Adding "LOCATION" to a User's Profile

Thread Starter

SLK001

Joined Nov 29, 2011
1,549
A lot of new users are asking questions that require respondants to have knowledge of the questioner's location. The LOCATION box can easily be filled out in the PERSONAL DETAILS section when joining.

I suggest that it be REQUIRED for the LOCATION details be filled out PRIOR to a new user being able to post a question. This way, they won't have to be asked "where are you?" when the answer requires this info.
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
I do get tired of that, "Jameco (Mouser, Digikey, Allied) doesn't exist here. Why didn't you guess correctly where can I buy the parts?":rolleyes:
 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
We have had a discussion about it in the past. I don't think most of us have any heart burn with it, but one of the things that came up is some folks would like to keep theirs a secret due to nationality issues. As far as the staff is concerned we can look it up, but try to respect peoples privacy.

There have been rare cases where people were claiming they were in Britain or what not that was pure fabrication (and to lie about their credentials) where it came out.
 

Thread Starter

SLK001

Joined Nov 29, 2011
1,549
We have had a discussion about it in the past. I don't think most of us have any heart burn with it, but one of the things that came up is some folks would like to keep theirs a secret due to nationality issues. As far as the staff is concerned we can look it up, but try to respect peoples privacy.

There have been rare cases where people were claiming they were in Britain or what not that was pure fabrication (and to lie about their credentials) where it came out.
I would say that this doesn't apply to 99% of all people here. For the "1 percenters" add a UNDISCLOSED catagory. You could further restrict the UNDISCLOSED people from asking any "where do I ..." questions.
 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
With civil rights it is the 1% you have to worry about. Most folk don't do it because of laziness, but there are a very few who have made a thoughtful decision not to.

My personal opinion is I don't care. Most folk can mail order, except for a small handful of countries. If someone can not get the parts they need because they didn't tell everyone where they live who is suffering? It is not the people advising them.

I don't make this decision, but I have been here long enough to see it come up again and again. You will note I have put my location down. I chose to do it. I also understand why some folk may not be comfortable doing so.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,976
It can also be very helpful to know if you are talking to a 16 year old or a 61 year old. Yet some of the same people that seem to like the idea of requiring people to disclose their location would be apoplectic if they were to required to disclose their age.
 

crutschow

Joined Mar 14, 2008
34,280
Personally I would like to know where a person is located so I know what to suggest for parts. It's a pain to have to ask them that when they want a circuit design.
If they want to opt out, then they can check a box and the word "undisclosed" or similar will be shown for the Location but the opt-out should be a deliberate step, not just a default.

I don't really care how old the person is.
 

Lestraveled

Joined May 19, 2014
1,946
In another forum, it was asked, how to best maintain a battery system when the mains were on for only a few hours a day. It came out the person was in Syria and his family was using batteries and an inverter. He was then pounced on by adolescences asking dangerous political questions. He never posted again. If the discussion had stayed technical, all would have been fine. Some people have a real reason to not show their location. It is nice if someone states their location, but I am never put off if they don't.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,976
Personally I would like to know where a person is located so I know what to suggest for parts. It's a pain to have to ask them that when they want a circuit design.
If they want to opt out, then they can check a box and the word "undisclosed" or similar will be shown for the Location but the opt-out should be a deliberate step, not just a default.

I don't really care how old the person is.
And a lot of people (and I tend to be one of them) feel that opt-in should be the norm. If I want someone to know where I am, I should have to explicitly choose to allow that information to be public. If I want my twitter or facebook or IM or whatever contact information made available, I should have to explicitly allow it.
 

crutschow

Joined Mar 14, 2008
34,280
And a lot of people (and I tend to be one of them) feel that opt-in should be the norm. If I want someone to know where I am, I should have to explicitly choose to allow that information to be public. If I want my twitter or facebook or IM or whatever contact information made available, I should have to explicitly allow it.
Okay. I realize we're a privacy obsessed world in a world with no privacy.
But the next time someone asks me a question about what part to use and he doesn't have a location listed, he's on his own. :rolleyes:
 

crutschow

Joined Mar 14, 2008
34,280
Oh come on crutschow, if he is a nice guy, you will bend over backwards to help him.
Sorry if I seem testy, but I do get annoyed when I suggest a part type for some project a person has asked about, whose location is not stated, and they then say that part isn't available where they live (and they still don't say where they live). :mad:
I respect peoples privacy, but it seems that making them opt out of posting their location is a reasonable request, so that not doing that isn't just laziness on their part when they set up their account.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,976
Sorry if I seem testy, but I do get annoyed when I suggest a part type for some project a person has asked about, whose location is not stated, and they then say that part isn't available where they live (and they still don't say where they live). :mad:
I respect peoples privacy, but it seems that making them opt out of posting their location is a reasonable request, so that not doing that isn't just laziness on their part when they set up their account.
But then why shouldn't they be required to opt out of posting their age? Or whatever other information some people might find useful to know, just as you find that knowing their location is useful.
 

Thread Starter

SLK001

Joined Nov 29, 2011
1,549
But then why shouldn't they be required to opt out of posting their age? Or whatever other information some people might find useful to know, just as you find that knowing their location is useful.
Because knowing a person's age doesn't determine whether or they can purchase a part or not.

Also, the "civil rights" argument is kind of a silly argument. If the poster in some totalitarian utopia thinks that he is being anonymous, then he has another thing coming, since the internet is far from anonymous. Even now, the admins of this board know the IP address that I am using to post this response. If they know this, then some nefarious government also knows it. If this mythical government knows my IP, I would be willing to bet that they also know me. "But what about proxies...?" Proxies are closely monitored in utopialand, if not completely blocked. Even the use of them could be considered a "crime against the government".
 

crutschow

Joined Mar 14, 2008
34,280
But then why shouldn't they be required to opt out of posting their age? Or whatever other information some people might find useful to know, just as you find that knowing their location is useful.
Knowing there location is useful when suggesting parts to use.
But I don't see how knowing a person's age or any other information about them would be useful to anyone whose answering questions on this forum.
That's the difference.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,976
Knowing there location is useful when suggesting parts to use.
But I don't see how knowing a person's age or any other information about them would be useful to anyone whose answering questions on this forum.
That's the difference.
So you talk to a twelve year old the exact same way, in that same amount of detail, and expect the exact same level of knowledge, experience, and reasoning as a fifty year old? A while back we had someone asking about something (motors, I think) and the nature of the conversation changed drastically once it was discovered that the person asking the question was a sixth grader.

But you are still choosing to miss the point. You want to require people to jump through hoops in order to avoid disclosing information that YOU find convenient to have a small fraction of the time (the overwhelming majority of threads are NOT people asking what part to use). But if that's the standard, then why shouldn't people be required to jump through hoops to avoid disclosing information that someone else finds convenient to have some of the time?
 
Top