A protest!

[Mr.B]

@tautech
I am sure there are people that want maintain their anonymity with their employer and I get that (especially considering my full time job roll), however if they want help and assistance then they should use an "off employer site" registration and visit EEVblog not on the employers time... Yes, I am being hypocritical because I cruse EEVblog in company time...  (but hey, I am a senior manager... LOL... Is that OK???)

@f1rmb
Yes, understand what you are saying.

@mutley
Ok, point taken... yes, I will run with that.

All that said, I will shut up and go to bed now...

[Fungus]

Country is sufficient to provide enough information for help.

I say "continent".

I'm in Spain but I have no clue where to buy anything inside Spain, all my stuff comes from "Europe".

I am gong to refuse to answer anyone who does not have their country set in their profile. I am soooooo tired of .......

Fine. Stop doing it.

FWIW: I think that 'forcing' people to reveal their info will cause as many problems as it solves.

[Fungus]

I don't get it with the black flag...
I am proud of being a Kiwi and am happy to disclose my country and city.
Obviously I am not going to disclose my residential location on the internet, but come on... Black flag... really...

OK, you're a rompin' stompin' Kiwi and proud of it!

But ... nobody voted you as spokesperson for the world. It should be there so long as even one person wants it. Heck, it should be there even if nobody wanted it yet. Just because you can't instantly think of a reason doesn't mean there isn't one.

[EEVblog]

No one is being forced to chose the country they are actually in. Anyone who wanted to remain truly anonymous can pick any one of a few hundred.

[Ian.M]

If some of us choose not to set our location, what's the big deal?  If I'm looking for local part suppliers, I don't mind disclosing the approximate location, but I certainly don't want every post tagged with my location, and if I happen to be a resident of a small island nation, I'd be giving away a very large clue to my identity.   The most interesting 'nation' in the list is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouvet_Island, a Norwegian dependency with a permanent population of zero, so anyone truthfully claiming that, is identifying themselves as the electronics 'geek' of a very small expedition (the research station accommodates six)!

I am happy to admit at any time that my usual habitat is located approximately 1 AU from Sol.

[timofonic]

Yeah, but I guess it is needed for some people living in countries where authorities aren't that nice. Maybe I'm wrong.

If you are talking about the countries that I think you are talking about, the country flag setting will make no difference...
They are being tracked anyway.

Very smart people can avoid tracking wisely...

@Fungus

Hola!

I find most shops in Spain to be crappy and expensive. I understand you...

[f4eru]

Why care the location
I don't care, I will answer you even if you are in the USA

[Lightages]

The problem with not disclosing a country is something like this:

Where can I buy a power supply?

This type of bare question without any location comes up all the time. I don't care if people don't want to disclose their location but I was just getting tired of having to give as my first response "Where do you live?" If people want an answer as to where or what they should buy, their location is a big part of the recommendation. It is a waste of time to go over all the possibilities all around the world just to have them say they can't use ebay, or they won't import anything because of their countries importation fees, etc..

This was my complaint. It happens all the time.

[free_electron]

In case anyone gives a rats I'm from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and to prove it the car number plates say Victoria the place to be, at least they let us fill in the last few words.

Muttley

Long dead english queen , the place to be .


i think not ...

[zapta]

I am gong to refuse to answer anyone who does not have their country set in their profile.

Our importance we over estimate, do we?

[Lightages]

I am gong to refuse to answer anyone who does not have their country set in their profile.

Our importance we over estimate, do we?

NO 

Did you not read my last post? My complaint is not just my own. This has been discussed in the past and many people have complained about this too.

[Richard Crowley]

So far I've only heard they'll be ignored by you.

   HA!  Of course you wouldn't actually know HOW many people ignore those with no flag or black flag.

I will admit that I have grown weary of playing 20-Questions with clueless people.  If they can't discern how to ask a question or how much information is necessary to evaluate the situation, then they probably won't understand the answer, either and it is a waste of their time and mine.

