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Pet Peeve - No Location

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GreySoul

Sun Jul 08 2007, 04:32AM

Registered Member #546 Joined: Fri Feb 23 2007, 11:43PM
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Posts: 239

Well, I figure this is the best place to rant about one of my biggest pet peeves on this (and many other) forums.

Profiles, specifically the "location" field....

WHY don't people fill that out when they make an account?

I wish there was a way to prevent posting unless a new user has filled out some of their profile - at least their location.

I bring this up here in part because there are so many Nationalities and languages represented here that there is often a slight language barrier. It's often much easier for me to understand and tolerate a poorly constructed post when I know that not only is the author not a native English speaker, but also where they're from - not that it matters in a philosophical or ideological way. It CAN often make it easier to understand the context of their grammar errors.

The other thing is that I see a lot of people, especially in the sale/trade area that ask for or offer something, but don't bother to mention what part of the world they're in. A lot of our toys are only available regionally, or they are VERY heavy, and so knowing where someone is can often help in deciding how to respond to a request for goods, or decide if you want to deal with the shipping.

Anyways.....

the sites rules state:
III(a)
Once you register, you should fill out your profile. Users who have not filled out their profile, and haven't been logged in for 30 days can be deleted at any time. Filling out your profile assures that you will remain a member, even if you plan on being away from the forum for a while.

it _SHOULD read:

A. Once you register, you MUST fill out your profile. Users who have not filled out their profile within 30 days, OR haven't been logged in for 30 days can be deleted at any time. Filling out your profile assures that you will remain a member, even if you plan on being away from the forum for a while.

That's my one suggestion for now :P

Oh...that and Free Beer coupons for everyone.

-Doug

Wolfram

Sun Jul 08 2007, 07:14AM

Registered Member #33 Joined: Sat Feb 04 2006, 01:31PM
Location: Norway
Posts: 971

Risking having one's account deleted just for being away from the forum for a month seems a bit strict, I think.

GreySoul

Sun Jul 08 2007, 04:34PM

Registered Member #546 Joined: Fri Feb 23 2007, 11:43PM
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Posts: 239

yeah... that's not exactly what I meant.

I meant to say if you don't get your location tag filled out after 30 days.... you'll just be kicked no matter how active you are.

people don't need to put in their home address.... a state or even country is plenty - and not private info online anyways.

...how does this sound?

A. Once you register, you MUST fill out your profile. Users who have not filled out their profile within 30 days can be deleted at any time. Filling out your profile assures that you will remain a member, even if you plan on being away from the forum for a while.

once their profile is filled in they're safe AFAIC. But if they can't fill out their profile within 30 days they're just lazy....

Steve Conner

Mon Jul 09 2007, 09:17AM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

I'm sure some people don't want you to know their location, just like they don't want you to know that their real name isn't .xXSteelW0lf1337Xx. I don't mind, until they start posting in the Sale And Trade board and people have no idea where the item is located.

GreySoul

Mon Jul 09 2007, 04:22PM

Registered Member #546 Joined: Fri Feb 23 2007, 11:43PM
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Posts: 239

In general an IP address relates to a physical location.

I'm not suggesting people give their home address, SSN, Credit Card Info, phone Number, and Shoe size....

A country would be easy enough.

I know a lot of forum software has a flag plugin that links to the users IP address....puts a flag after their name that shows what country their IP is from.

if 1 in 100 use an out of area or anonymous proxy so be it... that's better than 7/10 not showing anything for location.

Chris Russell

Mon Jul 09 2007, 09:40PM

... not Russel!
Registered Member #1 Joined: Thu Jan 26 2006, 12:18AM
Location: Tempe, Arizona
Posts: 1052

I can't see any reason at the moment to compel people to disclose their location in their profile. Unreadable posts are unreadable posts; how does knowing whether the person is from Springfield or Frankfurt help?

However, I can see how it might be nice to require people to include an item's location when selling something. That might belong in a sticky on the sale and trade board.

For what it's worth, a rather significant percentage of people that are posting are using various proxies that obfuscate their physical location. This makes me think that IP-based geolocation would be pretty inaccurate.

GreySoul

Thu Jul 12 2007, 10:53PM

Registered Member #546 Joined: Fri Feb 23 2007, 11:43PM
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Posts: 239

Chris, fair enough. After thinking about it a bit more I can see certain agree that privacy > my convenience :)

And I'm sure we agree on the sales/trades posts. I swear I asked for this by saying anything in the first place...:

As for proxies - I concede there are no surefire absolute methods of tracking every person.... and to imply that anyone here would have a specific reason beyond their own desire for privacy to do so isn't my intent... but I do wonder why so many people use them .

I propose we initiate a door-to-door search of all Internet connected regions. We'll search out every 4HV members and institute a "tag and release" style RFID satellite tracking system to make sure they don't lie about where they say they're from.... (yes...I'm kidding)

Anyways.....

I'll go back to my cave now :)

-Doug

Chris Russell

Sat Jul 14 2007, 04:19PM

... not Russel!
Registered Member #1 Joined: Thu Jan 26 2006, 12:18AM
Location: Tempe, Arizona
Posts: 1052

GreySoul wrote ...

As for proxies - I concede there are no surefire absolute methods of tracking every person.... and to imply that anyone here would have a specific reason beyond their own desire for privacy to do so isn't my intent... but I do wonder why so many people use them .

Many don't have a choice. Some ISPs as well as some businesses and college campuses force all http traffic to pass through a caching proxy. Campuses aren't a problem, because we can generally figure out where they are. But businesses and ISPs can have fairly vast networks, so the caching proxy may be quite far away from the actual user.

However, there are still some few people that choose to use proxies, like Tor. There are many reasons why one might want to do this, privacy being the most obvious. Interestingly, 4hv.org is blocked by the Chinese government, so any users in China would have to use a proxy. Various workplaces probably also have 4hv.org blocked, as I am sure websense has us listed as a message board.

At any rate, I think I agree that people selling ought to at least tell us where the item is located. I'll put a sticky in the sale/trade board.

Dave Marshall

Tue Jul 17 2007, 03:38AM

Registered Member #16 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 02:22PM
Location: New Wilmington, PA
Posts: 554

BlueCoat has us listed as a forum/bulletin board as well. The only reason I can access the board while I'm out here in the sandbox is because I made a special request, and the level of moderation on the forum keeps it well within the realm of 'appropriate and educational'.

Interestingly, my IP from this location lists me as being in the San Francisco area. Only, oh about 10,000 miles off.

Privacy is a huge concern for alot of people, and I can understand why. There are alot of reasons to keep your actions online seperate from 'real life'.

Dave

Moderator(s): Chris Russell, Noelle, Alex, Tesladownunder, Dave Marshall, Dave Billington, Bjørn, Steve Conner, Wolfram, Kizmo, Mads Barnkob