MAK

People come on the forum and make various requests. That's fine and certainly a major forum function.

It is annoying when you have no idea where they are located. Note how often people who are trying to help have to ask, "where are you located"? On the Touring thread, for example, I'm not going to recommend a short but rewarding trail in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland or New Jersey (my familiar areas) if I know that the person requesting advice is way west of the Mississippi.

My suggestion...Require that everyone at least identify the state or country they reside/ride in as a part of their profile. Specific towns and cities would be nice, but not necessary and could be optional. For US members, a dropdown box should be required so people don't make up "witty" answers "like state of oblivion" or "state of confusion", etc.

State residence is too vague to be an invasion of privacy or identifying data so only a few would or should complain.

Thank you.