ClayJar

quote:Originally posted by DeadReckoner:3. Short description limited to 500 chars - has that always been the case? After a few tries to make my short description shorter and shorter, I finally decided to skip the short description altogether and just everything in the long description. Any reason not to do that? A short description is very important, perhaps not to the Geocaching.com site itself, but certainly to many, many Pocket-Query-using people. Searching on the short descriptions or having a summary list of waypoints and short descriptions in your PDA (so you can see whether to look up the cache or skip it) are just two of the things it can be good for. The short description should be the bare minimum description. It would be what you'd see in the TV Guide if it had the cache in it. Something like, "The cache is on a nice hiking trail in Chicot State Park ($2 entry), bring a canoe or very tall boots. Watch for ticks." [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

Questions originally posted by MOCKBA in italics: Can it look for never-found-by-anybody caches? What about the ones not found since a certain date? Hunting virgin / forgotten caches is certainly a big part of this game! Yes, you can use Watcher to do that. In fact, you could say that is the *original* reason for Watcher way back last December. Can it look for caches which have your (or somebody else's) not-found entries? Comment entries? Wouldn't you want to know if someone was successfull after you've run out of luck? You can do things like this. I'm not sure if I cover exactly what you're asking, but Watcher probably comes close. If it *doesn't* do what you want, chances are it's on the Watcher Wish List already, and if not, just ask and it'll get on the list. Can you look for caches within a certain multilateral shape only? I'd love to exclude urban caches from my searches... Watcher doesn't have a polygon filter (yet?), but you can filter by all sorts of things. Distance from a center, for example, lets you choose a cache in the middle of town and filter out all those caches within X miles/km. You can filter based on type (no virts, if you don't want, or no multis if you're in a hurry). You can filter on "container" if you can't stand micros. What are PQ capabilities for searching BMs? Another cacher has a "bmgpx" utility to create Watcher-compatible GPX files for benchmarks. Unfortunately, there's still a bug in Watcher regarding the files bmgpx creates, but that should be fixed by the next release (if all goes well), which will likely be sometime this weekend. (I'm overdue.) Anyway, if you have any more questions, the best place to get answers is probably in the Geocaching Chat. You can find me there many evenings, and most of the regulars are fluent in Pocket Queries, Watcher, and the other various and sundry tools. [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

Incidentally, I *really* need to get off the waverunner and back into the canoe for some hydrocaches. There are a whole bunch I haven't done yet. I just need to get a wet suit for my birthday this year... then I can more safely paddle in cold weather. (I've been a baaad hydrocacher... I need to get to paddling.) [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

Hehe... Yeah, Cane Island is a good cache, too. A bit more effort than Remains, but I paddled past a live gator going past the island. (I have the inflatable canoe I've used for this and many other caches, in case you decide to go to the island and you need a lift.) Anyway, whichever cache you choose, I'd be delighted to coordinate so the item can continue its trip to Georgia and beyond. (I've given travel bugs huge trips before -- thousands of miles, even -- and I'd be honored to help it along... plus, it'd get publicity in the official geocaching chat, the GGA, and with the Watcher groupies. ) Incidentally, rpecot, do you think it's time to start planning the fall campout yet? [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

Might I suggest one of my caches: Remains of the Day (LAGG-2) (2.5/2) It may be only a 2.5/2, but it's apparently significantly challenging enough for your tastes. It's pretty close to the Highland Road exit of I-10 (exit 166), and it's in an ammo can. If you tell me when you're coming, I'll be sure to do maintenance on it to ensure it can accomodate the item (even if it requires a temporary owner-plunder; I'll reload the stuff afterward). I routinely go to Georgia, a state that has not been visited by the cache as of yet, and I would be delighted to give it a lift. I'm sure one of the GGA members over there can help it continue, as well. I'll be heading out to a CITO event in Georgia in a couple weeks, but if you can't make it here before that window, I go there quite often, it seems. Anyway, I'd be delighted if you'd choose to use my cache (and me) to further the cache's travels. (Incidentally, I can provide an e-mail address and phone number to help coordinate the drop and grab if it would help.) [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

quote:Originally posted by Eswau:In this case, shouldn't distance walked be more associated with difficulty instead of terrain? This comes down to the working definitions of "difficulty" and "terrain". The somewhat over-simplified definitions are: Terrain: What it takes to get from the beginning to the coordinates. (This basically covers from the time you get out of your car to the time you put the GPS receiver in your pocket and switch to The Force.) Difficulty: What it takes to find/open/log the cache once you've arrived at the coordinates. (This covers hunting for the container, finding lock combinations, or whatever else is not part of getting from car to cache.) The question about where puzzles fall, difficulty or terrain, has been asked before as well. The consensus is that since solving puzzles (or the like) to get the coordinates is not directly involved in getting to those coordinates, it's difficulty. (Reading the coordinates is obviously not part of the cache's terrain, and writing the coordinates in roman numerals would obviously not change the cache's terrain. It follows that writing the coordinates in an even more complex language, i.e. a puzzle, would not be capable of impacting the cache's terrain.) [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

