Notification Service (beta)

9.4k · July 29, 2005

[GEO] Notify: FotoMoto found Bridlecrest Trail Delight (Traditional Cache)

This is an automated message from Geocaching

Location: Washington, United States

9.2mi E (14.7km E)

FotoMoto found Bridlecrest Trail Delight (Traditional Cache) at 7/29/2005

Log Date: 7/29/2005

Drove around a little while 'til I found just the right spot to park. Then a quick walk on the trail and a short search. Thanks!

Visit this log entry at the below address:

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LU...e3-13752d547dd8

Visit Traditional Cache

Bridlecrest Trail Delight

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...47-b5203c7464bd

Profile for FotoMoto:

http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=3d...45-dea349ac8ab8

Manage Notify Lists:

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

July 29, 2005

Thanks Jeremy

3.9k · July 29, 2005

Edit: redundant entry

Edited July 29, 2005 by Moose Mob

2.6k · July 29, 2005

Just received my first notification. This is great, thank you.

July 30, 2005

I don't want to be picky but does it need such a humungous space to enter the distance . How many characters does it take to type 80?

3.8k · July 30, 2005

Actually it is probably nice for those who don't hunt paperless or use Pocket Queries.
Of course they most likely would not be Premium members, but just maybe they are.

Now they can just get an email that a new cache is nearby and put in on their to-do list.

Also will work great for those who plan ahead all week of what caches they want to hunt and have a notification setup for disabled caches in the area.

Last minute check of email and you would easily see that that one cache you was going to go 10 miles out of the way to grab just got disabled.

Or better yet, have it setup to send an SMS message to your cell if one is disabled.

I like it.

Thanks,

Kenneth

Just to clarify, the notification service is a premium feature, so those that have access to notification will have access to Pocket Queries as well.

"The Geocaching Insta-Notify service is a Groundspeak Premium Member feature."

I like it, too.

July 30, 2005

I'm very excited about the potential of this feature! Something I'd love to see is the option to ge a "short" version of the notify. This would be the one I'd want to send to my phone. It wouldn't need any links or the "This is an automated message..." bit. An example might be:

Subject: [GEO] Notify: New Published

GCKD91 Little Road in Town by rightseatsis

(1/1) Trad/Small

N 37 44.786 W 122 25.693

37m SE

Thanks for the new feature(s)!

Edited July 30, 2005 by Woof!

2.1k · July 30, 2005

Just wondering if there are any negative effects of deleting a 'listing published' log type. Don't really want to 'try and find out'.

Jeremy?

9.4k · July 30, 2005

Just wondering if there are any negative effects of deleting a 'listing published' log type. Don't really want to 'try and find out'.

Jeremy?

Nothing happens.

1.1k · July 30, 2005

I am very excited by this new feature. It has a lot of potential. And since it is under construction, I would like to add some constructive suggestions for the programmers:

1. Please give us an option to have a gpx files attached to the message that represents the listed information. This will reduce the ultimate load on the PQ machine because we can use this service to do updates as an alternative to PQs.

2. For selection of cache types please use the same web page components as in the PQs: checkboxes. This would be instead of a drop-down list where only one item can be selected.

3. I would love to see “Listing Archived” added to the list of types of logs. Please. I really dislike hunting for caches that just got archived.

4. Another enhancement would be a checkbox under "Point of Origin" to always use the home coordinates out of the profile. I suspect that the lat/lon in the editboxes are my home, but it would be good to have it automatically use the home coords even if I change that information in my profile.

Jeremy, thanks for the work on this. I am looking forward to using it.

July 30, 2005

I agree with Hynr,

GPX file attached would be nice (I could update my GSAK right from that)

Adding Archive/Unavailable would also be very nice. I try to check before I head out, but there is always that one you miss.

Thanks for the nice new enhancement! :blink:

July 30, 2005

Subject: [GEO] Notify: New Published

GCKD91 Little Road in Town by rightseatsis

(1/1) Trad/Small

N 37 44.786 W 122 25.693

37m SE

I think this would be great addition as its the minimum you would need to go find the cache without having to log into the website to down load it. I think attaching a gpx file would make the email to big to send to someone's cell phone.

3. I would love to see “Listing Archived” added to the list of types of logs. Please. I really dislike hunting for caches that just got archived.

I agree this would be a great feature, it could be restricted only to active caches that were archived as disabled caches are already known to be unavaliable.

But even as it is, its a great feature and thanks to Jeremy and anyone else involved in producing it.

2.1k · July 30, 2005

Nothing happens.

Thanks Jeremy,

Don't know why, but I have an urge to go back and edit my original post to say "xyzzy"....

