pklong
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Posts posted by pklong
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With the world set to go into second lockdowns, why not do something to keep the Geocaching community alive by introducing virtual events. These could be held over Zoom/Skype/Teams etc. and act as a replacement for actual events until we are allowed to mingle with friends again.
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I'm glad this is only a first draft as I find the new pages way way too simplified. There is just too much missing from the page, everything from viewing all my logs to the link to the map from my home location is gone. How do you get to Benchmarks from the new page? How do you see your logs? Seeing the log date requires a lot of scrolling. The typeface is way too big which is wasting screen real estate. It's not even got my find and hide count nor my renewal date or the trackables I have in my possession.
Maybe keep an improved version of this new page for tablet and smartphone users but for desktop users the old page is far far superior. The website must be designed for easy access to data. Easy on the eye must come secondary to that.
Philip
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I do hope the old caches that can be logged in multiple locations are grandfathered in and an exception to the block on multiple logs is allowed. If they are destroyed then it would be a huge pity to lose such well loved caches. In fact in the case of the YOSM cache I know that there are many Cachers who primarily Geocache to find them and that finding other Geocaches are just a bonus to them.
Hill walkers have always been very fond of trig points as they are often on the highest points in an area with great views. Reaching a trig often signals the end of a great walk. Stopping at the top of a mountain or hill and taking your photo with the trig is almost obligatory in the UK.
I fully support the ban on multiple logs for most Geocaches, even though a lot of the problems could have been prevented by requiring loggers to answer a "Are you sure?" prompt and denying logs where the log text is an exact duplicate.
Let YOSM etc. be the exceptions that prove the new rule is a good one.
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Me too.
500 errors on logging in yet again.
Come on Groundspeak, this isn't acceptable!
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We do give latitude with guidelines (we always have). The guidelines are not as people seem to believe, set in stone. Will we review the actual values we've chosen? That may indeed happen. We will try it out now and see how it works. If it does transpire it's not working we may well review it. I cannot say if or when that will happen. It may be that it won't need changing.
Thanks Chris. That's the first indication I have seen that the reviewers might consider the communities wishes on this issue.
Philip
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I think SimplyPaul has hit the nail on the head with his long post and agree with it.
I hope that the reviewers can bear to admit that this time they have got it wrong and reconsider. Which is perfectly OK, we are all human.
Philip
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Do you use lists? Why or why not?
All the time. They are a vital tool to be able to organise caches into categories and to share lists of caches with other Gocachers for too many reasons to list. In fact if they were not available on geocaching.com I would have to implement my own solution for grouping caches at home (and there would be less reason to have a premium membership!).
How do you currently use lists? Why do you put caches on lists? Are there list related tasks that are tough to do?Why?
1. To store solved puzzles.
2. To ignore puzzles that I cannot solve, or have gone missing and have too few visitors to get themselves archived for non maintenance.
3. To group cache series together to aid in planning a walk.
4. To keep a track of caches I have DNF'd and would like to find.
5. To prove eligibility for challenge caches.
6. To group caches together that might help me complete a challenge.
7. To remove puzzle series from PQ's that I am not ready to work on (such as Geo art).
8. To set an email notification of logs on caches that I am interested in, e.g. event attendees, finders of special caches.
That's just what I can think of right now, I probably use them for much much more.
Are there list related tasks that are tough to do?
I find the whole implementation of lists on Geocaching.com a little bit monotonous and old fashioned. Overdue for an update to make creating, deleting lists, adding and removing geocaches from those lists slicker in fact. I would like a whole lot more AJAX and far fewer page refreshes on cache pages when managing lists (5 page loads to add a single cache to a list and get back to that cache!).
Creating a pocket query from a list to download caches is over complicated and unnecessary. You should be able to simply click a download GPX button on the lists page and download the lot right away (it doesn't need a complicated query after all!)
How would you like to use lists? Is there functionality that is missing that would improve your experience? (Feel free to think outside current offerings. ie: collaborate on it with a friend, download to your GPS, etc)1. Being able to collaborate lists with a friends would be amazing (but maybe some version control would be a good idea so that changes can be reversed).
2. Direct download of lists with a simple click of a button.
3. Adding caches to a list with an AJAX popup on the page and no page reloads!
4. Adding group of caches to a list from the search results page.
5. Quick addition of caches from the map page (select many caches and then drag into a list - lasso a load would be awesome but technically difficult to implement).
