Sol seaker
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Posts posted by Sol seaker
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If a user were to make use of said made-up acronym excessively after being asked not to due its use in mocking and cynical contexts, and continue to use it despite being asked not to, then yes I can certainly see a reason why a moderator would put the hammer down.
I don't post as much here now as I used to, mainly because I find almost all the topics pretty uninteresting. But anyone who has been around for a while knows that I have some very strong opinions. I got a week's worth of time-out once a few years ago, and that was enough to make me re-evaluate how I interact on the forums. I have been pretty careful since to not step over the line, though I often enjoy pushing the limit.
IMO, the recent forum bans were completely justified. It's a temptation, as an old-timer, to be condescending toward newbies who don't immediately give appropriate weight to one's obviously correct opinions. A teeny bit of compassion and understanding can do wonders, though, and refraining from posting snark at what one may perceive as a stupid question goes a long way towards making the forums a nicer place.
Personally, I have grown very tired of all the detailed nitpicking over the rules and guidelines. What's so hard about just going out, finding the kinds of caches you like, and having a good time? Why is it so important for some people to try to prevent others from caching in ways they don't approve?
On the other hand, watching the forum fights over the rules has given me a lot of insight into human nature. There seems to be an innate desire for more and more detailed rules built into the human psyche.
This...very much. All +1, but +100 to the part I bolded....
AGREE TO ALL
So are these posts supporting blasting people who blast things?
Please keep it nice in my thread.
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are you saying that your posts were to sincerely discuss the question of the value of old-timers, and were not purely political?
I began by answering the question, explicitly, yes. Then I addressed the current state of the topic. If Sol seeker wants the thread to remain "on topic", and it was not ever supposed to be about the politics of those who have been banned, then she needs to speak up and attempt to steer it back on course. Otherwise, yes, the thread was not purely intended to discuss "What is the value of old timers in caching?"
You might want to ask the OP what her intent actually was before you interject your thoughts about her intent. I'll wager her intent was just as stated in her OP. I see nothing here that points to an underlying political motive.Post #7 - knowschad first steered the topic openly towards forum politics.
Then Sol Seeker:
"The point is that those who have been around a while have a lot to offer the community. They have VALUE in being here. They have a lot to share.
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We need people who have been around a while. The forums belong to everyone. Or at least they should. "
Seems forum politics (not just value in geocaching) are a touchy subject.
Then knowschad:
"There seems to be a little confusion in this thread, I think. Are you referring to Geocaching old-timers, or forum regulars when you talk about old-timers? I thought you were referring to old-time forum regulars."
Then the air was cleared in TriciaG's post #25, that there is a solid underlying issue regarding recent long-time forum users.
And numerous responses have agreed, quite pleasantly, that there is certainly value of old timers in geocaching. I don't think anyone would disagree.
So once again, if the thread is legitimately, and sincerely to discuss the value of old timers in geocaching, then sol seeker should make that clear. Either Knowschad misunderstood by post 7, and the thread has since already derailed into more angsty forum drama not related to the OP, or the thread has always had a passive-aggressive intent to rant about forum politics
ETA: I'd love if this thread were just to talk about old timers (of all types) in geocaching and their value and merit! Share some examples, help promote community and loving and caring and fun and helpfulness! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease.
And most threads in these forums anymore turn angsty, and judgmental over time, in case you hadn't noticed.
Please re-read your own post and think about if there's anything there that might be adding to that.
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are you saying that your posts were to sincerely discuss the question of the value of old-timers, and were not purely political?
I began by answering the question, explicitly, yes. Then I addressed the current state of the topic. If Sol seeker wants the thread to remain "on topic", and it was not ever supposed to be about the politics of those who have been banned, then she needs to speak up and attempt to steer it back on course. Otherwise, yes, the thread was not purely intended to discuss "What is the value of old timers in caching?"
You might want to ask the OP what her intent actually was before you interject your thoughts about her intent. I'll wager her intent was just as stated in her OP. I see nothing here that points to an underlying political motive.Post #7 - knowschad first steered the topic openly towards forum politics.
