Great Idea, and I agree with knatzz. I keep seeing , "those who 'pay' support the site". This is true, of course. But isnt sharing "time and hard work" also "support"?

c242, the way people are fighting to remain anonymous why do you think they would put much on a personal page.

I think it should be limited to people who pay, and people who have a rating of apprentice or higher... that just makes sense... and I think each person should be limited in bandwidth maybe 2 megabites or so. this would be perfect since they wouldn't have to upload any skins, they could link to their skins here. 2 megs is perfect for pictures they wish to upload, and any HTML files they choose to upload. The reason I say apprentice or higher is because if we give it out to everyone the free beer crowd will eat that up like crazy(no offense), or Maybe Journey Man, just to weed out the those that support WC in no and just take up valuable resourses. Plus this would be and awesome incentive for people to buy a WC Subscription. Put it all over the news on the websites and such. and added memberships hopefully would pay for the bandwidth.

I suppose what I am saying is that you don't want any kind of *storage* here, beyond what they sections already allow. If you allow an empty webdirectory, you're gonna have to worry about what is put there.

very true bakerstreet, but with only skinners, and paying customers getting web pages alot of the sites would be about the skinners, and skins...

but their could be a wizard for setting up the page, or a certain format that is followed... hmm... it would be interesting to see how that works out...

so are you folks going to deny people from coming here who are not subscribers, and do not buy products? sure sounds like it.

I don't think people strive to be anonymous here. I think nicknames are just another way of expressing oneself. That being said allowing anyone to create a small "personal" page about his/herself is, as someone else said previously, a way of "bonding" or getting to know the other people who visit Wincustomize and are part of the community.

I don't think it's necessary to provide storage for uploads. I think people should be able to create links to other sites or files if he/she so chooses. Basically I would like to see the current "bio" pages expanded, but not to the point where real bandwidth would be an issue.

If people want to post more about themselves or they want to put up pics or other files, they should use their ISP's offering of free webpage creation or, if that's not an option, get some cheap, $5/mo webhosting. For those who would say that even that is not an option, I would say that it is not something that Wincustomize should help with.

If the decision is made to allow more than just text on a person's bio page, then bandwidth could become an issue. In that case WC subscribers and SD customers, along with Apprentices, should have that kind of access. Perhaps a bio page could provide some basic information about someone, but by being in one of the the aforementioned three groups, you would have the ability to upload images or other files.

Someone has to pay for the bandwidth. If you have previously purchased product or already pay for bandwidth by being a WC subscriber, having the ability to "store" small files here would be a bonus. If you're an Apprentice, then you've already given so much of your time that you've been given the same access as a paying customer - you deserve the bandwidth also. Others are just here to visit, post some comments perhaps, but generally are here to d/l content. That's fine, but don't expect a site with so much to offer to ante up one more FREE thing for you.

I see Wincustomize.com as a community (web site) within a community (skinning/customizing). In order for a community (website) to survive, it must have the support of it's "residents" - that includes financial support. No one's telling you that you have to pay to visit. But at least know that there is a line between being a real part of the community and merely being a squatter. Again, if you cannot financially help, then create something or help those who ask questions here.

The way I see it, this thing would be a little "extra".
This site is basically about uploading and downloading skins. Anybody who is not a subscriber can do that.
Personnaly, I am all in favour of finding extra things to give to the Wincustomize subscribers. "Extra" things. Candies. Anything that is out of the scope of the site, but that yet would be appreciated by subscibers. It seems to me that this personal page thing would fall extraly under that category of things. It's not essential, it doesn't impact on the general enjoyment of the site, but yet would be a nice way to say thank you to the subscribers.
That's how I see it.