DragonsWest

Looks like I can type now. Yes, I agree with the hitting Enter/Return key being of great annoyance. Back from the eclipse trip and doing a lot of trackable logging and that's getting to be a sore point quickly.

Must have been a very important one ... the one run by the Hamsters.

Sounds good. I generally have no idea I have messages unless I check in to find/log caches and see the orange bubble. Receiving email in my email account is good as I will see it and respond. Things which appear in the message center I may not see for weeks.

I haven't done anything with these since the mega event, over a year ago. The stamps are fine, the jig is fine, inkpads are probably drying out, but I could run off some specimen sets for anyone who wants to see how the rubber stamped nickels turn out. Contact me via email scgooner at att.net and I'll put some in the mail for you.

I just block them. Ad-block also helps with obnoxious websites which try to throw pop-ups in my face. Although the war continues, some websites are finding ways around ad-block. Maybe I'll have to write my own lite browser, something which kills javascript, stylesheets, html5, etc. so I can actually read things rather than be pestered by whizzy things all the time. I'm hearing from friends that emailing through member pages is not being supported and the only way I can be contacted is through the message center. I think that's a real hoot - you have an email to tell you have a message. Paging the Department of Redundancy Department.

With all the changes made by GS in the past few years, i can honestly say that none have made geocaching better for me or my family. Logical things that have been asked for, such as we being able to query for caches with favorite points, probably won't ever see the light of day. Seems so strange that GS's focus seems to to be mostly cosmetic and even those changes rarely come out looking good. Just got the weekly email yesterday and this was in it. "What’s next? Updates to the Header on Geocaching.com. Updates to the Profile and Dashboard on Geocaching.com. Additional functionality improvements to the Geocaching® app for the 5.4 release." Probably more changes that aren't helpful and in all probability, take away even more functionality. Hey, you can run pocket queries (if a premium member) and sort on favorite points, just don't expect them to be all (if any) from your pocket query. It's an ancient bug, which isn't sexy enough to work on.

Aye, there's the rub. I sure understand you can't do everything at once. But .... Clyde (master of eternal GSAK fame) and ganja1447 (amazing overlord of project-gc.com) both actually created and are maintaining their massively useful community tools WITHOUT the benefit of a steady income stream from Premium Members, trackable buyers, and lucrative corporate sponsors. As a chef, I would be seriously embarrassed if someone took an item off my lunch menu, and turned it into a stellar gourmet meal, at no extra charge. "resources" ?? Really ??? Nothing personal, Nate. Remember, we b*tch because we care. . In the meantime, you can edit the URL of the search results from "...&types=6,13,453,1304,3653,3774,4738,7005..." to "...&types=13..." to only include CITOs and to "...&types=453..." to only include Megas. Ah, working around the website. One of my favorite activities, particularly when navigation on something doesn't work or there's an annoying pop-up splash I just want to get around. For the most part I'm bookmarking pages so I can navigate the site faster.

Thumbnail maps are blank (white) and View Larger comes up like a page without a style sheet, half of it in BLINK mode. No map.

Sitting in a hotel room on the wandering way home and trying to post notes for tb drops. the big map seems to be broken. Comes up like a page without a stylesheet and half of it is in <blink> mode. Little preview windows show blank on cache pages.

I seriously hope the Opt-out can be permament. New logging is a pain. Since I'm travelling I found something else while trying to post some TB drops - I have to load a new page to see logs on a cache - most uncool. How do I get back to seeing this list automatically, if not at least the last 5, please. When you are on a laptop you don't want all this needless encumberance.

Here I am, hundreds of miles from home and finding this to be the case with a $300+ new galaxy tablet. There has been no small amount of swearing involved. I have c:geo, but am trying to use that unconnected (which really is a goal they should work to better support, there are some places where you ain't going to have a signal, particularly some of the very remote areas I've been through over the past few days, but I digress, that doesn't remedy this idiotic behavior of Chrome. So we have Chrome, a product of Google, running in Nougat, another product of Google all running Google maps ... and it doesn't work. I've I bring up a map showing restaurants, filling stations and such, it works. I think this is probably in the implementation of maps by GC. Have also noticed what appears to be a memory leak. When I leave the large map view open on a PC for some time it gets verrrrrry bogged down and Chrome needs a restart. So there's no answers, only us.

