NW_history_buff
-
Posts
375 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by NW_history_buff
-
-
BK-Hunters and RakeInTheCache have said it perfectly. Groundspeak puts their trust in leaders and officers to remain active in their respective categories. When they fail to do so for whatever reasons, the only sensible choice is to replace those inactive individuals with active ones. Getting that to happen is the challenge since we're at the whim of Groundspeak.
-
I emailed Waywizard a few weeks ago and have received no reply. He's obviously busy with more important matters.
-
But... it would sure be great if Groundspeak could elect one or two people who had the power to make things happen in all-things-Waymarking.
I am making an appeal to Groundspeak to trust a few of us to make the community better!
Better for yourself and a few others, but you can't speak for most of us. That is not a community, and is the conspiracy theory that I have always spoke of.
It is the intent of only a select few to control Waymarking by using PM funds from Geocachers.
Manville Possum, please stop replying to this post. It's obvious to most in the community that you are a disgruntled former Waymarker, but for the rest of us, we still enjoy the hobby. If you don't like the community anymore than please stay away from it and go back to geocaching, which you still enjoy. Your vitriolic replies in previous posts in the forums, including this one, are unwelcomed and immature. Please grow up.
-
It's 2017 and I find myself waiting on submissions from November/early December 2016 for approval. The following categories are stagnant:
Sailing and Yacht Clubs I'm awaiting approval for my first-ever submission into the category on 12/11/2016. The leader last logged in 11/8/16.
Video Arcades The last officer to log in was July 3rd of 2016! My submission has been waiting for approval since 12/11/16.
Vintage Gasoline Pumps Alas, the last officer to log in was 12/28 but my friendly e-mail to the officer has gone unreplied. I've been waiting on an approval in the category since 11/27/16. Sigh...
I know I'm beating a dead horse on this topic but I guess I'm pointing out these three particular stagnant categories because I would GLADLY become an officer of each and help to keep them active. And that's the frustrating part of this Waymarking hobby for me: making stagnant categories active again is easier said than done. I've had some luck on occasion catching an administrator like Waywizard at a good time via e-mails and having him promote me as officer in a few stagnant categories. But my REAL frustration with stagnant categories is this: When I DO get promoted as an officer in a stagnant category, it's almost impossible to get a fellow waymarker promoted to help out. Why? Because of the vote limitations that require 60% minimum approval to promote an officer. That's hard to do when all other officers in a stagnant category haven't been active in months or YEARS.
AND.. This is STILL a major beef with me: Why is it impossible to get a non-active leader of a category demoted and replaced with an active waymarker??? (A vote to demote a leader requires 100% approval and inactive officers/leaders make that impossible). It just doesn't make any sense whatsoever to continue keeping a person as a leader of a category when he/she haven't been active in months or YEARS. But from Waywizard's reply to an earlier post last year regarding stagnant categories, as long as one officer is promoted and active, that should suffice. That's fine and dandy when that active officer is approving everyone else's waymarks, but what about someone approving his/her own submissions?? Again, that logic just doesn't make any sense to me.
Here's another example of why having an active leader of a category is important: Over time, it may be discovered that a category needs to make an update of the guidelines/rules/requirements etc. Heck, I even get messaged from others about grammar errors/misspellings in the category variables but can't do a DARN THING about it because I'm just an officer with no category-editing capabilities. Only the leader of a category can change the officer rules to allow category edits. That's pretty hard to do when the leader hasn't logged in in 10 years! (true case for me).
Waymarking is a ton of fun for me as a hobby but my above-mentioned frustrations make it not so fun. I know Waymarking is a small community compared to Geocaching and a non-money maker (for the most part) for Groundspeak. And that is most likely why the administrators are reluctant to make fixes because they're wrapped up in other, more productive projects. But... it would sure be great if Groundspeak could elect one or two people who had the power to make things happen in all-things-Waymarking.
BruceS and lumbricus seem to have certain admin privileges but not enough to help out where it REALLY counts most: in the categories that we all submit into. I am making an appeal to Groundspeak to trust a few of us to make the community better!
