Not sure if im just missing it somewhere, but wouldn't it be amazing to have a feature here that we could search for people by location. Or even order people nearest to farthest from yourslef

Especially for those people looking to meet up with others, distance is always a talking point.

My biggest pet peeve is when people message me to say "oh we live in the same area let's meet up!" like simply existing near each other automatically establishes familiarity, connection, and interest. I'd prefer not to further encourage this behavior.

Agree with this. I'm sure this is a well-meaning idea, but I'm not sure what a location/distance filter would add that the current option to add a location doesn't, aside from bringing the potential to increase the number of unwanted DMs some people get.

Such a facility would be about as much use as a handbrake on a canoe, when the vast majority of members don't list a location, and some that do aren't genuine or are out of date.

Simply use the search facility that's here, use the desired location as the search term, say Surrey, and search by people, from the list to the left of the search box.
Simples.