I don't think it works right or people have found a way around it. I have seen post where somebody was in the US and another post of theirs the same day they where they were in Indonesia...
It's of course not going to be 100% accurate... it's dependent on the ISP who owns the IP block properly registering the geographical region that the IPs are used in. It's probably ~99.5% accurate (at least to the country level).
right on. So you don't think they can get around it using a proxy? I seen you mention before about how it should say "anonymous proxy" but I have yet to see that on anybodies post.
I'd vote for displaying the actual location on each post replacing the custom one. It's not like a huge feature for premium members if it's already implemented for PMs.
The problem with that is it can be very misleading. For example, when I'm at work I'll show up as either: Palo Alto, California, USA; Hanover, Germany (because the IP is registered to Hanover Street, most geo-targeting systems incorrectly parse the IP); or (strangely) France!! Despite the fact I'm physically located in the UK. Anyone else working for a big multi-national company might be in a similar situation. So, it wouldn't be good to replace it, but nice to have it available for all users or a small fee. I don't really want to pay out to become a premium member, but $10 for having this for a life-time would be good (for example). Mostly, common sense helps you figure out when someone's lying about their location. Analysis of their writing style and word choices doesn't always narrow it down exactly though.