silverquill

How would it work for some really long murals? I found a fabulous relief mural of the life of Sun Yat-Sen in Penang, Malaysia. I shot the whole thing twice, once using the "panorama assist" on my camera. I'll see what I can do with it. Thanks for posting a resource.

I sympathize with you. It is frustrating to submit a waymark when you have done your best and then have it rejected. It happens to all of us. Sometimes we forget something, or need to add something. Sometimes there are changes to the category that I didn't know about. Maybe the person who reviewed that category was just being too strict and demanding. If the requests seem reasonable, I just make the changes and go on. If the requests seem strange or just onerous, I'm likely not to bother and just go on to the next waymark on my list. Just do the best you can and have fun!

Forum discussion is not a requirement, but it is extremely helpful. It helps us understand the category better, and in that sense may help you gain support. The forum is an opportunity to present the category and explain it to those of us who may not be as familiar with the topic. I know that I fall into that category. I've never seen one in the U.S. or in Asia. There is a famous park in the town where I live in Korea that has some large bird houses, but I think they are for pigeons so wouldn't qualify for this category. If you received negative comments about making your category bilingual, I am truly sorry to hear that! While I'm a strong advocate of keeping English as our common language for Waymarking, I encourage bilingual or multilingual waymarks and I feel the same way about categories! I would like to do this with more of the categories that I have written. These past three weeks of playing tourist in SE Asia has made me even more aware of how important English has become as a lingua franca. We met to ladies - one from Finland, one from Sweden. They met in Iceland and are traveling together - with English as their common language. We stayed with a Korean in Thailand who had a Thai assistant. Again, English was their common language. I saw some four-way translation -- Korean to English to Thai to Lahu (a tribe in northern Thailand). This gave me a new perspective as a TESOL teacher. Pardon the digression. But, please do continue to work on this category. I think it sounds interesting. Let a native English speaker polish the English if necessary.

A sensible approach to this issue! Yes, this topic is a perennial issue that creeps into our discussions. While I've stated in the past that this seems like a good idea, there is really no way to implement it. How would this requirement be verified? How long of a discussion period would be necessary? Should bringing a category proposal to the forum be obligatory in all cases? Might there not be occasions when this could be skipped? I don't know why people bypass the forum when creating a new category. If it is really out of ignorance, then maybe that is a good idea that they haven't bothered to learn enough about Waymarking.com to lead a category group. Maybe they don't want to be bothered, or are afraid of negative comments, or maybe there is a language issue. I've also suggested that the whole peer review process is flawed in some serious ways. Most notably, it allows people with NO experience or interest in Waymarking to vote. It has been apparent in some cases that someone has recruited his geocaching friends to vote in order to push through a category idea that is weak and in danger of not passing. Again, there is no real way to prevent this sort of power play. I've also suggested that a person should meet a minimum of experience before being allowed to create a new category or serve as an officer. Well, that ain't going to happen either, and probably shouldn't. There are certain imperfections in the system that we have to live with. So, rewriting the guidelines as suggested here is about the best we can do. No one could plead ignorance then. And, they would meet their fate in peer review.

I can solve that problem! I'll just send you my address . . . .

I think that is a worthy project! I'm certainly willing to contribute. How can we organize this? Come to think of it, CoinsAndPins (Aaron Weed) has be active in Waymarking, so maybe he could give us a hand.

Yea, jealous is right! But, it was cool enough to meet Nate, Sean and Brian! Great guys who are enthusiastic about Waymarking!! Now, I have another reason to meet the beaver guy! Hope to be out there in late April to early May.

Well, the 2011 movie The Adventures of Tintinhelped introduce this character to American audiences and others worldwide. It was very well received. We had some Tintin waymarks in the murals or graffiti categories, but I think a dedicated category might be justified. We do have precedents in other similar categories, as you've noted. Just get some experienced waymarkers to help you write and manage the category.

I do think this general idea has a lot of merit. I sure Bruces hesitance about event-type categories, but we do have a small group of them. I think it would be wise to be cautious about making the category TOO broad. If ALL types of mass participation sporting events are included, we'll end up with something to unwieldy. I would suggest keeping the original emphasis on marathons. This can be broadened to include other distances races such as half-marathons, 15k races or whatever. It could be broadened to include other running events that add other elements such as the triathalons. I think adding things like cycling races, boat races, dogsled races, swimming races, hot air balloon races, or ice skating races casts the net too wide. Perhaps these could be included in the Festivals category, but really deserve their own category. I do like the requirement that the waymark must be created at the time of the actual even with event photos. Otherwise the waymarks could be very boring. I don't think participation should be a requirement either for creating or visiting a waymark. These should be established events that are held annually or at some other regular interval. Special event races might not qualify. To be consistent, I think only starting or ending points should be accepted for the coordinates. You might even consider allowing TWO waymarks per event-start and finish. (This could be indicated in the waymark name). You could allow this only from two different waymarkers or from the same person. I've seen it done both ways when multiple waymarks are allowed. Just my initial thoughts on this idea.