Then Sol Seeker:
"The point is that those who have been around a while have a lot to offer the community. They have VALUE in being here. They have a lot to share.
...
We need people who have been around a while. The forums belong to everyone. Or at least they should. "
Seems forum politics (not just value in geocaching) are a touchy subject.
Then knowschad:
"There seems to be a little confusion in this thread, I think. Are you referring to Geocaching old-timers, or forum regulars when you talk about old-timers? I thought you were referring to old-time forum regulars."
Then the air was cleared in TriciaG's post #25, that there is a solid underlying issue regarding recent long-time forum users.
And numerous responses have agreed, quite pleasantly, that there is certainly value of old timers in geocaching. I don't think anyone would disagree.
So once again, if the thread is legitimately, and sincerely to discuss the value of old timers in geocaching, then sol seeker should make that clear. Either Knowschad misunderstood by post 7, and the thread has since already derailed into more angsty forum drama not related to the OP, or the thread has always had a passive-aggressive intent to rant about forum politics
ETA: I'd love if this thread were just to talk about old timers (of all types) in geocaching and their value and merit! Share some examples, help promote community and loving and caring and fun and helpfulness! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease.
So your first few lines make it sound like Knowschad and I are the same person, or at least see the world the same, or think the same, or ARE thinking the same, or something.
I have no idea where you got that one.
I assure you that Knowschad and I are indeed separate individuals; I am not a dog.
As with every single other thread in these forums, or any forums for that matter, everyone can and does make of them what they will.
I made myself clear in the first post. I don't know why you decided everyone else was speaking for me in muddying my opening post.
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I am sorry you guys aren't getting out as quickly as you wanted to.
You two are good people, and deserve a really wonderful trip.
I hope you get a fantastic trip when you are able to get out.
Hugs to you both.
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Touche. Strike the word "deliberate" from my response.
It's like speeding. Whether one intended it or not, one got caught. 6 months later the speed limit on that stretch of road is raised. Should that erase the previous infraction?
Ummm, major difference.
On streets speed limits are clearly posted all over. And then on top of that, most of us know the speed limit on our freeways and on the side streets of our local towns. And they don't change without a lot of hoopla in the media ("SPEED LIMITS INCREASED???? IS THAT SAFE????!!")
What this thread is about is asking what the speed limits are here. We know a few of them from the forum rules, and some of them from the site rules, but because of the recent bannings, the questions has come up about unspoken rules. There are a lot of them, we're trying to figure them out.
Such as the last post I made. That is not in the main posting rules of this forum. We're supposed to just know it I guess. But then the unspoken rules can vary moderator to moderator, so, I for one, want to know what the rules are so I can keep from "speeding".
It is never my intention to break forum rules (at least not so far
). If I don't know what the rules are that makes it tough. -
So to reply to the original question:
I found a little note of clarification here
User Insights Forum Guidelines:
http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=321716
That is the page for rules posting in the forums for suggestions to the website,etc.
Those rules say:
"We recognize that not all players enjoy geocaching using our products. We know that there is valuable information in hearing about your experience on other websites or apps, so in the User Insights forum ONLY participants may constructively discuss their experience with other geocaching products and how they improve your geocaching experience."
Bolding is not mine.
This is some good clarification.
I feel this is the sort of thing we need to know.
Whether we agree with it or disagree with it isn't the issue, so much as we know what the rules are here.
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Elements offered on the current cache page:
Basic Details:
Title
Cache Type
Description
Coordinates/Location
Difficulty/Terrain
Size
Favorites
Hint
Map (overview) I really appreciate the map overview and then the zoomed in version. I use those two all the time.
Map (larger, zoomed-in version) Use all the time, very important to me
Additional Details:
Cache Owner
Date Hidden
Distance from Home Location Very important
Corrected Coordinates Love this, although I haven't used it yet. It's been off my radar. Will start using.
Quick Link
Print Friendly very important
Driving Directions I don't use this, although it could be so important to some
Send to GPS
Disclaimer It would be nice to have some sort of disclaimer stating that the cache owner and Groundspeak are not liable for anyone hunting the caches
Personal Cache Note (PM feature) Very important!! I really love that you put this in and now that you've added more space for us to write it's even better
Photo Gallery Really adds to the experience. Love this!!
