Members

[james124]

Congratulations to So Cal Mark. The site(club) has reached over 3,800 members. As a token of appreciation, I have made a $10 donation to his favorite cause. Mark, out of curiosity could you provide a rough geographical breakdown of the members - by state, country etc.? That would also give us an idea of how many spiders there are in USA and Canada. Keep up the good work.
Cheers, JimmyG

[So Cal Mark]

thanks JimmyG, donations to the site are always appreciated. The growth of the site has been invaluable to all of us in terms of the amount of information available.
Unfortunately, member location isn't available to me. That information isn't required to register, so it's not collected.

[halg]

Mark:
It would be very helpful to know where someone was located. If I knew where 84pininfarinablack was I could help him with his brake line problem. I realize thet if the information was not required there is nothing you can do. The Dino forum tried to have everyone list car info and location when posting a thread. Maybe?
Hal

[jimincalif]

Poster locations will automatically show in the left panel of each message if they are filled in on the user profile. Go to User Control Panel, click the Profile tab and scroll down to the location field, and type it in.

[So Cal Mark]

yes, each member can list their location but the software doesn't track nor compile any geographical info.

[mbouse]

Mark:
It would be very helpful to know where someone was located. Hal

require too much information and people will start to disappear. NUNYA it is nun-ya business where i live, or what my birthday is, or what car i drive.

i recently left a forum in disgust after complaining loudly to the host that my birthdate was none of his business...yet he REQUIRED it. i had participated there for about two years w/out ever providing the info... and now he "needed" it? he stated that it was used only in general demographic data that he "needed" to supply to his advertisers. he refused to revise his requirements, i refused to provide unnecessary personal data.

however, and at the same time... we as users of the forum can strongly request that other users provide some basic info besides their cryptic user name...

yes, it would be nice to know what kinda car you drive; especially when you forget to say so when you ask a question.
yes, it would be nice to know where you live when you say you need something shipped or have something for sale.
yes, it would be nice to know how to get in touch with you directly.

yes, it would be nice if there were never anyone around that could use any of this data in malicious ways.

but, that is mine to decide to offer or revoke from public display... not the forum host. require too much, especially unnecessary personal info, and you will lose participation.

[halg]

I have updated my information to include location. I can't request information without doing it myself. If you don't want to do it don't.
Hal

[fiasco]

Birthdate is a tricky one. Since it is a federal crime to collect personal information over the internet from anyone under 13 years old without express premission from their parents, most sites that collect any information (like name and email address) will also require a birthdate. If your birthdate shows you are less than 13 years old, you can't sign up. That's why sites like Facebook won't let you sign up if you are under 13.

It's probably not likely that the feds are going to hunt down every forum owner for collecting information from people under 13, but technically, if you are not collecting birthdate, or if you are collecting birthdate and are not restricting signups, I think you could be at risk.

Just a thought.

-- se

[mbouse]

most internet sites get around that easily. some refuse to try. birthdate is too sensitive of information to REQUIRE, and too easy to slip out to identity thieves.

a simple statement that asks the participant to certify that he/she is of legal age is good enough for forums like these....if it is indeed a federal requirement for a chat forum. i dispute that ANY collection of personal information at a chat forum is a REQUIREMENT.

specifically, which is truly more important to the users of this forum... my age, or my ability to communicate properly in this social setting? which is more important, where i live, or what i can contribute to the discussions? what do you really need to know from me, my sex or my knowledge?

i choose to give and not to give personal information on my own....by choice, not DEMAND. i am just cautioning that when a participant goes to the moderator and requests that all members provide certain pieces of information ... that he is asking that certain pieces of information be REQUIRED. i have, i am, and i will continue to object to those REQUIREMENTS. and.... once i sign up to a forum such as this.... changing the "rules" afterwards is not something easily tolerated. i agreed to a set of rules when i got here, if someone later decides that his life would be made easier by knowing other things about me----i will strongly disagree.

[DoctorPDR]

Why don't you just make up a birthdate then?