the uploaded image will look like this
[img]
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads2/frinkani1060186922.gif [/img] but without the big spaces, you may have img's turned off in your profile.....
goto the tab at the top of the page that says "user cp" then goto "edit options" the scroll down and select "yes" next to the "img" option.......that's my guess as to why you can't get it to work.