
Firth of Forth
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Everything posted by Firth of Forth
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This forum has gone through similar periods of difficulty in the three or so years that I've been involved in geocaching (and more before that I understand). I think that it's inevitable when there is a large and diverse number of people frequenting a forum, in which contact is not face-to-face. I don't think that it can be avoided, but it's timely for people to be reminded that there's more to be gained from constructive comments than negative ones. There are huge numbers of cachers who don't come here, so I wouldn't be too worried about it. There are also a number of more local geocaching forums that people get a lot out of.
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I bet that you wish you'd never asked the question, AB!! You have to be careful in this place!
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Geocachers Told To Tread Lightly
Firth of Forth replied to Cryptik Souls Crew's topic in United Kingdom and Ireland
And there would be no better place to start than here. Ooops!! -
But I did not get a chance to vote, nor did many who dislike them here. Go on, open it up again and let's have a fare vote. Assuming that the 'I want to ban congratulatory threads' group won the vote (which I don't think that they would) how would this be enforced? What if those who do like them, or just don't know, continue making such posts? Under Groundspeak rules, mods would be overstepping the mark to shut them down. Or 'polite' emails would be sent to those people telling them that they shouldn't have done so. I think that any such ban would inevitably cause more problems and more bad feeling. While some people may be "sick of" congratulatory threads, imposing a ban on something which is essentially positive seems ludicrous to me. Edited to add: I've just seen The Golem's now closed attempt at a vote. Doesn't that settle things once and for all?? Or at least until the next time?
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Will it shut the whingers up? Okay, well I'll vote for that then!! I mentioned it up ^^^ there somewhere. It's a good start, and if that "guideline" is followed, it makes it a lot easier to totally ignore. I'd prefer it not to be all caps though And give mods the right to amend any non-conforming titles. And give mods right to immediatley close any which are not a "standard" agreed milestone and/or are ones warning of an impending milestone. Better still if the OP closes the thread after say 48 hours, that would keep the first page of threads less clogged. Given that we can't have sub forums, we all have to get along and use some form of common sense. If 50% of the 1st page of threads is not actually discussing real topics,then it is a waste of a forum IMHO. (This is what it was in a previous rant thread). PS people mention about using some ignore button... where? I don't see one? I really don't see that you can make unwritten rules about how people should post. I would imagine that if someone new to the forum didn't conform in the manner expected, then had to be told how it should be done, it would be rather off-putting. As Lacto has already said, he can't and won't (and shouldn't IMHO) interfere with congratulatory threads. And there is unlikely to be no consensus about what are "standard agreed" milestones is there?
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We are on something here. By sticking to the convention of prefixing the subject with Congratulations then we can produce a script to mask out all congratulations threads for those who don;t want them, and a script to mask out all other posts for those who do. Okay, the idea might need a little tweaking but it might just work. I don't think that the way forward is to tell people how to write their congratulations threads! Most - not all - but most are obvious. If you accidentally stray into one when it's not clear what the thread is about -is that really such a problem? I'm with SP here in his previous post - most who don't object or even like congratulatory threads won't bother entering into this discussion - so it looks like there is a majority against them. I really can't see what the problem is in ignoring them if you don't like them. Maybe some people just like to have a rant...
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I particularly like the first line of Nebias' signature.
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You really don't want to go down that road just now, surely??
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Brilliant!! Saves me from asking exactly the same question for a visit in July. That is if my daughter will let me do any caching of course....will have to sneak away.....
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Yep - can vouch for that as I once had a log deleted. Fortunately, it wasn't a find. Some people are sensitive about logs.............
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Trolls & Trolling
Firth of Forth replied to third-degree-witch's topic in United Kingdom and Ireland
My request would be that the forum is more strictly moderated from now on, so that these things can be nipped in the bud before it gets to the scale of the last few days. It is easy for the forum Admin. (Is that just Lakky now?) to delete or change posts, close threads, delete whole threads, or even ban people from posting. I am a great believer in freedom of speech but lets keep this a friendly place to visit please! I fundamentally disagree with this. I think that the 'light touch' that our mods here manage is just right, and that active moderation would just cause more upset and disagreement. As you know, 'active' moderation was a factor that caused members of your own geocaching forum to leave. On another similar forum complete non-moderation has, so far, been a success. -
I found a website called plastics-direct that sells the plastic luggage labels for a reasonable price http://www.plastics-direct.co.uk/large_L4_keyrings.htm 10 for £5.99
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Yet More Help Requested...
