Teasel

quote:Originally posted by Slytherin:If there is support for a regional split I would be happy to cover the north of the country, with DodgyDaveD doing the south. That's great news! I think you're both nuts wanting the job (sorry, does that count as offensive? ), but you have my utmost respect and support! quote:North of the Trent and Mersey Canal (Arbitrary and debatable, moveable feast?), South of said Waterway. Ah, but who does the approval when D&P place a "swimmers only" cache slap bang in the middle? Presumably, if a third person came along wanting to be part of the team, the movable feast would be sufficiently mobile to accommodate them? One thing, though... Being born and bred in St.Albans, I always understood that "the North" was somewhere up by Luton. Where is this "Mersey" place anyway? Is it right up as far north as Milton Keynes? GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

quote:Originally posted by Dodgydaved:What about the future of UK Admin, both the moderation of this forum and the approval of caches? a) I have very limited Internet Access. You only need enough to read the forums and any prospective cache pages... quote: I have nothing like the experience of others. You're in the top 20 for both finding and placing caches, and are a longstanding member of this forum... quote:c) I do not have the erudition to argue the case for geocaching politically as others have so obviously done. A moderator with no political ambitions could be just what we need right now! quote:d) I am afraid I would probably be TOO ready to censor those comments and posts I thought to be inflamatory or counter-productive. A firm hand could also be a very good thing in the short term; especially from someone with no personal axe to grind. Because you have yourself been on the receiving end of "active moderation" (he says, grasping around for a neutral phrase!), I think you'd have a lot of credibility in the role. quote:So that does not really help......... I beg to differ! DodgyDaveD for admin!!! GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

quote:Originally posted by Omally:The obvious stress generated by the tending of idiotic, self-centred, self-serving dissenters makes the position of moderator a task envied by no-one. Quite! I'd happily approve new caches (though I think the poll currently running in another thread safely makes that one a non-starter!), but there's no way I'd want to be a forum moderator! GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

quote:Originally posted by Team Spike:Britishideas.com is my web site. I'm a British Citizen. I live in the US. The web site came out of my head. Please point me to the internet rules stating that "british" cannot be in the web site title unless the web site is in the UK. Well, since G:UK is also a US based website... I stand corrected, BritishIdeas is a very appropriate name for your website. The same might also be true of japan.com etc, but ComputerWeekly did see fit to include it on their back page (which is where I nabbed it from). I was just trying to post something uncontentious and inoffensive to lighten the mood - seems I failed, sorry GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

Sounds good to me! Sorry for the one line answer GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

quote:Originally posted by adrianjohn:Somehow a website called Britishideas based somewhere in the US is a little odd to me. Apparently the japan.com domain is owned by US company Krystal Technologies, mexico.com is the property of a US telecoms company, and the South African government has just paid several million dollars to buy southafrica.com off a US company. So having a US based britishideas.com website is just par for the course, I'm afraid! GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

quote:Originally posted by Kouros:Say, where were you on November 23rd, 1963, anyhow? On a grassy knoll somewhere, I think. Looking for a cache, honest GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

quote:Originally posted by Gunther:If somethings worth saying , its worth saying twice, I tell you worth saying twice... Sorry! Keyboard attachment error my end! That "D'Oh duplication" wasn't aimed at you, but at myself. I'd tried to do a minor edit to my original post (to change "accusations" into "such accusations"), but ended up with a duplicate post instead! I've since re-edited my edited duplicate into into a reply to your reply to my original reply. Confused yet? 'Cos I am! There's a lot of grief been caused by problems with Infopop recently! GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

quote:Also I take it that MCL is mistaken that the forums on G:UK are unmoderated Yes, and no... The G:UK forums do have a moderator (Washboy), and Mark and I also have the ability to moderate if necessary. However so far, we've never actually had to moderate anything. quote:Excuse me but how can replying in a forum as "ADMIN" stating that you are glad someone posted something that they couldnt because they were "ADMIN" can be construed as impartial? Unsubstantiated attacks, such as the one originally posted by Icenians are not something we like to get involved in, as they can do nothing but harm. I therefore second Mark's thank-you to the Icenians for his retraction. We could not have posted a retraction for what he said; we could only have joined in the argument and supported T&J. Are we pro-GAGB for being glad he retracted his accusation? Or anti-GAGB for being glad we didn't have to post a "hey, steady on, T&J wouldn't do that sort of thing" response? The admins got involved only by saying they were glad they didn't have to get involved! I'm sorry if this counts as impartiality, but it's the best we can offer! [This message was edited by Teasel on May 14, 2003 at 04:52 AM.] [This message was edited by Teasel on May 14, 2003 at 05:09 AM.]

