I think it depends on the question. When they're used to help explain the answer, they can be incredibly helpful.

Of those I've seen, the answer that has the most annoying use of pictures is probably one of my own (in the sources section). Three pictures is kind of a lot, but I felt it was much more helpful to include the pictures than to leave them off in that situation.

I don't know if uploaded pictures are automatically resized or not, but that would probably be helpful in keeping them from getting too obnoxious.
Source(s):
http://www.mahalo.com/answers/online-communication-and-networking/what-is-t...

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It might be helpful to have an option in user profiles where you can opt to show pictures either collapsed or fully. If collapsed, you'd see some "stub" in the Q&A; area which you could selectively expand to see a picture, or if this option is turned off in the profile, you'd see everything by default.

I was thinking about this in particular for the NSFW area, you might not want a full screen of naughty bits pop up at work, but if you can selectively peek at them one at a time that might be more stealthy and less risky.
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I think they're great when used "judiciously". However, I'm seeing a tendency for "best answers" to be chosen primarily for their pictures rather than their content. Sometimes the asker is even explicit about this; here's an actual quote from an asker: "a few good answers, yet this one is certainly the best with the pictures!".

I know I've held back from answering some questions because it would involve inordinate effort to find suitable photographs to "decorate" it with. I'm concerned that the evolving "ooh, pretty pictures!" culture will degrade the quality of discussion and result in a dumbing-down of Mahalo Answers as a whole.
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I'm a newbie to the site. Pictures/videos are fine if its relate to the question. I tried to answered a question that some users have answered with a picture it takes so long for my answer to post...
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As long as they are useful.
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