Wish I could make the Block Party! I missed it by just a few days last year when I visited the Lily Pad. And, a visit to Germany would be great too! Not to mention the Czech Republic. For now these visits will have to wait. On the other hand, I may get to add two more countries since, unexpectedly, we are leaving in the morning for the Golden Triangle with a short visits into Myanmar and Laos. I'll find something to waymark! (Glad there a 1,055+ categories). In Chiangmai, Thailand now. Played with tigers yesterday and today went zip lining through the forest!

Yep, great job, Ian! The ball is rolling fast, and you've helped us along the way with so many great waymarks from SE Asia - and Australia too. (Hope to get my first ones up from Thailand soon). I think we'll hit the half-million mark this year--probably sooner than later. Be assured that the good guys at Groundspeak are taking notice! I won't say how big my backlog is, except that it roughly equals the number of waymarks I've already posted. I keep a master spreadsheet so each waymark is listed with category, place, subject and coords. Early on I tried keeping separate folders for each category, but later abandoned that idea. It is much easier to work through a folder of photos sequentially matching them up with the waymarks. I could have planned a better system, esp. for labeling photos, but I get by.

Well, since some of the NRHP Districts have several thousand qualifying buildings, there's plenty to go around! Beacon Hill, Back Bay and South Boston come to mind, but Boston has a dozen or more historic districts. Oh, one other goal I have is to fill in a few blanks left on my calendar for days posted. It will be hard since three of them are when I'll be on the road, but I'll find a way.

The problem is that when Waymarking.com began, I think only the U.S. had regions in a drop down menu, so there was no way to enter regions for other countries. It was only after I place a lot of waymarks for So. Korea, for instance, that I contacted Groundspeak suggesting regions for Korea. I provided the list, as well as one for the prefectures of Japan, that this was done. I just haven't taken the time to go back over my older waymarks and add regions. I think this is the situation for other countries with waymarks without regions. Some still don't have regions. I know it takes time to implement this for all of the countries, but it would have saved us a LOT of hassle if this had been done from the beginning. By the way, adding the regions affected the Geocaching side, too, so the result was that both of these countries got regions added to their new geocaches. A couple of interesting notes about the process of updating these. --At some time Groundspeak changed the format of the date field from 00/00/0000 to 0/0/000 so whenever a waymark with a date field in the variable is edited, the date has to be changed. --Even if only one thing is changed in a waymark, other fields often show up in the review for the edit, and they all have to be checked off, even if there is no change. --If people edit their own waymarks, then a reviewer doesn't have to process them. Just a little perspective...

Well, I agree that they really are quite different from gazebos. I think it is a terrific idea for a new Waymarking category. We have many fine examples here in Korea, including one here on campus. Let me know if I can help.

Glad you got to meet these guys. There are very impressive and tremendously enthusiastic about Waymarking.com and have devoted a lot of time to it. We owe them a lot. I was aware that the person who had done these was gone, and the new ones are a different style, smaller and less colorful. We had a discussion about this some time ago. As mentioned, these get done in batches so there is a lag. In the meantime, the generic icon for the "department" gets used. I'm sure that if there were a "talented graphic artist" in our ranks, a volunteer wouldn't be refused! Volunteerism has always been a mainstay of Groundspeak. Actually, Waymarking is ALL volunteer, from those who create and manage categories to those who create them. Or is someone out there getting paid? The full potential of Waymarking has yet to be realized. Although I think there may be ways to improve our ties with Geocaching, I think the real future lies outside of the geocaching world. It will probably be up to us to find ways to promote Waymarking in other venues. But that is another discussion.

No real resolutions, but I do plan to add five new countries to my Waymarking (and geocaching) footprint. Since all travel and lodging are booked for those two trips, I think that goal might be achievable. My only other goal is to continue working my huge backlog of waymarks to best, to continue to improve the quality of my published waymarks, to lend a helping hand wherever I can, relax and enjoy my hobby. Add to that a the hope to meet some waymarkers personally. Moving back to the U.S. will be a major transition with a lot of adjustments, so I'm not sure how that will impact everything, but I'll try to keep my head above water. I have a few other projects in the hopper, so we'll see. This week I'm working on filling in my category grid!

