LANMonkey

Some feedback for the development & customer feedback team at Geocaching.com. We just returned home from an 8 day roadtrip with very limited Internet access. We found well over 50 EarthCaches & Virtuals. Yay. However... now that we are trying to follow protocol/guidelines and email our answers to the C/Os before logging, we have run into the limitation of only being able to send ~20 emails "per session." So our logging process has ground to an early halt this morning. While we certainly understand the desire to prevent the geocaching.com site being used for spam, this restriction is quite prohibitive to earnest cachers trying to get caught up after a long trip. As well, the option of using the Instant Messaging service (which also limits the number of messages one can send "per session") is not very useful for logging because the window for entering text is SO SMALL that one can't really compose a useful message in response to the multiple in-depth questions posed in an Earthcache. Questions: 1. How long is a "session" and how do I "restart" my "session" so that I can continue my work? I've tried logging out of the site and back in and that didn't help. 2. Is there a way to scale the size of the text entry window for the Instant Messaging? Considerations: 1. Can the development team find another way to prevent "spam" without limiting earnest cachers from trying to get caught up after a roadtrip? If any others have feedback that might help us here we'd be very interested in hearing it. Thank-you! “Cache safely, and cache often!” LANMonkey Co-host of the Caching in the Northwest Podcast Vlogger & Blogger at LANMonkey.Blogspot.ca

Thank-you OpinioNate for taking the time to provide such a thorough answer for myself and other readers. It seems clear our comments about using the notification/messaging system for logging/responding to EC/Virt caches has been heard, so hopefully we can leave that one with the development team as accepted feedback. I was speaking of Jayme, and thank-you for the links, I've now followed your advice to get engaged in the User Insights subforum. I'm working with local geocaching friends to continue to test out the new messaging tool in various scenarios, and have found the open discussion in this forum helpful in exploring how others communicate inside and outside of the game. I'm still trying to figure out how to hear about & participate in the innovation games, but hopefully I'll eventually find some information on that. Have an excellent day, LANMonkey We gather insights through a number of different channels. This hasn't always been the case, with the expected missteps, and geocachers have a long memory so I don't blame people for being skeptical. In my 11 years as a Lackey, however, I can say that what is happening now is totally new. The requirements gathering for this project began almost a year ago in this thread. Since then we have gone out into the community to speak to geocachers, hosted innovation games at HQ, ran surveys, invited geocachers to the office for in-person usability testing sessions, and set up a playtester group of active forum participants to help us vet out new features before they are released. I am sure as we mature in this process we'll add other channels as well. Agreed, they are important. Perhaps we jumped the gun by advertising the Message Center as a solution for EC/Virt communication before several planned features are implemented. The release yesterday is only the first phase (a beta) of a multi-phase plan that lays the foundation for a robust system of communication. It's not done, and we're not either. We are setting aside ample time to continue iterating on this new feature until it works for you. You're talking about Jayme, and she's awesome. We blogged about her a few months back. I appreciate that people want more access and participation in the development process, so we'll keep thinking of ways to be inclusive. One way to participate today is to visit the User Insights subforum and put a watch on it to be notified when there are active threads. Erasing those feelings of being "out here" while HQ is "in there" is one of my top priorities. For some those feelings are deeply imbedded, but I feel like the decisions we're making today and the actions we take tomorrow will create a new historical record that geocachers can look back on and know that we're listening. Thank you! Nate Product Manager

Thanks for your continued work towards improving the tools intended to make Geocaching fun & easy. I can see the merit in an in-system chat function but my question here is whether you have a working group of "in the field" (i.e.: not lackeys) geocachers you are working with to understand various important workflows in your development process. It seems a current theme in this thread (with which I agree as it was my #1 concern in testing the tool) is the mismatch between end-user need and developer expectations. Most specifically around the point advertised as the chat system to be used for submitting answers for EarthCaches (and virtuals). So let's take virtuals right out of the discussion for the moment as they are grandfathered ergo the assumption is Geocaching.com would like them to just go away eventually. It seems to me that there would be several of us out here willing to work with your development team (business/process analysts?) to help you understand our expected workflow in not only discovering & logging, but also approving answers for EarthCaches. These are - and assumedly will remain - an important part of the game. Perhaps the bigger question is why there is a feeling from the user community that we are "out here" and not deeper engaged in the development of functional requirements? I thought a role had recently been hired at Geocaching.com to do exactly that? Perhaps we need a bit more exposure to that person and how we can collaborate earlier in the development process. All that said, I personally am very happy to help however I can in making the game better, so please feel free to contact me if that's of any value. Thanks, and have an awesome week. Cache safely, and cache often. LANMonkey (Vancouver, BC) Podcaster, vlogger, & IT Project Manager.

Joining in the thread - I also experience this problem on my Windows 8.1 Surface Pro 2, and my "old school" iPad v1. I would think if it was an issue with "mobile platforms" I wouldn't see this on a SP2. I'll admit I'm not the web coding expert here, but it would be nice to understand if this is something on the hit list for for GC.com in future releases? While the problem seems "random" I know enough to know there's no such thing as random IT or software problems. We just can't yet pin-point the root cause. Happy to help troubleshoot this further for GC.com if they need input. Cache safely, and cache often! The LANMonkeys

Hey, whoa, not everyone at once. <crickets> Obviously not a popular place to ask questions of this nature...

Hello Geocachers, April 27, 2013 is "Clean Up Langley" Day and I'm soliciting to see if there is interest in participating in a CITO event in one of the Langley parks. If you are interested, and/or have recommendations or suggestions of locations to clean, please contact me here or via email. Thanks!