So, basically, right now they have: Monthly Premium Membership (Renews Monthly) Annual Premium Membership (Does not renew) Annual Premium Membership (Renews Annually) So, you just want one more type added: Monthly Premium Membership (Does not renew) Then you could simply buy a membership or few and leave the S-number activation code on a card in the cache, and anybody could pick it up, activate, and try it out. I just don't know what the overhead is on memberships... is it low enough that adding this fourth option (monthly, non-renewing) would be worthwhile (especially considering it would get a bit of traffic, considering what a great cache prize it would be)? [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

quote:Originally posted by WildGooseChase:I like it with the number of days better than date. The first thing you do now is look at the date and figure out haw many days have passed. Why not let the computer do the work for you? That's what they are for. Watcher! Watcher! Watcher, Watcher, Watcher! (Um, I mean, er... Watcher not only puts the dates, but you can hover the mouse to see the time in days, months, and years ago. In other words, the computer already does the work, but you have to be using the right software. ) [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

I use an ancient Handspring Visor with 8MB. It's quite enough to hold my PQ files, plus the custom ones I generate by using Watcher to filter out all the caches I don't want to do. (That usually means taking all my PQ GPX files, merging them in Watcher, filtering out all the micro/locationless/webcam/virtual/etc caches, sorting by distance from my weekend base of operations, and saving a new GPX to upload to my GPS receiver and turn into a palmdoc for my PDA. It's great.) [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

If you need help with using Watcher, the best place to get it is probably the geocaching chat. It's live, and there's almost always someone in there who is familiar with Watcher. [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

quote:Originally posted by Renegade Knight:Your whining about my comment didn't do anything for the thread. Your comment that you are happy for the silent enjoyment was fine. Excuse me, I was apparently unclear with my comment. It was not whining, it was a direct command. I was telling you to shut the h-e-double-hockeysticks up, but in a somewhat less direct way. *YOU* are not a SE Louisiana cacher; *I* am a SE Louisiana cacher. *YOU* have not met Bloencustoms; *I* have met Bloencustoms. *YOU* have no right to expect people to log *my* caches for *your* enjoyment; *I* can *want* people to log *my* caches, but if that's something they can't do for some reason, hey, at least there's a cache out there to find! You claim that not logging online is "making the sport less fun for the ones who placed those great caches", and I am calling you on it. I *am* one of those who placed some of those great caches, and if Bloencustoms doesn't log online, it doesn't make anything one iota less fun. It's *NOT* a zero-sum game! Sure, logging online can make it *more* fun for people (hey, I write *Watcher*, for the love of Pete!), but not logging online doesn't somehow magically extract fun from geocaching. (I have never given you $100, but that doesn't mean I'm stealing money from you.) I've been sick of the entitlement crowd in these forums for a long time, but I've dealt with it by staying quiet and doing my best to help in what ways I can. However, when you come to this forum and post against one of our Louisiana cachers about something that has nothing to do with you, you have crossed the line. Bloencustoms owes you nothing, and frankly, you owe Louisiana an apology. (Note: I'm exceedingly narrow-memoried. This thread won't affect anything but this thread; if you have a Watcher request, I'll get to it as soon as I can, just like anyone else's. I just can't stand for someone posting unjustifiably against a cacher that I myself know and count among our Louisiana group. Incidentally, no, I'm not Cajun, but I imagine I could hold my own against even Buck8Point... hehe... (Hey, B8P, did you get that jambalaya rig?)) [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

quote:Originally posted by Renegade Knight:Great, a lurker. You are making the sport less fun for the ones who placed those great caches. Whether you participate in the forums is your own choise. Not logging online is rude. I'm really sorry, but I just *have* to say this... Mr. Knight, please... SHUT THE FRAZZLE-DAZZLING LIMPETS UP! As a cache hider whose caches may not be logged online because of this, I'm perhaps just a bit saddened at the hypothetical loss, but I'm much more happy to have someone silently enjoying finding my cache than I would be by excluding them. Oh, and as far as rudeness goes... pot, kettle, black. [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

quote:Originally posted by Admiral Whitetrousers:Hi, maybe I was not clear I would like the function "most recent logs for Switzerland". We don't have so much activity as in USA so our Logs get swamped in the "recent logs" page. Since Switzerland is "small" enough to fit in one Pocket Query, getting close to this wouldn't be too hard, but getting it perfectly correct might not be possible. One of the features on the Watcher wishlist (maintained by brdad) is some sort of updated cache page / new logs feature. Basically, as I see it, you would have your last PQ open in Watcher, and when you merge your new PQ, it would highlight the log icons for any new logs (and there'd also be a filter for "only show caches with new logs"). You'd be able to quickly and easily see the new logs. Of course, if there were five or more new logs, you'd have to click over to the cache page to be sure to see all of them, but for all the rest, you'd have it right there. (Incidentally, Geocaching.com powers that be, is it getting near time to discuss the rest of the PQ GPX updates? I'm still keeping up with the short list of needed/wanted changes requested by myself and the other PQ GPX application people I've talked to. Just let me know when to bring it back up.) [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

