iryshe

We're going to do our best to make sure the new maps have at least the functionality of the old maps. It's definitely a feature we should have for them

Most of the changes involved plumbing - non-obvious changes. We'll put together a list of the more obvious enhancements like Friends Lists and changes to the cache details page.

You are absolutely right. I corrected the issue. Thanks for pointing it out!

I went to my contacts within Garmin so I'll post their response to me here: (edited to put in the thank you part)

I joined as a member but you don't have to make me an officer. I'm already one for far too many categories as it is.

I just adjusted some settings on the site. It'll take a few minutes to spin back up.

Grizzly, Application pools are limited to 1.2 gigs of memory. Though the machine has the capacity to handle far more there seems to be a limitation on the ability for IIS to handle more than that per application pool. The Server Too Busy errors occur when the application pool resets and there are multiple connections while this happens which bogs down the server. The machine is too busy to handle the incoming requests and handle the compile for the system. We use extensive caching and, again, garbage collection built into IIS apparently cannot handle both the garbage collection and the incoming requests from users. It essentially craps out and fills up the available memory and *pop* we have Out of Memory exceptions while the machine itself has gigs and gigs of memory free. Although at busy times the database does get pretty bogged down, the inefficiency with the caching on IIS and .net 1.1 is causing a lot of issues when it should be helping the speed of the site. If we didn't have to refresh the pool every 2 hours we could store a majority of the site in memory and reduce overall load on the web site. We'll be moving to 2.0 in the near future (once the blasted licenses arrive), but in the meantime we're looking at a solution that will allow us to share a memory cache across multiple servers and bypass the inefficiencies of IIS. That means the geocaches would optimally sit in memory and be accessible to all the web servers which will mean that the database will only be used for unique queries like custom searches from an origin or complicated Pocket Queries. We're doing the same with session handling which is currently running on the same machine. We've been running profiler on the database over the last week or so and have adjusted some of the indexing on the database to help with response times on popular queries. Additionally we have replaced some redundant queries related to the log table to speed up the ability to post logs. At this point we're hitting the wall with this application pool issue - but we're making progress. Although I do note that the site was originally built as a hobby site so there's a lot of hobby code, it's definitely a different animal compared to even a year ago. We're getting there but it is resource intensive and the premium memberships only support so much labor.

Does this mean as Primary Officer, or as an officer/manager? In other words, can one "own" three categories and also be part of a management group for other categories? I believe you can only be a president of 3 categories but you can be part of a management group of more than that. I'll check with bootron tomorrow.

It is his wife's account. He's not allowed to post in the forums under that account. I generally mention he doesn't pay when he complains about not getting enough features that he pays for.

I'd have to know the exact situation, but my thought is if you can arrive at that location without ever using a GPS unit then it defeats the purpose of being a geocaching hybrid letterbox.

Not really. When I revamp that page I'll change the wording.

apollo08, I only see one existing PQ set up to be emailed on Wednesday. It generated 11/26/2003 5:19:23 AM PST.

Happy Thanksgiving! Another turkey day at the Woodland Park Zoo for me (no, really).

Thanks, for an apt example. It can also reference posts like this one that have no intellectual or useful addition to a topic. This example is how RobertM calls CacheCreatures a suckup without actually saying so. Not only does it diminish the attempt at continued discussion, but can be claimed as "something else" by RobertM. It's pretty childish for an adult. It's also something we haven't had to deal with except recently.

A fair observation for someone who wouldn't have to moderate such a forum. Historically speaking, you would be hard pressed to point out where we don't accept criticism of Groundspeak in these forums. Yes. Ankle biters can double definition as children, though a more apt term would be "muckraker" or "yellow journalist". This would be an accurate statement. Those who criticise are not in the category of "ankle biter," nor would they be called a "troller." The "ankle biter" statement is for those who use innuendo or sniping to derail topics to suit them to their own agenda. Ankle biter is a good term since it illustrates how the normal pace of a forum can be interrupted by some child nibbling at the post's feet.

This is off-topic. It wasn't censorship but a warning. As far as I can see the post is still there.

Call it frayed nerves. From my view the warning meter is a good way of seeing a history of issues with a particular user. All the moderators can read the other moderator's posts. True, some folks will disregard warnings but at least the other moderators know the history. That way they can make an informed decision on what measure to take.

I agree. It's a great idea. Does that mean I committed to it? Like the newsletter discussion, it's a lot of work. But I have the request firmly planted in my noggin.

The above would be an unfair statement. How about, "Hey. Try out Geocaching. Here's some info on the activity, do a search and look around. Found a cache and want to log it? Here's a free account. Have any questions? Come to the forums and ask other geocachers. It's all free. Send an email to contact@geocaching.com if you have questions. We'll try to help. Hey, if you like the game and want to help support the site, pay less than a latte per month and you'll get over 10 megs a day in caches you can import in your GPS unit and use our new maps. We also have some cool gear you can check out." "Oh, when you're in the forums, we don't have a section to discuss the latest Jerry Springer. Sorry. Unlike most sites we'd rather see you get outdoors more."

This was a quick skin we chose to get the site up quickly. We're working on another skin.

Unfortunately what is happening behind the scenes is there are several individuals who respond and "bump" the topics, giving them an air of popularity. It baits a post and another one pops in and jabs again. It's actually rather calculating. So even topics that really don't have much energy to them are consitantly brought up to the top of the page. Like this one. Sometimes you can refresh the page every 15 minutes or so and watch how a pointless topic drops down and pops back up. Like volleyball. True, if folks were on the up-and-up, ignoring a topic will make it go away. But these ankle biters like to create controversy where there is none. Honestly, I have no idea how they spare the time. Do their employers know?

The passwords are not case sensitive on geocaching.com, so it is possible it was always with a lowercase "j" - someone else mentioned this last week that when they used "forgot password" on geocaching.com it had the wrong case from what they expected. I'm not positive this is the case. Send your son his password and see if it is lowercase or uppercase.

I'm with Harrald. If you need self confidence, go to a motivational speaker.

Pocket queries seem to be running fine. I am aware, however, that hotmail and yahoo tend to queue emails from us because of the volume of emails we send their way. Since we sent our new cache notification a day early you may experience a different time response than normal.

I've been working through the idea of allowing GPX files to be uploaded for each cache page. This would allow parking coordinates or whatever additional waypoints are required (or requested) for a particular cache. Sorry, I have no dates when such a feature is available. The way I look at it, adding one waypoint option will lead requests for two, and so on. So there needs to be a more permanent and thorough solution than just one waypoint.