I don't think this was accidentally cc'd to you. Geocaching.com's summer promotion has a pirate theme, so they sent this email to everyone. Promoting piracy? Wonder if there's a Dizzney tie-in. Pirates of the wossname sorta thing. I see a lot of these Mary Kerry or something events popping up and these Pirates Life promotions. My pirate thing will be in high gear in Septembarrr.

To me it means they who seeks them must be willing to put in the effort to find them - I'll meets 'em half way. Sometimes mine go a-missing and I get out to look after them as quick as I am able. Nothing more bothersome than finding one just as it should be and in fine fettle and form when some potlicker has posted a DNF + (NM | NA)

Clearly this was meant for others and was accidentally cc'd to me as well. I've held a few this year already, even if the Somewhere East of Java series is loosely based on the theme. Trying to figure out what to do with Sept 19th this year as it falls on a Tuesday. May just yo-ho-ho it anyways, there's always a scupper in need o' have a skalaway thrown in to it. ox)P-)

I responded to it right away. Not expecting they'll take anything I take seriously. Nobody at GS seems to.

I think my reluctance to add any more challenges is due in part to having to work out a Challenge Checker. I'm also rather good with only holding two (one adopted) as I don't feel like filling the world with challenges. If I thought of a good one I just might reconsider that, but at present my 200 mile radius seems to have enough. I'm only working on the BIG challenges (original Fizzy, Golden State DeLorme, Northern California DeLorme, Southern California DeLorme, California counties, Nevada DeLorme and Nevada counties.) There are some others I qualify for, but as it's hard to spot Challenges from the forest of Unknowns I may be missing on some.

My best understanding of that is that lines and coordinates are relatively arbitrary - that is, much less defined and easier to create user-defined shapes and patterns, which they've already chosen to deny (a decision I'm not a fan of either). But at least, the country/state/county boundary is both specific, more 'chaotic' in shape (harder to make patterns), and there's far fewer options towards shapes and patterns too. I assumed that regions such as USGS quadrangles could not be used for challenges was due to the requirement that challenge caches had to be based upon "information broadly available from geocaching.com". Every cache has a country and stateID (even when the first level administration region is called something else) which makes it easy to determine if a caches is in a specific country or region without looking at boundaries. For some reason, GS allowed challenge caches based on "counties" (or their equivalent) even though geocaching.com does not have county data. However, a PGC challenge checker can use other data sources, and use the Lat/Long coordinates to determine the "county" using reverse geocoding. For example, given a set of Lat/Long coordinates, the Geonames API can be used to find many different types of features (counties, cites, postal codes, etc). Creating a challenge checker which checks a users finds to determine if, for example, there finds in 10 specified postal codes is no more difficult than finding 10 caches in 10 different counties. A bit ago I was examining the cache page of one of my few unfound caches and realized something had vanished in the past - there were other coordinate systems, quite a laundry list of them, which I do not see anymore. Am I staring at it and can't see it (like some 1* caches) or did they remove that feature entirely? I think it may have included information which would have been very useful in making a location based challenge - but it appears to be gone.

