ClayJar
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Posts posted by ClayJar
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quote:
You'd be surprised. A while back there was a... "feature"... that let you see not-yet-approved caches if you knew how. People would "check the queue" and add caches to their watch lists or even hunt them before they were approved. (In other words, yes, some people have the time and the inclination to watch a new cache that quickly... ever seen slashdot.org and the "first post" crowd there?)
Originally posted by Quixotic Prof:Who else would have had time or even cared?
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You go in for a new set of tires and an oil change, and less than two weeks later, you return for your now well-overdue next oil change. (Yes, it's true, and I get to replace one of the brand new tires due to a road hazard, too.)
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You don't real Slashdot at -1 much, do you?
Originally posted by Kerry:Honestly has one ever heard so much tripe!
(The WHOIS checks out, so it doesn't look like a troll or anything. Just a well-intentioned and over-eager Rube Goldberg.)
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Considering you get to use Watcher free, not to mention all the other tools, I'd have to say...
Originally posted by TJ-Tigger:Is Pocket Query... worth the subscription fee.
Abso-tigger-lutely!
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According to the Jargon File, to troll is "To utter a posting... designed to attract stupid responses or flames." With the sheer number of people already a bit too testy regarding what Jeremy and crew get done when and how, your message was quite a well-formed troll.
Now, as for "Sorry if some people can't take having their buds god-like authority questioned. But a troll? Give me a break. You know better than that." That's just flamebait ("A posting... that invites flames in reply.").
I quite understand that Jeremy, et al, can be far too slow for comfort (hey, look at some of my plaintive requests for a reply), but let's not even start going toward another thread of acerbic, sarcastic posts. I don't believe you're one of those people who intend to be rude, but in cases of frustratingly long waits and other unpleasantries, it's even more important for those of us who can to be a little more giving (and taking), even if we don't really enjoy it.
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Yes, indeed. Those would be very cool and fill some rather vacant niches. Although I'm not in a position to really say, it seems that the person *using* the web service would be the one who would have to be a subscriber; I'm not quite sure how that would be implemented, but it would mean that just because a lot of subscribers use your whatever, it still wouldn't all be on you.
Originally posted by 9Key:I like Watcher and all, but I'd like to develop web based apps that I can access from any PC, mobile phone, Palm, etc.
[[[ ClayJar Networks ]]]
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If you are a subscribing member, you can get Pocket Queries. Once the Pocket Queries are updated to Groundspeak extensions version 1.1, the last updated date will be included in the GPX files e-mailed to you by your Pocket Queries. You'll be able to use that as a "cache page change watch list".
(Jeremy or Elias, any ideas when Groundspeak GPX XSD 1.1 will be out? The types aren't really important and can be dropped for now, but having lastUpdated in the GPX files would be very nice. Of course, I'll be on vacation for half a week, but I'd love to update Watcher to support lastUpdated once I get back.)
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GrizzlyJohn: Moderated: -1 (Troll)
9Key: Jeremy plans on doing some web services for subscribers once the .Net-coded site is complete. A while back I was discussing some XML/XSD/etc stuff with him, and he indicated that he intended to do something that sounds reasonably similar to some of what you've suggested. You can be reasonably sure that although it will likely be released a bit later than we'd like, web services are on the agenda.
(I've personally suggested a couple brainstorm-quality ideas that would be very handy for apps like Watcher. It would be very useful, for example, to have a service you could query to find out whether caches in your merged GPX file that are missing from later PQs have been disabled or archived; there's no way to know right now.)
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Of course, if you use Watcher, you can search the full text of the "cache pages" for your keywords, and you can display the results in any order you very well choose. (And of course, you can also do all the other things Watcher lets you do, but there's no room for a dissertation here.
)Only caveat: you need to be a subscriber to get the Pocket Query GPX files to use with Watcher. (Anyway, take a look at the FeaturePresentation.html in the Watcher download area to see just some of what Watcher can do, and if you have any questions, just drop by the geocaching chat.)
[[[ ClayJar Networks ]]]
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Just FYI, Watcher 0.1.34, currently in the "polish the UI" stage of development, has two really nice features you'd probably want. One is that you can set as many center coordinates as you'd like, and you can switch between them very easily (although I won't describe *exactly* how, since I'm actually not quite done yet, so even I'm not perfectly sure
). The other is that you can save and load "Watcher profiles", which contain your current display settings (what filters are set, what sort order to use, what coordinates are the center, what columns are displayed, etc).brdad has been testing the profiles and center coordinate features for me, and the back end seems to be working well now. I just need to actually finish the last few pieces of UI so it'll be a bit less of a kludge. (I don't mind having to explain to brdad how to test a prerelease, but if I have to explain the UI to everyone, it's certainly not good enough.)
I hope to have it released shortly, but it won't be tonight. (Even if I finish, I have to give brdad a little time to find my oopsen.
)[[[ ClayJar Networks ]]]
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Unfortunately, I think this is going to end up as yet another case of not having a large enough user base. (A "large enough" user base is defined as the number of users you need in order to have at least one of them be a developer with the same interests as you.)
Originally posted by srumrill:ClayJar, I think your application looks fantastic, but I have an Apple Mac, so I can't use it. THIS is why I would like the ability to search for caches by type in the regular search.
Perhaps once the long-anticipated New Site is released, this will be added, but I'd be willing to say that the likelihood of it being added before then is probably indistinguishable from nil. I know of several Mac-using cachers, but unfortunately, I don't know of any who are both capable and interested in developing a Mac analogue of Watcher, so that's no help either.