[jancumps]

I am gong to refuse to answer anyone who does not have their country set in their profile.

Our importance we over estimate, do we?

NO 

Did you not read my last post? My complaint is not just my own. This has been discussed in the past and many people have complained about this too.

Many others haven't complained.

[Lightages]

Many others haven't complained.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/where-the-bloody-hell-are-you/

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/please-show-your-country/

Just with a simple quick search.......

[zapta]

So far I've only heard they'll be ignored by you.

   HA!  Of course you wouldn't actually know HOW many people ignore those with no flag or black flag.

I will admit that I have grown weary of playing 20-Questions with clueless people.  If they can't discern how to ask a question or how much information is necessary to evaluate the situation, then they probably won't understand the answer, either and it is a waste of their time and mine.

We are not require to answer all the questions. Pick the ones you like, others will be other questions and as for the rest, tough luck. The 'my way or the highway' approach, not by you, is inappropriate for such a diverse community.

[Lightages]

We are not require to answer all the questions. Pick the ones you like, others will be other questions and as for the rest, tough luck. The 'my way or the highway' approach, not by you, is inappropriate for such a diverse community.

You might want to consider that if people are going to ignore people who ask these questions without saying where they live that making sure they do disclose their location before they post will get them more answers and actually help them rather than have them be ignored. There is still the black flag option and they can even indicate the wrong country if they want. At least they know and have made the conscious decision and we can then decide not to waste our time trying to help someone with information that isn't relevant.

[tautech]

I am gong to refuse to answer anyone who does not have their country set in their profile.

Our importance we over estimate, do we?

NO 

Did you not read my last post? My complaint is not just my own. This has been discussed in the past and many people have complained about this too.

Quite right.
Derailed thread from not too long ago:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/news/zero-posters-purged/

[Muttley Snickers]

The flag option is probably not relevant to established members, it's the new ones that cause the grief that Lightages refers to. And we nearly forgot this one, I was very proud of this post some of my better work.


https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/(freebies)-cleaning-up-some-stuff/

[tautech]

NO 

Did you not read my last post? My complaint is not just my own. This has been discussed in the past and many people have complained about this too.

Quite right.
Derailed thread from not too long ago:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/news/zero-posters-purged/

In that thread Dave posted this "The final opinion seemed to be that it would force many to put a false country, so just as bad or perhaps worse as no country?"

As for putting the country name instead of the flag image, well colour me a closet vexillologist.

A bigger issue than not filling in the location flag, is not creating a title that has sufficient detail to facilitate a latter search for the thread.

Had to Google vexillologist.
Flag fetish?

As all these links pop up as part of this discussion, another:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/(poll)-setting-the-country-in-new-user-profiles/
In that one there is 65% support for compulsion, admittedly some do not want the black flag retained but despite their views there is good reason for it.

Add to this the support of many SC's that are weary of trying to get basic info from newbies.

Daves statement and very recent actions reveal his understanding of the communitys needs and hopefully we can how move forward.

[zapta]

In that one there is 65% support for compulsion, admittedly some do not want the black flag retained but despite their views there is good reason for it.

We should reduce the size of the black flag by 65% then.

[Richard Crowley]

Ironically, black flags (as the one flown by @mojo-chan) are not being displayed at all. We see only the "missing-image" icon where the black flag should be.  This happens on both my Chrome and on Internet Explorer browsers.

[Lightages]

Same here.

[tautech]

Same here.

+1
Noticed it soon after Dave did his 

Dave, further  required to fix the black flag, you'll probably have create a country name for it. 

[gildasd]

Same here.

+1
Noticed it soon after Dave did his 

Dave, further  required to fix the black flag, you'll probably have create a country name for it. 

As far as I am concerned, a black flag means you are a submarine and are surrendering.

[Ian.M]

Oh for %DEITY%'s sake, simply add "The World" with the UN flag to the list!
As has previously been suggested,  continent or region choices would also be useful.  A couple of obvious ones would be the EU and NAFTA countries.