I pronounce CITO correctly: "SEE-toe" First, the two-syllable pronounciation is analogous to the two-syllable pronounciation of "NATO" Second, the leading C is pronounced the same way it is in many CI- words (CITY, CIDER, CINGULAR) Finally, the I could have several pronounciations. You could have a short I sound, like the CI in CITY (sih-toe). You could have a long I, like the CI in CIDER (sie-toe). You could also have a long-E-like sound, like the sounds used in Spanish or Japanese(?), which would give the see-toe pronounciation. The short I form yields a pronounciation that doesn't quite roll off your tongue (not to mention, it sounds rather close to "sicko"). The long I form turns it into a harsh-sounding pair of two accented syllables. The long-E-like form, on the other hand, yields a prounciation that is very similar to "GEO" both in rhythm (SEE-toe, JEE-oh) and vowel sound (long E, long O; long E, long O). This makes "CITO" a drop-in replacement for "GEO". Anyway, the CITO(SEE-toe)/GEO parallel means that you can very simply and pleasantly replace the GEO prefix on all kinds of common terms. If you're going to a Cache In Trash Out event, you're going to a citocache (SEE-toe-cache). If you're going off to cache with the intention of cleaning up the area, you're citocaching (SEE-toe-caching). It "Just Fits" Oh, incidentally, I asked Agent's text-to-speech function... "/msg ClayJar C-I-T-O is pronounced CITO"... and the winner is: "SEE-toe" [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

Well, I can't make it there for a Tuesday, so I guess you'll just have to hold up the "Louisiana's cachers had a crawfish boil at a primitive campsite, so *there*!" end of it all, JZ. [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

The logs are not, in fact, deleted. They are actually archived, but only the GCc folks can see them. [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

There is already a place for hints, and if you're a generous and intelligent cacher, you can use the hints area to add multi-level hints. Changing the way you encrypt logs would be a big change that would confuse a lot of users. Additionally, changing it to UBB-style (HTML/XML-like) tags would be rather pointless. Consider it this way, '[' is shorthand for "<crypt>", and ']' is shorthand for "</crypt>". Nothing is gained by using the long form. As for putting the "decrypt" link right in the middle of the text... that will only make it less usable. It would probably be better right by the log header (analogous to the location of the hint decrypt link), but that's just a style detail. Instead of graphics to place inside a cache describing it when people stumble on it, why not do a whole "This is a geocache..." page that explains what a cache is and where to find geocaching.com? It could look, I don't know, something like... um... these. Oh, and instead of a graphic for a sticker (so you can print running, bleaching paper stickers), how about they make really good quality plastic stickers? It would be really useful if they had two sizes... something for regular caches, and another for microcaches. Now *that* would promote uniformity *and* quality! OH! One more thing! They could add an "Edit or Delete Message" button to the forums. It could look something like an open folder with a pencil's eraser over it. Then people could use it to edit their posts instead of posting a bunch of consecutive messages. Yeah, *that* would be cool. [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

quote:Originally posted by smithdw:Download http://gpsbabel.sourceforge.net/ and use it to convert the .loc files you saved from the cache pages to .gpx file. Then Watcher will load them in using Merge. Incorrect. Watcher is made to load Pocket Query GPX files. GPX files converted from other sources, including .loc files, do not have all the required information in them to be used by Watcher. This is a design decision with Watcher. I don't charge for it because it's only useful to Geocaching.com paid members. It's my way of supporting the site. (Of course, with all the time and effort I've put into Watcher, I am very grateful anytime a generous cacher uses the Watcher Tip Jar link at the bottom of the main window. I don't get rich, but I get to go out to a movie or buy more trinkets every once in a while, and a happy coder is a productive coder.) quote:Originally posted by Cacheola Crew:Is there any reason why some of my lists are coming out double spaced with the N and W coordinates on separate lines, and some of my lists came out single spaced with the coordinates all on one line? You apparently are right around the limits of what will fit on a line. If you turned off a column, you'd probably fit without a problem, but if you want all the columns, about all you can do is try changing your printer's margins (the reverse of the Term Paper Principle). There's nothing in the code currently to line-lock the coordinates, but if it's something that you'd really find useful, it can probably be added *fairly* easily. I'd just have to figure out where to put such options. Probably, I'd need a new preferences window, if I were to add such things. Anyway, if you really would find it useful, feel free to suggest it. brdad usually handles the suggestions for me (so I don't have to try to remember them), so you can tell him in the chat. [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