Firth of Forth replied to gingerbreadmen's topic in United Kingdom and Ireland
The steps I go through are: Create filter in GSAK of caches (from UK database) of unfound caches in a 30 mile radius of home (or whereveryou want to go) Export that file as a GPX/LOC file to a suitable folder (eg PDA files) Find that file and 'send it ' to 'PDA My Documents' Use activesync to upload the file to GPXSonar on the PDA hth -
I hold both of our reviewers in high regard. There are only a few people who have the skills to moderate a forum properly. I think that they do a great job, and I think this despite the fact that I might have wished them to take more action about certain posts in the past. It was obvious to me that Moote's original post had a hidden agenda, and that he hoped to create support for whatever his gripe is/was. If this was an action after an already considerable debate in private, I'm not surprised that the reviewers thought it inappropriate. I have concerns about the fact that GAGB's views are being represented by someone who frequently finds himself in confrontations with others: that's not a good way to promote geocaching surely?
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Anyone Else Get This Email?
Firth of Forth replied to Haggis Hunter's topic in United Kingdom and Ireland
I didn't get the first email, but I received the second one telling me that there has been an extension of the date by which photos should be submitted. The photo that they wanted was one of my partner, Jack Aubrey and not of me. -
4th Annual Scottish Cache Bash
Firth of Forth replied to Firth of Forth's topic in United Kingdom and Ireland
I'm sure that there will be plenty of time for that John, especially if the weather is awful!! -
4th Annual Scottish Cache Bash
Firth of Forth replied to Firth of Forth's topic in United Kingdom and Ireland
It's time that this was bumped to the top - it was languishing 7 pages down! It's only a few weeks until this event, so it's time to start planning, booking your accommodation etc. A lot of new caches have been appearing in East Lothian over the last few weeks and there are more to come, as well as some that will be released just in time for the bash. There is an idea brewing for an event-within-an-event to bag two new caches on the highest hill in East Lothian (don't get too worried as it's only 535 m high and the ascent is around 150m). -
Events - Hard To Find Dates!
Firth of Forth replied to Firth of Forth's topic in United Kingdom and Ireland
Brilliant! Just the job Dave! -
Do You Know What A Drystone Wall Is?
Firth of Forth replied to Moote's topic in United Kingdom and Ireland
No, I don't think it's hypocritical at all. You go out to find a cache, you find it, you log. If you have comments to make about a cache....that's a separate matter. If you deleted his log because you didn't like his SBA; that's just being.... as you say... -
Events - Hard To Find Dates!
Firth of Forth replied to Firth of Forth's topic in United Kingdom and Ireland
Thanks SP. Yours was, in fact, the easiest one to spot. I must admit to not relying on the 'hidden' date; as it's not obvious whether this is indeed the date of the event or the date it was created. I expect that this subtlety might elude newbies and nice bold details on the cache page are much better. Ok, I think I've said my piece! -
I ran a PQ to find UK events and worked my way through them to find out when and where they are. For most of them, it's very hard to find the date quickly, which is often embedded in the text somewhere. In two instances, I can't see a date at all!! This is a plea for those who may not be local to an event or have participated in discussion about it, to put the date in large typeface at the start of the text please!!
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Congratulations on a great achievement Dave!! And a Happy Birthday too!
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Put the Firth of Forth/Jack Aubrey Team down for East Lothian
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Congratulations Threads, Enough Already
Firth of Forth replied to alistair_uk's topic in United Kingdom and Ireland
Congratulations threads are important. Is there anyone here who doesn't appreciate significant milestones being recognised? A lot of the Scottish milestones are congratulated on our own forums, thus 'saving' space here. However, one reason to post it here is so that Deego can update the Hall of Fame. This could be done via an email I suppose, but I'm not sure that every cacher who reaches a milestone knows about it and some may not want to 'blow their own trumpet' as it were.