Wouldn't member directories by state be great?

[PortageGirl]

it (the I am here where are you thread) very very very extra hit or miss, and not everyone posts there. and ther's about 4 or so for each state, started at various times... some are called by state Nicknames, some have things like Northern XXX-ers, some are by state Abreviations, so there's things like AK and Alaska or South Central Alask etc, which only mean anything if you're from Alaska etc... cause they all refer to Alaska Areas and Terms. This sorts things so we're all on the same page.

 

[shelleyb1969]

I think it just needs to be kept simple...only show the member's STATE location, nothing more...no region, no city, nada. I think that would be the most comfortable option for those people with privacy concerns. That's just my opinion, though.

 

[PortageGirl]

No one HAS to enter anything at all. Or, they can enter ONLY the state if they want to. Totally their own choice. And, if they want to change any portion of it later, they can do that too.

 

[shelleyb1969]

Quote:
That sounds awesome, portagegirl. I'm not a techno pro, so simple descriptions/explanations always help me!

 

[EliteTempleton]

I think a summary of the simple stuff we have come up with looks like this:

Country: Drop down list of countries to choose from.
Country Subdivision: Drop down list of options that includes all U.S. States, All Canadian Provinces, an Other option - perhaps listed on top so it's known that it is there if you can't find the appropriate one for you, & perhaps some other things in the drop down that are obvious up front.
Subdivision Sub-Section: Drop down list of C, E, N, NE, NW, S, SE, SW, & W.
Location: Freeform Entry

A note in the profile section where these options are on why filling in this stuff is useful.

I agree, no big deal if people need to do separate sections, especially at first.

Quote:
For displaying it, maybe you could just add a section to the Search function up top? A different squared off area if you will. Titled something like Search for others near you. While being allowed to search by all 4 options or just one, depending on how granular you wanted your search to be, hope that makes sense.

Mix it with other sections? Wouldn't it just be displayed on the left along with all the other stuff, like location is now?

Or do you mean so it is not forgotten? Not sure other then the use of stickies... will have to sleep on it I suppose...

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Building it into search may be really tricky.

I think for starters we'll just have a simple page where you can use the same type of pull down used for setting your location, but to display all the peeps that match that criteria. Then display a list with columns like "# of posts, Last post, join date, etc."

One rub: There are a LOT of countries and states in the world. Not sure how we'd be able to capture them all without a really robust (read expensive) system.

 

[chicksalot]

Quote:
I think the clickable state list would be nice...then if we want to do , lets say a chicken get together, we know who to contact (in general terms) or any other local-ish things, etc ...it's just nice to know who is even 'kinda' local...feed inquiry, buy/sell birds, etc....but I am aware not everyone would be comfortable with this 'close/ fuzzy' feeling, so anyway, that's my imput for now.

 

[EliteTempleton]

Quote:
Did you mean localisation, like time zone? Cuz the location field I see in profile does not have a pull down, it's freeform.

Would the page be like the "User list" at the top?
So you mean I could search for Michigan Peeps and then see other columns that would have the NW type info and such? That could work.

I figured you could list all of the countries, but as for states(Country Subdivision) I already figured you would not list every one in the world. This was my suggestion:
Quote:
Would that work? Just applied it to both the Country and Country Subdivision field.

What I mean to say is just have the ones that you know forum members are in listed and an "other" option, like all the U.S. States and Canada's Provinces, maybe U.K.'s breakdown as well. Otherwise just canvas for people using "other" every 6 months and see if there is enough demand to add in a country or State/Country Subdivision. Make sense? Doable without spending much $?

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

All good! Let me talk with my programmer and brainstorm some ideas and get back to you. We may start simple and easy and go from there.