pppingme
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Posts posted by pppingme
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The "Friends" feature is in it's infancy
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I think Groundspeak is looking to enhance the "Friends" capabilities.
The friends feature is at least a couple years old now. In internet terms, this is VERY OLD, this isn't something in its infancy, by all appearances its something thats been abandon by GS. When it came out, GS hinted that it would be developed more, but nothing has happened to it at all.
Actions speak louder than words, here's an action to consider:
I looked at Jeremy's forum posts for the last year. ALL are about Wherigo, the iphone app, the Wherigo player on the Colorado and Oregon, in other words, all about expensive toys, NONE about actual site issues or more importantly site development. This is the clearest message you can get, when Jeremy himself doesn't even talk about site development anymore.
The reason that features like friends isn't more developed is because GS is spending their resources on things like Wherigo and Waymarking, both things that came out or were more extensively developed after the friends feature was introduced.
The real sad part here is that they are spending all this time and resources on something that by all appearances is a flop. Here's some quick stats, there are NO Wherigo caches within 50 miles of me, only one within 100 miles, and only three within 150 miles of me, and the one thats within 100 miles, can't be found with an Oregon, the file apparently locks them up, reading through the forums, this seems to be a common problem. I could say similar for Waymarking.
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It would be helpful to get more FTF caches if you could bring up new caches from closest to furthest away. I have to look at the entire state for new listings.
Here's two PQ's that my help:
Unfound caches, regardless of age:
http://www.geocaching.com/pocket/gcquery.a...bd-7f6999133240
And less than a week old caches, may contain finds and depends on cache owner setting placed date correctly:
http://www.geocaching.com/pocket/gcquery.a...b9-856c27a02c6b
Hope that helps.
Just save them then you can preview them any time you want to look.
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I was able to find some information here:
http://www.quantcast.com/geocaching.com
54% male
92% white
70% have NO kids
44% college educated
800K unique per month (331K US based)
82% of uniques contact from home, 20% from business locations
Good stuff!
I've found quantcast's estimations to be wildly inaccurate. They seem to be heavily biased to what "marketing america" deems to be the ideal customer.
As a side note, I noticed a couple weeks ago that there were quantcast tracking tags on a lot of the GC pages now. I'll leave it as an exercise for others to think about why this would be but every scenario I can think of may be good for Jeremy and his buds ($$$) but not good for users.
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Cache O'Plenty, thanks for your response. It appears that I was trying too hard with my original approach. After rummaging through these threads, other info on this site, and a ton of nearly useless T-Mobile info, it would seem that all I should have to do is send a text message to <10digitphonenumber>@tmomail.net or <10digitphonenumber>@voicestream.net. But it still doesn't work, nothing comes through, and the foreign "tech reps" at Voice Stream are useless. Yes, my phone (Samsung t339) supports text messaging, and it works since my kids send me text messages, so I'm pretty sure I don't have to activate anything. So I am still Instanotify-free. Nuts!LAst question first: You can send each Instant Notifications to only e-mail address. Each one can be different. So, you can have Traditionals go to one e-mail and Events to another, etc.
You can have them sent to your phone if it supports text messages. Each mobile carrier has it's own setup but, for example, mine (only for Traditionals within 10 miles) goes to <phone number>@vzwpix.com (I chose the "pix" version so I would get the whole message as one unit. Otherwise, I would get three text messages).
I have the Events and Unknowns go to my regular mail (so I left that box empty)
For t-mobile there is a way to get a "friendly name" in place of your phone number, you'll have to dig around on the site to find it. From what I understand, if you implement the "friendlyname@tmomail.net" your 10digit@tmomail.net is automatically disabled.
So I wonder if you did this and don't remember?
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Great! All my 2.700+ Caches are back in the list! Thanks to all who helped on this! FrankAnd to think you were worried you'd have to go find them all again
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One of the issues is that ROT13 is a very widely accepted standard, used way before geocaching was even a thought.
Although technically there is no reason that there couldn't be a ROT5 or a ROT18, they just aren't really accepted as standards. With so many users running software external to the site (with rot13 decoders built in), its not really something that would be a popular change.
