Just a thought, a google map of member locations

[D-man]

Hi lee, just a thought here, but do you think it would be a good idea to incorporate a map of all the members?

What I mean i mean is you have something like a google map view of members of the forums and the town they are from. This could help bring more people together and be quite interesting if you find out you have guys near you that could help etc.

I've seen it on joescnc and it's quite interesting to see that their is few hybrid builders from his forum here in the UK

just a though..

[GEOFFREY]

D-man, I like it. G.

[Swarfing]

Great idea and also a bad one. A site i used to follow did this then a number of members got broken into........:sorrow:

[GEOFFREY]

Oh dear. G.

[martin54]

Great idea and also a bad one. A site i used to follow did this then a number of members got broken into........:sorrow:

Can only see that being a problem if an actual address were used but would have thought it would be alright if just done by town much the same as the info on each post. A map would just be an easier way to see how many people were in that area.

[dazza]

no thanks, certain info should be voluntary.
edited to say id be all for it if members were able to opt in or out of it individualy.

[D-man]

I think how it work is it DOES NOT give your direct address only the town your in. Also the admin fills the info in, so what your happy to supply is what does in.

It was only a thought that's all :-)

[John S]

We run a completely free advert site for home shop machinists.

Advert - All Ads (http://www.homeworkshop.org.uk)

If you place an advert for sales or wanted you have to give the first part of your post code, in my case NG10.
This is to save wasting peoples time contacting someone, only to find they are in the opposite end of the country.

No one sees the last part of the post code, only the person you give it to at the completion of a sale.

[Swarfing]

Can only see that being a problem if an actual address were used but would have thought it would be alright if just done by town much the same as the info on each post.

You would be mad to give your address out! Town is fine.

[D.C.]

Great idea and also a bad one. A site i used to follow did this then a number of members got broken into........:sorrow:

Which sounds like complete anecdotal bullshit, all ISP's use dynamic addressing and attempts at resolving a person's IP address from the internet will only ever result in the attacker getting the ISP's processing node.

My current address should resolve to Wednesbury in the West Midlands, it usually does unless there is a problem with virgin media's routers there and I get kicked over to somewhere else.

So there you go, I'm on Virgin Media, I'm not in Wednesbury, I'm not in a town next to Wednesbury and the only way you can resolve my physical address is by hacking into the account records of Virgin Media or by getting a court order to release those records. Having done that you will now be staring at my (and a few million other people's) bank account records that are used to process DD payments so why the feck would you bother getting off your butt to come rob me when your elite hacker skills mean that you are now in a position to siphon off millions of pounds per month from us unsuspecting dupes?

You may disagree with this, but unless you can actually pin a note on my front door saying "you got Clarkson'd bitch" I still have to call total bullshit on this story.

<hugz>

[m_c]

D.C. how's that tin foil cap of yours doing, as nobody mentioned anything about IP addresses....

It's not unknown for criminals to gain peoples actual addresses via the internet, that's why you should always consider where you share your full address.

[martin54]

You would be mad to give your address out! Town is fine.

That's the point I was making the other site you mentioned must have had a lot more detail than what town the members were in if a number of them got broken into.

[Lee Roberts]

Hi lee, just a thought here, but do you think it would be a good idea to incorporate a map of all the members?

What I mean i mean is you have something like a google map view of members of the forums and the town they are from. This could help bring more people together and be quite interesting if you find out you have guys near you that could help etc.

I've seen it on joescnc and it's quite interesting to see that their is few hybrid builders from his forum here in the UK

just a though..

Hi guys,

Thanks for the suggestion, some one has already suggested this to me in the past, at the time i looked at something the guy over at digitalpoint developed, the link for what it is now is here: GEO Visitor Tools (https://tools.digitalpoint.com/geovisitors), i cant remember now why i didnt implement something or even the link above.

IF i was to code something up to do what your suggesting D-Man i would do it so it pulls in the voluntary profile field that we have at the momment called "Location:" and then plots it like you suggest to a google map. At the momment i would probably suggest that i wont have time to work on this so it wont happen, unless some one can find a system already coded up that i can just implement after some review.


