Can I change my "local" location?

 
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bkovacs Annandale, VA posts: 640
 Moderator
posted on May 19, 2008 at 08:53AM Inappropriate? Quote Reply

Last year, I wrote a review of a dermatologist in Reston, VA. It was probably one of the first reviews I wrote but I can't find it in my list of reviews. (There is a bug that prevents us from seeing some of our early reviews on our profile pages.) Therefore, I tried to look up the dermatologist by looking for reviews of doctors, and found that I'm locked into my hometown and can't figure out how to search for a doctor in another town. Am I missing something?

I would search for the doctor by name but that's just it -- I can't remember his name! That's why I wanted to see my review so that I could get his name. What am I missing? Can I search for doctors in cities other than my home town?

--Bob

replies: 9 latest post: May 19, 2008 at 01:36PM by Meredith
 Staff
posted on May 19, 2008 at 10:29AM
 
Sorry for all the troubles you are having with this one. I will be the first to admit our "local" search capability is lacking in many areas. I was able to find your review through "local" search, but it took a while. I eventually searched for "physician" in "Annandale, Va". I believe it is http://www.viewpoints.com/Robert-W-Gurney-Reston-VA-review-62e1. I also found your review by changing the category from "all" to "Local Places" in the review section on your profile page. This filter is a very powerful way to narrow it down to a specific review. Hope that helps! Kyle
 Moderator
posted on May 19, 2008 at 11:24AM
 

Thanks, Kyle! That is the doctor and the review, which I was able to get to by changing the category on my profile page from "all" to "Local Places." I've played with that category selection before but didn't think to use it in this case.

Is there a way for me to search for a restaurant, doctor or school in a location that's not my home location? Or is that what you described as lacking in the search capability?

--Bob

 Staff
posted on May 19, 2008 at 11:39AM
 
In response to bkovacs's post from May 19 2008 11:24AM
bkovacs said…

Is there a way for me to search for a restaurant, doctor or school in a location that's not my home location? Or is that what you described as lacking in the search capability?


You should be able to search for anything in any location. This is what I did in the first example (my home location is Chicago, IL but I changed the search location to Annandale, VA). In your case, just type in a search term and then change the name of the city from "Annandale, VA" to another city.
 Community Manager
posted on May 19, 2008 at 11:41AM
 

Bob... I did a search for the term "dermatologist" and your review appeared in the results even though I'm locked in to my hometown zip of Chicago...

http://www.viewpoints.com/search?q=dermatologist&commit=Find

Unfortunately, early reviews that had not received a goodpoint/helpful vote prior to the day we started trackings stats (April 26, I believe) will not appear on your stats page.

Hope this helps!

 Moderator
posted on May 19, 2008 at 12:30PM
 
In response to Meredith's post from May 19 2008 11:41AM
Meredith said…

Rudi... I did a search for the term "dermatologist" and your review appeared in the results even though I'm locked in to my hometown zip of Chicago...

http://www.viewpoints.com/search?q=dermatologist&commit=Find

Unfortunately, early reviews that had not received a goodpoint/helpful vote prior to the day we started trackings stats (April 26, I believe) will not appear on your stats page.

Hope this helps!


Hmmm... I did a search on "dermatologist" and it found me one in Annandale, VA. It did not find the one I was looking for in Reston, VA, which is the one I reviewed. I then searched on "dermatologist Reston" and it found the right doctor. It's not impossibly difficult, just not immediately intuitive.

Maybe the thing to do is to have a "Change Location?" checkbox that calls up a place to type in the location you are seeking for a local place. Just a thought...

Which one of us is Rudi?

--Bob

 Moderator
posted on May 19, 2008 at 12:32PM
 
In response to Kyle's post from May 19 2008 11:39AM
Kyle said…
You should be able to search for anything in any location. This is what I did in the first example (my home location is Chicago, IL but I changed the search location to Annandale, VA). In your case, just type in a search term and then change the name of the city from "Annandale, VA" to another city.

I don't see a way to do that, Kyle. My search is now set for Chicago locations and I don't see a way to change it. How do I change it? I do not see a box to type in the name of a different city.

If anyone else wants to check this, go up to the "Local Places" tab and click on it. You should get a list of things that you can look for, organized by a location. In my case, it was my home location of Annandale, VA, although now it's set for Chicago. (Ooops... now it's back to Annandale.) I do not see a box anywhere that allows me to change that location. Does anyone else have such a box? Or it's right there and I'm just blind??

--Bob

 Staff
posted on May 19, 2008 at 12:41PM
 
In the Local Places category, the normal search bar changes to "Search {item} in {location}". That {location} is a text field. Just select the text, and change the location to something else. Also, next to the "miles radius" drop down, you can click on "Chicago, IL" or "more" and it will expand to allow for a custom city. So hard to describe, but once you see it, everything should make perfect sense.
 Moderator
posted on May 19, 2008 at 12:45PM
 
In response to Kyle's post from May 19 2008 12:41PM
Kyle said…
In the Local Places category, the normal search bar changes to "Search for {item} in {location}". That {location} is a text field. Just select the text, and change the location to something else. Also, next to the "miles radius" drop down, you can click on "Chicago, IL" or "more" and it will expand to allow for a custom city. So hard to describe, but once you see it, everything should make perfect sense.

Duh! It's me!! The search box is at the very top of the screen and I was expecting it to be lower and more obvious. You're right... once you know it's there, it's a no-brainer.

Thanks!

--Bob

 Community Manager
posted on May 19, 2008 at 01:36PM
 
In response to bkovacs's post from May 19 2008 12:30PM
I had just sent RudiXeno an email so I had that name on the brain. I apologize, Bob :)
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