July 30, 2005

Nothing happens.

Thanks Jeremy,

Don't know why, but I have an urge to go back and edit my original post to say "xyzzy"....

Wonder how many folks around here ever went into that white house or looked into the mailbox or unlocked the grate or mapped the twisty/twisting mazes or ...? We spent many happy hours and more than a few all nighters in that game!

Jon

July 30, 2005

I had a friend that had memorized every possible outcome at every single stage of Zork. He would have us play it with him during lunch at school and we would ask all sorts of questions and he would respond in just the way the text would. Of course I would always describe rediculous requests and get the "nothing happens" response a lot. I never solved it with him and never bought the game to try it the way it was meant to be, but I did buy and solve "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" for the Apple ][ from Infocom. I keep thinking I have that in my garage somewhere and spent 7 hours digging through there today hoping I can find it for only one sole purpose: to include it as a prize in one of my DON'T PANIC caches. Wasted an entire day because of geocaching without doing the slightest thing to either find or hide a cache :blink:

2.8k · July 30, 2005

The page craps out if you select a cache type and then re-select the type option.

Steps...

1) Go to http://www.geocaching.com/notify/edit.aspx to create a new notification

2) Select Traditional in the drop-down list

3) Select Choose a Type in the drop-down list

4) Get error

And maybe I missed this, but why must you select a cache type? Why not any cache type within x miles of a zip code (as an example)?

Just wondering since you can do it by creating individual ones so it would just be a pain to select 10 miles from my zip for each cache type. The system will allow me to do it individual so I don't think doing it in 1 fell swoop should be an issue.

2k · July 31, 2005

Just got my first new cache notification...7.4 miles away.

Was all ready to drop everything and rush out to find it...until I realized it was 7.4 miles from my father's house. (I have one notify for that area since we both cache there sometimes.)

Would it be possible to add the name of the notification to the message? That way I could include the center point information and react to the e-mail accordingly.

2.3k · July 31, 2005

Just got my first new cache notification...7.4 miles away.

Was all ready to drop everything and rush out to find it...until I realized it was 7.4 miles from my father's house. (I have one notify for that area since we both cache there sometimes.)

Would it be possible to add the name of the notification to the message? That way I could include the center point information and react to the e-mail accordingly.

I hope you called your father. :laughing:

July 31, 2005

Apologies in advance if this was already suggested, but in the notification, could we have the name of the owner (Cache Name By Owner Name)?

Got my first notifications today, found one (FTF) and solved the puzzle on the other and will hit it tomorrow (hopefully another FTF).

Thanks,

Cade

July 31, 2005

Just wondering if there are any negative effects of deleting a 'listing published' log type. Don't really want to 'try and find out'.

Jeremy?

Nothing happens.

On the other hand, this log type may help the not-owners to find out who approved this cache. Thus they could avoid posting an SBA if its not really necessary...

BalkanSabranje

July 31, 2005

the Insta-Notify feature is experimental and is not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Is this a pun or why would Groundspeak have to have an email service approved?

Is there any restrictions on whom US companies are allowed to send which emails?

Please explain - I'm puzzled.

38.2k · July 31, 2005

the Insta-Notify feature is experimental and is not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Is this a pun or why would Groundspeak have to have an email service approved?

Is there any restrictions on whom US companies are allowed to send which emails?

Please explain - I'm puzzled.

Its a joke. The Food and Drug Administration does not approve e-mails.The Dept. of Housing and Urban Development does.

4.1k · July 31, 2005

the Insta-Notify feature is experimental and is not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Is this a pun or why would Groundspeak have to have an email service approved?

Is there any restrictions on whom US companies are allowed to send which emails?

Please explain - I'm puzzled.

Its a joke. The Food and Drug Administration does not approve e-mails.The Dept. of Housing and Urban Development does.

:rolleyes:

I think you meant the USDA?

It's a Joke, son, just a Joke. :laughing:

2.4k · July 31, 2005

I got an interesting series of three insta-notify emails last night and this morning, regarding a nearby newly-submitted cache.

15 hours ago: reviewer posts a note indicating that the cache is being reviewed, but he has some issues with it not following the guidelines, and so is temporarily disabling it.
14 hours ago: cache owner re-enables it (the re-enable message says "see note below", which I assume refers to a reviewer-note addressing the reviewer's concerns)
8 hours ago: new cache listing is published

It seems that the first two disable/enable logs should not have been sent to the general public, since the listing was not yet published. If it were my cache listing, I would assume that until it's published, any notes on the page would be private between me and the reviewer(s).

July 31, 2005

One word: kuhl!

I've been waiting for this feature for months! Thanks, Jeremy!

