baer2006

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Loggen ist nicht optional, sondern ein integraler Teil des Spiels "Geocaching". Aber das sagst du im nächsten Satz ... ... ja selbst . Und die Ausrede "Aber andere machen es doch auch" ist ein Klassiker des "Tu quoque"-Fehlschlusses. Normalerweise lasse ich sehr späte Logs bei meinen Caches auch stehen. Aber wenn jemand einen seit vielen Jahren archivierten D5er plötzlich "nachloggt", schaue ich da schon mal genauer nach. Und wenn ich dann feststelle, dass derjenige ansonsten relativ zeitnah loggt, dann wird der "Nachlog" kommentarlos gelöscht.

I agree that it's not a problem to fulfill the July challenge ... if you resort to cheating like that! No it's not. The game of geocaching has, like every game, a given framework and some basic rules (e.g. post a "find" only if you actually found a cache). You are not "completely free" to just do whatever you like (e.g. posting finds on caches, you didn't find). In addition to those "hard" rules, there is (or should be) also a code of conduct to somehow preserve the integrity of a game, including any challenges related to that game. E.g. it's important to correctly date your logs, because that's a vital information for the CO and other cachers about the current status of the cache. And regarding any kind of challenges, I think that blatantly lying about your achievements in a game-based challenge (as in "I found a cache every day", when in reality you didn't) should be considered a no-go.

Because they are an integral part of Spain, which just happens to be a bit further away from the mainland? It's even part of the EU's "Schengen" area, so for a traveler, it's indistinguishable from mainland Spain except that the flight takes a little longer (if you departed in Europe, that is). That's different from, say, the various French overseas departments. That said, I agree that it's not really obvious (to me) which level of autonomy a region needs to gain "country" status in Groundspeak's list. Take e.g. the Channel Islands - I couldn't say, why caches placed on Alderney are listed as "Guernsey", while those on Sark are listed as "Sark".

I saw the same last weekend, and had hoped it was a one-time glitch, maybe only on my system. But from what you say, it's really a new, permanent bug. In a way, I got used to the fact, that GS regularly breaks a part of the software, when they are rolling out an "upgrade". But now they also break things, which have worked since forever (like the handling of drafts) without any visible upgrade whatsoever ... *sigh* .

This is exactly how reviewers in Germany handle it. If you to research/solve something at home, it's a Mystery, but if you can just read the listing to prepare your gear and then head out to the listing coordinates, it's a Multi. I have done multis with very difficult field puzzles (taking hours to solve), but this is usally at least indicated by a "Field Puzzle" attribute and a D4+ rating, and often explicitly mentioned in the listing.

The text displayed in the web browser after sending the mail has been showing HTML entities for non-ASCII characters (and some ASCII as well, as in your example) for a long time. However, the actual mails were correct (I always send a copy to myself), and I assume that's also true for your mail. If you'd like to check, just send me a short mail with a "problematic" character, and I can tell you what I received.

Anyway ... I will simply give the next month's souvenirs a pass. I'll get the "easy" one (on a weekend), but more is out of the way. The "20 caching days within 4 weeks" this month already felt like streaking, and I will just make it because of some lucky circumstances. But 7 days in a row, and let alone 28, is out of the question.

The app could download and save for offline use the exact data which it now downloads anyway, when you play with a data connection. The actual answer is not transmitted at all, only a hash code of the answer. Checking works like this: The app calculates the hash of your answer, and if it doesn't match the correct hash, it reports "False" to you immediately, without any server interaction. But if the hash matches, it sends the answer to the server, which verifies it again, and if successful, registers your "find" in the system. No, because all you get is the hash code of the answer. But as hashes go, even if you know the hash algorithm, it's impossible to infer the answer from the hash except by brute force! I.e., you basically have to hash every possible answer - if only digits and plain letters are considered, that's 36^n possibilities for an answer of length n. Anyway, an "offline-aware" AL app could work like this: Download an AL's data whenever you open it (as it does now) The user can save optionally it for offline use If you open a saved AL, the app checks if it can download the latest version. If yes, it does so (and saves the update), otherwise the user is notified and plays with the existing offline data. Answers are checked against the hash, and if correct, they are saved for later uploading. But any in-play consequences, like showing the journal or activating the next stage in a sequential AL, are executed anyway. The AL app has a background task, which regularly checks mobile data access, and if available, uploads any pending correct answers to the server. An option to do this only with WiFi would be nice, to help users with more restrictive data plans. Nice to have: Some UI elements, which inform the user about the upload state of his correct answers. Because in stats like find counts of "souvenir challenges", only answers which have been uploaded to the server will count. While this is not entirely trivial, it's definitely not programming terra incognita either . I have co-developed client/server architectures, which need to cope with temporary loss of backend connection. Of course the system is not fool proof, e.g. when the the ALO updates something while you are offline. But this would probably quite rare.

