Keith Watson

Actually not all is free. There are momber only caches that you have to pay to play.

Thst's fine. If private complaint has been made, have the moderator post that a complaint has been made. Seems simple to me.

The problem is the potential for abuse. Even though the intentions of a moderator are good, the result may be the perception of abuse. When contests are run, friends, employees and relatives are usually excluded. Why? Because they want to make sure no one cries foul. Jeremy is the one person I would expect to see talking here. It is his site. No matter what anybody says, what he says is the most binding in issues that deal with the site. A moderator is an impartial adjudicator here strictly to enforce the rules that Jeremy has laid out. Moderators, and any one else that performs duties at the site should fell free to join in discussions provided the discussion does not involve things in which their actions may be questioned. Conflict of interest rules are not only put in place to prevent questionable actions, but also to prevent the perception of a questionable action. Don’t think of it as holding the moderators back, but helping them from unknowingly do something to cause someone else from misinterpreting. Groundspeak defiantly needs a well defined could of conduct and mission statement well displayed for all to understand.

One thing that I have noticed that may be adding fuel to fire is the fact that moderators have been participating in the conversations. True, they are individuals and have a right to be heard, but they gave up that right when they became a moderator. It is a simple perception of conflict of interest. Notice the word perception. What is real is not always important as what is perceived as real. Personally I view arguing with a moderator is a losing battle. They are in a place of power and no one can be sure that they are not abusing it. Once again, perception. Kind of like a bouncer at a bar. If they control the situation objectively, then the situation can be resolved. By participating they only add fuel to the fire because of the perception they are using their voice over another voice that they can silence.

If posters are doing it to get a rise out of people, it has worked. Why not try ignoring them. It may take a few days, but if nobody reacts they just migh get bored and go some where else. Get the mods to back off a bit and let thing runs its coarse. What is happening right now doen't seem to be working. New threads are being created as the old ones are being locked out.

Understanding is a three edged sword. (J Michael Stazinski) There is alway three side to a a discussion, one side, the other side, and the truth. And the truth of any conflic is written by the victor. Well to this there will probably be no victor. On one side we have the posters that seem to be up in arms because they believe theirs posts are being unfairly treated by the mods. On the other side the mods believe they are doing what is expected of them. This begins to come closer and closer to what some may see as censorship. Freedom of speech is given to all of us, but it has limits. Some of the posters need to realize when they are approaching the line at which they should not cross. As well the mods should also stop and think about what they are doing. Both sides need to sit back and chill a litle before it gets way out of control and then nobody is going to be happy. My submition for a solution for an off topic form is to create a group with only one thread allowed. Let the posters use it for a few days to decide on a location to have an off site area to discuss what they want. Then removed all the posts and add on post that tells them where they can find this location and lock the group so no more posts can be made. Just an idea.

I know, this is set up for geocachers in Southern Ontario.

My view exactly. The last line is about a specific type of cache, gambling. The MO's are pay to play. Question though. You can see MO's but just can't log them?

I have set up an IRC chat room for discussing Geocaching in real time. Your two choices to connect are. 1) goto http://www.underwaterlabs.com/geocaching.htm and use the web based client 2) use your favorite IRC client and connect to irc.ircstorm.net on port 6667 Please let me know if you have any problems.

I have set up an IRC chat room for discussing Geocaching in real time. Your two choices to connect are. 1) goto http://www.underwaterlabs.com/geocaching.htm and use the web based client 2) use your favorite IRC client and connect to irc.ircstorm.net on port 6667 Please let me know if you have any problems.

I put this one together for my notebook. I have three sizes. http://www.underwaterlabs.com/geocaching/

I was a 5 Star Senior Sixer, and a Chief Scout. It has been years since I have been involved. Probably good though, cause you can’t do what we used to do.

What is the difference between the arrival alarm and the proximity alarm?

Getting the glue off is easy. WD-40. Spray some on a paper towel and gently rub. Works price stickers and labels just as well.

All systems are open to abuse and this is no different. Unfortunately there is no way to stop it. You could play a zero tolerance rule into affect where no approver could log a FTF. Just like in professional sports they do not allow gambling. One could argue “I wouldn’t play unfair” but the temptation is still there. All it takes is for one person to mar the system for everyone else. That being said, an approver who wishes to take advantage of the trust given to them could simply use another account to log their finds and no one would be the wiser. I would just hope that people enjoy this for the fun that it is. If there are approvers out there taking advantage, just remember that you are only cheating yourself, or maybe a small child that was really looking forward to a FTF, and you will have to live with it.

HAd my third random shut down today. I think it may have to do with pressing keys the moment the units locks onto the current location. If I leave the buttons until the unit locks onto the current location it seams fine.

Just loaded 5.0 on my Sportrack Map. Noticed on glitch, when I set the distance units it rebooted on me. Only once, so no idea what that was. On a possitive note, a cold start with no location set it initialized in leass than a minute. Very impressive. Does anyone know what the new proximity alarm is?

The best GPS out there is the one that suits your needs. If you need a map, then get one with a map. If you need to take a map of the whole country with you, get one with lots of memory. If you want to trust what it says get one that is trust worthy. Ask a lot of questions, down load manuals (that’s what I did) to see just what they can really do. Talk to a lot of people, and I mean a lot, to avoid a few people’s bias put you off of what you are looking for. Check out the support. A unit may have problems but they might be fixed quite easily. I use to own a Magellan GPS 2000. A piece of crap if you ask me. But I now own a Magellan Sportrack and I love it. Listen to what people say, do the research, test some if you can, and make the decision your self. Put a little time into it and you will be glad you did. All manufacturers have models that out perform other manufacturers’ models so no one manufacturers is better all round than any other. The big difference is how they stand behind their products. The only advice I would give to anyone buying a GPS is make sure it has a date port and can be updated through it. That way if a fix does come out you can easily load it yourself and not have to send it in to be updated.