Another Brit here - from Gillingham, Kent.
Thanks for the offer, Zeldar. Let me think about it and get back to you. I’ll admit that the project has piqued my interest (I don’t make the list because I live in the US, but I am an expatriate). If I can be sure that it’s not just a “kitten with a ball of yarn” thing for me, I’ll shoulder the yoke.
The Zeldarizer[sup]TM[/sup] is now pretty efficient. I use Firefox with the IE tab installed with “Zeldarizer.exe” set as my “External Application”, so all I have to do is right-click on a Username link in a SDMB post, left-click on “Open Link in External Application” in the popup menu, and the Zeldarized data get appended to my “Zeldar.txt” file. [If the member’s “Location” field is non-obvious, I can also add a URL to the “Zeldar.txt” file which links back to the post where the member says something like “My Location says ‘At my desk’, but I’m really in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso”). The “Location” field in “Zeldar.txt” needs editing by hand in such cases, of course.
I notice that you’ve started a Southern USA Dopers thread, Z. If you like, and if I have a few spare moments this weekend, I’ll clean up “Zeldarizer.exe” (i.e. make it less specific to my own directory structure) and post it on YouSendIt. If you use Firefox, it’ll save you a ton of time!
:smack:
my bad.
I was deadly serious about my weak tech skills. Notepad is about as serious as I try to get with posts at SDMB. I don’t have Firefox either. So, thanks for the offer of a copy of the Zeldarizer, but I don’t think I’d be able to do anything with it.
You mentioned (or somebody did) about a Google Earth file, too. I’m of zero use there, too.
So, I’ll keep maintaining the Notepad summary file until you say you want it, at which point I’ll post it here and you can copy it and go from there.
I can understand any reluctance to take on fooling with it, too. So just let me know if/when.
And thanks one more time for your interest and help.
Z
OK, Zeldar, I’ve thought about it and decided that I’m up to the challenge of taking on the Awesome Responsibility that comes with the title of “Keeper of the Non-USA Doper Database”.
You don’t need to post an updated summary: I’ll be happy just to take your post #164 and add the various data that have been posted since then. I’ll go back through the thread and grab any other names mentioned and Zeldarize[sup]TM[/sup] them.
Thanks for starting this thread and keeping the flame alive thus far. I’ll try to live up to the Zeldar standard! I will admit that while I’ve been perusing the SDMB today, every time I see a post by a non-US Doper I right-click then left-click on the Dopername link, and mutter "You’re Zeldarized! [Think of a cross between LInda Hamilton’s “You’re terminated” and Clint Eastwood’s “Go ahead…make my day”.] My “Zeldar.txt” file (Notepad format!) is growing by leaps and bounds… (however, the Zeldarizer[sup]TM[/sup] is now intelligent enough to update pre-exisitng UserNames to avoid duplication, and has a rudimentary AI to recognize geographic clues in the “Location” field and sort accordingly!)
I would want to make a couple of changes to the data format, however, if that’s OK with you. I’d make the first field (Member Name) into a link to the user’s profile page, thus: Zeldar. It makes it easier to update the info, and will save hamster-exhausting username-searches by Dopers reading the thread and wanting to know more. Also, I’d put delimiters such as semicolons between fields to make it easier to read.
I’m rather taken at the moment by the idea of making a Google Earth .kmz file with all of the non-US Dopers on it. I think I ought to be able to automate the process, and I’ll post the resulting file somewhere that can be accessed by all Dopers. I’ll try my best to localize as accurately as possible, although Dopers with just “Australia” as their location may end up in Alice Springs according to my whim! In addition, yelimS will be placed north of the Arctic Circle due to the “polar bear” wisecrack. [Yes, I know where polar bears really live…]
antechinus is to be commended for mentioning Go You Big Red Fire Engine, 1920s Style “Death Ray”, and leechbabe:
However, he’s going to spend time on Google Earth located in a Sydney prison – or waste treatment plant – for making me work to get the usernames. (The other SydneyDopers will probably be attending a concert by Cunctator in the Opera House). [See how quickly power corrupts?]
All verified names mentioned thus far in this thread will be added to the Database and eventually to the Google Earth .kmz file. If anyone else wants to chime in on their own behalf, there’s no need to supply the “Zeldar format” since their post will automatically provide the link that the Zeldarizer[sup]TM[/sup] uses. If you want to mention another Doper, I’d be most grateful if you’d provide their name in link format (example: Zeldar). If you want to provide more accurate “Location” data for the Google Earth file, please post it and I’ll get as close as you want. Decimal degrees are preferable to DegMinSec where applicable.
I’ll post an updated list tomorrow.
