call of course, but personally, as a software engineer and someone who's been working in Graphics for many years
if the majority of the userbase were as savvy, or experienced, it wouldn't be a problem, but I believe Admin employs the path to least resistance and complication - unfortunately.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think Anyone wants to be stretched AND cropped, at the same time
no argument there, but those that do, and if savvy, will crop it themselves properly, because as in the case of your pic, not to single you out, in order for it to have been squished and stretched to that magnitude, that photo must have been cropped in the first place as I suspect yours was, as cameras typically don't shoot in that aspect ratio (1:2) in the first place.
What good is in maximal visibility if the picture is unpresentable/unflattering/undateable?
Not my thinking, however it's better than none at all, even though when the profile is viewed it reverts back.
If you must make it square, then CROP, not stretch... say, crop starting at the bottom left corner
Again in the case of your pic, if you're cropping with equal proportions, from bottom left to upper right, we'd only see you from the waist down - no? Is that usable?
Or (though this is an extra hassle) provide an on-screen cropping facility. But Stretching???
I don't know if the site coding allows for such, i.e. user manual cropping.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing for the current method - however, the fundamental principal of the site, is ease of use (even though I have my personal issues with it), and that's who he caters to - less work for the user type thing, not an eloquent argument, but that's what it is.
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I've been experimenting half a day with uploading different ratios... nothing worked.. 