Great! I'm an Android user, but we need more apps to help us in Waymarking. Thanks for your efforts.

I received a very nice response from the owner of this web site. This site has been in continuous operation since 2000 without major incidents. This episode resulted from errors made by the hosting company and slipped by the monitoring system. It was just an odd set of things coming together. He affirmed his commitment to keeping the site running and implementing new monitoring procedures. He is also working with the National Park Service to improve the updating and functionality of the site. So, I'd say we're on pretty safe ground. The NPS site itself goes off-line occasionally. It happens to the big guns and the little guns. It's just a fact of life on the internet. If there are other problems such as missing pages, error messages, we can document these and get the pertinent information to him. I think he would welcome those kinds of reports. I've revised our category description and posting instructions to reflect these changes. We still prefer that the primary URL be a link to the page listing on nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com but will also accept the other two sites, Land Mark Hunters or FindTheData. Both of them have limitations, but can be valid for some listings.

Well, I have some doubts about this type of category, although there are a few similar ones. First, is this confined just to sites in the UK? Second, although this show does have a cult following, does it have enough general interest to make a good Waymarking category? Is there room for these niche categories with appeal to a small group? Third, can these potential waymarks be clearly identified and associated with specific geographic coordinates? I think this idea has some merit, but these are questions that need to be answered.

Congratulations! Your explanations are well-taken. I applaud your attempts to increase the awareness of Waymarking in your country. I think working on benchmarks is a great way to do this. As I've said, many countries have categories for their benchmarks, so it is a good addition to the Waymarking.com site. We are sometimes just too quick with our criticism, and too slow to offer help and encourage. I think we need to improve our instructions for new category creation, because there are obviously some gaps. I wish you and your friends well, and look forward to more waymarks from Denmark!

I've been swamped lately with reviews for edited waymarks. Most of these are from Germany where the regions have just been added. That's okay. But, I've got one that is stuck. When I click on it I get an error message. It has been several days with the same result. Here are the particulars: Listing: Classic BBQ and Sandwich Joints [edited waymark] Tan Malie se Winkel TeamTGF 8/19/2007 4:27:42 AM Error Message: Server Error in '/' Application. Object reference not set to an instance of an object. Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code. Exception Details: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. Source Error: An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below. Stack Trace: [NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.] WM.UI.AnswerCompareControl.displayAnswers() +1053 WM.UI.AnswerCompareControl.Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) +7 System.Web.UI.Control.OnLoad(EventArgs e) +91 System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +74 System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +146 System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +146 System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +146 System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +146 System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +146 System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +146 System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +146 System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +2207 Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:4.0.30319; ASP.NET Version:4.0.30319.272

There are categories that bore me too! So what? That's why we have 1055 categories. Choose what you like and leave the rest for those who enjoy them. As someone else has pointed out, you need to understand the history of Waymarking.com U.S. Benchmarks was one of the earliest categories and it is now the second largest category that we have. Gradually categories were added for other countries--benchmarks, trig points, etc. At least 10 countries already have such categories. I think it is a reasonable focus. Historic sites are in a similar situation. When Waymarking.com launched, Pennsylvania Historic Markers was one of the original categories. Eventually separate categories were added for each of the 50 U.S. states and for many countries. Again, this seems to be a logical approach in order to keep the focus clear. Count the number of categories that are limited to one country or geographic region! I did that once, and I think it was close to 1/3. Personally, I think that the "Global" criterion needs to be rewritten to reflect this reality. While truly global categories are great, there is also a legitimate place for regional categories. I think the intent of the "global" criterion is to eliminate ARBITRARILY limited categories, such as "French Art Museums," or really small, local categories such as, "New York City Subway Stations." Some categories are best when confined to a region either because of the large number, or because they are distinctive from one country or region to another. Benchmarks and trig points, or historic markers, seem to me to fall into that class. In regard to peer review: Yes, there are a lot of people voting who are NOT active waymarkers. I DO view this as a problem, and I've posted about this issue before. ANYONE with a Groundspeak membership can vote. I've seen categories in peer review where a third of those voting had ZERO waymarks. The writing on the Denmark category is poor, but that can be edited.

Looks as if this site is back live!! I will have to revise once again. At least this means that our old links aren't dead.

Now up for peer review. Photo examples have been added.

No problem with a category being confined to one country or region. We have many, many categories that are limited this way. The problem is, as BruceS has pointed out, ALL of these are part of the National Register of Historic Places, and many of them are already waymarked in that category. I suppose it might make a good variable, but I see no compelling reason to pull them out for a separate category. That would be 100% redundancy.