picture to all people.

Thanks for your reply and respecting my way of representing myself.

[Nina K]

Hi Salma,

Please see our response about a similar question in this thread, and to confirm what Petra stated, our support team can assist you with being able to upload your photo while wearing the Niqab.

[Salma H]

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@Nina K wrote:

Hi Salma,

Please see our response about a similar question in this thread, and to confirm what Petra stated, our support team can assist you with being able to upload your photo while wearing the Niqab.

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 Oh! This is really great!

So I have to contact the customer support and verify my indentity with them?

Because I was actually trying to reach them in the first place, but I've got redirected to post a thread instead and I don't know why.

[Melissa T]

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@Salma H wrote:

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@Nina K wrote:

Hi Salma,

Please see our response about a similar question in this thread, and to confirm what Petra stated, our support team can assist you with being able to upload your photo while wearing the Niqab.

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 Oh! This is really great!

So I have to contact the customer support and verify my indentity with them?

Because I was actually trying to reach them in the first place, but I've got redirected to post a thread instead and I don't know why.

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CS isn't available to all freelancers at the same level. Often, newer freelancers are directed to threads and articles rather than CS mostly due to volume issues - literally millions of freelancers with millions of issues. You can imagine, I'm sure. 

FWIW, I respect your choice to present yourself however you choose. You may find some clients don't care at all what someone's profile photo looks like while others factor photos into their opinion whether they do it knowingly or not. That's just life, though. What's definitely not OK is if anyone harrasses you or is threatening in any way. I certainly don't expect that to happen and don't mean at all for this to sound dire, just a reminder that those things are not tolerated and offenders should be reported. 

[Kim F]

And in the interests of a balanced world... there will be some clients who will care about the photo in a way that it works to Salma's advantage.  

[Salma H]

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@Melissa T wrote:

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@Salma H wrote:

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@Nina K wrote:

Hi Salma,

Please see our response about a similar question in this thread, and to confirm what Petra stated, our support team can assist you with being able to upload your photo while wearing the Niqab.

---

 Oh! This is really great!

So I have to contact the customer support and verify my indentity with them?

Because I was actually trying to reach them in the first place, but I've got redirected to post a thread instead and I don't know why.

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CS isn't available to all freelancers at the same level. Often, newer freelancers are directed to threads and articles rather than CS mostly due to volume issues - literally millions of freelancers with millions of issues. You can imagine, I'm sure. 

FWIW, I respect your choice to present yourself however you choose. You may find some clients don't care at all what someone's profile photo looks like while others factor photos into their opinion whether they do it knowingly or not. That's just life, though. What's definitely not OK is if anyone harrasses you or is threatening in any way. I certainly don't expect that to happen and don't mean at all for this to sound dire, just a reminder that those things are not tolerated and offenders should be reported. 

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 Thank for you reply. I totally understand.

So all I have to do is to wait until the CS reach me out first, right?

[Melissa T]

Yes, it sounds like from the thread Nina pointed to that Lena explained CS will reach out because the auto-recognition triggers a manual response if the photo fails that part of the verification. You'll likely get an email about it with next steps to take.