Checkmark

I can get onto gc.com just fine, but not wm.com. The warning is making me too scared to continue! I feel the same way. Won't proceed on Waymarking.com until it's resolved. I am logged in normally. Is this issue still happening for you?

Please remember that what people purchase is a Groundspeak Premium Membership which is valid across the family of websites. It was a value-add when they included Waymarking at no additional cost and that remained true when Wherigo and Challenges were also added later.

Here is the link to the group for Scenic Overlooks. I would guess that this sort of thing happens in other groups as well. We do need a process for this since the idea of group management was to share the duties. It was my impression that groups should have a minimum of three active officers not one active officer and two placeholders. When that process fails like in the scenario described by lumbricus then you would email me to start the more direct process. What I do is look at the dates of login to determine what steps should be taken. The short version is that everyone benefits when there is an active and engaged leader that can add new officers, trim out the dead wood and effect updates.

I've started the process for all of the above requests. Also, I have opened some discussion to improve this system. It is very rare that an absent leader returns. As such the one month waiting period seems excessive especially when one considers that often the current leader has not logged in for many months. It further seems unfair that active players should have to wait for what appears to be an inactive leadership. However it should be noted that current officers should be taking an active role to publish new submissions within 3 to 10 days. In the case where one officer is doing all of the work while another has assumed a passive leader role then unfortunately it might be best to start the process internally to have the leader removed by calling a vote to change the rankings. This can be done without Groundspeak intervention. It should be assumed that everyone that joined a group did so to help it grow in a prompt fashion. Having idle officers runs contrary to that.

I'm about a month behind on addressing the email requests from "Lumbricus" but have no other pending requests from anyone else. As far as I know everything else has been addressed but if you know of something then please email me directly at checkmarkmail@gmail.com so I can investigate. Please provide as much detail as possible including links if available. Categories to be addressed appear to be Ski Lodges Historic Reenactments Scenic Overlooks Waterfalls Landlocked Boats Orthodox Churches Water Mills Whitewater Rafting Trips Nations Within Nations

Unfortunately and for no apparent reason. Let's say Larry, Curly and Moe decide to start two categories from one group. They start a "Three Stooges" category and a "Three's Company" category. Everything goes swimmingly for years until one day Curly learns that Joyce DeWitt said something mean about bald people. Well he isn't going to support that anymore so he quits. Now both groups would drop to two members. Both go on probation. That doesn't work. Now along comes Shemp and he joins the group. But he has no interest in the "Three's Company" part. Why should he have to deal with that? Now along comes Terry (she replaced Cindy, who replaced Chrissy) to lend a hand to the "Three's Company" group. She has no interest in the "Three Stooges". Same problem. When new people join the group they would get stuck with all of the categories that group is tending to. This is just two categories so imagine dozens. I think this should illustrate the problems with having a single group manage several categories.

Since this forum is about getting started with Waymarking, perhaps someone will be kind enough to explain what an ALR is? As for the concern about spoiling virtual geocaches, I'm a waymarker who has never geocached and so I suppose that I might unintentionally spoil a virtual through my total ignorance of its existence. I doubt I'll lose sleep over it, but if someone were kind enough to explain how to avoid doing this, I might take the appropriate steps. I believe ALR stands for Alternate Logging Requirement. ALRs for geocaches are no longer allowed. If you wanted to avoid posting spoilers in your waymark (things that might interfere with a virtual geocache's "Proof of visit"), you could click on "nearest geocaches" from any waymark and see which virtual geocaches may be at the same location. Similarly, you can click on "nearest waymarks" from any geocache page. ALR is short for Additional Logging Requirement and at one time they were allowed for mystery caches. Usually the cache was at the posted coordinates and in order to log the find people would have to do something extra. Wear a silly wig, stand under a waterfall, write their log in rhyme, stuff like that. Eventually it was decided to stop allowing these add-ons to physical caches. The "take a photo" was probably the most common ALR. Where ALRs differ from the logging of waymarks or virtual caches is that the photo in this case is the proof of being there and seeing the item tagged because there is no logbook. Many virtual caches require a picture and if the owner doesn't enforce it then they stand the chance of their virtual cache being permanently archived. See these articles for more info http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=310 http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=307#maint http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=308#grandfathered edit to add http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=309

Way to go everyone! Nearly one-fifth of the available listings across the Groundspeak family of websites are waymarks. That has to say something.

Thanks, I've send two emails - one to GS (with response, that I have to inform checkmark) and one to checkmark, but without response. So Dead Vehicles and WWII Prisoner of War Camps (third mentioned category has still one active officer) are still abandoned - really nice sign of Waymarking site function. There need to be some "system precautions". All nudgings are up to date as of this morning. If a listing is still not addressed after a week from today then please email me directly. I know that I don't check in often enough and we are seeing some growth in Waymarking.

My apologies. I have dealt with my backlog.

Unofficially I would think that a new location deserves a new database entry.

Often this is the crux of the discussion. People for whatever reason are willing to lift the cover at the base of a lamp at a fast food restaurant to increase their perceived score but remain unwilling to log the actual location. It could have something to do with the a-ha moment of finding the container. This may even be true when it is obvious where the geocache has to be. Quality is subjective. Some could also respond that lamp cover caches get few favorite points despite being logged frequently. I've never bought into the idea that it is the quality. People make listings to share something with others. For me I would rather say that I ate at a certain fast food location than find a HAK on the dumpster out back. I would log both though.

Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it Checkmark is one person.

When Jeremy was asked about this back near the beginning of Waymarking he stated that people should be encouraged to log visits on their own waymarks. Waymarks are different from geocaches. Geocaching is an active search towards discovery of the item intentionally hidden from the general public. Waymarks are generally items that the general public has open access to in a passive way. People that make waymarks are free to log a visit if they so choose just like the host of a geocaching event can log that they attended their own event. Most people would agree that logging a find on one's own geocache seems silly and repeatedly logging a find on a certain geocache would also be padding the numbers but other online games give people achievements for being the top attendee at one location. Repeated visits are the name of the game and people compete to to be the in the top slot. Another popular online game has people just say that they were there. Waymarking was one of the first of these games and they all fit that same format of going to a point of reference and stating you were there.

Having done several audio-tours I think those would be unique enough to have their own category.

Wow I can't believe we don't have that! It seems obvious now and so many places offer that. Good suggestion and I encourage you to pursue it.

I might be attending it. It depends on my work schedule.

Agreeing with BruceS that the GoogleEarth KML plug is the best option. It's free, interactive and works fantastic. Get it on the Waymarking.com home page under 'other services'. Every circle with an icon is a waymark or stack of them. Clicking on one expands it. Wicked isn't it?

Too funny. I just used that location in another thread. Are you me?

Alright let's try another example. Seattle's Space Needle has plenty of variety.

As far as i know, it´s still checkmark. Look for his profile in WM website and mail him. Hello, Yupperino. We have an article in the Help Center on this topic.

I use this as a GSAK Macro for my Garmin Oregon

Due to variables and different naming requirements, details and other factors not to mention visit instructions the idea of "stacking" as one listing no longer makes sense. Also some people only have specific interests and filter accordingly. Stacking would remove that option. People often prefer to write unique logs for each unique listing. If I logged a visit on a stained glass window it would be different from my log on a benchmark or a sundial.

Each unique item can be turned into a unique listing with its own WM CODE. For example imagine a visit to the British Museum and the 130+ unique listings within. This is a good example of stacking and how some categories can be concentrated at a focal point.

This will also be a good time to stoke the fires and usher in a new crop of waymarkers that may have struggled to get started. Let's all remember to be welcoming Checkmark - Waymarking Admin Team