"Member" search option?

[redcoat]

I received an E-mail from a CAG Member asking for info regarding out-of-date contact details for one of our MA members. However, I have been unable to find the mechanism to do a "Member" search. Did this go AWOL during the upgrade or am I just not looking in the right place?

Any info would be very welcome.

Regards,

Iain

[Willem (JD)]

Iain

 

See here:

[(GA) needmotime2fish]

I have a completely different question relating to "Member Search".  It's a problem that has existed "forever", and very possibly, there is no good solution.

When someone creates their personal profile, the "location" field -- which is essential for State Chairs, so we can identify people in our respective areas -- is (1) optional, and can be left blank, and also "free-form", in that there's no 'standard' way to list a state name.  Here in Georgia, some members, especially in Atlanta, don't even show the state at all.  Others choose to spell the state completely - "Georgia" - while others abbreviate it - "GA".

That wouldn't be too bad -- I can find 95% of our members by searching for either "Atlanta" or for the state (Georgia" or "GA") -- except for the fact that a search for "GA" also matches everyone in Michigan who spells out their state name -- "MichiGAn" is a match for "ga".  I seem to remember having had some success restricting the search by setting the parameters to ", ga" (comma-space-ga) -- but because of the free-form format, not everyone uses a comma in the location field.

That means that when searching for GA members, I'm forced to open and examine every match, one at a time, just to weed out the guys from Michigan -- and there are a bunch of them (which is great -- except when I'm doing a search for GA members).  

Any suggestions to help make my life easier?  Thanks.

[redcoat]

11 hours ago, needmotime2fish said:

I have a completely different question relating to "Member Search".  It's a problem that has existed "forever", and very possibly, there is no good solution.

When someone creates their personal profile, the "location" field -- which is essential for State Chairs, so we can identify people in our respective areas -- is (1) optional, and can be left blank, and also "free-form", in that there's no 'standard' way to list a state name.  Here in Georgia, some members, especially in Atlanta, don't even show the state at all.  Others choose to spell the state completely - "Georgia" - while others abbreviate it - "GA".

That wouldn't be too bad -- I can find 95% of our members by searching for either "Atlanta" or for the state (Georgia" or "GA") -- except for the fact that a search for "GA" also matches everyone in Michigan who spells out their state name -- "MichiGAn" is a match for "ga".  I seem to remember having had some success restricting the search by setting the parameters to ", ga" (comma-space-ga) -- but because of the free-form format, not everyone uses a comma in the location field.

That means that when searching for GA members, I'm forced to open and examine every match, one at a time, just to weed out the guys from Michigan -- and there are a bunch of them (which is great -- except when I'm doing a search for GA members).  

Any suggestions to help make my life easier?  Thanks.

HaHa

That was going to be my very next question. It's even more fun if you use "MA" which also yields Maryland, Alabama, Maine, Oklahoma. It seems that this would be easily rectified (at least for new Members) by using one of those clickable pull-down lists that contains the complete state names and making this a compulsory part of the sign-up process?

Iain

[redcoat]

16 hours ago, Willem (JD) said:

Iain

 

See here:

Thanks Willem

Iain

[Willem (JD)]

I can see if I can turn it into a drop down or force full correct state name. 

 

If not, I'll see if I can create a custom page pulling the member's state from the address on file.