Jump to content

Mosaic55

+Premium Members
  • Posts

    268
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Mosaic55

  1. Back when Groundspeak had the feedback forums, it seemed like they were interested in what members had to say. Today, not so much. I don't get why they called Challenges a failure. Sure they didn't get a huge following, but there were gradually a few more being published around here. I never saw any attempt on Groundspeak's part to remedy the weaknesses after the concept was pushed out. It's not Challenges that failed, it is Groundspeak that failed to develop the concept they created with Pocket-query and map functionality. Sweeping the whole thing under the rug makes no sense to me. I let my premium membership lapse due to no spare time for caching. I'm getting more interested in starting up again. But, it's highly unlikely I will renew my premium member ship anytime in the near future given Groundspeak's current disregard for customer's opinions and lack of communication. BTW, I created one Challenge, 16 people completed it, it got 6 "thumbs up" and zero "thumbs down".
  2. All excellent ideas, please post them on the feedback site, I think they will get more attention from Groundspeak there!
  3. Yes, I think there is. There is one hider around here who places hundreds (not exaggerating) of lamp post skirt hides. I'd really like to ignore all of them in one fell swoop. I have no wish to go poking around in parking lots belonging to small private offices and warehouses. There's a feedback topic asking for such a function and it's got my vote.
  4. That's not a micro. It's a m... oh... nevermind. (LOL!) As to the original topic, WHY PUT SMALL CACHES IN PINE TREES?! I don't mind smalls in pine trees. But I hate micros in spruces. That's like a needle in a haystack to me, an itchy haystack at that, since I seem to be allergic to blue spruce sap.
  5. I see "HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable."
  6. Time of year makes a difference too. Spots that are overgrown now might be easier in winter or early spring. (If you care to give it another shot sometime.) Or try some of the new challenges http://www.geocaching.com/challenges/default.aspx, since there's no container to find, there probably won't be as much bushwacking involved in most.
  7. Go look at how they implemented it (just got the "completed" email). A smiley count and a "caped guy" count. Looks like it will do more to draw attention to Challenges as an available activity than the original way.
  8. [repeat of my response on one of the other threads] Challenges have a lot going for them already that Waymarking never had. 1. Challenges (mostly) seem like they are intended to be fun. Waymarking always (to me )seemed like completing a school assignment. 2. Challenges have a working iPhone app. (Android too I guess?) Waymarking doesn't. 3. Challenges are on the same site as geocaches. Waymarks are on a different site. 4. Your Challenge count shows up in your geocaching profile. Waymarks? Nope don't see any here, gotta go to that other site. Over a thousand people have already logged completion of each of the first 4 worldwide challenges. How many waymarks are posted or visited in one day?
  9. I agree with you. Most of the people who were complaining that they weren't geocaches have logged finds on dozens, and sometimes hundreds of things that aren't geocaches. Without incrementing the find count, challenges will be about as popular as bacon at a Bar Mitzvah. Challenges will become a niche activity like Waymarking and people will still be clamoring to bring back virtuals. Challenges have a lot going for them already that Waymarking never had. 1. Challenges (mostly) seem like they are intended to be fun. Waymarking always (to me )seemed like completing a school assignment. 2. Challenges have a working iPhone app. (Android too I guess?) Waymarking doesn't. 3. Challenges are on the same site as geocaches. Waymarks are on a different site. 4. Your Challenge count shows up in your geocaching profile. Waymarks? Nope don't see any here, gotta go to that other site. Over a thousand people have already logged completion of each of the first 4 worldwide challenges. How many waymarks are posted or visited in one day?
  10. The 210 does have a computer USB cable. It's not fully paperless, but will display some basic information, name, owner, type, difficulty, terrain, and hint (if any). No logs however. I use GPSBabel to reformat .GPX files to the .gs Magellan format then drag and drop that file onto the unit. I got a newer GPS this year, so I'm a bit rusty on the details of file transfer to the 210, but that's the gist of it. Oh, one additional thought. You can only open a file of up to 200 caches/waypoints at a time, but you can have multiple files and switch them as needed.
  11. So how do you spin "worldwide challenges" to make them fit the definition of a geocache?
  12. It seems like the "Beginner" critera was changed a bit. Now (non-micro) 1.5/1.5 gets green highlighting as well. Looks like terrain up to 2.5, difficulty up to 1.5, non-micro and found recently get flagged for beginners.
  13. "Don't make completions the same as finds." This is currently the number two ranked idea on the feedback site http://feedback.geocaching.com/forums/75775-geocaching-com/suggestions/2170499-don-t-make-completions-the-same-as-finds-?ref=title