Trackable Inventory
Attributes I don't use these unless it has a bathroom attribute
Additional Waypoints
Find… (links to nearby caches, waymarks)
Other Map Links
Lists:
Watch important
Bookmark essential!!
Ignore
Owner Tools:
Edit
Edit Attributes
Waypoints
Upload Images
Archive
Disable
Existing Community Requests:
In-house geochecker This would be really, really nice. It would be great if it could accommodate adding clues when people get the correct coords, just like some of the other checkers. I'd love an in-house checker. A lot of cache owners don't have them or don't know how to add them and it would be great to have.
"Last Found" summary Don't we already have this? Just go to your profile page
Ability to filter logs by clicking on log type icons
Add event start and end time fields This would be REALLY GREAT to have!! Some people forget to add it. I spend a lot of time searching cache pages for this information.
Thank you for taking part in the conversation! thank you for asking for our input since we use it.
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I've been caching since Feb 2009 (started with another name)
I use the maps more than anything. I spend hours pouring over those maps.
I'd love any feature that allows me to see more information at a glance.
The number one most important improvement I need right now is the ability to click on caches on my tablet. The caches don't open when I use the tablet.
The official phone app is frustrating because it only shows a small area of caches at a time. I've got it on my phone but won't put it on my tablet.
Part of the reason I got the tablet was to view caches as I'm traveling. I want to be able to draw up a map on my tablet and view the caches all around me to be able to pick and choose caches I want to find as I pass through.
I just need to be able to open the cache page from my tablet.
All the other stuff is nice, but this one is incredibly important. I can't cache on the fly without it.
I always load "caches on a route" when I travel, but I'm limited to what the GPS will hold. I've missed some great caches right outside of my pocket queries. I get to my destination and look over my path and it drives me nuts.
Well I guess there are worse things in life than missing great caches, but I'd just rather not.
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Do I want everyone to know right where I live? No, but I lost that right the very first day signed up for a credit card, paid my taxes, became a Web page host, got a radio license...... It keeps going. If you are worried about GS letting people know where you live you should see some of the free sites out there that just mine data from all over the net. I ran myself once (everyone should do this once in a while) and it had info on my entire family, phone numbers, girlfriend's (now wife's) info on her and family. Had my address from when I was 10 and lived in a completely diffrent area and I have a very common name... Privacy is a thing of the past. I think it died years ago with the rising of the facespaces and tweeteres..
I had a friend who needed the phone number to her ex's sister (for good purposes) and asked if I could get it off the web.
I came back with her phone number, address, where she went to school, what she enjoys to do, and what kind of dog she has. My friend didn't even know she had a dog.
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I've always just chosen a cache nearby.
It's fun to pick a cache that's out in a lake, but there's not always that option.
Those coords are just for you to be able to see a map of your area easily and also for a reviewer to be able to see that you live in the area when they review any caches you submit. It doesn't have to be your actual home. Even a mile away works fine.
I appreciate you bringing this information to our attention though. It's good to be aware of. Thanks.
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Looks great. I have to admit I haven't yet explored the search function, due to its complexity. This page will help. I hope the information in it is incorporated into the official site.
+1
I think what was missing in the rollout is instructions, just such as these. I hope they are linked into the site, so it can help everyone use the tool most effectively.
+1
I think the page is great, so I think what must be missing is the instructions.
For a lot of searches it seems pretty straightforward, but there are probably complications that are frustrating people.
New stuff can be hard for people even when it's good.
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Thanks A-Team!! Appreciate the work that went into this.
I just used the search engine for the first time today.
For what I wanted to do it was pretty simple (narrow a search by area and by cache name). It came up with great results.
After reading over what that page can do I'm really happy about it.
THANK YOU Groundspeak!!!!
I've been wanting a new search page for a very long time, that I could search for both cache name and location in the same search.
I'm very happy with it so far.