The Icenian's post in question being: quote:T&J are trying to rebuild the thread so please ignore top part but don't forget to vote. which followed an accusation by him that T&J deliberately deleted the thread! TheCat and I have both posted in this forum expressing both support for, and reservations about, GAGB. However, as G:UK admins, we are at least trying to be impartial. The anti-GAGB faction can point at the large link to GAGB on our homepage and say we're using our position to support GAGB. The pro-GAGB faction can point at our reluctance to reprimand Icenians for posting accusations on our forum and say we're trying to undermine GAGB. We can't win - the only question is how much will be lost... GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

I joined GeocacheUK because I enjoy database programming, not because I wanted world domination! If you think GeocacheUK will come out of this furore unscathed (let alone strengthened!), then you are, sadly, very mistaken. GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

quote:Originally posted by Team Blitz:I think it would do everyone some good to be moderated / have caches approved by some non-UK people for a while. I don't think it will come to that. As others have pointed out, the act of approving caches and moderating the forums represents only a small part of the work which the current admin team have been doing. Finding a new group of cache approvers will not be a difficult task. Finding people with the time, skills and enthusiasm for all the behind the scenes work... now that's going to be the difficult part! GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

I'm agnostic on whether Scotland/Wales/NI/Cornwall etc should devolve from "UK" geocaching. But from a practical viewpoint, it would be nice if all caches within a particular geographical area were listed under the same country. So if "Scotland" were to be recognised by GC.com, then all new and existing caches north of the border should be in "Scotland", not the "United Kingdom". This should be vigorously enforced by the cache approvers / moderators. We have the situation in Northern Ireland where some caches are listed as being in "Ireland", whereas others are listed as being in the "United Kingdom". This makes using the "by country" lists in GC.com rather awkward! GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

quote:Originally posted by Pooter:And in Scotland, you can throw all that stuff away. There are no public rights of way and no law of trespass, as you know it in England. The devolved Government of Scotland is also in the process of passing a law of “right to roam” in the countryside. OK, hands up anyone else who's jealous! Best scenery in the UK and the most freely accessible. What's your assylum policy like? Any chance of allowing in a couple of refugees from England? GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

Yeah, what he said! GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

quote:Originally posted by Countryside Manager HCC:That trust can only be achieved through an organisation that formally adopts the guidelines and has a membership structure that ensures that guidelines are adopted by individuals who place caches. I'm not sure I understand the bit about the membership structure. I'd been assuming that the association would be negotiating guidelines for placing caches on the land. This paragraph seems to be suggesting that it would be negotiating permission for its members to place caches on the land. There is a big difference between the two! Those who feel the last few days debate has harmed geocaching should consider the explosive effect the following would have... quote:We are pleased to announce that Anyshire County Council have granted blanket permission for GAGB members to place caches on land under their stewardship, under the guidelines agreed with the GAGB. As part of this agreement, geocaching.com will only list caches in Anyshire if they were placed by a current member of the GAGB. ...and ensure it never happens! GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

quote:Originally posted by Kouros:A few weeks ago, I came across a footpath that had a painted sign hung over the stile saying "Footpath Closed" - at the time, I did what you did, and walked it anyway, as it wasn't currently being ploughed. Notices calculated to deter you from using a public right of way are, unsurprisingly, illegal! I'm not sure about PPs. Can they be closed at the landowner's whim? (ie does PP status protect walkers from paths being closed, or protect landowners from their path being decalared public, or a bit of both?) You are also within your right to remove (or circumnavigate through private land) any obstructions which have been placed over a footpath. But only if you are a bone fide traveller on that path. (You're not allowed to walk the path for the sole purpose of removing the obstruction). So, when I tried to do Forgotten Souls II and found that the owners of the yard had barricaded up the gate to the footpath, I was quite within my rights to climb over their side fence and remove their barracades (and did so!). However, I could not return every weekend with the sole purpose of reopening the public footpath! GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

