Make the Location (where you live) field compulsory at signing up

[AlbertLionheart]

The reason the prompted my question was not knowing whether someone was in the UK and so whether to suggest a UK based solution. Not critical maybe, but it might helped keep the threat on track! Still, as you say it is voluntary.

 

[Tedster]

Age can be determined by the voluntary information they have in their profile about birth date.

Its pretty safe to assume the person you are talking to is male. Its pretty rare to have a female appear here, and if one does, its usually clear by their user name or what they put in their post, ex - ".... my boyfriend....".

Sometimes, but not always. Knowing gender/age can be useful as it tends to impart knowledge to some degree about competency. (though this is definately not true for all cases.) Considering this is an adult, male dominated field, knowing these facts can help some better answer questions.

 

[captaincranky]

Water seeks it's own level......

Sometimes, but not always. Knowing gender/age can be useful as it tends to impart knowledge to some degree about competency. (though this is definately not true for all cases.) Considering this is an adult, male dominated field, knowing these facts can help some better answer questions.

I tend to believe that individuals will seek out those who they perceive to be their own peer group in an exchange of ideas setting, perhaps with the strongest bias being age related. Also I believe that most will find people with methods of syntax and communicative skills that mesh with their own.
I tend to give my general location when posting to the "Hot Deals" forum, since even national chain stores tend to sometimes localize sale items.
And, as mentioned much earlier it doesn't make sense to tell someone in Bulgaria to hit Newegg's web site for parts.
As to slang, I find the "New English" more than a little disturbing. I seems the language is becoming one big crass, lowbrow text message. When u strt wth al ths nnsnse about boyz n 4y n stuff, I could care less where you're from, just don't expect any help from me.

 

[AlbertLionheart]

I suppose my point in raising this was because I have been fortunate in working in many different countries. Because of this I know circumstances and resources are different wherever you go and someone in the middle of Africa for example does not have a shop on the corner downtown somewhere.
As for language, I agree with CaptainCranky about the slang - but sometimes slang is the way people communicate normally.
I've had my say - thanks for the opportunity.