I'm actually pretty impressed that they thought of things like searching for caches that have notes on them. Now I can find all the ones that I solved the puzzles to. I know there are a lot around that I've missed and would love to find. That is way cool!!
thanks guys!
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I had a security guard question me tonight.
I had been standing staring at a sign in a high muggle area that is supposed to have a cache on it.
We chatted a while, real friendly like. Then I asked him if he'd heard of geocaching. I wanted a hint and wanted to know if he knew where it was. We chatted a while about caching and his experiences with being a security guard in other places with geocaches.
But, no, he didn't know where it was.
He did say he had been wondering why so many people stood staring at that sign. Another time I was finding a cache that was on the other side of a very small street from a child care facility.
A police car drove up and parked between me and the facility, but he wasn't looking at me. I stopped, knew I wasn't doing anything wrong, so went ahead and continued to sign the cache and then put it back under the lamp skirt. I looked up and he was doing paperwork and pretending to not be watching me at all. I gave a friendly wave and sauntered slowly back to my car, playing with my GPS along the way.
I don't look terribly threatening (unless I want to). In general I look like the nice person I generally am.
They don't bother me much. If they do, I strike up a conversation and make friends. -
No inside joke whatsoever. I was just stepping in, like asked!
Actually it did work. It did lighten things up... for a bit.
thanks for doing that. I like that kind of moderating: lighten it up, rather than make it heavier. I respond well to that sort of moderating.
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So sorry.
I'll take that group hug, now.Ok - putting my moderator hat on now - we should probably get back to the original topic of this thread, instead of heading off in the direction of mildly lighthearted confusion.
Still reading this thread backwards:
Okay, here ya go.
Is everyone feeling better yet?
Need more hugs?
there were some great penguin ones in there. I love penguins.
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I've seen some moderator lightness (yes, I did see the joking right away) and moderator heavy handedly making statements in this thread.
However I have NOT seen an answer to the OP question and the subsequent dialog. Is there no answer? Does it depend on what side of the bed a moderator gets up on that day?
I rarely post here now but do read (not trolling). The things a few posters get away with saying, bashing other posters and positions, bother me to no end. Maybe they get warned but as of today they are still posting. Yet others that often give appropriate responses get kicked out, sure they may have been warned but there is no balance as to what you can get away with when posting.
So..... Can we get an answer to the OP original question?
We won't really know. The OP asked what others meant about a Pen. The others were hoping the OP would give more detail what they meant and what it related to. But the OP never responded back on the thread.
You have to admit it was a pretty funny question that could have been a troll.
It's kind of like asking what a baseball bat is for in the game, in a baseball forum. You're going to get some wise answers. It's just a funny question.
In case it was indeed a real question it would have been good to move it to the newcomers thread immediately before it went far in the regular forums. In the regular forums it was kind of guaranteed to get a wise response. It actually could have been much worse.
Edit: OOOPs. I just read back and saw that someone else already suggested the thread being moved. That's what I get for only reading the last couple of posts of a thread. This one had more excitement in it than I realized. If I had of realized things were so exciting here, I would have moved on and done something more productive, like find a cache or something.
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A better question might be: as an oldtimer do you feel valued?
Yes this is a very good question, thank you for asking it.
As a customer of geocaching.com, while on the forums, I tend not to feel valued.
I think I'm a pretty good customer and like to feel valued by the places that I give my business to, and refer a lot of other customers to.
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Thank you so much for doing this, A-Team!! This is great.
I haven't used the new search engine much, but I just did and was so happy to find I could search for a word in the title of the cache and for the state the cache was in at the same time. I am really, really happy about that!!!
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I've had minor run-ins a few times.
My attitude is that if they don't know what geocaching is, they should know. I'm always all ready to tell them about it.
I tell them that they can get a free geocaching membership, and that they should do that (they get a free PM so they can make sure things called in as bombs aren't geocaches).
I tell them about the game and tell them I am willing to go to their police department and teach a bunch of police about the game if they don't know about it, because it is something they all need to know about.
I've never had any problems.
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Okay, I used the new search engine and it worked quite well.
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like there is a great list of challenge caches in CA. Perhaps you might make one.
