Sorting through the members

[Rennie Heuer]

Anyone ever give any thought to having a search available in the member list that would sort by state or region?

It seems there is always a post running somewhere about two Creekers being able to meet face to face. Good times and an exchange of experience is almost always the result.

I see some potential issues from nusiance contacts all the way up to stalking, but there are also some up-sides. (Stalking!:eek: Yes, we all do this. Think of the last time you were hot on the trail of a new tool, going from store to store, hunting it down on the internet, gathering information & pictures.......:D )

Seriously, any thoughts?

[Nancy Laird]

I for one would love to be able to find woodworkers and turners from my area, so I think this is a good idea. I know of only three members here who are in my immediate area--would like to know more.

Nancy

[Keith Outten]

We would love to be able to provide a sort of our Members list by zip code and we do have one but it will never happen. There are those who are against any type of contact outside of our Forums and prefer to keep their personal information confidential. We must respect their wishes. We don't even use our email system to send mass email announcements although there have been times it would have been very useful. You might notice that many of our Members don't provide their city and state under their Join Date in the upper right hand corner of their posts.

The Shop Tours module Aaron Koehl is designing has the capability though and each person can opt in or out in order to allow people to contact them. The database is searchable for any kind of tool or equipment, make, model, manufacturer, city, state, etc.

.

[Rennie Heuer]

Keith,

I assumed it would be a privacy issue. I thought that sorting on the state or province would automatically give a null result for those who witheld that info from their profile and that would be enough.

None-the-less, I fully understand. I look forward to the shop tours module and hope to have the ability to meet others face to face through it.

[Mark Pruitt]

There are those who are against any type of contact outside of our Forums and prefer to keep their personal information confidential. We must respect their wishes. .
Keith,
I have had the same question in my head that Rennie asked. I figured that some would wish to retain their privacy, which is understandable and I would not want to overstep that boundary. Still, it would be very nice especially for those of us who live in "Creeker-sparse" areas to be able to find each other easily. For example, I'm close to Lynchburg, VA, and have noticed only two other SMC members in this area by their location, but I can't help but wonder if there are more, and if so, we could possibly coordinate some kind of gathering.

You "East Coast Virginians," OTOH, seem to be like weeds. You're everywhere.:D :D :D :p Lucky fellas you.:p

I look forward to seeing what Aaron is putting together. Many thanks to both of you.