diff --git a/app/controllers/user_controller.rb b/app/controllers/user_controller.rb
index 4a4d4d855..599521265 100644
--- a/app/controllers/user_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/user_controller.rb
@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@ class UserController < ApplicationController
   layout 'site'
 
   before_filter :authorize, :only => :preferences
-  before_filter :authorize_web, :only => :rename
-
-  
+  before_filter :authorize_web, :only => [:rename, :account]
+  before_filter :require_user, :only => [:account, :display_name_edit]
+ 
   def save
     @user = User.new(params[:user])
     @user.set_defaults
@@ -17,20 +17,15 @@ class UserController < ApplicationController
       render :action => 'new'
     end
   end
-  
+
   def rename
-    new_name = params['display_name']
-    if @user
-      @user.display_name = new_name
+    if params[:user] and params[:user][:display_name]
+      @user.display_name = params[:user][:display_name]
       if @user.save
         flash[:notice] = "User display name updated OK."
-      else
-        flash[:notice] = "Rename failed: #{ @user.errors.full_messages.join('; ') }."
+        redirect_to :controller => 'user', :action => 'account'
       end
-    else
-      flash[:notice] = 'not logged in'
     end
-    redirect_to :back
   end
 
   def lost_password
diff --git a/app/views/layouts/site.rhtml b/app/views/layouts/site.rhtml
index 1154237cb..d32490729 100644
--- a/app/views/layouts/site.rhtml
+++ b/app/views/layouts/site.rhtml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
     <% end %>
     <div id="content">
       <% if flash[:notice] %>
-      <div id="notice"><%= flash[:notice] %></div>
+        <div id="notice"><%= flash[:notice] %></div>
       <% end %>
 
       <%= yield %>
@@ -23,12 +23,13 @@
     </div>
 
     <span id="greeting">
-      <% if @user %>
-      Welcome, <%= @user.display_name %> |
-      <%= link_to 'logout', {:controller => 'user', :action => 'logout'}, {:id => 'loginanchor'}%>
+        <% if @user %>
+        Welcome, <%= @user.display_name %> |
+        <%= link_to 'account', {:controller => 'user', :action => 'account'}, {:id => 'loginanchor'}%> |
+        <%= link_to 'logout', {:controller => 'user', :action => 'logout'}, {:id => 'loginanchor'}%>
       <% else %>
-      <%= link_to 'log in', {:controller => 'user', :action => 'login'}, {:id => 'loginanchor'}%> |
-      <%= link_to 'sign up', {:controller => 'user', :action => 'new'}, {:id => 'registeranchor'} %>
+        <%= link_to 'log in', {:controller => 'user', :action => 'login'}, {:id => 'loginanchor'}%> |
+        <%= link_to 'sign up', {:controller => 'user', :action => 'new'}, {:id => 'registeranchor'} %>
       <% end %>
     </span>
 
diff --git a/app/views/trace/_trace_optionals.rhtml b/app/views/trace/_trace_optionals.rhtml
index 394e6daa0..20db1f495 100644
--- a/app/views/trace/_trace_optionals.rhtml
+++ b/app/views/trace/_trace_optionals.rhtml
@@ -9,17 +9,4 @@
       <% end %>
     <% end %>
   </div>
-  <% if @user %>
-    <div class="optionalbox">
-      <span class="oboxheader">User</span>
-      <br />
-      <br />
-      <form action="/user/rename" method="get" style="margin: 0px">
-        <span>Display name:</span><br />
-        <input type="text" value="<%= @user.display_name %>" maxlength="255" size="8" name="display_name"/>
-        <input type="submit" value="Save"/>
-        <input type="hidden" value="<%= request.request_uri %>" name="redirect_url"/>
-      </form>
-    </div>
-  <% end %>
 <% end %>
diff --git a/app/views/user/account.rhtml b/app/views/user/account.rhtml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c26089671
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/views/user/account.rhtml
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+<h2>User details</h2>
+<table>
+  <tr><td>id</td><td><%= @user.id %></td></tr>
+  <tr><td>email</td><td><%= @user.email %></td></tr>
+  <tr><td>display name</td><td><%= @user.display_name %> (<%= link_to 'change...', :controller => 'user', :action => 'rename' %>)</td></tr>
+  <tr><td>account created</td><td><%= @user.creation_time %></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<h2>Privacy</h2>
+
+<%= start_form_tag :controller => 'user', :action => 'public'%>
+<%= submit_tag 'Make all my edits public, forever' %>
+<%= end_form_tag %>
+
diff --git a/app/views/user/login.rhtml b/app/views/user/login.rhtml
index 31fe7e415..09ace0f51 100644
--- a/app/views/user/login.rhtml
+++ b/app/views/user/login.rhtml
@@ -8,6 +8,6 @@ Please login or <%= link_to 'create an account', :controller => 'user', :action
 </table>
 
 <br>
-<input type="submit" value="Login">
+<%= submit_tag 'Login' %>
 
 <%= end_form_tag %> (<%= link_to 'Lost your password?', :controller => 'user', :action => 'lost_password' %>)
diff --git a/app/views/user/rename.rhtml b/app/views/user/rename.rhtml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5e9db6f29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/views/user/rename.rhtml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+<h2>Display name:</h2>
+
+<%= error_messages_for 'user' %>
+<%= start_form_tag :controller => 'user', :action => 'rename' %>
+<%= text_field :user, :display_name, :value => @user.display_name %>
+<%= submit_tag 'Change' %>
+<%= end_form_tag %>
diff --git a/db/migrate.sql b/db/migrate.sql
index 80d11eb9a..a884156d4 100644
--- a/db/migrate.sql
+++ b/db/migrate.sql
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+/* this script when run on the current db migrates it to rails */
+
 drop table meta_nodes;
 alter table current_nodes modify tags text not null;
 alter table current_nodes modify id bigint(64) not null auto_increment;
@@ -26,4 +28,7 @@ create index gpx_file_tags_gpxid_idx on gpx_file_tags(gpx_id);
 alter table gpx_file_tags add id int(20) auto_increment not null, add primary key(id);
 
 alter table users add preferences text;
-create index users_display_name_idx on users(display_name);
\ No newline at end of file
+create index users_display_name_idx on users(display_name);
+
+alter table users add public boolean default false;
+
diff --git a/public/stylesheets/site.css b/public/stylesheets/site.css
index e18b182b9..d49b603ad 100644
--- a/public/stylesheets/site.css
+++ b/public/stylesheets/site.css
@@ -370,10 +370,10 @@ hides rule from IE5-Mac \*/
 }
 
 #notice {
-  width: 400px;
-  border: 1px solid black;
+  border: 1px solid green;
   padding: 7px;
-  background-color: #f0f0f0;
+  background-color: #f0fff0;
+  margin-bottom: 20px;
 }
 
 #errorExplanation {