-
As for a leader of a category wanting to vacate the role, it's pretty easy, there's an option within the leader's profile to click the 'Resign as Leader of this Group (no vote required)'. I would assume after the link is clicked, the leader has the option of selecting a fellow officer to take over as leader.
Yes, that is how it worked. Now that I vacated a category and there were less than 3 officers, it's set to "auto approve". I didn't know that there was an auto approve function, by apparently there is.
Leaving a Waymarking category as the leader without selecting another officer to take over or at least ensuring a three-officer minimum seems a little rash.Do I dare ask what category this affected?
-
I have been promoted as an officer in numerous categories without my 'approval' first. I personally don't mind, since it becomes apparent in many categories that another individual's help is needed to keep the category active and viable. Although a courtesy e-mail from an officer asking if that individual would be interested in becoming an officer is appreciated, I also understand the importance of getting an officer on board sooner than later and risk the category becoming stagnant.
As for a leader of a category wanting to vacate the role, it's pretty easy, there's an option within the leader's profile to click the 'Resign as Leader of this Group (no vote required)'. I would assume after the link is clicked, the leader has the option of selecting a fellow officer to take over as leader.
-
This category needs a definite overhaul. I'll try reaching out to Waywizard and see if something can be done.
-
Happy to see this new category in the community although I forgot to vote 'yea'.
-
You didn't miss anything. They're is no category for Civil War veteran graves. I've thought about this potential category myself in the past. But I quickly came to the conclusion that there exist a such a large number of Civil War graves in the numerous cemeteries I've visited, many more than American Revolutionary War graves, to make this category viable, in my opinion. I've visited cemeteries with dozens of Civil War graves in each cemetery. I think that is the reason no one in the Waymarking community has brought up this category idea because of this fact. I see Waymarking as discovering a few gems out of a field of rocks. Civil War graves are more like the plain rocks found all over, instead of the rarer, hard-to-find gems, like a centenarian grave, a Woodman of the World grave, a death mask grave, a broken column grave, a grave of an unusual death or an American Revolutionary War veteran grave.
-
IMHO, when a leader of a category hasn't logged onto the site in YEARS, I consider it abandoned. And add one or two inactive officers to the mix and you have a legitimate problem. When changes/edits to the category need to be made, it's usually the leader and only the leader who can make them (as in the Covered Wagons category). It doesn't make sense to keep an inactive waymarker in a leadership role when there are plenty of other active folks willing to take over leadership duties. Why put a Band-Aid on the problem when it only will continue to fester indefinitely?
-
We STILL have not resolved the issue with the Wikipedia category accepting or not accepting submissions of Wikipedia entries of large bodies of land or water. The category description as it stands, needs to be edited to draw a line on what it accepts.
lumbricus, as the leader of the category, what is your response to this forum post? We other category officers await your reply...
-
Waywizard is a pretty good wizard. It's done.
We're getting there but we're NOT done yet. Thanks, Waywizard, for appointing me as an officer. There are THREE issues left to resolve with the Covered Wagons category:
1) Open membership for others to join and become officers.
2) Demote the leader and one other officer who haven't been active in Waymarking for YEARS.
3) Appoint a NEW leader for the category to actively manage submissions.
When these three steps are accomplished, I'll be a happy geocacher/waymarker!
-
Waywizard, I appreciate you approving my submissions but there still exists the problem of the Covered Wagons category being stagnant. I proposed becoming an officer with category-editing capabilities so I can make the membership open and promote officers.
Patience. Sometimes it takes a while for wizard magic to take place. In other words it in the works.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
-
There is a category that I'd like to become an officer in and have waited on a submission for approval for three weeks now.
I have approved this one as it was long but it was just one day over 2 weeks, 9/17 was submission date.
Waywizard, I appreciate you approving my submissions but there still exists the problem of the Covered Wagons category being stagnant. I proposed becoming an officer with category-editing capabilities so I can make the membership open and promote officers.
-
There is a category that I'd like to become an officer in and have waited on a submission for approval for three weeks now.
Unfortunately, the membership is closed. In addition the leader hasn't been active in almost TWO YEARS, another officer hasn't been active in ALMOST FOUR YEARS. I'm just waiting on frivlas, the third officer, to approve, he hasn't been active in three weeks.