Numbers are probably best to either spell out or express in other terms like the roman numerals suggested (not my favorite idea).
Even with coordinates, expressing them as numbers probably won't be an issue because realistically to most people coordinates don't mean anything. I don't know very many people that can look at a coordinate and say, oh, thats at the edge of the park, so most people still have to plug the coord's into their equipment before they have any real meaning, so encoded or not, coords are pretty useless without more work.
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Nice find. After some testing it looks like this only happens when you login with the widget on the front page. It doesn't matter how long it's been since you last logged in, but you're probably right that it will eventually update if you stay logged in long enough. I'll have to play around with it a little more to figure out when that happens. Thanks for pointing this out. It explains another bug I had open where someone visited a PMOC (audit logged) but hadn't logged in to do it!
Huh, I pointed this out a month ago and got a rude response saying it was a known problem and they were fixing it.
Keystone's reply doesn't appear rude to me (which they often do), but what is unexplained is why Keystone said Groundspeak is looking into it when he isn't Groundspeak. So, Keystone apparently was misinformed.
I should add, I didn't say the rude response was in the forums, but to that I'm not going to exclude or defend any particular name either.
I do find it interesting though that actual staff doesn't even seem to know about it until now yet some forum moderator who isn't staff says its a known bug.
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Nevermind, I'll go back to not geocaching. No big deal. Thanks for the support.
sd
But you never addressed what is a privacy concern?? I'm still curious what your thinking?
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Where's the problem?
Your home coord's aren't visible to anyone except reviewers and such (or are they the problem?)
Your email address isn't visible unless you want it to be.
No where is your email address visible.
No where is your real name visible.
Since you log caches online after you find them and there is no indication before that your going to look for one, its unlikely someone is staking out a cache waiting for you.
Anyone that sends you email still doesn't know your email address or IP unless you reply, and its easy enough to ignore those.
The only real issue left is events, so don't attend.
Where do you think there is a privacy issue? The only thing I can see is a problem with reviewers/staff, which I'm not saying isn't a legitimate point, but its the only one I see.
I'm real curious what other privacy issues you see?
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Nice find. After some testing it looks like this only happens when you login with the widget on the front page. It doesn't matter how long it's been since you last logged in, but you're probably right that it will eventually update if you stay logged in long enough. I'll have to play around with it a little more to figure out when that happens. Thanks for pointing this out. It explains another bug I had open where someone visited a PMOC (audit logged) but hadn't logged in to do it!
Huh, I pointed this out a month ago and got a rude response saying it was a known problem and they were fixing it.
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Its already there.
Just check "I haven't found" and you get a PQ without your found caches.
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The real issue here is being able to download an already generated PQ that for whatever reason didn't get delivered, be it GC is having mail issues, be it that some ISP randomly started marking everything as spam, be it that gmail finally blows up, what ever the reason.
Email delivery is always going to be a sore spot here. At least once a week someone is starting a new thread complaining about not getting GC emails. A good percentage of these may not be GC's fault directly, but its a big enough problem that GC needs to address it.
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Mmmm, how does a PQ belong to an owner and a Bookmark does not. It seems to me that both are owned by GS and would be restricted to their TOU. Both are created and used by an end user, just Bookmarks can be shared and PQs can not. Just looking for the logic in that design.
Cache data does belong to the cache owner, period, at one time GS did acknowledge this in the TOU and I believe they still do. The cache owner "grants GS a license to list/distribute the info" (I'm not looking right now so may not be exact wording of the TOU, but you get the gist).
A BM is simply a list of caches, nothing more, really nothing to copyright or control.
A PQ is actual cache info (not just a list of caches, but also their description, coords, etc). This is an original work of the cache owner (and by copyright law, their info to control as they see fit). When you submit a cache, you "grant GS a license to list/distribute", your not giving up your ownership rights.
As a side note, GS would have serious liability issues if they claimed copyright to the cache info, after all, if its theirs, any problems related to it (think bomb squad, and the fact that most are now charging for false calls) is also their problem, as a "listing service", its not their problem (think google, just because it lists bomb creation instructions doesn't make google liable if someone uses those instructions).