One thing that would just perfect it for me: I agree with Hynr, that a multi-select list/checkboxes for cache types would be better. That way, I can list all the types I want in a single query instead of creating multiple queries.

Thanks!

2k · July 31, 2005

If I enter an alternative address in, it doesn't seem to save it. When I click edit again on the notifier, the email address is blank.

1.1k · August 1, 2005

Another feature might be to have us select whether to receive them as they are generated (coinciding with individual actions) or as a digest at the end of the day or on some particular day of the week.

3.8k · August 1, 2005

Another feature might be to have us select whether to receive them as they are generated (coinciding with individual actions) or as a digest at the end of the day or on some particular day of the week.

that's a pocket query. :rolleyes:

the goal of the notification is to get them right away which is why it's called the Insta-Notify service.

:anibad:

August 1, 2005

If I enter an alternative address in, it doesn't seem to save it. When I click edit again on the notifier, the email address is blank.

I had this same problem yesterday. A new cache was placed in my area, and I got the e-mail sent to my main e-mail account with no problems (way kewl). However, I also had it set up to e-mail two other accounts and those accounts did not receive the e-mail for this same cache.

I went and checked my settings and found out that my alternate e-mail addresses kept getting removed once I clicked the "Edit" button. When I went back to check to see if the e-mail addresses were still there, they were not.

Thanks.

2.9k · August 1, 2005

I'm very excited about the potential of this feature! Something I'd love to see is the option to ge a "short" version of the notify. This would be the one I'd want to send to my phone. It wouldn't need any links or the "This is an automated message..." bit. An example might be:

Subject: [GEO] Notify: New Published

GCKD91 Little Road in Town by rightseatsis

(1/1) Trad/Small

N 37 44.786 W 122 25.693

37m SE

Thanks for the new feature(s)!

That would be nice as i will have these diverted to my mobile for my forthcoming holiday

2k · August 1, 2005

Feature request: When people watch a cache, you can see how many people are watching it. It would be cool to see how many people are getting notified of the new cache in the email msg.

August 1, 2005

Thanks for the new feature!!!

Kind of a hassle to setup notices for every type of cache (i.e. would be nice to have an ALL Caches type) but understand the reasoning.

I know it is still in beta test so here are a few problems

1) If you enter a Point of Origin coordinates it appears that your Home Coordinates (and Distance in Miles) is still used for the query NOT the Point of Origin coordinates.

2) The [Map It] link always draws a map of your Home Coordinates, not of the Point of Origin coordinates you enter.

The email notice you get tells you how far and in which direction the cache is from the Point of Origin even though the query to find the cache used your Home Coordinates.

To test this out I specified a Point of Origin a 300 miles from Home with a 30 mile distance. The email notices I get are for caches within 30 miles from HOME but the email says "328.2mi SW"

9.4k · August 1, 2005

Thanks for the unsolicited bug reports (but much appreciated!) and feature enhancements. I'll get a new version with initial bug fixes up today, as well as filtering out the stuff that shouldn't go out until the listing has been officially announced.

1.2k · August 1, 2005

Thanks for the unsolicited bug reports (but much appreciated!) and feature enhancements. I'll get a new version with initial bug fixes up today, as well as filtering out the stuff that shouldn't go out until the listing has been officially announced.

I got a strange bug/feature yesterday. I got an e-mail saying that the local aprover temporarily disabled a cache since it didn't meet listing guidelines (I think there was some Tylenol in the cache) But when I tried to click on the associated link to see the cache page I got the message saying that I couldn't see the page untill it was aproved. The cache isn't mine and the e-mail didn't have a GC# it was called Totally Tubular (Traditional Cache) but...

My question is, was this cache really just temporarily disabled, if so why does the link at the bottom of the page say that it hasn't been approved yet?

Or am I recieving the approver notes before the cache was ever approved, and if I am was that suposed to happen with these notification alerts?

EDIT I guess I skiped the post be the Hermit Crabs describing this very thing Sorry.

Edited August 1, 2005 by andrewrj

9.1k · August 1, 2005

andrewrj, see the posts above yours, as well as a separate thread in this forum about the same issue. It is being fixed. Enable/disable logs prior to the cache being published should not be triggering notification e-mails.

1.2k · August 1, 2005

andrewrj, see the posts above yours, as well as a separate thread in this forum about the same issue. It is being fixed. Enable/disable logs prior to the cache being published should not be triggering notification e-mails.

yea I just noticed that, thanks

Trying to do to many things to quickly

August 1, 2005

I set up a notification for Traditional caches, for all events, and have received several e-mails.

Later, I set up a separate notification for Traditional caches, for just publish events, going to a different e-mail address.

