Why not put your location on your profile???

[SandyM]

I want to bring a few things up in reference to our locations. I'm very passionate about people's rights, freedoms and privacy. I also acknowledge each person has their own reasons for the decisions they make and reasons for what they do.

Admins response to a select few who have chosen to not disclose a location In by making (new and existing) their membership contingent on an entry of their (a) location leaves this forum acting unprofessional and in absolute violation of the privacy act.

The few who haven't added their location have basically been belittled and not respected for their choice, publicly on the forum. As an active member I can not support this 'click' type behaviour. Ever. I could give a if I get a little heart clicked or not as i try to get everyone to see that it is a choice and should remain a choice and if nothing else a respect needs to remain in place publicly for one another. It would be hard to not know you are being referenced, if you are one of the members who don't have your location in place or have sent a disgruntled PM to moderators when asked to complete your location. Shameful really.

The members who have chosen to remain off a map/location are being criticized for something that should clearly be their choice. When did this ever become OK? Have we forgotten we are a community that prides it's self on our diversity and the ability to respect each other's differences and ultimately one another?

For some people, the Internet is about anonymity, therefore leaving out locations can give a sense of security. That level of security needed by some is not a decision for anyone other than each individual to make. We do not know or need to know the circumstances in why they are, we just need to leave the option in tact. All policy makers and forum members need to recalibrate our priorities as a family, friendly based public forum. I guess I'm questioning if why Facebook, Twitter and many other forums do not make your location mandatory, why has PTO felt it has the right to enforce this policy on existing and new members.

There are so many reasons why people wouldn't post their location and as a thoroughly compassionate group on this forum, we should respect each other's choices. Not bully and place anyone in a corner. Location or no membership. This is not a forum I could remain a part of if this type of isolation and control remains.

A members location has absolutely zero bearing on their contribution to the forum. If a member who chooses to leave their location out wants to sell an item(s) it is up to each individual member how they go about dealing with that. Not a forced irrelevant policy.

I agree with Admins role in moderating and setting standards, but I feel you have crossed a line that never should of been in question.


Respectfully,

Sandy

[Ontario Chick]

I don't think it's a question of crossing the line.
As one Fair Airline posted, yes you have a right to refuse opening your suitcase, but you will not be able to fly with us.
You sign up on a Forum you like, you abide by the rules of the Forum.
After all, nobody is forced to join.
There lies your freedom of choice.

[ross]

Being an administrator owned forum I think they have this right & as OC stated nobody says anybody has to join or stay . Personally I think of it as a privilege not a right to be able to partake of & to enjoy within the rules layers down by the admin .

[SandyM]

OC. The true freedom of choice is choosing to disclose your location or not. By Choosing your own level of security, ultimately what you are comfortable with. I can not fathom how someones membership is validated, or not, by a dot on a map, so to speak.

My post is only intended to bring awareness that there are many chairs at the table and a mentality of one size fits all is barbaric and typically not very successful. Think what you will, but true choice comes from freedom to decide not forced irrelevant policies .

[JimW]

Interesting thread. Maybe one of the reasons some people choose not to post their location is because they are in the 0.1% bad apple group and don't want anyone to know where they live. Just kidding, sorry. I choose to express my freedom of choice by going to read a different thread.

JimW

[WLLady]

Well folks since we were here with PSO and again with PTO i am locking this thread.....we are all passionate folks, and i dont want this to divide the forum. As admins on the forum Martin and Al and myself will come to a decision later today on what will be done.
Sandym-there is nothing we admins have done that demands your exact location. If you remember we asked only for a close town or local church etc etc. For all we care, put in toronto or sudbury or wawa-somewhere you arent. You can choose to be on the map or not.
We will revisit this later today as admins, and our decision will be final-we do not post exact addresses, or your towns anywhere-you enter your own location and that appears in your avatar section-you have complete control over what that field says (and thus could enter anything you want). This is not in violation of any privacy laws, any more than your user name being public.

[WLLady]

Alright Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have consulted.

This decision is FINAL. I hope this is clear, it is final, no more discussion on it. This topic firmly divided the group on PSO and we will not repeat that here-so this thread will remain LOCKED.

Location was, in the beginning, required after the initial influx from PSO so that we could identify and block spammers. The only practical means available to us as admins to make sure that you all aren't spammers is to look at your typed in location and your IP address (yes, those ARE public to anyone on the internet). If those agreed within about 2000km (aka, canadian location and canadian IP address) we let you register and we confirmed your registration. If they did not (say your location was Toronto or Sudbury, and your IP address was Ukraine-and YES THAT DID HAPPEN, 5 times) we did NOT let you register. Simply because spam will destroy this board, literally. So for us, it was a valuable tool in order to make sure that the board would not be spammed, hacked or otherwise destroyed. The main thing about adding the location to the registration process was two fold: 1) to allow us to check for spammers; and 2) allow you to then be able to modify your user CP areas without getting errors.

Watching and reading this thread it is clear that we are all very passionate people, and we have firm lines drawn in our respective plots of sand. That is a good thing, but as owners of this board, because we are so diverse, we cannot please everyone. All we can hope to do is make a good proportion of people happy, and have the rest admit tolerance.

The map has always been VOLUNTARY. That will not change. If you choose to put your location in please do NOT put your exact location in. We have said that time and time again. Pick somewhere close, a police station, a church, the nearest town. If this is not satisfactory to you, you are under no obligation whatsoever to use the map. Yes, there are opinions out there that it would be nice for the sake of planning or seeing where people are, but it has never been mandatory, and nor will it be.

Your location is NOW VOLUNTARY to fill in if you so choose. It is not mandatory for sales ads, your avatar settings or your user CP. We know that this will anger some people. We know it would be nice to have on the ads, so that you aren't wasting time chasing people around to find out the birds are 800 km away. If you want to put your location, please do (again your closest town, not your 911 address). If you do not, then don't. This goes for your user CP settings, your sales ads, your wanted ads, etc.

This is our final decision, we are making it voluntary, because in that way those that are opposed to listing any location (regardless of how accurate or inaccurate) are included, while those that do wish to list a location still have the ability to do so. We will continue to do our best at identifying and blocking spammers, and we hope that you will all continue to use and enjoy the board for what we are trying to allow it to do-exchange information and be a gathering place for all of us to share our common passions.