Ianatlarge

When will we reach the magic One Million! Who will be the lucky waymarker?

I do not visit the forum often. I was shocked to read this. I corresponded with Bruce many times over Waymarking issues large and small. He was a great man, always helpful. He is missed.

This is a great idea, but I doubt if I will be visiting. Have a great time.

In the Kowloon Park of Hong Kong there is a memorial to the first decade of HK and mainland China reunification. Can someone suggest which category this memorial should be placed into.

Thank you everyone! It is great to be back. I did occasionally logon to see how things were progressing. I see >700,000 waymarks! Way to go. I want to add to that tally.

Hello all, I have been a way marker for almost a decade, but for the past three years, due to ill-health, I have not been active. I write this to let people know that I am active, and to apologise for seemingly 'disappearing' overnight. I hope to resume active Waymarking and find more interesting sites around the world.

http://www.firstmonkeyschool.com/ This is not monkey business. In certain parts of the world there are training programs for monkeys. These educated chimpanzees fetch coconuts down from trees, carry them away, and pack the coconuts into bags for the farmer to take to market. Do these institutions of higher simian learning deserve a category all to themselves? Please, no monkeying around.

Ok, guys. Thanks for your thoughts. I am in fact tending now towards using my cam phone, at least for the more general photos. I will give it a shot (haha), and see how it goes. Lumbricus -- thanks for the instagram info. I thought it was all just bikini glad women, goes to show.

A few years back there was discussion here about the use of smart phone cameras for waymark photography. The conclusion then was that the photos were just not good enough, however, technology has advanced, and phone cameras have improved. I now have the Samsung Galaxy s4, the photos it takes are good, not as good as my Sony camera, but good. The advantage with the phone, I always have it with me, and it is smaller and lighter. Do people have an opinion on the use of phone cams? Is there anyone here who does use their phone for waymark photography, if so, how are you finding the quality?

Thanks guys for the advice, it does help, also adding an '"-" to the coords, usually works as well, but—it gets old fast. "Waymarkers burden".

Now, I never like to cause trouble, but—and I realise that this problem has been highlighted before, but — to reiterate, again, the problem is that sometimes (for sometimes read often, for often read near always) the south and east designated coordinates are swapped to north and west. This means, for me, that things end up in the Pacific Ocean, which then necessitates a re-edit of the waymark. Now, this might not seem like much, but it happens most times, and for people who like to edit (such as myself), it means that each time I save the waymark, there is a chance that it will be flipped, again. There is a great deal of extra work involved, due to this bug.

I have said before, that the collection of waymarks we have here is an excellent tourist resource. If in some way this info can be leveraged it would bring some money into the game.

MT, Big Congrats. 10,000 is a wondrous number of waymarks. Thanks to people like you our hobby is doing so well. Here's to 100,000!

As a guideline, which I scrupulously follow, except when I decide not to, is that there should be at least 500 potential waymarks for a new category to be viable. I suspect that globally, there are >500. Having said that, are Fair Trades interesting? Not a big fan of commercial categories.

Beg to differ. There is one Fair Trade Shop I use in Perth City, and it sells a wide range of gear, from glass wear, to clothes, to books, and hemp. There are one or two others scattered around the city. http://www.fairgotrading.com.au/

Umm, so, leave things as they are? After reading of the issues with Christian churches I feel the need to highlight an issue that has been in the back of my mind for sometime. Currently, there is a single, catch-all category for Buddhism. Temples, shrines, and what not are all get piled in together. I can see how this would be suitable for a western country, where the category originated and where Buddhist sites are few and far between, but it is far less so in regions and countries where Buddhism is the dominant belief system. The problem with this is two-fold. Buddhism is a varied belief, with more than a few divisions and sub-divisions. Also, I can attest that the Buddhist countries of south east Asia (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and maybe Vietnam), all have issues with each other. In a decade or two, when Waymarking becomes a hobby in the region, there will be a few comments made by locals about the suitability of mixing these varied Buddhist faiths of each of these different countries together. At this future time a splitting of the Buddhist category into sub-divisions will be something that Waymarking.com will need to look at.

Just to add an eastern flavour to this multi-waymark per location discussion—Buddhist temples of Thailand. The grounds of Thai temples are a cornucopia of potential waymarks. There are statues of the Buddha (dah), plus a mix of: statues of Thai Kings (of which there are a lot), statues of various gods (usually Hindu), famous monks, deceased abbots, also lion statues, bells, lookout towers, historical signs, and what not.

After some thought, reflection, and consideration, I have decided to not worry so much about mere numbers, but to go for the more classy waymarks: e.g. more art deco, maybe less neon. Also better write ups of the more important 'marks.

@UM interesting take on the Waymarking process. In fact, that suggests — quantum theory. At any given moment, a potential waymark may, or may not exist, but when a waymarker observes the waymark and in doing so places it on wm.com, then the quantum probability state of that waymark is reduced to the point of collapse, and it then becomes real. We should thus see ourselves not as mere hobbyists, but as creators of reality, bringing order from chaos.

Very cool.

@Benchmark, I agree with your comments. Not every category is approved, usually for valid reasons. That is the nature of democracy. I did not vote in the Marathon vote, busy busy busy boy. I can suggest that the people involved take a look at the comments made, think about a re-write and a re-submit—or not. The nature of Waymarking has changed, and I believe for the better. New categories must be bear a measure of uniqueness (or as you put it: "very cool, truly historic, or extremely interesting or artistic things"). This, to me, is good.

"Citizen Memorials" would be an appropriate category.

Just to throw in my ideas (again), the more I think about it, the more I believe the category should be limited to marathons. I prefer sharply defined categories. Globally, I would guestimate that there are at least several hundred regular marathons. Enough to make the category viable. Also, and as importantly, the marathon holds a unique place in human history, and in western culture. It was the first marathon runner Pheidippides, who ran to seek assistance from the Spartans to counter the Persian invasion of Greece in 490 BC.

I am unclear about the 360 panorama website. Is there a fixed, official, and finite list of panoramas around the world, or is it open to anyone to add a panorama wherever he (or she) wants to? If anyone can add a panorama to the list then I would question whether this list is suitable for Waymarking.

There is no such thing as "too many" waymarks (. But seriously, there are over 10,000 US benchmarks — discs in the ground. If there are 10k of these, how about Panoramas? But then I don't know what "great panoramas" in fact, is. Is there a list of great panoramas?