GS never claims copyright, they just claim control over distribution of the data, as granted by the original cache owner in exchange for accepting the listing.
GS is strictly a listing service, beyond the layout of their pages and original software they have written to support the site, there is nothing for GS to copyright. They can't claim copyright on something they didn't originally produce or where copyright wasn't specifically assigned to them.
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Is anyone aware of a method to share or post PQs and BMs for other users? A mass listing by regions would be nice and would be helpful in event like PQ server crash like last few days.
Bookmarks can be shared easily, Edit the book mark and check the box that says I want to share. After that, anyone can click on the bookmark tab on your profile and there is an option for that person to build a PQ off of your BM or they can just look at the list directly. So once you put together the BM, anyone can download it. If you also click the make public check box then a link to the BM will show up on every cache page thats listed in the BM.
I won't touch the issue of sharing or posting PQ's and addressing that the data really belongs to the cache owner and gc is just a listing service.
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I would like (if possible) a way to download the PQ results directly from the PQ list page instead of waiting sometimes several days to get your PQ results.
I don't know if it has been brought up before but I couldn't find anything.
This was discussed and promised about two years ago, the idea of having a way to download the last run of a PQ in the event there is a problem with the email.
There have been no visible signs that they intend to actually follow through.
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Real easy, when your typing notes into GSAK, if you look there is a log cache button, when your in the field (away from internet) just click save, when you get home, open the note again and click log cache.
When you do that, it will open the logging page on the GC site, and just paste, no other typing needed.
If your doing a lot of caches there is another way that may be easier but involves downloading another macro, I forget the exact name of the macro but it takes advantage of field notes. You'll find more info on the GSAK forums.
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Since you got your my finds PQ, this makes me wonder if you have an alternate email address on the PQ that you didn't receive (the my finds pq can't be redirected to another email like other PQ's can be).
Its toward the bottom, one of the last settings.
As a side note, here in about 3 hours, you can run all 5 again, the clock starts over at midnight (pacific time), not every 24 hours.
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This is how I handle solved puzzles.
1. I have a bookmark called "Solved Puzzles" (original, huh?). When I solve one, it goes in that bookmark list with the final coords. Yes, it is private. I also put the solved puzzle on my ignore list, and add a comment that it is solved.
3. I don't get puzzles in my regular PQ. However, I have a PQ for mystery caches. Since my solved ones are ignored, all I get are unsolved ones. I also have a PQ made from the Solved Puzzles bookmark.
4. I get my regular PQ and my Solved Puzzle bookmark PQ once a week. I use the 'corrected coordinates' feature of GSAK to input the final coords for the puzzles. (the corrected coordinates do not get overwritten with subsequent PQ updates)
5. When I find a puzzle I remove that puzzle form the ignore list and the Solved Puzzles bookmarks.
For those mystery caches that don't require solving puzzles, I still do the same thing, but I make a user note in GSAK explaining it and what I think the "mystery" of the cache is.
I know it sounds cumbersome, but it really isn't and it works VERY smoothly. Also, the Solved Puzzles bookmark list acts as a backup of my solutions should I hose up my GSAK data.
I also have a bookmark of Working Puzzles where I keep notes of puzzles or bonus caches that take some time to do - like having to find other caches, etc.
If your using GSAK, then why go through the site at all with bookmark lists and ignore lists?
Here's what I do:
I get ALL caches in my PQ's, I don't do any filtering at all at the PQ level (except found/not found)
When I download caches to my equipment from GSAK (2 gps units, pda) I filter on whatever criteria I want but I also filter so userdata "does not contain" "unsolved", so there are never unsolved caches on my equipment.
I have one filter that filters for Puzzle/Unknown and for the userdata field to be blank. I check this after loading new data, it should always return nothing unless there is a new puzzle cache that I've never seen.
If its a puzzle that I need to work out, but I'm not going to do it right now, then I put "unsolved" in the userdata field (so it won't show up in my normal gps/pda downloads). As I solve them, I change the userdata field to either "solved" or some other one or two word note (it doesn't really matter what it is as long as its not "unsolved") and either set corrected coords or child waypoints as needed.
