My suggestion is that the Location field be made mandatory, and only be selectable from a drop-list of nations (or possibly nations and US states) rather than free-entry as now. The more creative entries in that field now could still be put in people’s sigs or customer titles, if they really want to preserve them.
While some posters claim to be concerned about their anonymity I can’t see how the country or even state could be a problem for that.
I seem to recall that when a Moderator revealed on accident the country where someone was posting from, there were howls of outrage which lasted for years,in part because folks did not want to have their location, even to the country-level, revealed without their express permission.
I’m opposed to the idea. I always ignore the Location field anyhow as it’s either uninteresting, unverifiable, or else is some shopworn joke which the person making only thinks is funny. And I say this being myself the perpetrator of many a lame joke via the Location field.
Meh.
If location is an issue and not provided, one or two extra posts querying this is not an issue for me.
Besides, I travel to many places during the year so location is a fluid thing.
However, in your example, the OP should have known this is now a world-wide message board and explained where they were located.
I’m against this. It’s up to the poster asking his question to state his location if it’s relevant. Filling in the location field shouldn’t be made mandatory.
Many many years ago I suggested that a poster’s screen name be accompanied by his country’s flag. I got limited support.
I think a person’s location is relevant to their positions or attitudes and someone who comments from the West Bank or Israel on Middle Easrt affairs is far more relevant than someone who hangs out in Hoboken, New Jersey.
By the way, SDMB members who pay for the privelege of having their location made public if they so desire are still second class citizens compared to SDMB adverisers who are free to locate you whereever you post from.
I also strongly disagree. I see no reason why someone should be forced to identify their location if they are not asking location-dependent questions (and if they are they can be rightfully smacked down). Some other people might like to go to the other extreme and specify their city. Do you suggest having every city in the world (or even every major city in the US and Canada) in your list as well?
What I DO wish is that guests’ location fields be visible to (at least) members. Yes, a guest’s location (if they gave it) can be looked up in their profile, but that is a pain when you are browsing the board. I think it should be visible to everyone (which would also encourage guests to set their location), but visibility to members would at least be some help.
In the other thread, it wasn’t necessary to know where the OP was located, just that it was the same location (and therefore, region) as the person s/he was asking about.
I disagree with the OP. Posters just need to be aware that if they don’t say where “here” is they might get crap answers and they shouldn’t get upset when this occurs.
True. The location field is just a convenience, not a requirement. If someone does have their real location indicated, and this is significant, it’s easy enough to remind them.
Personally, I can’t see us taking the steps mentioned in the OP.
I agree with the OP’s ire, I have felt annoyance myself when seeing a question “Can I legally…?” when the question is clearly location specific- and when the “location” is something silly and unhelpful.
But I do not think that Askance solution is a good one, due to similar reasons already mentioned.
However, Askance, if it make you feel better, I will gladly join you in a PIT rant sometime about some clueless poster who does this- esp. when they don’t check back in soonest to tell us where they are located.
This is a dumb idea for many reasons. One that I didn’t notice being mentioned is that the powers that be would have no way of checking to see if the location field was being filled out accurately, which would be pretty vital for this to be of any use at all.
