Oh I'm 150% in favour of privacy. I am just wondering how and why it might have been decided that people who want to connect with others living nearby don't have the option of being easily found. Shouldn't that also be their choice?
It's not possible to do this with vbulletin, the forum software we use, without modifications to the search system that would be either time-consuming or potentially expensive (hiring someone else to do it). As of now the Personals section is the option of choice.