It feels like a legit strategy to encourage this, given previous conversations about doing it…
Though I agree it’s not the best approach, it felt like a popular part of the Central theme, at least from a few people I spoke with:
I assume it would be fairly simple to add “Add image” hover text for the profile picture and header images with appropriate links, which would improve the conversion chances.
I can only speak for myself in that I think it would help increase the profile picture ‘rate’ which is helpful for most communities…