(I hate to post a "Sorry, we can't help you now" message, but I have a feeling that, at least for the time being, you're out of luck. Jeremy has said before that the new site should be up in the April-May area, so you might get it soon, but you might need to go scuba for a while, since breath-holding may have adverse effects.)
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I suppose I should take this as a no?
[[[ ClayJar Networks ]]]
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There's a little "Feature Presentation" of several screenshots at the Watcher download site, but it's hard to convey in a few screenshots what Watcher can do, since it's quite flexible.
Originally posted by Baloo&bd:OK, I'll bite....What is watcher?
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Unfortunately, I don't know of any. (To port Watcher to the Mac would require a complete rewrite, and I have neither the time nor the hardware to do that... well, and no Mac development experience either.) As for Spinner... it's certainly a lot more portable, but that's all I know.
Originally posted by srumrill:Is there any sort of Watcher or Spinner type applications for us Mac users?
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Watcher 0.1.33 (Crashin' Trashouts, Batman!)
Watcher 0.1.33 fixed several bugs of the small to medium variety and had one rather important feature addition: CITO caches! (They won't show up in 0.1.32 or earlier.)
Get it at the usual place.
[[[ ClayJar Networks ]]]
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We've got no aged log-free caches around Louisiana, unfortunately. (Probably because it's hard to make them too hard down here, with no mountains or anything.)
I'd be interested in seeing what vintage NRFBs* there are out there in other locales... so, Watcher users of the world, UNITE! Take a look at your GPXes, and if you see any aged-looking ghostly apparitions in there, tell us about them.
(*Never Removed From Box)
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It probably should be mentioned that I know of at least one park that *required* the cache to be locked. Previously, caches were banned throughout that park system, but they're starting to let some approved caches in. One of the requirements in this park was that the cache container must be locked, so it has a combination lock, and the cache page has the combination.
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The main problem with locking it is that many of the same people who would vandalize or steal it in the first place are the very same people to whom a locked box would appear a very inviting target. I try to hide my caches well enough that they simply won't be stumbled upon; I'd hate to go through all the effort of locking one up only to find the tar beaten out of it by some kids with a baseball bat and far too much time.
[[[ ClayJar Networks ]]]
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There is no way to add additional contacts, although the infopop support people say that's one of the most highly requested absent features. There is also apparently no way to remove contacts, even though the help said there was. (They told me that apparently the code and the help got out of sync, or something like that, since they couldn't figure out how to do it, either.)
[[[ ClayJar Networks ]]]
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Actually, there are *TEN* types of caches:
Originally posted by srumrill:With only 7 different types of caches
Traditional
Multi
Virtual
Letterbox
Event
Webcam
Unknown
Locationless
Project APE
Cache In Trash Out(Small cache type icons courtesy of the Watcher help, of course.)
quote:
I cannot give you "through the regular search function". I can, however, give you "on the fly". Just setup a regular PQ, and when you'd like to filter on cache type, just open up your regularly scheduled GPX file in Watcher and set any of the cache type filters you'd like to set. Since you're already a contributing member, all you need to do is download the latest version of Watcher (which, incidentally, came out last night and includes support for the new CITO cache type).
I am a premium member, and I know that I can do this with PocketQueries, but I would love to be able to do this search on the fly through the regular search function, and not have to wait until my query is e-mailed to me.(Get Watcher via the link below, and if there's any feature that you see missing, please let me know... I'm always taking suggestions.)
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But, oh, we *do* have an off-topic forum! It's called the geocaching chat!
(Of course, it's on-topic on Mondays from 8:30pm Central (US) until about 10pm Central, but other than that, it's just a bunch of geocachers hanging out around the #Geocache.)
((Okay, so it's non-persistent, but then again, shouldn't an off-topic forum be non-persistent?
))[[[ ClayJar Networks ]]]
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Methinks you are not a Watcher user yet, eh?
Originally posted by BottomFeeder:While that is certainly true, it then seems kinda pointless to allow queries totalling 500 caches.
There are ***PLENTY*** of reasons to allow queries totalling 500 caches, and a large number of them are already part of Watcher.
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If anyone wants to do a CITO in Baton Rouge (since we've got *plenty* of BREC parks and it'd be nice to give them a taste of geocacher service), speak up, please. I'd really like to do a CITO here, but I don't want to approach BREC if it's just going to be one person.
[[[ ClayJar Networks ]]]
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Hehe... Geocaching.com may not do that, but Watcher's had it for quite some time. It is indeed nice. My standard filters in Watcher are to only show caches with at least 2.5 but less than 5 terrain and up to 3 difficulty.
(Of course, then there's my fun filters... nothing short of terrain 4, and I usually end up just marking the terrain 5 caches to send to my PDA and GPS receiver.)
[[[ ClayJar Networks]]]
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I can't officially speak for Geocaching.com, since I'm not, but I can say that I've been an active member with the same e-mail address since May 29, 2001, and I have not received one spam on that address. (I use different addresses different places so I can track spam.)
Privacy statements are nice (when the company follows them), but several years of uninterrupted honest and upstanding service is worth quite a bit more in my book.
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Locationless caches
in Website
Posted
The updated site is still being worked on, and since it's not out, locationless are not back either. A while back Jeremy had mentioned April/May, but I haven't heard anything recently and it's not even May yet.
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