D.C. how's that tin foil cap of yours doing, as nobody mentioned anything about IP addresses....


That's the point I was making the other site you mentioned must have had a lot more detail than what town the members were in if a number of them got broken into.

"You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth - Meat Loaf" :friendly_wink:

.Me

[D.C.]

D.C. how's that tin foil cap of yours doing, as nobody mentioned anything about IP addresses....

It's not unknown for criminals to gain peoples actual addresses via the internet, that's why you should always consider where you share your full address.

Tin foil hat is fine ta, so is my grasp on how networks 'work'. In order to have an automatic map of where are our members all that is needed is the vague area which can be had from IP trace. If someone is publicly asking you for real address for no good reason on a public forum they are either a scammer, pervert or about to be hacked by the first scammy perv that realises they have a cache of potentially useful information.

I was kind of assuming that because they teach small children this stuff before they can walk that nobody would actually be stupid enough in the 21st century to knowingly give out their full address for a 'map'.

Do a google search for hack vbulletin, that is how secure your data really is on here. If you would like a fitting for a tin foil my mad hatter is available on Tuesdays ;)

[Jonathan]

nobody would actually be stupid enough in the 21st century to knowingly give out their full address for a 'map'.

Nobody is suggesting that you should - perhaps you didn't read the thread before posting? It certainly looks like it as posts #1,5,7,8,9,12 all suggest using only the town. Then Lee suggested using the location people have already entered, so in your case Birmingham.

[Lee Roberts]

In order to have an automatic map of where are our members all that is needed is the vague area which can be had from IP trace.

Do a google search for hack vbulletin, that is how secure your data really is on here. If you would like a fitting for a tin foil my mad hatter is available on Tuesdays ;)

No, that is just one way it could* be done, given (as you know) that the location from an IP trace is vague what would be the point in doing it this way?, i live in Wigan but my IP trace's back to the exchange in Leigh i believe, so would it not be better to allow members to input what they want people to know as their location?

Cant see anything on a google search for the version of the forum that we use here :eagerness:

.Me

[D.C.]

No, that is just one way it could* be done, given (as you know) that the location from an IP trace is vague what would be the point in doing it this way?, i live in Wigan but my IP trace's back to the exchange in Leigh i believe, so would it not be better to allow members to input what they want people to know as their location?

Cant see anything on a google search for the version of the forum that we use here :eagerness:

.Me


Perhaps this is me misreading the anecdote about members on another site being broken into because of auto mapping software, I wasn't trying to disparage this site so apologies if anything I've typed has come across like that.

I was trying to point out:

That you can't get a real address from auto mapping software.
If someone is asking a whole group of people to put their full address into a site for no good reason, just don't do it. If you have done that sort of thing before then I have a friend who is a Nigerian prince and he has an investment opportunity you might be interested in...

It would be useful to know vague locations, so that we could say have a Birmingham area meetup perhaps and things of that ilk, personally I like the automated IP systems precisely because it is vague and obfuscated, as soon as you deal with human input you have to manage stupid users (like people that will put a map pin right on top of their house on a photo sharing site while advertising how much expensive photography equipment they have at home in their sig and also providing a helpful link to their twitter feed so you know when they are 24 hours a day).

PS, there are certainly exploitable holes in this version of the forum software, there always are. something to ponder, if hackers can take over North Korea's twttier and flickr sites, companies like google can't secure gmail and 'cloud storage' is getting killed in the enterprise because the wonderful cloud keeps on leaking all your data like it's monsoon season just how secure do you really think a teeny tiny forum is?

Given that multi billion dollar companies with more money than the catholic church and more post docs on payroll than the Manhattan project can't do it?

[m_c]

DC, I think the issue was you put 2 and 2 together and got 5.