  14. When I thought that the "new virtuals" would be just like the old virtuals, I wanted them to count as finds. Now that I see how different Challenges are from Virtuals and Geocaches, I no longer think they should count as finds. Change of opinion due to change in facts available.
  15. Yes, you've invested a lot of work in them, it sounds like it would be pretty easy to copy the listing and post it as a Challenge. I would do at least a few and see how well they are received.
  16. ... Traditional Geocaching... go to published coordinates, open box, sign log, go home and spend 3 seconds entering "TFTC" on the cache page. Action Challenge Caching... go to published coordinates, perform a specfic task and take a picture, go home, download/crop/resize photo, and enter a log describing what task you performed at the location and upload your photo. Photo Challenge Caching... go to published coordinates, take a specific picture of something at the location, go home, download/crop/resize photo, enter log describing your experience and upload your photo. .... As I understand the arugments: Virtuals should count, even those without a verification process. Webcams should count. LPC's should count. 1/1 traditionals should count. A six-mile hike shouldn't count because it's called a challenge. The six mile hike shouldn't count because it isn't tied to a specific GPS coordinate. The virtuals and web cams all required a specific location found by GPS coordinates. Most of the challenges do not. There's one in Chicago that wants you to do something inside Soldier Field, not at a particular point in the stadium, just anywhere in the stadium. There's 2 in Chicago for bike paths, "ride the xxx path" Those aren't tied to a particular geographic point either, they couldn't have been published as virtuals without someplace more specific added to them. (eg. find the sign at XX.xx YY.yy and take a picture there). Of the eleven Challenges I see in the Chicago area, only 2 really require a GPS to get to something very specific. (something like a plaque, a sign or a tree). The rest are general or very well known public places ("Ferris wheel on Navy Pier") A GPS might help, but it's far from necessary.
  17. Actually it does - it just translates any address or POI that you choose into coordinates. For regular cache listings you don't get that option, but you could easily do it yourself, through Google maps or whatever. If you think the coordinates determined through an address search like that are good enough for your challenge, then feel free to use them. The same applies to virtuals or earthcaches (in effect, anyway). OK, I had to actually save the listing before I saw the coordinates. And no, I don't think those are good enough. I'm not attacking the game at all, I'm just saying it's not the same GPS-using game as geocaching, so the finds should be counted separately.
  18. The coordinates and location requirements are the same for both of them. Maybe there's no guideline rule for challenges saying that "you must use a GPS to obtain the coordinates", but seriously, if you can pick the coords off Google for a challenge, then you can do the same for a virtual or an earthcache. After playing around with site interface a little bit, the I don't think coordinates are required at all for setting a challenge. I just used the search box to search for a museum (as a random example) and the site is letting me just the name of a museum and street address only. Now, I don't know if the listing would get voted down for lack of coordinates, but the site isn't enforcing the use of coordinates in setting up the challenge.
  19. So, you don't agree with the notion that going to a particular spot, as established by GPS coordinates, and performing some task should apply to your find count? That's fine, if you feel that way. I'm just curious why you didn't feel that way when you logged a find on an earthcache. Didn't that require that you go to a place, established by GPS coordinates and perform a particular task? Seems a bit contradictory... Apparently, Challenges do not require a GPS for either setting the challenge or finding the location. Virtuals and Earthcaches require GPS coordinates for placing (at a minimum). Challenges need to be at a specific place, but it's still not clear to me just how specific. The shore of lake Michigan? The Illinois shore of lake Michigan? The Lake Michigan Shore in Chicago? The North Avenue beach in Chicago? Or within 25 feet of a specific coordinate on the beach? I think it should be the latter, but it doesn't appear to be developing that way. This non-GPS aspect is why I don't think Challenges deserve to be counted as "finds".
  20. Yeah, as people start to place them around here, I expect I will end up doing them. There's only 1 within 20 miles of me so far. I'll do that one if I ever happen to go that way for some other reason. Challenges really need downloadable GPX files(PQs) if they are going to become popular. Attributes and terrain ratings would be good too. I have an idea to set a challenge myself. I think it would be a good one in an interesting, out of the way spot. But I think I'm going to wait for some of the turmoil to die down before I go get the coordinates and write it up.
  21. Sometimes it works for me and sometimes it doesn't. Often logging out and logging on again fixes it.
  22. Yeah, post again when the next issue is available please!
  23. I got one today. Does someone have a link to some sort of "TB passport" that I can print and send along with it? It's not extremely obvious that it's a trackable and not a trade item. (except for the tracking number)
×
×
  • Create New...