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search by location?

D

dave_in_delaware

New member
OK, maybe I missed it in the members advanced search form ...

Is there a way to search for members by geographic location somehow to find out who lives near us?
 
No way that I'm aware of.

Since a lot of members do not list their location, or it's somekind of bogus description, how would the software provide for such?
 
Hmmmmm....

Well, I'm not a software programmer, nor do I want to be one.

My thoughts:

Since everyone technically has a profile here, I'm guessing the software would find the "location" info for each member's profile. I'm assuming this info is kept in some sort of database, and would be considered a text string. If so, the "location" data would be able to be just listed, and sorted alphabetically, for someone to view. Then there would be links at the top of the search screen to be able to jump to a specific letter quickly.

Maybe the database could break out any two-letter text in the "location" text string and assume it's the state, then people could search by state.

To answer your question, the software wouldn't have to provide for either situation you mention. If the profile's location is blank, then "" would all be grouped together either at the beginning or end of an alphabetical list. If they entered "on my couch" then it would be right between "Omaha" and "Ontario" in the alphabetical list I guess.

I'm not saying this search would need to be complex or require crazy programming, but it might help people find each other easier than just by random circumstance while reading their post and seeing it on the left side of the window.
 
I think you overlooked the part of Antipitas' post where he said, "Since a lot of members do not list their location ...". That is very true. Pick any long thread of your choice in one of the major forums and see how many different members have no location or a bogus/witty location entered. I'll wager you'll find that it is a good percentage of the total members posting in that thread. For that reason alone, a search on locations would return an incomplete listing at best.

The feature you are asking for is not in the supplied vBulletin code and we here at TFL don't usually hack the vB code to add features. It's usually an issue of time available, or rather, the lack thereof, for those who know what they are doing (that does not include me).
 
I didn't overlook any part of his post. I know those bogus or blank location entries would return a blank or out-of-place result in a search. That, to me, would still be better than no search possibilities at all. I've done a geographic search on a different board before. Yes, those blank entries take up a lot of room on the list. Yes, the bogus entries scattered between "real" wntries can get annoying. But, the results I got were still more helpful than having no way to search by location in the first place.

BUT, that said, I understand that it would take some doing to be able to rewrite the code. I'm not asking/begging for someone to do that, nor am I trying to make it sound like I'm pushing for a change of any kind. Two of you have responded to my inquiry, and you've answered my question just fine.

I thank you for your time. :)
 
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