6. When viewing an ignored cache make it easier to remove from lists (ignore or other) without page reloads by an AJAX popup.
7. Bulk addition of caches to the ignore list from a specific cache owner.
8. Create your own copy of someone else's shared bookmark list so you can customise it.
9. Pocket queries which combine multiple bookmark lists into one download.
10. In standard pocket queries include an option to exclude caches from a bookmark list e.g. unsolved puzzles. I would prefer not to have to use ignore in many cases!
11. In standard pocket queries include an option to include extra caches from a bookmark list that otherwise would not be included in the results. This could be used for example to include series bonus mystery caches and the odd cache I might want to pick up on route.
As you can see it's a very useful feature so don't break any existing functionality!
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You are quite correct that gaining permission is a time consuming and frustrating endeavor.
But no one is forcing any Geocacher place Caches, so my solution is not to place any more (at the moment) and just enjoy those aspects of the hobby I can fit around everything else I have to do and that I find fun.
There are plenty that seem to enjoy hunting down the correct landowner and gaining formal permission etc. and building up databases of that, so either use those databases or leave it to those who enjoy it, if it is becoming too much hassle.
Philip
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I count logs as a form of communication with cache owners, so something I would like to see is a digest email mode for cache/trackable logs. It would be so much nicer if you could get a single email say every half hour, hour or day with either all of the logs, or emails with multiple logs but a single email for each log type (found/write note/discovered trackable) etc.
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Our european first stop will be london on June. has anyone stayed at the london bridge hotel??? or can anyone suggest a good cheap,nice hotels in london that includes hot buffet breakfast in the price
Many thanks,
UK hotels are not cheap and London is the most expensive bit of the UK. Premier Inn's are mostly good and fairly cheap. Travellodge's are not as nice but OK. You can pay a lot of money in London for a fairly appalling room, so do check Tripadvisor (and discount the odd bad review by the token Tripadvisor nutbags).
You will be able to find hot good food just about everywhere, so don't worry about that.
Philip
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You can navigate in alot of differnt ways, maps, compass etc. Yes, you can put it in on a car sat-nav.
It depends on where the cache is hidden. If the cache is a long way from the road then an ordnance survey map (or whatever mapping is appropriate for locating trails in your location) is essential to locate a route to the cache along public footpaths.
Philip
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If the hider thinks this is a nice place for a cache I hope he is sufficiently cheesed off that he finds another hobby.
Philip
Really Philip? You couldn't, y'know, just give his cache a miss? You'd much prefer that someone, who you don't know, gives up a hobby because the way they play it doesn't meet with the way you want to play it?
I've seen caches that I didn't want to go and find before. Do you know how I overcame this 'massive' problem? - I decided to ignore it and went and found a cache that I did want to find.
It doesn't stop at one though does it.
Someone will come along and find it, think hey that's a new kind of hide lets start a new series, then they are popping up everywhere.
Someone else comes along and wonders how to up the ante. Caches start appearing hanging from power lines (hey it's safe if you've got the right equipment and training isn't it?).
Someone else places a cache on the Northern line half way between Tottenham Court Road and Leicester square underground stations mag attached to the bottom of the electrified rail.
The reviewer was right here to say NO. The cache owner needs to reconsider. Plenty of places to hide a Cache either side of the road and out of harms way.
Philip
But it is not unique is it? As has been shown if you cared to read all the thread, there are two other examples given, and probably several more which have also been published.
As for your other examples, it is ridiculous just to mention them. Not only is it illegal to actually go there (unless you are qualified, trained, and an employee or contractor of the appropriate company) you would also be electrocuted unless the company had isolated the appropriate section, and therefore you wouldn't be able to submit the cache page for review.
Before this I would have said a cache on the central reservation of a busy dual carriageway is ridiculous, yet here we are.
Philip
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If the hider thinks this is a nice place for a cache I hope he is sufficiently cheesed off that he finds another hobby.
Philip
Really Philip? You couldn't, y'know, just give his cache a miss? You'd much prefer that someone, who you don't know, gives up a hobby because the way they play it doesn't meet with the way you want to play it?
I've seen caches that I didn't want to go and find before. Do you know how I overcame this 'massive' problem? - I decided to ignore it and went and found a cache that I did want to find.
It doesn't stop at one though does it.
