Thanks, Bigshrimpin.

It would be really good if we could have the location automatically appear beneath the user name where it says yabba dabba doo i love you (what's that about anyway?).

On other sites I have seen location appear beneath each post automatically as well. It would help make sense of a lot of posts to know at a glance where the user is coming from. Especially in the fishing forum.

The reason for making it mandatory or a required field is just to serve as a prompt to let a new registrant know that this is important and useful info to help him communicate more effectively with the other members.

If anyone wanted to be in an anonymous location all they would have to do is put in some nonsense like cybersea or bouy 11. Although, I don't think saying what state you are from is terribly revealing ( except maybe for the three guys that fish in Rhode Island ;) ).