I understand the structure of USGS, but as I described, they're seen as arbitrary as Degree/Minute separations are. I'd agree - to have the freedom of creativity in challenge creation, there's also the option to 'spam' (for lack of a better term) with noise challenge ideas amongst the signal. Not wanting to put more subjective judgement on the shoulders of reviewers, they opted to implement stricter rules that removed a lot of flexibility for creativity. It's a shame, imo. Understandable, imo, but a shame. Easier said than done Most everything that's been removed or restricted over the years has been a matter of "ignore it if you don't like it", until the problems outweigh the benefits, then those who can live with it (or enjoy it) get the short end of the stick when those who can't, or who cause the problems, get their way. Grandfathering is a middle ground, until even that becomes more of a burden to maintain in HQ's eyes. The moratorium came about because grandfathering wasn't so simple, and the problems with the challenge concept were deemed to outweigh their benefits, so they had to take some time to compose a solution. Many of us who love challenges aren't fully satisfied with the result, but still glad at least something is still around. I'm certainly glad the existing challenges still exist, even the "creative" ones. But in time they will, as with many types within the game, become fewer. As the game is very volunteer dependent, I wonder why HQ does not call for a show of hands of people who would volunteer to take over the work of vetting types of caches which are contentious. That which is a bother to HQ doesn't require their constant intervention, they need to delegate.

And I have to point out again, to those who balk at the idea that for them geocaching should be a free ride or nothing - every single cacher who placed a cache for your finding pleasure invested time, effort and money to do so. If you think that's not worth a few dollars a year on your part, I certainly won't lose any sleep over your choice that geocaching isn't for you. Not to mention a large building to make it all happen near downtown Seattle where renting or leasing said building can be very, very expensive. Seems funny this keeps being brought up. This thread wasn't started by someone wanting to freeload. Are you sure? No hides recorded... Decides to quit as soon as it looks like cost will be incurred... Nope.. But since the OP specifically mentioned it, his statement came across to me as suggesting he had purchased the apps times 4. If this is the case, then those paid for apps showed all caches except PM. GS took the paid app away and gave us the new and improved free version. Only thing is, the new app took caches away that anyone (premium or basic) with the paid app could normally see. I've always supported GS with premium membership. It's helped them and at the same time, benefited me with the nice add on features. The business decision to make a free app but then take away a primary function that has always been in place is what's causing the angst,, imo. So the old paid for app could allow people to find PM caches without being a PM? Who buys the app four times...Lol Maybe a family, where they install it on each phone? It was stated in the very top post. Lol. As this thread has trended towards judging the OP, did anyone bother to notice their join date? Joined:23-September 12 Not exactly a new player. Regardless of number of finds or hides, their opinion should be respected. They did try to play the game and eventually found it wasn't to their liking. Considering the loss of players affects the metrics discussed in another thread, are these moves good ones, is the question. There will certainly be thousands more who don't post here and we can only guess what makes them come and go, but I will leave this discussion with this thought: I've met a fair number of people I've tried to introduce the game to and many already had - they weren't liking it and gave up on it. How do you grow the game without new players? How do you stop shedding existing players?

Sorry, wonder where I left my pay packet.

Hasn't that image come to mean Attended? Close. Participated. Ah, as in some of the criticism I've seen of the self esteem promotion attempts some places in the world - where everyone's a winner for at least giving it a go, showing up or at least looking in the right direction. Well, we're better than that, aren't we? Or are we heading in the much maligned direction of "everyone's a winner"? Smells like digressing, onward! I've always preferred the lightning bolt.