Yes. And CO's should be smart enough not to place an AL in such an area. I mean, one may wish for an offline playing option, but currently, there is none, and this should really be known well enough by now. Recently, a CO in my area published a small trail of traditionals, together with a 5-stage AL along the same trail. The copy-and-paste listings of the trads all said, that you should preload spoiler pictures, because mobile signal is often bad or non-existing. Well, the AL experience was "as expected" . I could only log them because a) I downloaded locations and questions before with "lab2gpx" and therefore could write down the answers on the trail, and b) afterwards, when I had better signal, I could spoof my location to actually enter the answers in the AL. This is a kind of "de facto" offline play, but not technically possible for everyone, and definitely not a nice user experience .

Du könntest statt der "Browse Map" die "Search Map" verwenden, die hat den Bug nicht.

I knew that story, but I don't understand why there couldn't be a souvenir for Ireland (the island Ireland, as used as area identifier by GS)?

Have I ever stated, that this applies to me? My profile is open to everyone, please review it before you make false statements about me logging my finds. I didn't mean you specifically. I sometimes use "you" as in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_you .

A very special case. And if the delayed find log is used to pad a streak, then yes, I would call that cheating for the purpose of streaking. It's obviously different! When you log a challenge, because you now fulfill it, you do not say that you visited the cache just now. You say like "I signed the log <on day X in the past>, and now I fulfill the challenge". This will not give the CO and other cachers a false confirmation, that the cache is OK and findable right now. No, that's just plain weird, and detrimental to the game. If one of the caches has had a DNF as last log, and then someone just logs a find, even if their find was weeks ago, this gives the wrong impression that the cache is still there. For privacy reasons, you can simply delay the logs. If you log each find two months later (but with the correct find date), it's of nobody's use to know where you were 2 months ago. And if you are so secretive, that even that is a problem ... then maybe geocaching with its public logs is not the right hobby for you.

Alle drei Fragen würde ich klar mit "Ja" beantworten. Eine "echte" LB ist sehr viel Aufwand für den Owner, sowohl bei der Erstellung als auch bei der Wartung. Und der Cache wird erheblich seltener gesucht werden, als z.B. eine Tradi-Serie. Die sehr deutliche Mehrheit der Cacher bevorzugt schnelle Funde en masse. Deswegen wird eine Runde mit z.B. 15 Petlingen im Wald überrannt, aber ein Multi (oder eine "echte" LB) auf exakt demselben Rundweg bekommt (nachdem die örtlichen "Ich suche alles"-Cacher durch sind) alle paar Wochen mal einen Fund. Abgesehen davon ist bei der ganzen Geschichte noch zu beachten, dass reine "Wgbeschreibungs-Lettterboxen" bei Groundspeak nicht den Guidelines entsprechen. Es muss an mindestens einer Stelle die Verwendung von GPS vorkommen. Z.B. wenn man am Ende der Beschreibung nicht die finale Dose mit Logbuch findet, sondern eine Zwischenstation, in der dann die Finalkoordinaten stehen.

I hope I never start to see caches as "precious resources", which have to be managed and possibly saved for later times (and therefore should not be searched now).

I have found a few caches of that kind. If there is any kind of underpass below a freeway, which is legally accessible (this includes small streams, or tunnels for animals), then you can in principle place a cache "in the middle of the freeway". I guess, that you have to describe the local situation in all details to the reviewer, incl. photos of the exact hiding place.

!! Also, any comments which say "cords" when referring to coordinates can be safely ignored anyway .

There is no rule that you cannot go caching with someone else without having you own account. And in that respect, a non-functional account (e.g. a temporarily blocked one) is effectively the same as no account at all. I know a local cacher, whose account has been temporarily locked at least twice (and possibly three times). But they just kept on caching as usual (getting the cache listing via socket puppets or whatever), and logged their finds after the account was reactivated.

You didn't understand what I said. Of course you have to visit the AL locations. But it was mentioned that you can "open" / "activate" each question, but postpone the actual answer until later, e.g. to pad out a streak over several days. And that's cheating in the context of the streak.

Cheating in the context of a streak (or the goal to find a cache on as many different(!) days as possible) is pretending to have found a cache on day X, when you didn't.

Of course this works. However, as I have said earlier , in my view finding x caches (or AL stages) on one day, and then spreading out the log dates across x different days for stats purposes (and this includes qualifying for souvenirs or challenges) is cheating.

Depends on the cache. Some become more or less unfindable, when the coordinates are only 15 meters off. For others, the coordinates could be at the north pole, and you would still be able to find the cache easily with the description and the hint. I once FTF'ed a traditional, which was more than 2 km away from the listed coords.

Really? If such a rule exists, it apparently hasn't reached reviewers in my area. It was less than 6 months ago, that I last found a new "flat" cache.

There is no difference - you log a find with the same day you actually find the cache. Anything else (like, say, distributing the logs for 10 finds from a Sunday evenly across the whole following week) is cheating.