studlyone

If that's the case you are obviously blessed with the ability to see what suits your argument. Anyway this topic seems to be veering of course again. The OP was concerned that a cacher got a ban for a forum infringement. I've not heard your take on the moderators rules uktim, I look forward to your enlightening opinion as to the reason why they were ignored and two bans issued for a first offence. It may be that as you can't see what most of the people in here obviosuly can that you have a unique insight into something we are all missing. Edited: again for spelling - Ian hangs his head in shame.

There's only a disparity if you go looking for it, if you think that you can get away with more in another forum post there instead of crying that it's unfair Personally I use the "view new posts" option to view the first page or two of recent posts across all the forums, read what I'm interested in and reply to some of those. If I wish to make a new post I check which forum it fits in and endeavour to post within the guidelines and ethos/practices of that forum. We have a fairly diverse range of forums here. We can get on and use them, celebrate and enjoy them or seek out and rail againest perceived inequalities. I know which I'd rather do Peter's ban was harsh, but the wording of his post suggests that he new it was outside the guidelines. Maybe that is why he got a ban? Nice quote - you don't have to look for it as its mentioned in a lot of these posts and yes I am crying that its unfair because it was. If the rules that you like to refer to were followed a fellow cacher would not have had his posting abilities removed for three days. It is all about getting along together and as far as I am concerned the mod in question overstepped the mark by acting outside of the rules. A ban should never have been issued, instead the offending post should have been edited or removed and the actions laid down in the rules should have been followed ie educate as to what the misdemeanor was not punish. We do seem to agree on one thing - the ban was harsh. Edited: I need a speel chucker

Whilst I agree that geocaching.com does an excellent job of listed caches and trackable items and does provide a good service in that respect even with the occasional glitches they have. The forums seem to be another matter. uktim you also seem to be a vocal minority. You are entitled to your opinion but so are the other people on here who genuinely feel let down by the powers that be, it might be an idea for you to acknowledge that as well. Obviously there are a lot of people who go caching that never even visit these forums but the ones that do have seen chanegs recently most of them for the worse in my opinion. Tempers are flared and backs are up but these posts should never degenerate to name calling but as i say everyone is entitled to their opinion. Here's mine then: What I cannot understand is how there is obviously a set of moderating rules that are supposed to be used throughout the forums by all. However they are being over-riden by individuals who see fit to make their own rules up as they go along. The post in question according to the laid down rules should have been dealt with by a pm and editing and/or deleting the offending post. The mod in question jumped the gun and instigated a ban (3 day) which goes against the rules they are supposed to abide by. Quoting that different rules govern the geocoin forum. If that is the case why have we had all the recent troubles because slightly different rules were not allowed to be instigated here by our own UK mods? They were made to toe the party line which ultimately ended up with two of them throwing in the towel. Why are the other mods not being made to toe the line and follow the rules? Both the post on the geocoin forum and more recent one by Simply Pauls (albeit he was poking Groundspeak with a stick) should both have been dealt with by editing, the issue of a formal warning and education rather than jumping straight in with a ban. It's the disparity with the forums and they way that certain individuals are treated that upsets me on here. Groundspeak are quick to react to a complaint even if it is only made by one person but they never seem to back down once they make a knee jerk reaction - like this one. As for the apeals process as I see it Groundspeak will always back up their lackies right or wrong. I hope to be corrected on that last point. OK tin hat going on and sandbags being filled - bring it on edited: to remove double lines spaces inserted for some bizarr reason.

Yes you will still be able to do everything you can now except download PQs and view members only caches. So trackable items such as travel bugs and geocoins and the forums permissions will remain the same as whether you are a paying member or not. Ian

Yep apparantly there is a thing called US English (well according to Microsoft anyway and its an excuse for not being able to spell Queens English)

I couldn't agree more. All forums need rules, but jumping on someone with a 3 day ban for a perceived breach of them without even a caution just goes to show you how lucky we are to have such high calibre moderators on the UK forums that adopt a firm but fair approach to these matters. There is a great disparity between what is permissible in each forum on here and 'charity subjects' are a prime example. Why are they permissible on the geocoin forum when they aren't on here? As my siggy says..........

Welcome to the wonderfull world of geocaching, its a great sport hobby addiction. My kids love finding caches and it usually becomes a competition as to who can spot it first. I like to think of geocaching as 'walking with an aim' and its a great way to get the kids away from the playstation. Hopefully you will find many more and it sounds like your 5 year old just needs a hat and a whip now. Ian

I couldn't agree more - I've sent her an e-mail with a way that I may be able to help her out. We'll see what she says. I think its a crying shame that she has been let down by a few people after all the hard work and hoops she has had to jump through on these projects. Ian

This one should suffice I believe. Ian

I dropped you a quick reply to your mail to me earlier today Probably got lost in all the other replies you must be getting

Thanks for clarifying that for us Michael - much appreciated.

