We made it compulsory for all new members to give a location in their profiles, with a guideline to at least specify a country. If people were helpful, they would also give a town/county/state/province, but you can't force them. This is a global forum, so having separate sections for certain areas is just not realistic for the numbers of people. Remember that an 'area' in one country could fit the UK inside it many times!
TBH, I don't see the fascination with 'spotted' threads either. However, I've added a 'Was It You' section in Meets and Events. We'll monitor how used it is...