All that was suggested was a map people could put thier location on, nobody mentioned anything about it being their precise address. Lee suggested the auto location thing that apparently would take the location you've entered on here (I've not bothered even looking at it!) and put it on a map.
The only person to mention IP addresses was you.

As for forum security, vB is one of the better packages, however nothing is ever perfect and hackers always find new loopholes.

[D.C.]

DC, I think the issue was you put 2 and 2 together and got 5.

nobody mentioned anything about it being their precise address.

Swarfing did, in post 3.

I've been disagreeing with Swarfing's assertion that just because a site has a map it means that burglars will be able to find your real address. I like the map idea and I also much prefer to pull data automatically. Why? Because some humans are stupid and malicious and when you ask for user input you then have to deal with all consequences of stupidity and malicious behaviour.

If you can't be bothered to read back a page:


Great idea and also a bad one. A site i used to follow did this then a number of members got broken into........:sorrow:

Sorry if I mangled my message somewhat, I was objecting to this.

[m_c]

Swarfing does have a valid point though, if the location information is too specific.

As I said previously, it's not unknown for undesirables to use public information to know where to burgle.
On several forums I use, even though I've never met the posters, I could tell you some of the expensive items they own. Take one undesirable, such information, a nice map showing exactly where posters stay, and you'd be aswell leaving the door wide open.

[GEOFFREY]

Surely, those members happy for others to know their location have already already listed on this site in the title box. I do not see what harm can be done if that information is plotted on a map. Like minded individuals may well be interested in meeting at some convenient local hostelry every couple of months to discuss/display some or their projects and formulate new ideas. Photographic equipment or other generally small light stuff is one thing, but cnc machines, lathes mills etc are not easily either stolen or disposed of. I still like the idea. G.

[Musht]

What Geoffrey said...

Cheers
Adam

P.S. congratulations on the search engine optimisation, Netcraft toolpar puts mycncuk at 14 570 , cnczone at 50 973....

[D.C.]

Like minded individuals may well be interested in meeting at some convenient local hostelry every couple of months to discuss/display some or their projects and formulate new ideas.

I still like the idea. G.


Me too.


So apologies again if it came across as the opposite. :(

[Jonathan]

Me three...

[D-man]

Me four :-)

[Swarfing]

Guys only just caught up here. Just a town is fine, the experience i was expressing was mainly people who live in small areas. determined criminals will go the extra mile if they thought the loot is worth it. All they need to do is ask a few questions at the pub about people local? the mistake that the site made was to use map co-ordinates from the users address details that were not public. This put pins a map view, even though it was not the exact location it was too close for comfort. Lee's site does not use this type of connection, a lot has changed how sites are used these days.

A pin in a map showing what town you are in is a good idea, you could see who is closest to you. The idea of a group pub meet up is good also close to where you live. Members view only of the map would be better as well of course.

And to come clean it was me that suggested this idea many moons ago. We also suggested local meet ups to help each other out like CNC surgery's (chew over the problem).

[D-man]

Mmmmm beer! :-)

[Swarfing]

Mixed with a huge group hug........and then more beer!

[martin54]

Mixed with a huge group hug........and then more beer!

Count me out if group hugs are involved but I'm happy to go along for the beer.

[Lee Roberts]

Hi guys,

I’ve giving this a little more thought today and come up with an idea!

Let’s move on from the technical aspects of this (thanks for staying level headed about it so far) and look at how we can move forward, from what I can see the only real reason for having a User/Member Map, is to see who is in your local area and maybe this information could be used to arrange meet ups and possibly some sort of workshop.

So how can I help facilitate this.

How about if we set up internal community groups, the forum software has this feature built in, its just turned off at the moment because I couldn’t see any need for it previously. I need to go over the settings and so on but that shouldn’t take long, I think it would allow for individual group sections, individual group pages, a group logo for each group and possibly internal group messages.

The way this could work is we could title each group based on counties, so if like me you live in the Lancashire County, this would be the group you join or receive an invite request from. This then brings me on to say, we could have a group leader/admin for each group responsible for the obvious things, it would require group leaders to send out invites to begin with and do the promotion side of things, I will look at how I can drive members to groups once up and running and so on.

