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Originally Posted by RidgeTop Reptiles

Im just trying to offer a different view point... as to why some may not want to do it.

Duly noted. Thank you.

Originally Posted by chamgirl99471

but what if they just stated, as Kevin has, that they are from whatever part of the state they are in. I don't see what the big deal is if you tell the state you are from.

Then they would not be in compliance with policy, and would be subject to whatever repercussions there might be. My profile initially said Upstate NY...I changed it to NY's Capital District when the rule for posting a valid location in the classifieds went into effect. At that time, while it was noted in several posts by Rich, the announcement posted in the classifieds did not state that the city was required...and Rich responded to some questions in a manner that suggested that using a defined geographical area would be good enough. While many people outside of NYS might not be familiar with the Capital District, if it is googled, the first hit is a Wikipedia entry.
Now that the policy is clearly defined, and explicitly indicates that City and State are required, I have entered my city. (I wouldn't notify people of the new policy & expect them to comply if my own profile didn't meet the standard)

Completely understood Thank You Harald.

Originally Posted by Wraith

What the hell does my location or anyone's location have to do with social chit chat or answering someone's question or posting a joke or a news article or anything else that goes on in the DISCUSSION forums? Location has NOTHING to do with any of it and has NOTHING to do with honesty or lack there of. The discussion forums are NOT the classifieds where people are attempting conduct business and where ones location does play a part.

Good point. There's no question that locations of sellers are important and that discrepancies in location are a red flag in any possible transactions. But why locate those merely carrying on a discussion?

Originally Posted by Webslave

Sorry to get so strict about this, but this is necessary in order to try to weed out those people intending to obscure that information in order to engage in scams taking advantage of people on this site.

Again, the scams take place in the classifieds, not in the forums.
There is more going on here than meets the eye, I think.

Originally Posted by Wraith

I have no intention of buying anything from anyone on this site nor selling to anyone on this site. When I want to buy reptiles I perfer to buy in person at shows. Because I have no intention of ever using the "classified" section of this website I would NOT be giving anyone my location to start with because I would not be providing nor receiving any form of payment. I certainly should NOT have to open myself up to stalkers or put myself at risk simply because I have no intention of making full use of this site..

You don't HAVE to do anything...least of all participate on this site. There are lots of very good reptile forums that don't even require a first name, much less a full name and location. Seems like one of those might be a better fit. It's Rich's site and he can certainly set whatever rules he believes make for the best possible management of his site.

I guarantee you, no matter what rule he makes, there will be someone who is unhappy about it. That's just the way it goes.

Originally Posted by lucille

There is more going on here than meets the eye, I think.

Like what???

It's a matter of logistics. If Rich has decided that adding a required location as well as a full name will aid members in judging who they do business with, then he has to figure out a way to implement that tool. The simplest way, from an administrator's point of view, is to have that information included in the member's profile....period. It will save on a LOT of admin/moderator time when managing the classifieds.

It just so happens that the exactly same infrastructure is connected with the discussion forums. True, no sales go on there...and a person's location may be irrelevant to most of the discussions going on there...but how do you strip that information from one part of the site while including it on another? You can't. It's not some weird conspiracy.

Consider the volume of people utilizing this site for just a moment.
My last post referenced that there has been a location requirement in the classifieds since early this year. I personally spent weeks sending people PM notifications of the requirement when I noticed they weren't complying. Somewhere right around that time, Rich started requiring those entries on all new registrations. One would think that we'd be ahead of the curve by now...but it doesn't seem that we are. Some might slip through the cracks at registration, and there are people that only advertise seasonally that weren't posting during the full court press to notify people. It seems that there are also some members that randomly pop back in to use the classifieds. I think some people may have entered the information, then removed or changed it once their compliance was noted.
With this site currently getting in the neighborhood of 1000 posts per day, and a majority of them in the classifieds, this requirement is probably the easiest way to attain the goal.

Some people may opt out of using this site rather than comply - no surprise, since that happens every time something changes.

Originally Posted by Wraith

I have no intention of buying anything from anyone on this site nor selling to anyone on this site. When I want to buy reptiles I perfer to buy in person at shows. Because I have no intention of ever using the "classified" section of this website I would NOT be giving anyone my location to start with because I would not be providing nor receiving any form of payment. I certainly should NOT have to open myself up to stalkers or put myself at risk simply because I have no intention of making full use of this site.

There is another forum I like to visit that uses that type of system already..the classifieds require a location while discussion forums do not. Specifically they state "If it's not part of your user profile already, you must explicitly state your location in the classified." While I don't sell stuff there, I do on rare occasions buy from users there if it's something impossible for me to get locally. I will not bother to entertain the idea of contacting anyone about their ad if they do not have their location listed and will report them instead. I also am very careful to do my homework and only provide my address information after they have already given me their address with which to mail them payment via USPS priority mail. Actually they don't ever know my address until the day they get my payment as I have a letter included with the money order and where to ship my purchase.

Originally Posted by Wraith

What the hell does my location or anyone's location have to do with social chit chat or answering someone's question or posting a joke or a news article or anything else that goes on in the DISCUSSION forums? Location has NOTHING to do with any of it and has NOTHING to do with honesty or lack there of. The discussion forums are NOT the classifieds where people are attempting conduct business and where ones location does play a part.

Well, be that as it may, reviewing the history of your posts here, coupled with the above quotes that you do not intend to buy animals from nor sell them on this site, coupled with the evidence that you have no intention of posting in the discussion forums ABOUT said animals neither, does tend to bring a question to mind as to why exactly you ARE here, and why you would get so worked up about your location info. Personally I don't care why you are here, but I do sometimes wonder at the motives behind what people will post when they see a conflict brewing...

And, btw, yes, you have posted in the classifieds section in the past. And you have certainly been active in the BOI, where I am sure most people like to have some credibility behind people posting there, where profile info filled out completely and accurately may be helpful in that respect.

It may just be easier to comply with the requirement now, rather than getting an infraction if you forget and slip up some day, wouldn't you think?

I indicated a while back that I was going to be cleaning up this place and getting it running tighter, but do it gradually. Well, this is part of that process....

Hell, at the very least it may allow more of us to get to know one another outside of the forum. Oh wow, "so and so" lives two cities over? Cool.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

I indicated a while back that I was going to be cleaning up this place and getting it running tighter, but do it gradually. Well, this is part of that process....

Personally, I think you're doing a helluva good job.

Originally Posted by JudyC

Personally, I think you're doing a helluva good job.

I do too. Kudos, also, to all the Mods that contribute their time towards keeping this site on the tracks.