Including 'Location' in bio:

Sorry, but those are all people who are promoting something; themselves, their music, their films. I gotta agree with Colette, MySpace and the like are for kids and promoters/marketers. Having a personal web space is what adults do, they don't go around "friending" anonymous people to make themselves popular on the internets so they can be cool. Most of us got over that crap the day we graduated from High School.

To answer the original question, I don't include location on the forums (for no good reason beyond the amusement value of putting something else in) but I'm not shy about what part of the country I live in and it is listed on my SL profile.

Not in the slightest.

Or up to 9 times if you are a cat

Maybe just the way I am reading it -- but yes, if we could eliminate <anything> and murder then our murder rate would be small.


Dead body within blocks of me would concern me greatly. But then I live in a pretty safe neighborhood and would not expect anything like that to happen here.

I sooo wish they would update their darn photos -- my house and yard look so much better now than it did then.

Now that I got my opinions in on others' thoughts:

I have a general location in my forum profile - though must admit it took me a long time to figure out how to do that as I am not a forum guru.

I don't remember what is in my SL profile. I don't have a problem with the general info being there, just don't know if I got around to doing it or not -- took me forever to just put something there.

I don't use voice. Although I work in IT, I'm a software person and voice seems like a hardware thing to me -- what in the world would I talk in to? I'm pretty sure there isn't already a mic of some kind on my monitor. Have enough to deal with learning SL, no time for wierd stuff like voice.

i suppose i have a different idea in regards to keeping 'rl and sl separate'. imo, putting my location as 'australia' isnt necessarily representative of a merging of rl and sl. people know i am from australia, people know i am a chef irl, yet i do keep rl and sl separate. to me it isnt a matter of some rl knowledge. by 'keeping separate' i mean that i do not invite people into my rl, meaning no phone calls, no meetups, etc.
and the suggestion that 'australia/chef' is the same kind of knowledge as an address and phone # is ludicrous.


in regards to a persons location adding context, morwen is from the netherlands. the above comment reminded me of a mates trip to amsterdam. he was followed for a bit then dragged off the road and robbed. you can argue the value of how this context is meaningful or whether it is simply the creation of a stereotype, but it did change her post in my eye. im not sure how, but it made it different in some way. i could feel a relationship between her post and my rl knowledge

raw eggs are everywhere. mayonaise, hollandaise, salad dressings, cake icings, puddings, etc. egg yolk is the defacto emulsification agent in the kitchen and it works best when raw. i dont think ive ever seen somebody get sick from something like this- with the possible exception of hollandaise, which is stored at a very warm and unsafe temperature.

Personally, I have no issue with telling people my timezone, or even my present continent (Europe). More than that, and I generally like to have a conversation first. It's called being sociable. As for country/culture specific information, I'm sufficiently global in outlook that I regard "Earth" as my home country.

My planet, 'tis to thee I owe allegiance.

Even Hollandaise...I've never seen anyone get sick from. Egg yolks, as used in food industry, are often ultra-pasturized and come in quart containers. As an ex-pastry chef, I've done my share of egg separation and have never seen food poisoning result. What is mousse made of, but raw egg yolks, raw egg whites, and cream? Agreed with Nina that raw eggs are far less dangerous than crossing your average street at rush hour.

Actually, you would be surprised how quickly you can get narrowed down. I know of one case where someone made several remarks about RL to different people which, on the surface, and separately, were quite innocuous. But someone was able to combine them, and combined, (with a little Googling) these innocent remarks did translate into an address and phone number.

Of course it makes a difference if your location/job is Sydney/chef or Washington DC/Secretary of State ...

I know, the car in my driveway in their photo was traded in a while ago.

I avoid being overly specific in public documentation, but I'm pretty open and if a conversation merits it I've got no problems narrowing it down- I do avoid being more narrow than Texas- along the gulf coast- because I've had a lot of people through my years online offer to meet up for lunch/dinner when they're near/in my town and I'm really not comfortable with that. It's easier to simply never narrow it down specifically than to try to explain that you really don't think they're close enough friends to meet face to face. I'm a very private person in real life- I prefer even my 10+year friends who were in my wedding call before dropping by and I usually prefer to go visit them instead. My house is my retreat- a place where I feel safe. =) Second life I'm much the opposite!

That said...

Voice doesn't bother me at all. In fact I'd love it if more people were active in voice because I feel really comfortable in voice conversations after 2 years raiding in another MMO and spending a big portion of my evenings hooked up to Ventrilo and talking to 40+ different people and weaving in and out of all the different conversations. I never really got the knack of that down quite as well in text.

If English were not your first language you might feel differently about that.

