JungleFritz

What if there were an "un-PMO" selection, where Premium Members may mark their caches "Intro-Friendly"? I've often wondered about new cachers just starting the App today, and how their option is to find some gross pill bottle among trash. Their first impression of Geocaching is an unmaintained throw-down. My first cache was an ammo box in the woods. That was cool! But if your cache is not deemed suitable for new finders, what went wrong? Is the difficulty too high? Are there too many problems with the hide? It would be tough to make a great variety of Intro Caches designed to be found by App users, but it would be cool to try. The caches would need to be especially well-maintained, so that they don't get removed from the App. Various things cause that. I rated the caches as "2" difficulties because they are a little tricky - nanos and micros. But the point is that I wanted to make them findable to all basic (non-paying) cachers, not just the Premium members. Basic membership used to (not sure if it still does) include some more advanced cachers than just newbies. I want Groundspeak to leave it up to the COs whether they want their caches to be visible to basic, non-paying members. Perhaps the default would be "Premium Members Only", and the CO would have to actively select to make their cache - whatever the difficulty - be for non-Premium members. Or they could say that for every x number of PMO caches, you can make one at any level open to non-Premium cachers. This whole episode, from the unwanted (for me, at least) clustering "improvement" to the app, to the way Groundspeak is monetizing the hobby, leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.

PLEASE fix the app so I can turn the clustering feature off!!! I absolutely hate it, as it does not work for me the way I cache. I need to see all caches in a wide area - this is part of the reason that although I bought the old paid app, I never used it because the mapped area was too small and I couldn't see all the local caches. This "feature" is NOT an improvement, I wish you'd all stop talking like it is. I am on the verge of cancelling my premium membership and either giving up the hobby or going with c:geo - no sense in paying for something I can't use. (So don't tell me about the other new features - they mean squat to me, since I can't use the map.)

Just to address the monetization issue. Providing a website to host all of the data and track everyone's logs required for this "very fun game" is not free and I'm pretty sure the website does not generate enough traffic for ads to cover the cost. Website and mobile app developers do not work for free, especially considering the types of salaries they are paid. I don't see any problem with Groundspeak requiring a small payment in order to have full access to the features they provide. Regarding cache owners, they do not get any money from the caches they place. It actually costs them money to place caches - containers, logbooks, swag items, etc. There are plenty of cachers that play this game for free. The site they are using and the caches they are finding are a cost to others. Something to think about. While I have no objection to the site and developers making some money, as a cache owner I have never once worried that some other cacher might be "freeloading" by finding my caches without paying for a Premium membership. If I had worried about that, I would have made my caches PMO. The objection I have about the new app's gatekeeping approach is that it takes away that choice about whether their caches can be searched for by Basic or Premium members from the very people they are depending on to invest their time and resources to place caches in the first place. I am INCENSED that the 5 caches that I purposely made open to all cachers and not just PMO's are now hidden from the very people I meant them for because I rated them at a 2 difficulty.

^^ This. If I wanted to restrict access to my caches, I'd make them PMO, but I WANT(ed) new cachers to join the hobby. I (used to) tell people what a great hobby geocaching was, and how they could do it for free, but if they got really hooked they could get a premium membership which would open up new caches to them. Now, I don't have the heart to introduce anyone new to the hobby, and I've barely cached at all since Groundspeak crippled the app's map utility with that dadgum "clusters" "improvement". I AM still a premium member, but I'm not sure it's worth even staying in the hobby now :'(

What kills me is that Groundspeak took a perfectly usable app and broke it. I've been hearing a lot of complaints about their revenue model, too. I don't think I'll be recommending the hobby to anybody else.

I opened the app this afternoon, and now, instead of displaying all caches within a 10-mile radius, it only shows the tiny, useless area that the old paid app used to show, and everything outside of their tiny, arbitrary radius is circles with a number denoting roughly how many caches are in that area. Perfectly useless for my style of caching - I prefer being able to see the big picture, complete with ALL caches. Is there any chance at all that they'll fix this, or at least give me the option to see what I want to, or is this another hobby I'll have to give up because some idiot tried to "improve" the interface?