quote:Originally posted by Scrooge:What's this geocache.uk site? How come I have never heard of it before? The registered users of the G:UK stats pages together account for about 40% of the total cache "finds" in the UK, and nearly 70% of the UK's "centurions". Last month G:UK served 13,700 pages (318,000 files). So "word of mouth" has been reasonably effective so far. However, I agree that we are not easily findable to new cachers, like yourself, nor is there currently much on the site to help introduce people into the sport. This is something I'd like to address. The UK moderators do not encourage advertising of G:UK on the forums for fear that Groundspeak would not approve. However Groundspeak have for some time had a link to G:UK on Geocaching.com, which is responsible for quite a few of our "hits". Now that we are also "officially recognised" by geocaching.com, I think it's time to add a link to G:UK to my signature... GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

D'Oh - read the original post Ian! (message removed!)

quote:Originally posted by Team Blitz:I've seen those rivets in paths on quite a few occasions. Are they all "formal" trig points, or are they often just "temporary intermediate points"? There are lots of rivets around the place, put there for some survey or another. The only ones which T:UK counts as "trigpoints" are those which are (or were) part of the OS "passive network", and whose exact coordinates are regularly monitored and made available on the OS website.

Yes, well done Mark, it's a great recognition of all your hard work! Many people will be unaware of the quiet, behind-the-scenes work Mark does for geocaching, which rarely gets mentioned on the forums. This includes negotiating with at least two county councils (and one airport!) about placing caches on their property (including getting a cache placed near a scheduled monument with the help and participation of the head ranger), as well as running fox hunts and the like. His contribution to the "sport" is far more than just the G:UK website!

quote:Originally posted by Naefearjustbeer:It is againt the rules to mention them via email or chat or forums online in any way that is not directly to do with company business. Good grief, even GCHQ is more libertarian than that!

Ooops, found out! Promise you won't tell?

quote:Am relatively new to geocaching etc (& dont havea GPS), but today on a walk near the Crinan Canal daughter and I found a trig point. I downloaded the 1000 list compatible with Microsoft Autoroute from your trigpointing website, to find it not there. Is this because the list is incomplete or some other reason? Also couldnt access the forum page of your website, hence the message on this page (a few of the links dont seem to work). Is there an easy way for me to log the trig point without having a GPS? A GPS certainly isn't necessary for trigpointing - to log the find, just click "log a find" and type in the OS grid reference of the trigpoint (eg SK235045). Since trigpoints are generally widely spaced, you don't need to be very accurate with your grid reference. If you've got a decent map, the old triangulation pillars (the familiar 4' high concrete monuments which are the definitive "trigpoints") really shouldn't need a GPS to find! Some of the newer passive stations (little rivets in the middle of an overgrown grass verge) are fiendishly difficult to find even with a GPS, so you're probably best printing out the photos from the OS site (there's a link there from the trigpoint details page). To answer your original question, though, it's because the database is incomplete. There is no definitive list of all UK trigpoints - part of the reason for running the site is to create one. The current database was constructed by merging six separate data sources, and there is a seventh and eighth in the pipeline which should fill in a few more of the gaps. If the grid reference you enter when trying to log a find is not sufficiently close to a known trigpoint, you will be given the option of adding a new trigpoint to the database.

Now that GeocacheUK has been officially recognised by Groundspeak as a partner site, it struck me that there is precious little on the site which actually describes geocaching! I think it's time to widen our scope and get more people involved, so that it really is the "UK site", not just the work of two or three people. Historically, the site grew up as a collection of utilities aimed at relatively experienced geocachers, providing UK specific functionality which was missing from the worldwide site. To that end, we have the forums, the UK cache database, the image gallery etc and we are currently the largest UK distributor of Groundspeak merchandise. There is little overlap with GC.com as we want to supplement the features available there, not to duplicate them. While geocaching.com is the definitive site for information about geocaching, both the language and the overall feel is, naturally enough, American. When people are looking for information about caching in the UK, one of the most complete resources currently available is the one provided by Robin, who is not active on geocaching.com, and therefore not best placed to fill such an important role. I would like to develop GeocacheUK into a gateway to geocaching in the UK, rather than a collection of utilities for UK geocachers. Is there anyone else out there who'd like to give G:UK more of a community feel and who could help create some useful material for old and new cachers alike. Anyone who's read this far will realise that my skills are in computer programming, not writing concise and interesting prose, so we really do need your help!!!