First off, I personally see it as a good idea for the reasons you and Mustang put...whether it is possible is down to Michael, the techy expert.
We have an 'offshoot' board on the Alts Forum (they are called 'child boards', don't ask me why, I know nothing about these things).
Perhaps this is a viable solution...?
On the other hand, we could just have fixed threads in another board for the purpose. This may work better...if all you want to do is see who lives in 'wales' for example, people could post their areas and speak off-board, via IM.
One downside to the idea is it could detract from the forums as whole, although this could be minimised with a thread idea?
I suppose it goes without saying that PHO cannot take responsibility for what happens if you meet up with a psychopathic axe murderer you met online here and went for a coffee with them in a local high street!!!!
I will point the mods in the direction of this thread. Be patient though...we all have to discuss things like this and it can take a week or so for all to put in their tuppence worth.
SJ