Noooo! Take a look at that clip I posted. The nine letters are completely random, chosen by the contestants. You have to rack your brains trying to make the longest word possible from those letters. If you spot a four letter word but the other contestant spots a five letter word, the other contestant win that round (gets five points for his five letter word in fact).

Wish you never asked yet?

Thirteen pages?!?!?
I might be bored .. but I don't have *that* much time!

Yes, I post my location on forum but I leave it more generalised as southern england in-world .. for my alts too. Really helps with the timezone and language for those who read profiles.

Voice? I can take it or leave it. I have in fact only tried it out with one RL friend. Sadly, it doesn't want to work with my RL fiancee <snicker> ... but frankly, I prefer no-voice. I firmly believe I would say more typos than I type .. and it extends the mysterious mask we as avatars hide behind ... I mean, who could be terrified of a dragon with a Birmingham accent?

I don't mind if they know where I am, in RL I do. Even though my SL avator uses my RL skills in world, as well pretty much based on the RL person behind her, when asked I do just keep it to America unless it is a very CLOSE friend. Which most close friends know this info anyhow . My reason has to do with the below which took place in our RL dog world.

http://www.crimelibrary.com/features/fea_printPage.asp?curPage=&thisFile=/notorious_murders/women/women_killers2/11.html

Many Blessings in your RL & SL as well!

I am just jumping in here coz SL out for a while, but privacy and location issues seem to be a paramount concern to all. I rarely tell people where I am REALLY - and in SL only my partner and a "close friend" knows where I am. I think the willingness to tell people who you really are here tends to become annoying when the person who declares to me that they are Humpetty GoCart in real life demands a similar response from me and then gets upset when I tell them that my REAL life is intensely private and protected. I have been stalked in my real life so I feel that issues of privacy have to be respected. I don`t know if all this is relevant to the initial thread but I am tending to see more assumed openess in sl and a sort of clubby, chatty, giggly, all friends together atmosphere starting to develop which tends to become very annoying and even depressing.

Within reason of course Morwen--I figured we all understood this. I'm not saying walk around Compton late night talking to strangers...I'm talking about relatively safe situations. Give someone a chance before you decide their not 'safe' or 'worth talking to.' You'd be surprised what opening up and changing your attitude can do for your life.

Oh calm down...sheesh. I'm not talking about stereotyping...I'm talking about understanding. When someone says, 'put yourself in my shoes', do you say, hey stop trying to stereotype me. Don't be so dramatic...

I think a major problem with this forum is that many of you throw a label on someone, and whenever you read a post by them, you subconsciously pick out any possible way to disagree and continue the drama. That needs to stop. Stop seeing a post by a person, and preparing--even before you read it--to disagree and debate against.

I swear, it's like you do everything in your power to either twist around what I've said, or disagree all together. Why can't we just subjectively read a post...and stay open minded? Please.

Having a personal website is what adults do? That's a hardcore jab if you ask me. Do a little searching, you'll find there are a ton of quality and professional 'adults' that have MS pages. The platform and it's population speaks for itself--it's a great tool, and one that many 'adults' and professionals have joined in on.

And adding that 'kids' and 'promoters/marketers' are the only ones interested (and or benefiting) from myspace is only reinforcing what I said to begin with--which is, it's not just for kids.

MS has a bad rap (just like SL)--so unless you are a part of it, and are benefiting by utilizing it the way it should be utilized, it might be wise not to label it so harshly...don't you think?

Google is updating this (and other platforms constantly)--have you seen Google Streets? They drive around in vans with 360 degree cameras on top, 24/7, capturing high resolution images of the surroundings--this is always happening, even as we speak.

Google Streets allows you to plug in an address, fly to street level, and spin the camera around 360 and get a 'relatively' up-to-date picture...

There is controversy surrounding this--what if Joe Blow gets snapped the moment he's leaving a strip joint? Two Words: Big Brother.

LOL!

Way back in #64 of this thread I wrote
"I've been through numerous corporate training courses on brainstorming techniques. The best ones work to separate the idea from the person, or more precisely - from the other participants' preconception/prejudice of the person raising the idea.
Remove prejudice and preconceptions as far as possible. There's then not much left to work on except for the pure thought process.
The virtual world can enable that technique. I prefer to separate real and virtual for the most part."

*Sigh!*

Good point.
It could save him too. If someone accuses Joe of holding up a 7-11 when he actually is in the Strip Bar, it could be a good thing. Similar things have happened here with electronic toll tags, providing alibi's in criminal investigations.

If the government were doing this people would cry tyranny.

Why does google get a free pass?

The government can still use the data ..

Maybe because you get a little pedantic and treat people like they're hysterics?