Someone will come along and find it, think hey that's a new kind of hide lets start a new series, then they are popping up everywhere.
Someone else comes along and wonders how to up the ante. Caches start appearing hanging from power lines (hey it's safe if you've got the right equipment and training isn't it?).
Someone else places a cache on the Northern line half way between Tottenham Court Road and Leicester square underground stations mag attached to the bottom of the electrified rail.
The reviewer was right here to say NO. The cache owner needs to reconsider. Plenty of places to hide a Cache either side of the road and out of harms way.
Philip
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Looks like a very silly place to hide a Geocache to me for many reasons not limited to danger to finders, danger to passing motorists and danger to the reputation of Geocaching in general.
It's not exactly a nice place to visit either is it? Where is the nice view or other point of interest for bringing people here.
The crossing will only still exist because of the absolutely minimal number of people (if any) using it, making it not worth the expense of providing a bridge, diverting the path elsewhere or going through the process to get it extinguished.
I'm glad the reviewer has decided it must go. Just proves common sense is not so common!
If the hider thinks this is a nice place for a cache I hope he is sufficiently cheesed off that he finds another hobby.
Philip
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Log in and it's the bit that looks like N 51° 02.493 W 004° 12.350.
You might need to set your GPS to use the same co-ordinate system degrees and minutes: DD MM.MMM
Philip
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I am the owner (or was) of the cache near the 2012 site. Firstly i just wanted to apologise for causing this issue.
No need to apologise, it was a great idea that allowed the Geocaching community to join in with the Olympic spirit without risking causing a security scare. Sadly it was always going to be archived and locked as soon as it came to the attention of TPTB or those who take Geocaching too seriously.
What's Sochi 2014, by the way?
I'd be pissed if I showed up to what I thought was a traditional cache, search for and not find the container or log, then find out that it was an improperly listed virtual. How hard is it to list it properly?
So you would go searching for a cache without reading its title or cache page or noting that it is disabled. Not a responsible way to Geocache.
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Why does everything have to be a series?
Why not leave it up to local Cachers to place caches in notable churches/train stations/supermarket car parks/motorway services/public conveniences/bus stops/dog poo bins in whatever format they prefer. Does every other cache really have to be part of a national series? Is it necessary?
Philip
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Is it possible that it somehow got mixed up with the premium member only cache also named Surprise! by Cats-Eyes that is very close to it?
Cache number is GCHAMY
Philip
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Around three years ago, I cleared Wirral. No mean feat, I can tell you...
But then, I was cured. I now really only cache when we fancy a stroll, if we're going somewhere new and there's a decent cache there, if it's a new county for me or if we're at a camping event.
However.... I'll leave Wirral to move to the New Forest at some point soon (we hope) and the standard of caches there is second to none, a real example of where monitoring density, size and standard, really have worked.
It's now my intention to clear The Forest... There might only be 150 caches, but they have a further radius than the rest of the country, and definitely NO power trails!! I also love that there's no cache smaller than a small, and are all in exceptionally beautiful countryside!!
Matt doesn't really cache much now, so it may even get him out again!
Around here the locals seem to have responded to the moans about the proliferation of micro's by placing trails of smalls. That would be smalls ~0.2 miles apart with no swaps in them or space for trackables either....
Have you spotted any exceptional caches in the new forest? Might be worth a trip.
Philip
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Nearest to me is a puzzle listed as 93ft away (it's actually further). I won't be bothering to go get it......
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Mary had a little lamb.
She tied it to a pylon.
Ten thousand volts shot up its arse,
and turned its wool to nylon.
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National Grid/Transco seem to think a terrorist attack on the grid infrastructure could happen.
Also from the National Grid website
SecurityIn this day and age no major piece of engineering can be built without adequate regard for security and anti-terrorism measures. We can't reveal what these measures are, but we work closely with the police, the security services and the Ministry of Defence when designing and building all our installations.
That's a laugh. The plans will be a nice warm 'Emergency Co-Ordination Center' with a big diesel generator, diesel supply, emergency provisions and water tank, for those in the know and their chums. The plans for us will be
when the water supply fails
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It doesn't work on IE6? Good. Even Microsoft doesn't want you using it. http://www.ie6countdown.com/
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streetmap link broken
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If it helps anyone, just remove the three letters "new" from the URL in the address bar, hit enter, and it will work fine.