Is it normal for people to ask where you are from online?

A/S/L?

Why would anyone want to know about each other’s location?

What an odd thing to ask. Where are you from?

It was perfectly normal when he asked the first time, but creepy when he asked again. The “not being cool enough” bit was flat out rude.

Not wanting to doxx yourself is more than reasonable, and I’d expect an internet user to understand that. Blocking him was what I would have done, too.

I sometimes like to know the general area someone's from (country or state), so I understand the context of their experience or point of view. It's not anything I would push if the person felt uncomfortable sharing. That sounds like a red flag.

"Not being cool enough to say where you are from" is a weird way for them to phrase it. If they're British, they might be saying it ironically (I use the phrase "well, if you're not cool enough..." as a reference to the old peer-pressure educational videos myself). Otherwise, they might be young, and clumsily trying to peer-pressure you, or old and out-of-touch enough to think that's an effective way to get a young person to give up information.

So, three options. They're either being ironic, clumsy, or creepy. No harm in playing safe and blocking them.

This sounds like a weird person at best or the prelude to a scam, stalking, or social engineering at worst. You stick with your standards and don't doxx yourself to passive aggressive douchebags, however insistent they may be.

Yeah it's normal, it's one of the first things I ask or get asked when I meet new people online.

It's cool to meet new people from all around the world, so knowing where someone's from is really interesting and gives people stuff to talk about too!

Plus, it's very helpful, because once you know where someone's from you know their timezone, what sort of weather they deal with, you might have some insight into their culture etc to better ensure you don't offend them, or maybe you've visited or love something about their country so again you now have new things to talk about :-D

Anyway yeah, similarly with wanting to know someone's age, location is often one of the first questions we as strangers ask each other in online conversation.

Age is also super useful to know, are we talking to a 12 year old? A 20 year old? A 60 year old? Knowing their age will better inform us of how to have a positive and respectful conversation, it'll inform us of what part of their life there in and thus we can take guesses to their generational cultural norms and interests, if they're likely to have a career, or be married, or if they're likely still in education studying for their masters, etc etc.

You don't need to know an EXACT age, just as you don't need to know an EXACT location, but "I'm in my 20s from England" is a more than appropriate response :-)

Bottom line: Always trust your gut if someone seems weird online (especially if they're pushy for info you're unwilling to share), but don't assume they're weird just because they want to know some basic details like A/S/L 👍

a/s/l

It's a reasonable question but it's unreasonable to insist without providing a reason.

To me there is nothing wrong with asking or stating what country you are from. Unless you are from a really tiny country it doesn't really matter if you state your country. For example I'm from the US which doesn't tell you anything really about my exact location.

The US is about 3,000 miles across. That doesn't included Hawaii or Alaska. It's about 1,582 miles from top to bottom of the US again not including Hawaii or Alaska.

So my saying I'm from the US doesn't give up much really but it gives people an idea about something about me and my heritage.

Sure, it's also normal to tell them to go fuck themselves though

Since the early days of Facebook, most people have been in roughly two camps: those who share just about anything, and those who share barely anything. Ok, there are also privacy minded people who share nothing at all, but that’s a different story.

People in the first category just love to tell you where they live, how many pets they have, send photos of everything etc. You know, social people. They also expect you the be like them, because that’s how tribalism works. It’s the default setting in the human brain, and disabling or even just limiting that urge takes some some skill and effort.

People in the second category share only a few opinions, but never their location or photos. I think most people on Lemmy are like this.

Yes.

I get this once in a while during online games, it's normal to want to know where somebody is playing from. I just usually just say my country name. I once had a random teammate who is practically my neighbor, The server crashed before I can take note of his in game name.

It's incredibly to normal to ask someone where they are from, it's just interesting to know. Normally it's just asking the country.

You dont have to answer at all of course, if someone doesnt respect that, then at least you know they arent worth your time.

I ask where people are, so I have a general sense of time zone and I know when to expect to be able to message them when they're awake

Depends on what part of the world you come from, where do you live? If you provide your home address I can also read you your horoscope.

Like Country or you street address?

Personally I only ask after interacting for months, and I only offer mine the same way. By that I mean in positive interactions.

I agree with others that say it might be an awkward way to get to know you

In general though I just don't like to be DM'd unsolicited without me stalking following the account and get to know the vibe

Most of my random DMs are some sort of business marketing pitch or slow burn confidence scammer. I wouldn't volunteer any real information about yourself until you get to know them better. And even then, especially the crypto scammers, are willing to do the slow burn because they're going for a larger jackpot of your life savings.

I tell everyone "I have a policy for never doing business with anyone I never met face to face."

Guy from HK in my DMs trying to get me to video call him.

There are plenty of scammers out there too, but some people are just lonely or curious. They might’ve just recently got internet and the only interaction they’ve had previously is from within their slum.