All you need to do is go to the new search engine and use the filters and type in California and "Challenge" and it gets you a great list.
You can also start with this:
http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.aspx?guid=0a3e1a81-39d8-45c9-bfb3-7fe026bf883d
Which is challenges in the US, including some in California.
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I'm really crappy at finding threads too, so I'm not much help with that.
However, there are a few things you can do to find caches in your area.
If you know of one challenge cache you can check the bookmark list on it to see if there is a list of challenges in California (since that's where you are).
You can also do a search of caches around you, looking for the word "challenge" in the description.
Here in Washington there are a number of great lists of challenge caches. All I've got to do is find one that's been around a short while and then I can check the bookmark list to find the lists of challenges.
I'll check and see if I can do this for you.
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Geocaching.com is a for-profit business, as has been mentioned. They are not even obligated to give anyone a free membership, but they do.
When I started geocaching I was in tough economic times. Things were really bad there for a while, but I did manage to get a membership fee together. It wasn't easy, but it's all a matter of priorities.
Do you have cable TV? I didn't. I didn't have any TV. You can easily pay for a geocaching membership off of what you pay for half a month of TV. I never went to movies, EVER. I never bought food at a restaurant, EVER. I never bought a cup of coffee out even. I couldn't afford those things and more, but I managed to come up with $30 bucks a year.
It's all a matter of prioritizing what one feels is really important. Geocaching has really helped me get through some pretty rough times, so it's a priority to me.
If it's not to you, that's okay. But just know it's a choice.
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Yes, I will reply, because I think it's important that people always know what's going on. Some call it transparency. Some call it fairness.
I guess there's been more angst here than usual, and this has been responded to by the permanent banning of a few members. No one has an exact count. I know of the names of three cachers who have been around in these forums a very long time and none whom I would consider the instigators of the most angst here, but that's just my opinion. They were permanently banned from the forums.
So the problem to me, is that they weren't given warnings or reasons for the banning at that time. They had some history in the past with warnings or small bannings, and instead of being told, "This is your last warning and this is why. After this you will be permanently banned," they just got a note out of the blue that they were permanently banned with no explanation or warning.
I would at least want to know why myself, and I would want the kindness and dignity of having a discussion about it.
So now a lot of people are wondering if it will happen to them out of the blue with no warning and they'll never know what hit them.
There are a lot of "unwritten" forum rules that seem to be part of the issue here. People are trying to figure those out because we like posting here. We like having a geocaching community online to talk to and to ask questions of and feel a part of something big.
Most of us want this to be a fair and kind place. Most of us have fair and kind intentions. We all want to be heard, whether it be our opinion about the latest website update or about how we are treated in the forums, or about the latest really cool geocache that we found.
That's what forums are about. Or usually are. Or something.
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I think the old timers, of which I consider myself to be among that group--going back to 2002, nurtured the game locally so it could grow and expand to what it is today. During the period of 2004 to 2008 I personally organized over 100 group hikes (caching hikes, although we could not classify them as events) over 1000 people participated. I would often pre hike locations to make sure that the location was suitable and hide a cache or two ahead of the hike for people to find. . Some of those early participants became fast friends and maintain close and loving relationships with each other to this date. A few of them have gone on to become Catskill 3500 and Adirondack 46rs. It was the nurturing of the game. I sometimes wax nostalgic for those fun hikes and outings, having never evolved into a numbers cacher. Some, but not many still play the game.
Thanks for your valuable contribution to the community.
). If I don't know what the rules are that makes it tough.
What is the value of old timers in caching?
in General geocaching topics
Posted
No. I do not now, nor have I ever, supported blasting anyone, including the powers that be.
If you noticed, I'm the one who applauded them for the new search engine. It may not be perfect, but I'm SSSOOOOO happy they did it. I see it as a major improvement.
I don't think blasting people helps anymore than banning people. I don't think people learn either of those ways. There are better ways to teach people to behave well.
(Although I admit some WANT to behave poorly. But the only way to weed those out it to have a conversation with them before you ban them)
I said "keep it nice in my thread" and I meant nice toward EVERYONE.