It's possible that you're just hitting the wrong "submit" button. I did that the first couple of times I tried to update my profile. In the
Edit Profile page, there are three sections: "Public Profile Information" and "Private Information" on the left, and a little box called "Account Settings" on the right. Each of them have their own "submit" button. So apparently, if you only hit the "submit" button on the very bottom of the page, it will only update your private information.
And I was going to say this thread should be in the Info Center rather than Suggestions, but it's a good place to suggest that we only have one "submit" button on that page. That way, members can actually update all three sections at once.