Regional groups.

[tjweir]

I apologize if this data is aggregated somewhere already, but I could not find it.

Given the generally high cost of the boards we use here, and the inability to test them out, I was wonder if people would be interested in regional groups to trade/borrow/etc?

I'm in Toronto, I see a number of people who are generally close, e.g. Waterloo.

I'm growing tired of my Cherry Blue board and need a replacement.  I have no access to a Topre or Alps board, and would like to try before I buy.  Maybe there are people close that have some.

Any thoughts?

[itlnstln]

There is nothing formal that I know of, but there have been folks that have gotten together.  I have met with one of our members that lives close by to me as well.  I would just PM some folks that live near you, and ask if they want to meet up for a beer and keyboard fondling.

[tjweir]

I would just PM some folks that live near you, and ask if they want to meet up for a beer and keyboard fondling.

Also a good solution.

[iMav]

There have been some regional get togethers in the past.  Feel free to try to organize something for your area.

If you guys feel something could be added to geekhack to help facilitate something like this, I am all ears.

[dec.net]

If you guys feel something could be added to geekhack to help facilitate something like this, I am all ears.

Hmm, since you asked for it, the fully-blown-digital-attack solution based on itlnstln's proposal would to be include a "Do you want to meet other geekhack people in RL?" checkbox in people's profile. If you checked that box, it would give you access to a "people nearby" query (also in your profile) and then, given somewhat accurate location information in people's profiles - nothing fancy, just state/country data would suffice, I suppose -, everyone could indeed PM a bunch of people nearby who are willing to meet.
The easy (read: crap) way to generate that query would be, you only see people in the same country/state; the better way would be, you see *all* the people willing to meet, ordered by proximity to your own location, or at least the first 100 or so. This would make life a lot easier for inhabitants of countries such as Luxembourg, I suppose.

I know this would take quite a bit of custom coding, I suppose, but I guess it could work...

[bakageta]

I would maybe add a Regional Discussion section to the forums, so people could create, for example, the SoCal thread or the Vancouver thread, where everyone interested in meeting up can arrange something with people local. With it's on subsection, it should be fairly easy to find those threads if you're interested, but I imagine it'd take a little bit to get off the ground.

[pfink]

Hmm, since you asked for it, the fully-blown-digital-attack solution based on itlnstln's proposal would to be include a "Do you want to meet other geekhack people in RL?" checkbox in people's profile. If you checked that box, it would give you access to a "people nearby" query (also in your profile) and then, given somewhat accurate location information in people's profiles - nothing fancy, just state/country data would suffice, I suppose -, everyone could indeed PM a bunch of people nearby who are willing to meet.
The easy (read: crap) way to generate that query would be, you only see people in the same country/state; the better way would be, you see *all* the people willing to meet, ordered by proximity to your own location, or at least the first 100 or so. This would make life a lot easier for inhabitants of countries such as Luxembourg, I suppose.

I know this would take quite a bit of custom coding, I suppose, but I guess it could work...

I set this up a while ago but only about twenty people entered their location:

http://www.soybomb.com/geekhack/instructions.htm

http://www.soybomb.com/geekhack/

[jwpeddle]

I'm also in Toronto, and have a HHKB Pro 2 that I'm looking to get rid of. You're free to try it out. PM me.

[tjweir]

I'm also in Toronto, and have a HHKB Pro 2 that I'm looking to get rid of. You're free to try it out. PM me.

Thanks for the offer.

The layout of the HHKBP2 does not work for me.  Ideally, I'll get another Filco Brown Tenkeyless.

*Ideally*

[bugfix]

I set this up a while ago but only about twenty people entered their location:

http://www.soybomb.com/geekhack/instructions.htm

http://www.soybomb.com/geekhack/

It tells me that my profile doesn't exist. Alternatively we could also make a Google Membermap.

[pfink]

It tells me that my profile doesn't exist. Alternatively we could also make a Google Membermap.

Your geekhack member number is 7043. Entering it gives the message there doesn't appear to be a location in that user's profile. make sure the Profile Privacy setting for "About Me" is set to "Everyone".

This means that your profile privacy settings are causing your location to not be visible. Looking at your profile in a browser appears to confirm this, as there is no "About Me" tab:

http://geekhack.org/member.php?u=7043

[bugfix]

Works now

I think a lot more geekhackers should use this, it's really interesting too see who else is a keyboard fan in your region.

[pfink]

Works now

I think a lot more geekhackers should use this, it's really interesting too see who else is a keyboard fan in your region.

You only need your location visible when entering yourself into the system. Once that's done you can hide it again or change it to something else.