I have had luck in the past by messaging either Waywizard or CheckMark directly regarding inactive categories. About half the time, they make me leader or an officer and I'm able to remove inactive officers and appoint new ones.
I'm going to reach out to Waywizard and see what he can do with the Covered Wagons category.
-
I like what lumbricus did for the Pergolas category and what razalas did for the FOE category. Let's go with both of them. Nice job
-
The Pergolas category has been in need of a new icon for its category for months now.....
Anybody want to create one?
-
We just had another Wikipedia officer quit the group. I feel this forum on the topic of Waymarking large bodies of land or water has run its course. I strongly feel we need to edit the category description to draw a line on what the category accepts.
Lumbricus, if you as the leader feel comfortable with limiting the category to more tangible sites and locations smaller than a square mile, then I would be more than happy to edit the category to reflect this.
We need to find closure on this issue ASAP before other officers get disillusioned and quit the group. It will also clear up confusion for new submissions.
-
Even Rocky Mountains in wikipedia is a single set of co-ordinates.
43° 44′ 24″ N, 110° 48′ 0″ W
You're missing the point. Even if Wikipedia provided coordinates for EVERY entry it publishes, do we REALLY want to waymark large bodies of land or water to include cities, mountains, states, countries, rivers, lakes, and oceans? It borders on ridiculous and if the category decides to accept these kinds of submissions then I'll leave as an officer and let the other officers deal with the mess.
-
As an officer, I'm not reviewing ANY submission of a town, city, or large body of land or water that could encompass multiple points of entry until the forum decides how best to deal with these types. As it stands, I could decide to waymark the entire Pacific Ocean in the Wikipedia Entries category, since it's technically a 'unique physical presence in the world.' I may also decide to waymark the entire Rocky Mountain range. Heck, while I'm at it, I could waymark the entire United States too. You see where I'm going with this?
Solution: Any area to include a town or city or body of land or water encompassing more than a square mile shouldn't be allowed in the category. The category should be focused on sites on a much smaller scale, such as a building, bridge, statue, cemetery, university, etc.
-
As a new officer to the category, that is EXACTLY the problem with reviewing submissions of towns, cities, counties, large bodies of water or land and any other location that may encompass many square miles. NOTHING in the category description mentions how to handle these types of submissions so that only one waymark per location is created. Personally, I've limited my own submissions to the category to locations of a much smaller scale, like a building or site where there is no issue with potential multiple waymarks. If we are to accept a whole town or city, do we require the submitter to place coordinates at the City or Town Hall? If we accept a large lake, where do we require the coordinates to originate? There could be multiple access points that could be used. What about a large mountain expanse? Where do we want to coordinates to be? Do we allow more than one waymark for large bodies of land or water? There just seems to be many loose ends when dealing with these types of submissions to review them adequately. There needs to be some verbiage added to the category description to handle these types of submissions so that officers know exactly how to deal with them in the future. We've lost a few new officers recently because of this confusion.
-
I just add (GONE) or (DESTROYED) in the title and mention what happened in the short and long descriptions. Keeping them active gives people some memories via photographs to remember places as they once were. I've had two buildings, a bridge, a bridge plaque and a benchmark get destroyed in my hometown. Waymarking isn't permanent but photos help keep their memories alive.
-
Congrats on 30,000 approvals! You're the most active officer in the Waymarking community. Without you, many categories would stagnate, awaiting your approval. I hope you still stay active in the community, you've been a great asset for us all!
-
I saw an online article from Daily Mail UK highlighting the Sears Catalog homes which could be purchased as not homes to be built by the owners. Many of these homes still survive today throughout the United States. This topic has come up before and I personally feel there is a place for them in the Waymarking community, although a new category would require lots of research, a thorough category write-up and knowledgeable officers to oversee it. I know of one Sears Catalog home in my hometown. Here's the article for those interested in learning about its history:
Possible New Category - Latin Inscriptions
in Recruiting and Category Proposals
Posted
There IS a category for inscriptions, whether they're in Latin or any other language. The category is titled Etched in Stone. The only limitation is that they don't except gravestone with inscriptions but will except pretty much any other location like a church, government building, monument, etc.