Geographic spread of forum users

[MarriedDadOneSonOneDaughter]

I'd love to see a map of where all the active users are, especially the London section of that map.

It would be quite easy for MNHQ to do as people's login IP address will give a good approximation without giving away any addresses and no usernames are needed just dots on a map - or more likely small blobs and bigger blobs for higher concentrations.

I bet North and West London dominate the map ....

[PedlarsSpanner]

Why?

[Bifauxnen]

I would also like to know why.

[MarriedDadOneSonOneDaughter]

Why? Because information is interesting. It might show lots of different things. Without new information we won't learn anything new. It might show nothing more than an even distribution of users throughout the UK, which would be boring but would at least confirm the breadth of appeal and opinions on the forum. I bet it won't be even and will have concentrated areas greater than the relative population density would suggest.

I'm not holding my breath for such a map .....

[AuntieStella]

Yes, nosily I'd quite like to see that (as long as it was totally anonymised, maybe to county/borough level).

And internationally? The free Alexa ranking page only shows the top 5 countries, but even if you cut off countries with only a handful of users (for privacy reasons) I'd find it interesting to see the spread.

(Though Matron might already have enough to do)

[Bifauxnen]

So you're looking to discredit the opinions on this forum?

[settingsitting]

I think there are many users from around London, not particulary in London.

[WandaFuca]

IP addresses wouldn't help. My IP address shows me as being in Sheffield, which I'm not - it's the location of my ISP (Plusnet).

[AuntieStella]

Bit of a leap from mild curiosity about geographical spread of users to intent to discredit. Has there been some sort of famous MN incident in the past that makes the mere mention of the idea beyond the pale?

[walterwhiteisdead]

Uh, privacy. Not everyone wants their location and IP address available for all to see.

[VampireSquid]

I would be very interested too! I think maybe not that much IN London, but loads around London, and also maybe quite a few in Glasgow, I don't know.

[Bifauxnen]

"...would at least confirm the breadth of appeal and opinions on the forum"
Not a leap at all.

[Mintyy]

Funny the things people find interesting.

[settingsitting]

Vampire. I would say that there are a lot of Scottish posters too.

[settingsitting]

Virtually none in my neck of the woods. That is partly why I post freer than I would otherwise.

[AuntieStella]

Oh! ISWYM. I just read that as a general (and pretty speculative) look at how representative or otherwise MN might be. i'm stillnot sure how it could discredit posts, as anonymisation would mean you'd never know which posts originated from what location. Bit like it's already known from Alexa that there is a disproportionately high number of graduates, but that doesn't affect specific threads unless the posters on it disclose their status.

[MarriedDadOneSonOneDaughter]

Thinking about it, MNHQ probably have some very detailed work on the demographics of users which they sell to advertisers.

Rest easy those unsure of my question or motives - my curious mind is unlikely to be satisfied. Probably just a dumb question and a waste of typing.

PS - not sure how such a map could be used to discredit posts, but I'm sure some would find a way.

[CalamitouslyWrong]

I thought people generally believed that 97% of MNers were Scottish or something.

[settingsitting]

op, are you interested in map in general
Or demographics.Or social status?
Just chatting really.

[settingsitting]

Even your username is accurate I presume and descriptive.

[AMumInScotland]

Very few people would have an IP address which shows where they are actually posting from, so that wouldn't work.

Beyond that, I suspect by the time you get them onto a map, even actual addresses (if people chose to give them, not lie, etc...) would be in big blobs for areas with high population density, rather than showing anything very meaningful.

To get down to the sort of 'postcode demographics' would need a lot more detail than people would want to give...