Require country selection on sign up

[pythonmegapixel]

One of the most important pieces of information anyone can provide when asking for help buying something is which country they're in so we can look at what prices are like in their area.

 

Often new users don't realise this; they are perfectly happy to tell us their country but it never occurs to them. So could we have a drop down menu during the signup procedure which requires the user to select their country before they can proceed, and then the location field on their profile can be automatically set to that? There could be a "prefer not to say" option at the bottom of the list for people who genuinely aren't comfortable with sharing that information.

[wall03]

9 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

option at the bottom of the list

Top of the list.

Most people won't otherwise see it, get immediately mad, log onto Twitter, and complain to Linus about it.

[LogicalDrm]

While you would see it as beneficial, for others telling their location to everyone is not as easy. So like gender, age and other personal details, I think this should remain voluntary in future also.

[givingtnt]

5 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

One of the most important pieces of information anyone can provide when asking for help buying something is which country they're in so we can look at what prices are like in their area.

 

Often new users don't realize this; they are perfectly happy to tell us their country but it never occurs to them. So could we have a drop down menu during the signup procedure which requires the user to select their country before they can proceed, and then the location field on their profile can be automatically set to that? There could be a "prefer not to say" option at the bottom of the list for people who genuinely aren't comfortable with sharing that information.

IMO it's unnecessary, if people want to volunteer the information, they already can.

Also, making it a drop down list would prevent people from putting a city or other rather than simply a country.

[Guest]

This is one of those things that sounds like a solution to a minor issue, but ends up being more of a burden.

[minibois]

Over these years, I've found that location is not important at all in 99% of all cases where you're giving advice.

The market over the world isn't that different that you need to know the location of the OP. I also think this would be encroaching on user's privacy, with no clear benefit, only scaring off new users.

 

I think it's entirely irrelevant to ask people for their location unless you have done two to three recommendations of parts and have been told "I can't get that where I live". At that point, it's helpful to know the website they'll be buying from and their budget in their currency. But those are the exception, not the rule.

This is a sort of shotgun approach to these rare exceptions. Make everyone put in their location, just for those couple exceptions you might need it.

 

It makes sense that location has been added to the New Builds and Planning sub forum, but even then it's not always necessary. People are free to not give their location, in trade needing to find local alternatives to what we've suggested.

 

But that's just my opinion, on something I feel we don't need. Feel free to disagree.

[Tristerin]

I can typically tell location by username/PFP/use of english language (round-a-bouts enough to know to ask Country)

 

I think @Den-Fi nailed it.

 

Oh and this is the first time I have tried dark theme.  Its nice.

[Prodigy_Smit]

This is like using a nuke to kill a cockroach and accidentally blowing up the whole neighborhood.

IMO it will make many new users uncomfortable with signing up to the fourm.

 

13 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

Oh and this is the first time I have tried dark theme.  Its nice

Welcome to dark mode elitist gang.

[AndreiArgeanu]

2 hours ago, minibois said:

The market over the world isn't that different that you need to know the location of the OP.

That's entirely untrue, new and especially used markets can highly vary between countries both in pricing and availability, not to mention the different economies where something as little as 20$ can mean a lot more considering average salaries in some countries.

[minibois]

33 minutes ago, AndreiArgeanu said:

That's entirely untrue, new and especially used markets can highly vary between countries both in pricing and availability, not to mention the different economies where something as little as 20$ can mean a lot more considering average salaries in some countries.

The only part I've had issues with availability has been power supplies. That is usually fixed by a simple:
OP: "Oh I can't get that PSU/it's super expensive"
Me: "What website will you be buying from and what is your budget in your local currency?"

OP: "Site link, x amount of currency"
Me: "Get this: link"

 

I don't see why we have to take a shotgun approach for specifically this.

 

Things like pricing on AMD vs. Intel/Radeon vs. Nvidia may be different across regions, but up to the OP to call this out. Even if everyone had their location (accurately) listed on their profile, most people will miss that anyways, defeating the point entirely.

 

Used market will vary within a country, especially in larger countries like the USA and Canada. It's impossible to give an accurate advice for something as complex as that.

This forum isn't about spoonfeeding answers anyways, it's about pointing people in the right direction to know what's possible.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

I agree with a lot of people on this. Maybe a dropdown thats like this: