Pocket Query Generation Problems

[+Thot]

At least as a short-term fix, I would gladly trade having to re-check some boxes in exchange for an improvement in the reliability and timeliness of the PQ files that I actually need.

 

I agree with that. Turn off all pocket queries after they run and let the user recheck the ones s/he needs once a week.

 

Oops, should have read more of the thread before replying -- the rest of my reply snipped

Edited August 10, 2005 by Thot

[+the hermit crabs]

Then subscribe to the 'insta-notify' for disable/enable and archive/unarchive. 

 

--Marky

Where does one sign up for 'insta-notify' ?

 

http://www.geocaching.com/notify/

 

(edit: insta-notify is still in beta, so they're still ironing the kinks out, but it appears to be pretty good so far)

Edited August 10, 2005 by the hermit crabs

[CoyoteRed]

If you've automated the handling of your PQ e-mails, it's simply a matter of going to your Pocket Query page at least once a week to re-check the boxes manually for the following week's desired queries.

Manually doing something is counter to automating something, isn't it?

 

If we're going to have to manually go and check the days we want each of our queries to run every week that's a very kludgy way of doing things. Manually automating is an oxymoron.

 

Take away the reason I have to run so many queries and I'd be happy with doing the clicky thing whenever I need a fix. Otherwise, the system demands that if I'm to have as complete and fresh of data as I desire I have to do it the way I'm doing it.

 

I would have never considered breaking the system in the hopes folks will fall by the wayside as a "fix."

[+StarBrand]

As I can easily get specific PQs within minutes of my request, I thought I would chime in here.

 

I just run a PQ 1 time with the specific data I want just before going out and I always get it fast. Seems to me that the problem is that many folks are trying to get all 5 PQs each day with a regular schedule. People really need to ask themselves if it is all THAT important to get all that info daily. Maybe some day but right now it just isn't happening.

 

Just an idea.

[CoyoteRed]

People really need to ask themselves if it is all THAT important to get all that info daily.

"THAT important" is relative.

 

Is it important that I have the log entry every one refers to that gives coords are much more accurate that the listed ones? When we've been on-site for an hour already and we're ready to refer to the hint and logs, you bet.

 

Is it important to be able to use the system as designed? You bet.

[+LaPaglia]

People really need to ask themselves if it is all THAT important to get all that info daily.

"THAT important" is relative.

 

Is it important that I have the log entry every one refers to that gives coords are much more accurate that the listed ones? When we've been on-site for an hour already and we're ready to refer to the hint and logs, you bet.

 

Is it important to be able to use the system as designed? You bet.

Then there is no problem. This is a design change. Its also a Temp one so its not big deal. Don't fear change, embrace it. Live with it. Learn to love it. In other words relax he says its a temporary change.

 

No good dead goes unpunished.

[+Thot]

If we're going to have to manually go and check the days we want each of our queries to run every week that's a very kludgy way of doing things.

It's obvious that different people's routines are different, but it doesn't seem to me rechecking the PQs you want once a week is onerous. If a person caches regularly they have to sign on regularly to log their finds anyway, and if they don't cache regularly it isn't obvious why they need frequent updates.

 

If it's the idea of having to check all those little squares and waiting for the system to respond after checking each one, that is kludgey and could certainly become annoying. If this is the objection perhaps gc.com could add a block to each row that says something like "Mark all days"

[Jeremy]

Let him get it out of his system. He doesn't get Pocket Queries anyway since he is a not a Premium Member.

[+Thot]

No good dead goes unpunished.

But, fortunately there aren't many good deads.

[CoyoteRed]

Don't fear change, embrace it.

Yeah, I bet you'd appreciate hearing that if you power got turned off or your ISP throttled your service because of their problem.

 

"I'm sorry, Mr. LaPaglia, but we're going to have to cut your service back to dial-up speeds because we didn't put the infrastructure in place to handle everyone that signed up. So sorry, but look at this as a simple change in the service you are paying for."

[CoyoteRed]

Let him get it out of his system. He doesn't get Pocket Queries anyway since he is a not a Premium Member.

You forgot the similey.

 

...or did you?

[Jeremy]

Yes. I missed a smiley. I assumed it was inferred by my last message to you. Obviously it is important to you even though you don't get Pocket Queries. Thanks for the thoughtful input.

[+Allen_L]

While CoyoteRed isn't a premium member, isn't Sissy-n-CR which he is a part of, a premium member?

[+DomHeknows]

 

My PQ-to-GSAK functions are automated and I never see the mail the PQ is wrapped in.  I'm sure there are plenty of other folks in the same boat.  Few will ever get the message they are about to have their PQs turned off automatically.

 

Where's the popcorn as this is going to get ugly real quick.

Took me 4 days to realise this - thankfully before next week.

I too load my gpx's into gsak automatically so was fortunate to spot that warning.

 

on other points, the entire UK (for example) takes about 14-15 pq's to generate for every cache (done by filtering on placed by date). If these caches were available to download on a weekly basis that would solve a lot of the uk query hits I'm sure.

 

The same goes for the ohio caches - about 7 pq's will get the entire state and I'm sure there are quite a few ohio cachers who download this information.

 

The "found by me" is not an issue in gsak (not sure about cachemate/other programs) as it can be told to interoggate the logs to see if you have been posted as finding the cache. Therefore 1 gpx could be used by multiple people to be kept uptodate on the caches in their country.

 

The argument against this is do I really need all this data?

Its useful to have all the old logs to look through when going to a cache that you've never done and that is out of your normal home territory (great for travelling salesreps etc). Stats of how many caches I've done out of my state etc can easily be generated and you can also run whatever types of queries I want whenever I want, such as caches along the m6 motorway in the uk - can Groundspeak do that? NO. Can gsak with a uk set of caches? Yes.

[+Learned Gerbil]

I have one query I run on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday - they get me the local caches, and ensure that Cachemate is up-to-date on all local caches if I go out o na weekend including UK bankholidays (which tend to be Fridays or Mondays). If I could get this info as GPX download on demand with a single click, fine - but I can't the PQ system makes me ask for it every day in case I need it.

 

Now for the fix - What am I meant to click if the PQs have never arrived here? I have the Thursday and Sunday ones, but the two most important ones, do not appear to have run. What is the user solution in this situation?

[+Thot]

The "found by me" is not an issue in gsak (not sure about cachemate/other programs) as it can be told to interoggate the logs to see if you have been posted as finding the cache.

I'm not sure what you mean. Unless I'm missing something PQ's only contain the last few logs. If you mean GSAK keeps/collects logs this only goes back to when you began using GSAK or the last time you had a system crash that lost your history.

[+beejay&esskay]

The "found by me" is not an issue in gsak (not sure about cachemate/other programs) as it can be told to interoggate the logs to see if you have been posted as finding the cache. Therefore 1 gpx could be used by multiple people to be kept uptodate on the caches in their country.

But PQs have your own logs, no matter how far back, because they are specifically run for you. If you have a general PQ file for the whole state, this wouldn't be the case.

 

But I think the overriding issue for Jeremy is that he doesn't want to make it too easy to develop your own independent data base of caches. Offering whole state PQ files would be counterproductive for him.

[CoyoteRed]

You could refer to many of my PQs as "GSAK Maintenance Updates" as that is exactly what they are, they are keeping the database up to date. GSAK is a Godsend because of the complexity of Jeremy's scheme with the PQs.

 

There is a certain territory we like, but it's kind of complicated to get in a PQ, but here goes:

• 200 miles radius of our home.
  
• Along the East Coast down to around Daytona.
  
• All of South Carolina.
  
• Western North Carolina.
  

If I'm keeping up (semi)weekly and because I can pare those down with only the ones changed in the last 7 days, I can do that in 7 PQs. If it weren't for the "changed in last 7 days" option it would take 12 PQs.

 

In order to use only 12 PQs (or 7) I had to do a LOT of tweaking of the center points, radii, and what to include and exclude. As a result I get very few duplicate caches in my PQs.

 

The reason it takes so many is because of the 500 cache limit.

 

The reason I have to continually pull queries is because I want logs beyond the 5 log limit.

 

The method I use is not intuitive, so I'm sure few have their queries as lean as I do. I'm short there is a lot of waste going on in the system.

 

In short, the PQ system is a victim of it's own user unfriendliness and restrictions.

 

Let's consider how the system is being used by some folks. Every time someone complains about their scheduled PQ not running you'll have 2 or 3 that pipe up, "I run mine on demand and get them within minutes!" Okay, what if you did away with scheduled runs altogether and completely re-thought the system?

 

Here's how I would do it thinking it through from a user's prespective. I want to be able to look up a town anywhere and use that as a center point, I want to be able to set a reasonable radius, filter out things I don't want, and get a file with all of the caches with all of the respective logs.

 

Yes, in order to do this it would take a major overhaul:

• The threshold of the towns to be included in the state's list would have to be lowered or better yet include all places and use a search to narrow it down.
  
• The 500 cache limit would have to go away. You could make the ceiling 2000 and still have plenty.
  
• Include all of the logs so you're not missing information. Considering we are always hearing about "fresh data," only 5 logs can get you incomplete data.
  

This would be more user friendly and reduce the number of PQs pulled every week.

 

Another nice feature would be a day-of-the-week PQ server load graph so folks can stay on top of which days their PQs might take a while to run.

 

Also, I wouldn't do away with the present system, but continue with it as is and periodically do the automatic de-selecting to keep the schedule lean.

[CoyoteRed]

Offering whole state PQ files would be counterproductive for him.

I'm not so sure.

 

If someone tried to create another site by pulling cache from this one there would be enough backlash that the new site would crumble. Jeremy knows this first hand from when he tried taking over the letterboxing listing.

 

Additionally, there is little that would prevent that happening now. I personally have a database of over 5k caches. I could create a site and list them all. I could just upload my GSAK backup file somewhere (at 32 megs ) and let anyone and everyone download it to their heart's content.

 

It just wouldn't make a lot of sense to do that though. If I did, I'd have to continually make sure it's up-to-date or the users would be jumping all over my behind for stale data and sending them off on wild goose chases for archived caches.

 

No, the most obvious abuse of the system would be sending PQs to an email address that is actually a talk list. Only one person need be a member and everyone on the list gets the caches. Of course, there's the issue with the personal found information, but if the members of the list don't care, then they don't care.

 

So, no, I don't think that would be an issue.

[+Team DEMP]

Offering whole state PQ files would be counterproductive for him.

I'm not so sure.

I agree. If there was a NJ and NY PQ generated daily, I'd use that and never run a PQ except when I was traveling, though I'd pull that state's generated PQ and not need to run one there.

 

Using GSAK I can filter to my hearts content so it's not an issue for me at all.

 

For those of us with the proper tools, we could eliminate having to run individual PQs (or at a minimum severely reduce them) and help everyone out.

[+webscouter.]

I still think if there is an issue with someone pulling down the whole database that most cachers would be satisfied with being able to get all the caches in a 100 mile radius of major cities. Set a population size to get 100 queries for the US. The circles don't overlap so you wouldn't get a complete database but as most folks live near a major city and the 100 mile radius would allow them to get their home area covered.

[+Team DEMP]

I don't think a "pulling down the entire database" should be a huge concern. I could do it now if I wanted with a planned approach. I think it might be easier if states were done as individual PQs, and maybe some other countries outside the US, and it could definitely have a positive impact on the process.

 

I think there could be a weekly Full PQ per state and a daily "What's new in the last 7 days" PQ or even last 24 hours PQ. The daily ones would be much smaller and again quick to generate.

 

But, it doesn't seem like it's going to happen, so it's rather a waste of breath to talk about it.

[CoyoteRed]

But, it doesn't seem like it's going to happen, so it's rather a waste of breath to talk about it.

I don't know. It's good mental exercise and it might spark a thought that would be easy to implement.

 

Cause really, how hard would it be to add a single section in the file that generates the state page that gave paying member access to a daily generated set of PQs? When building the set start off with the whole state. If it generates a result larger than, say, 3000 caches break in two generating a northern half and southern half, or eastern and western; what ever makes sense. Include all of the logs and you'd be set. Like you said above, let GSAK do whatever filtering you want.

 

Additionally, you could have the whole query or just the ones that have changed in the past 7 days to save bandwidth.

 

That's not to say this would preclude a canned query centered around a city.

[+CompuCash]

If you've automated

I would have never considered breaking the system in the hopes folks will fall by the wayside as a "fix."

 

they are not trying to make people fall by the wayside -

 

they are trying to clean out a system that has no other way to get cleaned out.

 

as long as you have been here caching I am quite sure you know of several people who no longer cache. Did they run PQ's? What is now happening with their PQ's? Still being generated? Most likely. So how do they get purged?

 

This sounds like a very reasonable solution to me.

 

all you have to do is reactivate your PQ for the next week a couple of times.

We are getting notified and we know what to do and will likely only have to do it a few times.

 

I don't see any other way to purge the system of un-used and un-wanted PQ requests - do you? He could delete every one on Dec 31 ad 11:59 PM so that we have to rebuild each one every year - don't think that is a reasonable solution either. This was an extension of one of the suggestions I proposed in a previous thread - don't recall if you participated in that discussion or not. Actually this is better than what I had thought of. OK if you have a lot of PQ's and especially if you do the GSAK auto thing it could be a pain for a while.

 

cc\

[+Chris n Maria]

As far as I can see getting rid of the 500 limit would reduce the number of PQS dramatically. It takes me 14 queries to download the whole of the UK.

 

If I could download them all with one query this would only need to be run once a month or so combined with a weekly "whats changed" query, the load would be significantly reduced.

[+Team DEMP]

they are trying to clean out a system that has no other way to get cleaned out.

 

as long as you have been here caching I am quite sure you know of several people who no longer cache. Did they run PQ's? What is now happening with their PQ's? Still being generated? Most likely. So how do they get purged?

One would hope, if a cacher is no longer active and therefore not a current premium member, that their PQs are no longer permitted to run. If not, well there's the first place the developers should look to "fix" something. Otherwise, anyone that's been gone for more then 12 months shouldn't have a PQ running since they aren't an active premium member.

 

The real "fix" here is either a much more optimized way of running the PQs to reduce load on the system or a much broader rethinking of PQs like canned generic statewide PQs which can be run and multiple (probably the vast majority of folks) can all access. Focusing on the US, that would be a whopping 50 PQs per day and we could suck down the state(s) we cared about.

[+Tharagleb]

One would hope, if a cacher is no longer active and therefore not a current premium member, that their PQs are no longer permitted to run. If not, well there's the first place the developers should look to "fix" something. Otherwise, anyone that's been gone for more then 12 months shouldn't have a PQ running since they aren't an active premium member.

If you are a PM then you are active, you have been paying. You do not have to log onto the web site at all to be active. You can get your PQs and cache using GSAK and never get on GC.com.

 

If you stop paying then you are no longer a PM and your PQs will no longer run.

[+sbell111]

If you are a PM then you are active, you have been paying. You do not have to log onto the web site at all to be active. You can get your PQs and cache using GSAK and never get on GC.com.

 

If you stop paying then you are no longer a PM and your PQs will no longer run.

That is not exactly correct. You will still need to either go to your PQ page or click on the email link to reactivate them. Otherwise, you won't get them next week.

[+jslagle]

Not a frequent poster here, but I feel I have to chime in.

 

I too run everything automated. Long ago when I realized that the PQ's likely put a load on the system, I trimmed all of my runs down to only run weekly in areas I only visit less frequently (I would do bi-weekly, or monthly if given that option for some of the areas). The ones I run regurally I split. Within 50 miles of my home, I run a "new caches" 4 days a week, and a "total dump" the other 3. The reason being that logs are helpful when searching. If they weren't why would people want logs to begin with? If you gave me the option of getting ALL the logs in the last 7 days, I could eaisly get away with running the full dump weekly, and the new every other day.

 

If you could make the notify feature send me a GPX, I could cut it down even less.

 

Put, I spent over an hour honing the runs based on when I went out, and when PQ's came. I ran the ones that didn't get in till later a day early (I suspect I'm not the only one doing it as Thurs is a busy day). I scheduled the farther away ones earlier in the week so I had time to plan trips.

 

Now, all that work is gone because I didn't find out about this until after it disabled a bunch of my days, and I can no longer see what days they DID run on.

 

I'll be honest, and I bet I'm not the only one. I do my best to not visit the site often. It's one of the primary reasons I'm a premium member. At the moment, the only time I usually visit the site is to log caches, and if you gave me an automated way to do that (hint hint), I wouldn't visit at all. Now, this does cut down on your eyeballs, but it surely cuts down the load more then the payment for those eyeballs.

 

The only thing you've done is inconvience a whole slew of users who previously only visited to log - you make us come on to reenable PQ's on a regular basis. If I have to come on daily to reenable PQ's to know what days they ran, I might as well just delete and recreate them to get them NOW. How long till someone develops a tool to do just that? Then the problem will surely get worse.

 

My suggestions:

 

Keep a log of when the PQ's ran - if you gave me a button to click to restore my PQ's to how they were once a week, I'd do it. But that doesn't exist.

 

Make the notify emails include GPX's. This will kill a lot of the "new ones around me" PQ's.

 

Consider allowing more then 500 results from a PQ - if you're walking the DB, you might as well keep walking rather then start all over.

 

Perhaps make it so you can only run a smaller number of BIG queries, and more smaller ones - that way you don't get the guy dumping his whole country every day.

 

That is all.

 

Jason Slagle

Unix nerd, and annoyed PQ user.

[+Xangxa]

 

My PQ-to-GSAK functions are automated and I never see the mail the PQ is wrapped in.  I'm sure there are plenty of other folks in the same boat.  Few will ever get the message they are about to have their PQs turned off automatically.

 

Where's the popcorn as this is going to get ugly real quick.

Took me 4 days to realise this - thankfully before next week.

I too load my gpx's into gsak automatically so was fortunate to spot that warning.

 

...

The argument against this is do I really need all this data?

Its useful to have all the old logs to look through when going to a cache that you've never done and that is out of your normal home territory (great for travelling salesreps etc). Stats of how many caches I've done out of my state etc can easily be generated and you can also run whatever types of queries I want whenever I want, such as caches along the m6 motorway in the uk - can Groundspeak do that? NO. Can gsak with a uk set of caches? Yes.

Why wasn't anything posted in the "Geocaching Announcements" forum? I have a subscription to that forum, and would have known if that communication channel was used.

 

I have automated email processing and didn't get the message until I dug through the forums to find out what the heck is going on with my PQ's!

 

Also, there's nothing on the home page. But the advertisement for premium membership in the left hand banner still promotes PQ's as a benefit. Shouldn't there be a "we're experiencing technical difficulty" notice under the "Why should I pay for membership?"

 

If I buy a burger at Hardee's they shouldn't take my money and then say "Oh sorry, we're running low on hamburger. So although you paid for a quarter-pounder, you're only going to get 3 ounces. You'll have to come up here and manually request the additional ounces at 5 minute intervals."

Edited August 18, 2005 by Xangxa

[+sbell111]

Why wasn't anything posted in the "Geocaching Announcements" forum? I have a subscription to that forum, and would have known if that communication channel was used.

Well, you got an email about it. Should I send you a letter to let you know that I might telephone you?

If I buy a burger at Hardee's they shouldn't take my money and then say "Oh sorry, we're running low on hamburger.  So although you paid for a quarter-pounder, you're only going to get 3 ounces.  You'll have to come up here and manually request the additional ounces at 5 minute intervals."

That's a bad analogy. (Also, please keep all analogies 'coffee bean' related.) This is more like if I stopped at Starbucks every morning and the coffeegirl already knew what I wanted, so she gave it to me without an order. The other day, she handed me a piece of paper with my coffee, but I didn't read it. This morning, I show up and she's gone. The guy that's there doesn't know my order, so I have to ask for it.

[+Marcie/Eric]

Alright what the heck. I am paying like, 7 cents a day or something for my darn PQs and they don't freaking work?

 

Ok. I'm joking. I run mine on Wednesday and Thursday every week. I'm thinking, now that I have the notify thingy, i'm going to tri down to once every two weeks. Maybe less.

 

I got the info in my PQs that ran yesterday. I had to enable mine for today, which I did, recieved, and now feel dumb after reading this thread. I'm such a greedy SOB.

 

I want my.. I want my.. I want my Pocket-Q.... I want my...

 

So thanks for the heads up guys, and the obvious conncern with this dilema. It will get solved in due course. Some of us PQ junkies that get them and don't use them by the time another one comes (me) will have to cut back.

 

Thanks to Elias, and the rest of the GC staff.

[Jeremy]

On the busiest day of the week, Thursday, the PQ generator finished for the day at 6pm. So it has alleviated many of the existing issues until we can have a better solution available.

[+Lil Devil]

Whoa that's a big difference. However this first week the data is inconclusive because I suspect there are many people who *do* still want their PQs but haven't realized they need to re-enable them. Tomorrow we should start seeing new threads like "why did my PQ get disabled?"

 

It will take another 2 or 3 weeks for the system to settle down.

 

Edit: missed a word there.

Edited August 19, 2005 by Lil Devil

[Jeremy]

I also started the new system mid-day Thursday last week, so it isn't a true test. We've been running alternate tests through the office and with some additional hiring help we should be able to streamline the process further by putting a spoiler on the back of it or something. Fingers crossed.

[Jeremy]

Yikes. that sounded like market-speak. Oh well.

[+Postman Pat]

Just a thought if you run a pq by state but only send and deal with the ones that have changed in the last 7 (?) days or so would that reduce the load as everone seems to use a program like GASK to maintain a data base, It would only need to run the query once * 50 states plus states in other countries but only dealing with changed caches which then gets updated in GASK or similar prog of course you would need a seeding file (updated Monthly or when demand is low ) with all the caches to start with .but then update file would only need updateing weekly would that reduce the load on the system?

It would also help with the along a given route as You could get each states file deleting the ones you didn't need to trim sizes.

It could also be set up to send the update file when required on a weekly basis as most people get out and about on weekend it could be run and sent fridays or when requested

[+Raine]

Jeremy, can we lower it and put spinners on the thing as well?

 

One question I have from reading a post above.. why would someone do a PQ for the entire UK?

[Jeremy]

Welcome raine. I suppose we'll have to compete to be the smarmiest Groundspeak poster now.

 

Let's pimp it.

[+Raine]

If that's the case, I've got a LOT of work ahead of me []

[+CompassCollector]

Call me crazy, but it just doesn't seem reasonable to me that Jeremy and Elias would take an action like this unless it was necessary. I have a hunch that he doesn't like pissing off his customers.

 

Having said that, I am annoyed by the situation. It seems to me that certain other steps could have been taken with regard to notifying members of the changes, and the reasons for them. For example, I also use GSAK and download my PQ messages without reading them, so I missed the announcements included at the top of the pocket queries. When I started missing scheduled PQs, I went to my PQ page, I noticed that several were turned off, and then I came here.

 

It would have been nice to (1) have had a separate email notice go out to all PQ recipients, and (2) had a notice posted on the PQ page itself.

 

All in all, though, I understand the problem and the reasons for the temporary change. I look forward to the resumption of regular service, and I expect and hope that Jeremy and Elias are reading the messages in this forum and taking some of the suggestions for improving PQs seriously. The ideas here are essentially the raw output of a brainstorming session, and there has to be one or two really stellar ideas that could possibly be implemented.

 

In the meantime, I'll just remember that some small measure of advance planning is required in order to get the PQs for the areas I expect to be in during the upcoming week, and as far as that goes, it's not a huge inconvenience.

 

Best of luck, Jeremy and Elias, and please, keep us up to date on developments.

Edited August 20, 2005 by CompassCollector

[+Tzoid]

I have a set of PQs running regularly to get all caches of my region of interest (ie the small country of Norway). These are basically the same queries filtered on date. I know a lot of cachers in my area are doing the same thing. So in effect we are all running the same queries more or less every day, making the database redo the queries all the time.

 

Heres a suggestion:

 

1) Once a week, generate a GPX for each state/country containing all logs made in the region the last seven days. Not limited to max 500.

 

2) make the file available for download over http and/or ftp.

 

3) keep the history of the files available for download.

 

I think this would lessen the burden on the database server and pocket query generator as people would not need to run the same queries all the time.

 

What do you think?

