Facebook moves Cardiff to England

Published on May 20th, 2009

Captain Jack Harkness will sort this lot out!

While you may be sure Cardiff is the capital of Wales, Facebook users in the city were baffled after the social networking website put it in England.

People in Swansea, Wrexham and even the very Welsh sounding Llandrindod Wells were confused too as the location on their profile was also moved there. Over 8,000 users joined campaign groups demanding the locations on their profiles be returned to Wales.

Facebook blamed the problem on a bug and apologised…

Student Alex Smith said his friends had changed their location on their profiles to different Cardiffs elsewhere in the world as a protest.

Mr Smith, 18, said he had been a user of the site almost since it launched in 2004 and the problem had never happened before…

A spokesperson for Facebook said: “There was a bug causing this issue which has been fixed. We apologise to users who were affected.”

Let’s see. Facebook was founded by American college graduates. It’s maintained and run in the GOUSA.

Do you know anyone in the United States who knows squat about geography?

25 users responded in " Facebook moves Cardiff to England "

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# 1 sadtruth said, on May 20th, 2009 at 6:19 am

It all looks like Englund to me. Whatever.

# 2 gwensdad2003 said, on May 20th, 2009 at 6:28 am

I knew it was in Wales.

Of course, I only know this from Doctor Who and Torchwood…

# 3 Benjamin said, on May 20th, 2009 at 6:32 am

I thought Wales was part of the UK. Am I missing something? Isn’t England’s Prince Charles called the Prince of Wales?

# 4 jimbo said, on May 20th, 2009 at 6:33 am

“Student Alex Smith said his friends had changed their location on their profiles to different Cardiffs elsewhere in the world as a protest”.

Wow,what a protest…who cares about this crap?

# 5 Mr. Fusion said, on May 20th, 2009 at 6:49 am

Obviously the first four posters know very little about foreign geography.

#3, Benjamin,

Instead of asking others for the answer, why not just look it up yourself. Try Wikipedia.

# 6 Stephen said, on May 20th, 2009 at 6:55 am

@Benjamin

Sure Wales is part of the UK. but what makes you think that England=UK?
England, Scotland, Wales are different countries (some call them ‘constituent’ countries) that together with Northern Ireland make up the bigger country of the UK. To say that Wales or Scotland is IN England is quite annoying to us (I’m Scottish) who are very proud of my heritage and don’t like being called English (See Braveheart even though it’s very inaccurate).

The reason Prince Charles is called Prince of Wales is just a title to try to make it look like the country is united. Similarly the Queen’s husband is called the Duke of Edinburgh (Which is the capital of Scotland) despite him having nothing to do with Edinburgh.

# 7 gwensdad2003 said, on May 20th, 2009 at 7:05 am

It might be thought of this way: Houston is in Texas. If FB said Houston was in Oklahoma, the Texans would get really pissy because “OMG! DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS” and they’d demand death to FB. Wales, being IMO more civil than Texas, is doing this kind of quiet protest and not threatening secession or anything…

# 8 nikgare said, on May 20th, 2009 at 7:10 am

Wales is not in England, it just belongs to it!

# 9 Gavino said, on May 20th, 2009 at 7:18 am

Wales is full of sheep. And Dylan Thomas:

I see the boys of summer
Where once the twilight locks
A process in the weather of the heart
Before I knocked
The force that through the green fuse
My hero bares his nerves
Where once the waters of your face
If I were tickled by the rub of love
Our eunuch dreams
Especially when the October wind
When, like a running grave
From love’s first fever
In the beginning
Light breaks where no sun shines
I fellowed sleep
I dreamed my genesis
My world is pyramid
All all and all

# 10 lock_down said, on May 20th, 2009 at 7:26 am

It’s only the Welsh, who cares…

# 11 Patrick said, on May 20th, 2009 at 7:29 am

It would be like a glitch that changed Pittsburgh, CA to Pittsburgh, PA. Non-story.

# 12 Sagrilarus said, on May 20th, 2009 at 7:31 am

All the Welsh that I know would prefer to get the English out of Wales than the other way around. Maybe they can cut a deal.

Sag.

# 13 Stephen said, on May 20th, 2009 at 7:53 am

@Patrick
Yes – a little bit of a non-story.
But us non-English in the UK are very, very touchy about our identity because so many people outside the UK think we are part of England.

Just one example – many Scottish and Welsh troops have fought and died as part of the UK forces in Iraq and Afghanistan but a lot of people probably don’t even know we are there because they think UK=England.

It’s a bit of a slap in the face if you fought there or have a son/daughter die there and people in the US don’t even acknowledge it by saying something like “our English allies…” rather than “our British allies…”

# 14 Patrick said, on May 20th, 2009 at 8:02 am

# 13 Stephen said, “It’s a bit of a slap in the face if you fought there or have a son/daughter die there and people in the US don’t even acknowledge it by saying something like “our English allies…””

I’ve never seen “our English allies” used by the US press (at least in the past ~40 years). Have you? Link?

# 15 Stephen said, on May 20th, 2009 at 8:13 am

@Patrick
No you’re right the press are’t usually quite good about it – but whenever they go and do a man-on-the-street interview people constantly refer to England rather than Britain.

And as an occasional watcher of both ABC and CBS evening news which is shown here late at night I can tell you that you’d be surprised at how often they get England and Britain mixed up and use them interchangeably. Their websites don’t usually make that mistake so they must go through some different process to check them.

# 16 Stephen said, on May 20th, 2009 at 8:14 am

@Patrick
sorry – meant “are quite good about it” above. Not “are’t”

# 17 Patrick said, on May 20th, 2009 at 8:25 am

# 15 Stephen said, “And as an occasional watcher of both ABC and CBS evening news which is shown here late at night I can tell you that you’d be surprised at how often they get England and Britain mixed up and use them interchangeably.”

Ah! I see your problem. You believe that ABC & CBS do the news. Common misconception. LOL

Vis-a-vis the man on the street, it is probably because of literature. You grow up reading Dickens early on and it sticks with you as an adult.

# 18 Dave W said, on May 20th, 2009 at 8:58 am

#11…There’s no such place as Pittsburgh, California. There IS however a Pittsburg, California. No silent “h” for us west coast folks!

# 19 Li said, on May 20th, 2009 at 9:06 am

Captain Jack Hotness can fix anything!

# 20 Benjamin said, on May 20th, 2009 at 9:08 am

I did Wikipedia it earlier and found it on the West coast of the bigger island. I just failed to note that the big island is not England like I always thought.

England is just the portion of the island that is not Scotland or Wales.

# 21 furrypotato said, on May 20th, 2009 at 9:09 am

As a Welshman I am kind of used to this. Nobody outside the UK really knows much about us

But we gave you a lot of help with your independence:
We wrote it – Thomas Jefferson
We signed it – 16 signatories , the largest of any ethnis group.
We financed it – Robert Morris
We wrote the constitution – Gouverneur Morris
Formed your law : John Marshall

Glad we could help, but do us a favour and try to remember, eh

Oh, and your progress report: C- Has potential but could do better.

# 22 Patrick said, on May 20th, 2009 at 9:24 am

# 21 furrypotato said, “Oh, and your progress report: C- Has potential but could do better.”

I’d hate to see a progress report on Wales. LOL

# 23 furrypotato said, on May 20th, 2009 at 9:37 am

#22 Patrick Said, I’d hate to see a progress report on Wales. LOL

Wales Report: D-
Tends to be anonymous in back of class, has bullying issues from larger friend England.

# 24 sargasso said, on May 20th, 2009 at 11:36 am

A beautiful land and a proud nation.

# 25 Chris said, on May 20th, 2009 at 5:19 pm

North Wales is one of the truly beautiful places on earth.

Chris (US guy who travels).

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