"True to life" internet pictures?

[Troy Spiral (13)]

I tend to want my "profile" internet pictures to be as accurate as possible. Often I feel the urge to make more "glamor" type pictures. That is, pictures that would be better than I look in real life. But, should I do that? I tend to think of the internet as a temporary place that is used as communication for more interaction in real life. We humans, being superficial, at least to some degree, no matter how we try to fight this, still do at least partially care about looks. I'd much rather have a reaction of "I recognize you from your picture" or "you look better than your picture." than the unspoken, but opposite reaction due to having some sort of just-right shot.

Now this would be separate than photos-for-art-sake which this would not really apply to. I had my 2 years of photography classes just like everyone else... although it was so long ago no one ever heard of a digital camera and "CCD" was just barely on the radar.

Note: neither of the pictures in my profile are particularly accurate. I don't have that red hue in my skin anymore, at least not perpetually as I did then, nor the short hair of the "spiral" picture.

This shlub here

is probably the most accurate. (I don't really smoke, at least not much. That was a random at-the-club-lets-snap-the-goddamn-beer-gut picture.)