Good advice, keep a hold of your non-swapsies coins. We'll be bringing our collection to the event but you'll have to ask us to see them. Hopefully I'll get to log some nice coins this weekend - oh the icons the glorious little icons

Coin dropped into a cache in the UK for you last weekend, not had time to post a reply earlier. Its a great design, thanks for letting me assist with this one. Ian

It was pointed out to me last night (thanks MrB ) that some of the links on the free map data page were broken. they have now been fixed and will allow you to visit the openstreetmap.org site which is the repository for the mapping data. As cachers we all have the ability to upload our track logs to make the mapping data more accurate as it is an opensource project. http://www.ukgeocachers.co.uk/garminoverlays/index.php Ian

Sadly it has become apparent lately that you can probably guarantee that some jumped up little jobsworth will see it as their duty to report you, no matter how long the link has been there without causing any problems. Sigh That certainly seems to be the way that things are running round here recently

Thank ye both very nicely

No problem, it can be a minefield around here regarding rules especially recently. I guess they won't catch on to a forum siggy until as you say someone makes a complaint, in which case the person with the offending siggy would get a slapped wrist. I know of several people with clickable links on their siggys, if they want to run the risk of being caught out then its upto them I guess, but I prefer to do things properly - at least I will be able to when the forum sorts itself out. As for your profile I've no idea how much you could promote your business on it. I can understand the GSP policy against agressive advertising on its forums but siggys and profiles being a problem does make me want to roll my eyes heavenwards. LOL

As a paying advertiser on Groundspeak I sought clarification as to the current policy after another post I read somewhere and the wires that got crossed a while back with one person saying it was OK and other saying it is not. After getting in touch with GSP I was told that commercial advertising in signatures is not permitted even for paying advertisers. I have since changed my signature on my account but as has been already stated in another thread there are problems with updating the siggys on the forum at the moment but this shold be sorted hopefully by the end of the week. So the answer is no commercial links even for advertisers I am just waiting for the forum to be fixed to see my new siggy. Ian

I believe that it has been done before with the breast cancer charity coin last year and the various poppy coins. Best bet would be to drop an e-mail to Rothstafari as he is the person at Groundspeak who approves all designs. Yes this is acceptable, there are several coins in circulation with web addresses on them. Cost is your biggest issue, obviously a charity would have to write this money off if you are just giving the coins away as prizes - the more coins you make the more money the charity uses from its funds. Good question, the chinese mints state that they are ethical, pay a good wage etc but you can't be sure as I doubt that anyone has the spare funds to check up on them. Some will always disappear into peoples collections as with other coins and travel bugs. I'm an optimist and I'd like to think that lots of them would end up travelling but for how long - who knows. A design utiliting that logo would be fairly straight forward and not an issue as long as Groundspeak approve it which I believe they would. Your first port of call I suggest would be to e-mail the Rothster for an answer on the charity thing. Ian Edit - I hate the quote efature (must learn how to use it properly one day)

Nice one, excellent choice and thank you Mrs B for accepting the appointment on behalf of us unruly lot. Long may your feathers remain unruffled. Ian

I was under the impression that sig lines were exempt, unless they were beyond the bounds of good taste? That "used" to be the rule, in fact it was stated as that by mtn-man in one of his postings on this forum after the reviewers/moderators quit. But someone pushed the point with TPTB and my sig was deemed to be "commercial" and had to be removed. Not after quite a fight on my part, but with the prospect of a total ban from the forums looming I backed down. It's sad really as my sig affected the complainer in no way whatsoever and having it removed made no difference to him, or anyone else in the UK forum. Squeeling for squeelings sake. Not as sad as having Mandy's thread closed I admit. Absolutely gobsmacked - never knew I was breaching any unwritten laws but then again round here that isn't too unusual. I guess I'll remove my forum siggy, as a paying advertiser on Groundspeak I'll be getting some advice as to what the current policy is on siggys, but as you say there should be one rule and it should be enforced everywhere not just here. Ian EDIT: profile edited to change my siggy line but I guess it takes time to change on here.

I can't understand why some people go out of their way to try to de-rail what others are doing for a good cause. It would be poetic if one day they too were relying on a charities help only to find others denying it to them.

Good Luck To The Duck. It's good to know that we now have another Mod who is obviously quackers.

If you need a GPS in the short term I can get one into the post to you tomorrow to borrow until yours is returned if you like. I hope you weren't too shaken up by your near miss. Ian

Good point actually, didn't think about that. Could even be a revenue generator ('aint nowt wrong with profit comrades). Y'know, like handing out free diet coke samples....but if ya want full fat get PQ strength. Looking at the map it appears that the rumours are true: the North West ie Lancashire has Annexed Yorkshire I'll go fetch me coat.......