I have now received reports on 2 of my ALs. In both cases I believe that the reports were not in the spirit of the intended outcome.
In the first case I received a report that indicated "Problem Specifics: Other". The user added additional information of "HBM...isn't working" (which I can't decipher in the context of my AL).
The problem here is that the report doesn't tell me which location is at issue.
Another problem in this case is that the user didn't give clear details. I reached out via the email address for clarity but haven't seen a response.
So I get an ambiguous report with very little detail and no way to determine if there is a problem to solve or how to solve it. And if there is no response from the user I am left hanging.
But on top of that, the email indicates that if this continues to happen, HQ may take "additional administrative action". Hardly seems fair to the AL owner if the provided info can't lead to actionable results.
The second report I received was from a Geocacher who I know. This report indicated that "a location isn't accessible". Again, no detail on which location. And no additional info on what the problem is (a plaque removed? a building demolished? a park turned into a parking lot?).
Also, and interestingly, when I checked the reviews on this AL, that user had left a review. Which means that they completed whichever location they reported.
After reaching out to the user, it turns out there was a protest going on that temporarily prevented them from getting an answer.
Ok. I don't need to resolve anything here. However, I now have an "X" against me/this AL as far as HQ is concerned. What if a larger group of users had sent reports because of a protest? I have no idea what threshold triggers "additional administrative action" and what those actions might be.
I think that HQ has some work to do on this feature. Thoughts for consideration:
- the email report should include the specific name of the location in question
- users should be able to provide more than the limited information they can currently give
- there should be some sort of reference number for each report (since HQ is watching to potentially take "additional administrative action") so that all parties can be on the same page
- AL owners should be able to report back to HQ that an issue has been resolved (similar to writing a "Maintenance Performed" log on a traditional/etc. geocache) ... and this should reduce the "X" against the AL by 1 for each owner response
- HQ needs to better define for AL owners the consequences of not responding to these reports, and at what thresholds "additional administrative actions" might be taken, and what those actions might entail
- in the Builder, create a place where the owner can view the list of outstanding and closed issue reports
I applaud HQ for continuing to develop Geocaching in general and Adventure Labs in this specific instance. The community has requested the ability to report problems to AL owners and HQ has responded. However, this version of the capability is not without problems, and there is a lack of transparency between HQ and the AL owners as to status and consequences.