Will stop there and put it out to you, think it would work well and wouldn’t require anyone to disclose any critical location details, group admin could take care of any arrangements and then post a message to the group giving the details for the meet ups and so on.

For logo’s I thought it would be cool to use the coat of arms for each county.

.Me

[martin54]

Would you really need someone to oversee each group Lee? Reason I ask that is because I know how difficult it can be to get someone to actually do it lol.
Other problem is that some people are going to live close to boundaries so may want to meet up with more than one lot of people.
Idea sounds ok & people could just keep an eye on the area's they wanted to & people could post to see if anyone wanted to meet up.

[GEOFFREY]

Hi guys,

I’ve giving this a little more thought today and come up with an idea!

Let’s move on from the technical aspects of this (thanks for staying level headed about it so far) and look at how we can move forward, from what I can see the only real reason for having a User/Member Map, is to see who is in your local area and maybe this information could be used to arrange meet ups and possibly some sort of workshop.

So how can I help facilitate this.

How about if we set up internal community groups, the forum software has this feature built in, its just turned off at the moment because I couldn’t see any need for it previously. I need to go over the settings and so on but that shouldn’t take long, I think it would allow for individual group sections, individual group pages, a group logo for each group and possibly internal group messages.

The way this could work is we could title each group based on counties, so if like me you live in the Lancashire County, this would be the group you join or receive an invite request from. This then brings me on to say, we could have a group leader/admin for each group responsible for the obvious things, it would require group leaders to send out invites to begin with and do the promotion side of things, I will look at how I can drive members to groups once up and running and so on.

Will stop there and put it out to you, think it would work well and wouldn’t require anyone to disclose any critical location details, group admin could take care of any arrangements and then post a message to the group giving the details for the meet ups and so on.

For logo’s I thought it would be cool to use the coat of arms for each county.

.Me
Lincolnshire Imp sounds good, but it may well mean several counties to form regional centres. G.

[Swarfing]

Martin your a spoil sport if your not going to join in on the hugs...........But ok we will just have to do beer.

[martin54]

yer sorry but I'm a party pooper.
Funny really because having spent 20 years in the Royal Navy you would think I would be right up for it lol

Opps there I go breaking rule 6 again

[GEOFFREY]

Martin, after 20 years in the navy you are probably worried that you may still like it!! G.

[Swarfing]

20 years in the navy? bloody hell must have cost you a fortune in socks...LOL!

[Lee Roberts]

Would you really need someone to oversee each group Lee? Reason I ask that is because I know how difficult it can be to get someone to actually do it lol.
Other problem is that some people are going to live close to boundaries so may want to meet up with more than one lot of people.
Idea sounds ok & people could just keep an eye on the area's they wanted to & people could post to see if anyone wanted to meet up.

Erm well yes, i wont have time to manage all that as well. I've got the system up and running, it looks like i would need to create each group and then i have the option to hand over the group to any given member, so it would be my hope that someone would want to do enough to arrange these meet up's and take care of the group. Your right though it maybe hard to get someone to actually do it for each group, this is why i would just wait untill someone like D-Man (as an example) approached me with enough intrest in seeing it through.


Funny really because having spent 20 years in the Royal Navy you would think I would be right up for it lol

Tut, so there is defo no chance of any "man love" then...o well.


20 years in the navy? bloody hell must have cost you a fortune in socks...LOL!

lol!


Lincolnshire Imp sounds good, but it may well mean several counties to form regional centres. G.

Its also an option that members can join more than one group, so not a problem with borders.

.Me

[martin54]

Actually I would probably still be in today if I hadn't had the accident & been medically discharged but that's life for you.
Normally you wouldn't be able to sign on past 50 anymore but apparently they are short of people in certain categories & I know a couple of guys the same age as myself who are now signing on one year at a time.

That would have nearly doubled the outlay on socks lol, wonder if you can get a mortgage to buy socks !!!