If it seems to be an on-site or gather info, or similar type cache, then I put "onsite" in the userdata field.
This seems a lot easier than messing with bookmarks, ignore lists, and still loading everything through gsak, its also keeps the PQ's simpler. Even with your method, you still have to do corrected coords or child waypoints on the cache after you solve it on the site, something that could easily be forgotten.
Doing it this way also allows me to work on a puzzle at any time (assuming internet isn't required for the puzzle itself) on my laptop without an internet connection, since I never need to visit the site.
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I can think of a RFID + encryption system with each cacher required to carry a RFID reader. Reader sends geocacher ID to tag, tag signs it with its key and returns result to reader.
Except that RFID readers are in the hundreds of dollars, aren't really "field tough", and the tags don't have processing power, so they can't "sign" data, they can only return data thats already stored in them (their "ID"), so you still have the problem of once one person gets the key, it can be shared and everyone has it.
RSA keys can be bought for $5 and don't have much more than a watch battery in them (in fact, the current designs really intend on replacing the key, not replacing the battery).
Using RSA keys doesn't require the cacher carry any extra equipment, beyond an accurate time source, which they probably already have (their gps receiver) and something to take notes.
30 seconds to wait for a key change isn't that long, with a group, by the time the cacher gets the key in their hand, writes it down on their PDA or notepad, then hands it off, its probably been 30 seconds.
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I know the last found date is in GSAK. The problem is it will only show the last found date if one of the logs you have is a found. If the logs in the PQ are notes or DNFs the last found date is blank in GSAK.
When I go on vacation or travel for work I will pull some PQs of the area I am going to and I do not have a history of logs to get me that information.
A couple points to consider:
(I do let gsak accumulate logs, and I try to carry 10 logs with me, not the standard 5)
For areas I travel to frequently (twice a year) I still run regular PQ's, even though they aren't local to me.
For a new area that I don't have accumulated logs, if a cache has a lot of recent notes without finds, there's a good chance (although not conclusive) that there is a problem with the cache, and I would probably have gsak filter these out. If there is one or two that grabs my attention, you can always manually download a gpx for that cache, manually downloaded .gpx files have 20 logs.
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So this doesn't sound like an overly large amount of work to keep a bookmark up to date. Maybe we have differnt definitions of a LOT of manual labor.
Manually putting coordinates in my GPS, since I carry two when I go out.
I haven't keyed a coordinate in several years, except for one's that I have to do onsite (like simple 2 stage multi's or solve onsite puzzles), and I'm not about to start now.
When I'm out and about, I hit "nearest" on my gps and decide then if I want to grab a couple caches. I'm not about to manually key 2 dozen or more additional coordinates in my GPS every time I reload it (I do clear my gps between every load so there is no chance of me walking around with stale data). Plus when you include all of the other manual coordinates I've figured out, like trail heads, parking, etc for caches I haven't found yet we are probably in the range of 50 to 100 coordinates I'd be hand keying.
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RSA key
Hehehe, that would last a long time on a Gladware container.
Verisign makes a waterproof one, but I think it would be pretty easy to make the regular key ring (not the card) waterproof.
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As long as you don't clear out your logs or old data, GSAK will keep track of this for you and there is a column just for last found. If you don't have the column on yours go to the options screen and be sure its checked.
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I don't disagree, but how many puzzles do you solve at a time? And how many solved puzzles do you have that you haven't gone and found?
Without looking, I probably have more than 2 dozen puzzles that I've solved but haven't found yet.
For puzzles that are solvable without an onsite visit, its not unusual for me to be working on them at two in the morning, not a good time for finding most caches. I've also sat on puzzles for more than a year between solving them and actually finding them. If its a simple puzzle, I'll probably solve it as soon as the cache is published but may not have a chance to find it for a while.
Great! All my 2.700+ Caches are back in the list! Thanks to all who helped on this! Frank
Groundspeak & Geocache Emails
in Website
Posted
And thus the reason so many cache owners don't repair their caches when they are broke, CAUSE THEY DON'T KNOW THERE'S PROBLEMS.
It is a cache owners responsibility to watch for problems, ignoring the only thing that gives them a status of their cache is about the lamest advice you can give.