mrv3000 | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Dear LJ:

IP location display is creepy! And inaccurate. I'm not in Sacramento, thanks! Wrong end of the state! I'm currently 490 miles away from Sacramento, so I suppose planet-wise it's...close. (This just goes to show how you can't 100% trust IP locations.)

ETA: HEH. London is closer to Edinburgh than I am to Sacramento.

ETA2: LJ is removing the feature. WOO!

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(deleted comment)

I made a comment in a community that has IP tracking turned on. It displays your IP and your location next to your user name.

I need to find a community like that -- I'm curious to know where LJ thinks I am.

Actually, it looks like LJ is now removing that feature. (You used to be able to see on D/R Fix, but we turned it off.)

You can still see it on DRFix because even if you turn IP Logging off, it doesn't take the info away retroactively. BUT, that info is still only visible to mods or journal owners.

Oh, is that the case?

So, if I go and comment there, you could tell me where I am?

Not if you comment now, because we turned off IP logging in light of this, but if I went back to an old post and found one of your comments, I could. Do you want to know where it says you are?

Sure!

It says Torrance.

Hmmm. Not too bad.

Thanks for looking for me! That was fun!

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It looks like you're too late, LJ has already removed all the place info from IP-logged comments.

It's only visible to the mods/journal-owners.

Depending on the community's settings it is also available to any OP of a post because last night I made a post in where I am not a mod, but I could see everyone's location.

Ah. That explains why I never see it anywhere!

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It now looks like LJ will be removing that feature. Yay!

Long Beach. Heh. This is what bugs me about IP locations - some take it as GOSPEL for a person when, no, IPs can lie.

London is closer to Edinburgh than I am to Sacramento.

LOL. A lot of British people that I talk to don't get how big the States are. Like if I meet someone, I'll say I'm from L.A. and if they know someone from like San Francisco, they'll be like "hey! that's in California too! Is that close to where you're from?" to which I'm always like "uh, not exactly".

:D I just found a site that does map overlays - I never really realized that the UK is smaller than California.

Oooh, linkage? My students here in Europe just about faint when I explain that it's a two-day trip, minimum, from Seattle to Los Angeles, at least by car.

Dang it! Now I can't find it back! And my work computer doesn't save my browsing history. :(

I had someone tell me once all excitedly that they were going to be in Ontario and we should totally meet up and I was like '...lol'

I get that from Americans too! Like when the Northridge quake happened, I got calls from friends in Chicago asking if I was okay. I asked them if they knew how far it was from Chicago to Minneapolis, because that's about how far I was from Northridge. Then again, I don't understand how close everything is jammed together in the northeast, having only lived in the Midwest and California.

Oh hai! Someone who remembers the Northridge quake! My parent's house is around 10 miles away from that epicenter, and the quake happened when I was 6 years old so I definitely have vivid memories of that thrilling experience.

Then again, I don't understand how close everything is jammed together in the northeast, having only lived in the Midwest and California.

SAME. Well, sort of. lol. I was born and raised in CA, but I've spent time living in London. It's still weird to me how close everything is here. lol. Like, Bath is only an hour and a half-ish away by train! That's like from my parent's house to Santa Barbara! That's not far away at all. lol.

LOL @ lj. Wow that's got to be the fastest they've backed down on a dumb change.

I'm not sure who thought it'd be a good change to begin with.

Hurray! I was not pleased with that.

No kidding. BAH.

My IP frequently says I'm in Philadelphia, though I'm sure that's still closer than Sancramento is to you. Anyway, I'm glad they changed their minds. I bet they neglected to take US and state privacy laws into account. Morons.

Yeah, looks like about half the distance. But that's not even in the same state!

It's where my ISP's headquarters are.

Perfect icon is perfect! (Yours, I mean.)

My IP thinks I'm in Weston super Mare. Now, that is only 22 miles away, which isn't too bad, but it's still not right.

I am, however, slightly creeped out by the fact that I WORK in Weston super Mare and I always feel like the IP reader can somehow read my life as well as my location...

EEK! THEY KNOW TOO MUCH!

This really creeped me out at first because while my home computer says I'm in Chicago (I'm a few miles out in a suburb) my work comp shows up with the correct town I'm in. There's a reason I don't advertise my location, LJ!

I'm glad they're removing it. They got a lot of backlash in their official post.

I've been using my phone to comment all day lol.

Yeah, what if you're from some tiny town of 40 people or something?

Exactly! Even in a town of 200 it would be easy to figure out who the person was. Plus I know there was a lot of concern about stalkers and abusive exes getting ahold of that information. :/

Oh LJ, when will you learn?

Edited 2011-06-10 19:44 (UTC)

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