quote:Originally posted by topdog01:How about adding a stat on the Users stat page to show how many first finds they have had? How would you determine this? If you used the log ID, you could see the first find logged online, but I know I sometimes find myself *well* over a thousand miles away... If I'm first finder there, I almost certainly won't be first find logger. You obviously can't use just the date, since you can't tell which of the five people to log it that date was the first. Also, there is no time information to use on the logs, since all the logs on the existing 63,071 active caches (plus all the archived caches) exist without times. Obviously, you can't get everyone to go back and add times to all their logs, but that wouldn't matter anyway, since sometimes finds come within minutes (or seconds) so everyone would need very accurately set precise watches (and the memory or notes to go with them) in order to use time as the first find key. Of course, even if it you were starting Geocaching.com from scratch today (thanks to your time machine), and even if you *could* issue every new member an official Geocaching.com atomic clock wrist watch (with 16 MB of memory for timestamp and label storage), what would keep Moe Bettor (the lazy, cheating cacher) from logging a bunch of caches with times before the first finder in order to inflate his lying stats? I suppose, like "the one that got away", first finds will simply have to remain the pride of the one telling the story. [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

I'd like to think that, if nothing else does, Watcher makes subscribing worth its weight in golden McToys. I'd subscribe just to support the site, but that's *quite* the moot point considering what I get out of it. [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

Incidentally, I got back in touch with Dan, and he looked into it and found a small buglet in EasyGPS that had slipped through last time. A *completely* fixed EasyGPS should be out soon. My apologies for the continued delay. I should've caught the buglet earlier, but since I don't use EasyGPS, it slipped my mind. (I have a Meridian and can copy the files directly.) Anyway, the workaround is currently still required, but it should become unnecessary soon. (Oh, and if you ever need to ask a Watcher question, there's almost always someone in the geocaching chat who can either help or pass it on.) [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

quote:Originally posted by CalcMan:...or if there is some other program that might be able to do the same thing. gpsbabel is an *excellent* program, but if you're running Windows, be sure to check out Watcher, too. Watcher fills a completely different niche than gpsbabel (in fact, you generally use both), and you just might find it useful. Basically, to oversimplify to the very brink of heresy, Watcher is a GPX viewer that turns your GPX files into "Geocaching.com on steroids on your desktop." (Oh, and yes, Watcher lets you merge... it also sorts, filters, shows, tags, browses, notes, saves, and... um... I can't remember it all. ) [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

Why on earth would Geocaching.com create a new cache type that would never be seen?!? If you want one *that* desperately, just make a new cache, put whatever you want in it, and archive the thing. I would venture a guess and say that less than 1% of all geocachers have "time capsule caches". If Pocket Queries, Watcher, MOCs, and all the other stuff isn't enough of a reward for supporting the site, hey, it's your loss. In the meantime, might I suggest that the best place for private, non-viewable time capsule cache pages would be a safe deposit box of fire safe? Be sure to print with archival inks on acid-free paper. (Oh, and let me know how well it holds up... I've often wondered just what container style to use for a rarely-visited cache, but this would be taking the concept to the extreme.) [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

Once cache attributes are implemented, you'll have something to use to see things like that. In the meantime, where are you? You don't have a "Location" in your profile, so I can't point you in any particular direction (there are some of us who know a lot about our local hydros). Anyway, I think I'm going to run a new set of Pocket Queries so I can use Watcher to seek out and watch the new hydrocaches. [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

quote:Originally posted by Jonathan Day:I was just woundering if it would be possible to show a scorecard on this website showing which people have found the most caches, and which caches have the most visits. I would be shocked if this ever happened, since it has been strongly noted that geocaching isn't about the numbers. Some people want toplists and such, and those requests have been routinely denied (and with quite understandable reasons). quote:There could also be one showing the least visited caches. This would be helpful in determining which caches are potentially the hardest to find. If I knew for instance that a cache 1000 miles away had never been visited I might well make the effort to go and find it, whilst one nearby that is visited regularly is not quite as attractive.If you become a paid subscribing member of geocaching.com, you can get "Pocket Queries", which are files e-mailed to you with up to 500 caches each (you can request up to five per day). Once you get those (in GPX format), you can load them into a program (say, Watcher ) and look for those hard caches you want to find. I use Watcher for that all the time (well, when I'm not driving 20 hours to an event cache or sitting home slinging code on Watcher). [[[ ClayJar Networks ]]] Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System