[+Thrak]

I too have not received any PQ info in my email. I don't run regularly scheduled queries but when I run a "run it and delete it" type of query I was getting the zip file in my mail right away. The last few I have run over the past week have failed to send me a zip file at all. Not real useful when I want to put the info into GSAK and use it in my GPSr. (I just ran a query a few minutes ago and, once again, I didn't receive the file in my mail.)

 

I would like to second (or third or fourth or whatever) the request to have a drop down list or some other form of entering coordinates for the center of the query. It seems pretty silly to have to manually enter my home coordinates each time rather than being able to select "home" or something from a list. The site has my home coordinates filed so why do I need to enter the darn things over and over?

[+robert]

I too have not received any PQ info in my email. I don't run regularly scheduled queries but when I run a "run it and delete it" type of query I was getting the zip file in my mail right away. The last few I have run over the past week have failed to send me a zip file at all. Not real useful when I want to put the info into GSAK and use it in my GPSr. (I just ran a query a few minutes ago and, once again, I didn't receive the file in my mail.)

What happens when you click the "Preview" link next to the query?

[+Lil Devil]

Did you check your spam filters?

[+Lagoonfreek]

Please note that my reply to this topic is done with out reviewing the previous notes due to the lack of time this evening.

 

Instead of complaining about the new pocket query "feature" I would like to suggest that the GC.com powers that be make the following changes:

 

1 - Add a link to the "My Geocaching" page for Premium members to download a GPX file for their state. Update these files once a week.

 

2 - As conditions warrent (i.e. file size) allow geocachers in large states to download PQs by area code. This would not be hard to impliment as the Search page already has this function but currently is NOT offered on the Pocket Query setup page.

 

3 - Allow all premium members access to the new GPX files for each state through the default state page accessable through the users "My Geocaching" page.

 

4 - Increase the allowable "hits" of geocaches to 1000 instead of the current 500

 

5 - Allow the user a new option to send the pocket query file once a month. Currently pocket queries allow once each day or once a week as the only frequency options.

 

While the current "feature" of having each geocacher checkmark each time they want their pocket queries run will work for now, I believe that implimenting any of the above suggestions will help improve this part of the geocaching experience.

[markandlynn]

Whoa that's a big difference. However this first week the data is inconclusive because I suspect there are many people who *do* still want their PQs but haven't realized they need to re-enable them. Tomorrow we should start seeing new threads like "why did my PQ get disabled?"

 

It will take another 2 or 3 weeks for the system to settle down.

 

Edit: missed a word there.

In my case back from two weeks holiday to find them turned off

[+Thrak]

I too have not received any PQ info in my email. I don't run regularly scheduled queries but when I run a "run it and delete it" type of query I was getting the zip file in my mail right away. The last few I have run over the past week have failed to send me a zip file at all. Not real useful when I want to put the info into GSAK and use it in my GPSr. (I just ran a query a few minutes ago and, once again, I didn't receive the file in my mail.)

What happens when you click the "Preview" link next to the query?

The query works fine online - I just don't get the zip file in my email. I've checked filters, etc. I can't find anything that has changed since August 9th which is the last time I got a zip file sent after running a PQ. Since that date it hasn't worked for me.

[+beejay&esskay]

I too have not received any PQ info in my email. I don't run regularly scheduled queries but when I run a "run it and delete it" type of query I was getting the zip file in my mail right away. The last few I have run over the past week have failed to send me a zip file at all. Not real useful when I want to put the info into GSAK and use it in my GPSr. (I just ran a query a few minutes ago and, once again, I didn't receive the file in my mail.)

What happens when you click the "Preview" link next to the query?

The query works fine online - I just don't get the zip file in my email. I've checked filters, etc. I can't find anything that has changed since August 9th which is the last time I got a zip file sent after running a PQ. Since that date it hasn't worked for me.

Does your PQ display show that it has run when requested?

[+Tharagleb]

If you are a PM then you are active, you have been paying. You do not have to log onto the web site at all to be active.  You can get your PQs and cache using GSAK and never get on GC.com.

 

If you stop paying then you are no longer a PM and your PQs will no longer run.

That is not exactly correct. You will still need to either go to your PQ page or click on the email link to reactivate them. Otherwise, you won't get them next week.

You are correct.

 

I believe when I wrote this I was either unaware of the recent PQ deactivations or was just talking about the way it used to be.