Do you think an artist personal website is useless?

I have been debating on making a art website for my art but I haven't because I do not feel it would be used much. I get most of my art on FA and I don't think that will increase commissions or anything, so i wanted to see what you guys would say about it.

There are times that when I find a artist that I like on a forum, like FA, and I like to hunt down their websites to see what else they may offer, like higher resolution images/background/etc.

For me, I like it when people have their own website to be able to show off additional stuff.

However, it really does come down to what YOU think you should do.

An artist having a website is so that they can have a portfolio online to show people what they have done and can do. It's petty much a must have now for the sake of being contracted with buisenesses to get a job.

I dunno.. I think services like DA and FA are more convenient for business.. Personal website requires considerable efforts, hosting, promoting, you need to consider the processing of commissions, and people may just refuse to pay in advance on little known site, too many frauds nowadays..
At DA people can find you through tags and favs, and chances to find customers a lot higher.. Just my opinion..

It's used for marketing yourself and for a base of info in-case say... FA goes down again, or something like youtube all of a sudden not being accessible in your area anymore.

If you don't have the site/branding set up you loose out on customers in-case of long outages on your main promotional sites.

I don't think personal websites are a waste at all. It is a place where you can show your collected works organized how you want. This way people visiting your site can see the type of art or product they want while not being exposed to that which they do no wish to see. Screwbald.com worked wonders for Blotch. Clockwork creatures has its own site as well as Immelmam. As artists grow they normally will host their own site that acts as a portfolio. Instead of carrying a huge case around protecting your artwork everywhere you go you just need to show them a website that can hold more work. It shows your work and doesn't have all of the other clutter of art sites that show other artists trying to sell their work. This way people interested in your work see your work without having to sort through the artists they didn't want to see. A website pushes your brand (who you are) to your customers and people like them because they get to know your work better.