Leechbabe is still alive and well and living in Melbourne (had coffee with her the other week), but hasn’t posted on the SDMB for a couple of years, and her membership has lapsed.
Ellere and I are neighbours. God also lives in Brisbane.
Poor bastard. What sins is HE having to do penintence for to have to endure a suffering like living in Brisbane? 
Another Straylian checking in. kambuckta, Melbourne, Australia.
I thought that I made it clear that I prefer the link to the profile page, not just the Doper’s name! 
Antonius Block, you’re a true trooper! I hope you have as much fun with this project as I have had, and I’m sure your enhancements will become the envy of other Dopers wanting to do similar projects for other geographical entities. Dopefests can become magnificently visualized if people want them to be.
Thanks for all your work and interest, and best of luck with the database.
I’ll continue to check in and follow the progress of this thread. I’m hoping the Southern USA Dopers start catching up with this group in numbers. I have this sneaking suspicion that The South and the non-USA groups could combine forces and wrest control of SDMB – if we wanted to.
Sorry. I was being silly. To make up for it I will dob in Abby from Melbourne; correct spelling, member link and all. Please dont put me in Long Bay.
Well, that worked out just peachy last time… what could possibly go wrong?
antechinus, you’ve achieved redemption by providing Abby in the ideal format, so you’ll get to sit in the audience for Cunctator’s choral recital at the Opera House instead of doing hard labour – that is what you wanted, right? 
I forget. Maybe the non-USA guys didn’t play hard enough?
Canadian, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
I was not able to spend much time on the project today (Saturday), but I’m happy to report that the New List is all formatted and ready to go. I’m going to wait until later on Sunday before I post it. The List now has 167 members, and I will probably pick up a few more by the end of Sunday. Threads such as Australian Dopers: have you got your Census form for Tuesday 8 August? are a goldmine (and have enabled the Australia / NZ DoperCount to surpass the Mother Country and its neighbo(u)ring islands!). I’ll post the full list early Sunday evening California time.
The current totals are as follows:
Canada: 48
British Isles (UK, Ireland): 33
Oceania (Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands): 37
Remaining Europe: 21
Asia and Middle East: 18
Latin America: 6
Africa: 4
Here’s the format: if anyone has any comments, let me know!
CANADA: (48)
Rodd Hill ; Charter Member ; Joined: Apr 1999 ; Posts: 1,762 (as of 20060805) ; Location: Victoria, BC
etc…
At this point, I’m throwing the floor open to any Dopers who can remember names of candidates for the list. You don’t need to provide a link to the Profile Page: the Zeldarizer[sup]TM[/sup] is now smart enough to grab a name, do the search for the profile page (with a suitable time between searches so as not to tax the hamsters), mine the relevant data, and add it to The List (sorted by country of course, and ranked by user number within the country list).
I’ve thought long and hard about what to do with members with “Guest” status, and decided that those former Dopers who have chosen not to renew don’t get on The List, whereas Guests who are in their one-month trial period will make The List (as an incentive to sign up!). Comments on this policy are most welcome!
Excellent modifications and enhancements, Antonius Block, and I agree with the Guest policy. Only recent posts (latest 30 days and less) should be captured for Guest posters. Unless you were to use the “Member Number” approach, there’s little way to get Guest lurkers into the list. And it’s possible to probable that their being on the list might not accord with their intentions.
I like your choice of going to recently started threads to look for unreported Dopers, and the only reason I refrained from that myself was the notion that people may not want to appear on the list. I’m not sure why that would be the case, but if somebody posts to this thread and indicates that willingness to be counted, then the doubt is over. I chose to err on the side of privacy, but I admit I was perhaps overly cautious. Recent threads surely remove the issue of current location – if the “Location” field is indeed accurate and/or you know for sure they’re truly non-USA. This was something, again, where I had my own doubts.
All in all, I believe you’re setting a good standard for any future ventures to count and arrange Dopers by some grouping criteria. Maybe others will add even cleverer ideas to yours, but at least it’s a great start. I’ve been hoping for such a thing for quite some time, especially since the “Members List” function appears to be disabled.
Once this thread and others like it (including the Southern USA Dopers) have had a chance to run their course, maybe a new thread by one of us, or some adventurous reader of this post, will look for new criteria by which to poll Dopers for their belonging to some group or another.
As Steve Allen said, “This could be the start of something big.”
Banzai!
Canadian living in Moscow here. As far as I know I’m the only doper living permanently in Russia, although giving my posting rate, I don’t know if I even qualify as a Doper…
Yet another Aussie. I am from Sydney.
Let’s kick this over to a new page so the summary will be near the top of the new one.
Late to the party, do I still get to be counted? A Korean, and has been living in Seoul the past 11 years.