It's been debated before, but I agree. The main problem with the new challenge guidelines I see is they are needlessly restrictive. Especially not allowing "Challenges based on geographic areas other than countries, states/provinces, counties (or their local equivalent)." You can publish a challenge which requires one to find caches in all 50 states, but not based on USGS quadrangles. Why? Geocaching is about finding things and location, and maps I see as part of it. To me a challenge based on coordinates or commonly used maps is more in the spirit of geocaching than political boundaries. Which really is the shame as USGS quads probably predate some of our more recent states. I've completed two of these so far, one I've since adopted, and found them to be, if not in the present spirit of the game, so noble it should be - forced me out of my comfort zone to explore the wider areas surrounding me. Adventure! Thrills! A sense of accomplishment! Experience! They were most definitely awesome in a world where awesome has become severely diluted with overuse to describe modest improvement over the humdrum. Gone now, like so many other good things. Amen to that When I look at a challenge that requires me to sit cramped in a car all day, burning enough fossil fuel to power a small sun and in turn rewards me with a soggy piece of paper in a nano tube the size of a gnat's genitals in a pointless location I'm glad the tide was turned. Could you be more discriminating? It sounds like you just described about half the caches I've seen in some urban environments - Come To San Francisco, Enjoy the View (when fog allows), Partake of culinary delights, Find the evil nano at the store front (mean search time 55 minutes.) Soggy paper doesn't require a small cache either, I've found many sodden bits in all sizes of cache - rather less than enjoyable, but some people must be born with all thumbs (or reassembled that way by an Igor) and can't master the art of container closing. That's all pretty weak to use as an argument against challenges anyway. One of the finest challenges I was taken on the journey was by far the greater reward. (Truly awful that location based challenges were barred, because that challenge was based upon USGS quadrangles, where are pretty neat and easy to write checkers for.) I have no idea what point you're trying to make here. Sorry for using so many big words. Your accord with not wishing to experience cramped rides, petrol use, nanos and soggy logs as a end to a challenge (which must have been forced upon you in a most cruel way) sounded to me like an average day of caching in a city or pretty much anywhere. Perhaps you should consider fighting back against the dark forces which sentence you to resolve any more challenges. My best understanding of that is that lines and coordinates are relatively arbitrary - that is, much less defined and easier to create user-defined shapes and patterns, which they've already chosen to deny (a decision I'm not a fan of either). But at least, the country/state/county boundary is both specific, more 'chaotic' in shape (harder to make patterns), and there's far fewer options towards shapes and patterns too. So the next question is, why deny arbitrarily defined shapes as challenge goals? There's an answer for that too, which I can understand, I just hate it You can choose specific counties in which to accomplish statistical goals though. But you can't choose specific GPS minutes in which to accomplish statistical goals. (and as the reason I'd point to the problem that with the latter it's easier to 'list' matches that form a pattern). And patterns also applies to DT grid - you can require amounts of the grid, but you can't require certain DT spots to qualify that depict any form or shape. As stated above, the USGS quads are long established and are quite far from arbitrary, there are other grids used in surveying work, which are widely available in terms of determining if you have found a cache within. I'd like these to come back. In my humble opinion the eagerness of some to place crappy challenges (very bizarre rules regarding mixes of things, some quite unreasonable in the amount of time necessary to determine full compliance with) swung like a political pendulum from one extreme to the other, wiping out some very good challenges. Reconsidering some of this action is worthwhile. As with Micro Dot above, those who do not wish to pursue these types don't need to gnaw their leg off to escape them, but simply ignore them. At least two local cachers have made finds with the Arctic Circle and Antarctic Circle, kudos to them, but one who attempted to publish a challenge for a mere two finds, one in each circle, was denied. To me the challenge wasn't extreme, it was the denial of placing it. You accomplish that and you should get a geocoin or such, heck I'd pay for the geocoin medals if it were my challenge!

Heck, I don't half wonder why you didn't notice it. I didn't notice it, it appears to be a lighter weight font without even the benefit of an action icon of any kind to highlight it! This is a major event in this trackable's life, from my perspective. I should be in bold and have some kinds of arrows (pick UP, DROP off), magnifying glass (discovrered) or envelope (note) to indicate what transpired on this auspicious date. This is little better than an afterthought and so well hidden it's like someone was embarrassed to actually code that bit.

Only the last one would make the earlier statement a lie, for what it's worth. But I know it's cool to assume malice on Groundspeak's part --after all, it's now widely known that the game we all profess to enjoy is being run by a consortium composed of mad scientists and professional puppy stompers. I was being kind. They lied. There are more diplomatic ways of putting it - perhaps somewhere in the EULA are the terms "subject to change without notice", "user accepts Groundspeak/Geocaching.com may change things as they fit without giving written notice", "Votes will be tallied, but players votes count for little to nothing" or possibly "At the end of the day we'll do what we feel is in the best interests of the game, the players and keeping the peace (among players as well as staff, as some staff have become quite passionate about it and the water cooler can be replaced, but teeth can.")