Hello,

I run a photography website where each user has its own subdomain (i.e. user.site.com). I'm thinking of adding user groups but I'm unable to decide if I should also associate a separate subdomain or simply a subfolder for each group:

Subfolders (www.site.com/groups/my-group)

Pros:

• Easier to maintain from a tehnical p.o.v.

Cons:

• Harder to memorize.
• The URLs can get really long (www.site.com/groups/my-group/albums/my-album/)

Subdomains (my-group.site.com)

Pros:

• Easier to memorize.
• Shorter URLs.
• One might have the impression that such an URL is somewhat more "independent" from the main site.

Cons:

• Group and user names belong to the same name space, so we need to check for collisions when creating a new user/group.
• One cannot determine the content of the page by only reading the URL: Is x.site.com a user page or a group page?

What's your opinion on the matter? I should note that DeviantArt.com uses the 2nd option (that's where I got the idea). Thank you in advance!