Despite what marketing people tell you about "creating a connection" or "showing that your company is made of real people", often a bit of distance and professionalism is best for your relationship with customers.
Only if you want to avoid rude/sexist messages. You can get more normal messages with good looking girl, and that's what matters for business.
Who wouldn't?!
So to answer your question, I would not want to avoid sexist message if it means less money for my business. It's extremely simple to ignore bad people on the Internet. It's hard to earn money.
> it's better to present yourself as an anonymous avatar than a real person
is not what's implied from the article. Rather it should be:
"it's better to present yourself as an anonymous avatar than a real person if you want to receive less crap"
Note: there's a user in this discussion saying in their case image of good looking woman worked the best.