Last night, when some caches were published, I got notices at the first (original) e-mail but not the second one.

:rolleyes:

Edit: well, I just looked at the second notify again, but the e-mail address was blank. I'm sure I filled it in when I created it, but perhaps I had a brain cramp. I've filled it in now and I'll see what happens the next few days. :anibad:

Edit again: I just went back and looked at the one I just updated. The e-mail address is missing again.

Edited August 1, 2005 by WascoZooKeeper

2.8k · August 1, 2005

WascoZooKeeper - Look at the other posts in your thread and you'll see it is already a known issue.

August 1, 2005

I just received my first notification and this is a very nice feature. Thanks!

9.4k · August 2, 2005

I think I hit most of the bugs in the most recent patch to the site. I also updated the notification application itself so it adds the name of the notification and a link to edit it.

For the UI I tweaked it a bit and added a toggle checkbox so you can disable or enable your notifications with a quick click. No bulk removals however.

The only thing I may have missed is when you exceed 10 queries. I'll have to check into that one again.

August 2, 2005

I just recieved my first notifaction and the cache was .18 miles from my house!!!!! I WALKED THERE

Needless to say ...I got FTF

August 2, 2005

I just recieved my first notifaction and the cache was .18 miles from my house!!!!! I WALKED THERE
Needless to say ...I got FTF

:rolleyes:

Thanks Jeremy for the new features.

2k · August 2, 2005

I also updated the notification application itself so it adds the name of the notification and a link to edit it.

Thank you, Jeremy.

Can we hope the same for bookmarks?

August 2, 2005

Something I'd love to see is the option to ge a "short" version of the notify. This would be the one I'd want to send to my phone. It wouldn't need any links or the "This is an automated message..." bit. An example might be:

Subject: [GEO] Notify: New Published

GCKD91 Little Road in Town by rightseatsis

(1/1) Trad/Small

N 37 44.786 W 122 25.693

37m SE

I second the motion! It would be great to have everything needed to go get the cache included in the email to my cell phone. Perhaps even the entire cache page?

Thanks for the great feature! :rolleyes:

August 2, 2005

Something I'd love to see is the option to ge a "short" version of the notify. This would be the one I'd want to send to my phone. It wouldn't need any links or the "This is an automated message..." bit. An example might be:

Subject: [GEO] Notify: New Published

GCKD91 Little Road in Town by rightseatsis

(1/1) Trad/Small

N 37 44.786 W 122 25.693

37m SE

I second the motion! It would be great to have everything needed to go get the cache included in the email to my cell phone. Perhaps even the entire cache page?

Thanks for the great feature!

I THIRD the motion, but if we can't get what was in the quoted example, I'd much rather have the Waypoint Number, Type, and Ratings than anything else. I can't look up a cache using the name (which is all I receive now), but with the GC number I can jump on the wap site and get the whole shebang!

Now I just have to remember to "silence" my phone at bedtime ... this is the third time I've jumped up and lost at least an hour of sleep to check out a notification and see if it was worth a late-night trip! :lol: :lol: But then, it's been so hot here, maybe I should just sleep during the day and do my caching in the middle of the night, anyway!! :blink:

Happy Trails!

5.3k · August 2, 2005

Well this should be a grat tool to the FTF hounds whoever they are :lol: And when we see noobs asking what it takes to get a FTF their is another reason for them to become premium members if they are not already.

Thanks for doing all the work that it took to get this feature started.

August 2, 2005

Thanks for this awesome feature! I am one of those "FTF hounds" so I'm sure I'll be putting it to good use.

August 2, 2005

This is a great addition to the website! I've created a few notifications and am just waiting for a new cache to be placed nearby to trigger it. One question: is it possible to have multiple email addresses in the field? I may want to have one sent to both home and work. If not, I'm sure I could set up a filter on my mail system to copy the message. And on a related note, do you think it would be useful to add a "Test notification" button? This would help in working out any bugs in the filtering process. Just a thought, and keep up the nice work!

-=Glen

9.4k · August 2, 2005

One question: is it possible to have multiple email addresses in the field?

No. There are many ways online for creating lists for them to go to, however. I will consider some way for folks to use comma delimited lists of emails in the future.

And on a related note, do you think it would be useful to add a "Test notification" button? This would help in working out any bugs in the filtering process.

Hmm... I need to hear more. How do you see this working?

9.4k · August 2, 2005

BTW, I went ahead and added "Archived/Unarchived" as options for watch list notifications. I suppose there is no harm in opening up the rest of the log types. However, I am doing that now and I get a *ton* of emails within a 10 mile range of Seattle. So lets play some more before I open them all up.

Notification Service (beta)

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