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Congratulations Threads, Enough Already

alistair_uk
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alistair_uk

alistair_uk

Posted
Posted

I don’t want to take anything away from people who have passed a significant landmark and I am certain it feels good to have your pears congratulating you, but I think we need to stop this.

 

The problem now is that we appear to be getting so many, and by the summer we will be overrun with them. Tonight it feels like half the most recent topics are congratulation threads and in reality it is not far off that.

 

One suggestion I have is to set up a site to log your congratulations and lock any congratulation topic to stop it from floating at the top of the list.

 

Any thoughts?

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John Stead

+John Stead

Posted
Posted

 

One suggestion I have is to set up a site to log your congratulations and lock any congratulation topic to stop it from floating at the top of the list.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Exactly what I proposed some time ago - this is a perennial topic. :huh:

If people want to add to the congratulation they can do so in the pinned thread. :unsure:

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perth pathfinders

+perth pathfinders

Posted
Posted (edited)

Not sure what the answer is.

 

The thing I don't like with the Pinned Thread, is that you don't see the cachers name, and I'm sure not all of us check that thread all the time.

 

It does seem at the moment that there are lots of Congrats. threads, but it is not always the case.

 

And yes like Birdman says, If you don't want to read it, dont!

 

 

p.s. Congratulations on setting up a Congratulation thread about Congratulations threads! :unsure::huh:

 

Ooops, will crawl away now. :)

Edited by perth pathfinders
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Mr'D

+Mr'D

Posted
Posted

There is a problem with the pinned congratulations thread.

 

I want to congratulate cachers who I know, and not so much (although sometimes I do...) cachers that I don't.

 

To do this in the pinned thread, I would have to trawl through maybe pages and pages to find my fellow cacher (who may or may not have a thread started already?).

 

Now, if someone starts a thread in the UK forum with the cacher's name, it's easy to get in there and congratulate, or alternatively skip down to view the next topic.

 

And I have to say - they don't bother me.. If I don't know the cacher then I don't read it.

Says it well!

 

Jon

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Us 4 and Jess

+Us 4 and Jess

Posted
Posted

stop being so grumpy :) if you dont want to read them dont read them!!

 

but its nice to have something to be happy about :huh: after all the doom and gloom and arguing we get in here :unsure:

 

i never post in the pinned topic because its very impersonal and your thread gets lost in the crowd

 

if i know the person i read the thread and congratulate them if i dont i skim over it :)

 

M :)

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wizard1974uk

+wizard1974uk

Posted
Posted

There is a problem with the pinned congratulations thread.

 

I want to congratulate cachers who I know,

Why not email them?? :huh::laughing:

 

So the cacher in question gets flooded with tons of emails? :anibad:

 

I prefer the individual threads, I'm not going to spend an hour trawling through the pinned thread, so I can find a post to quote.

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The Gecko's

+The Gecko's

Posted
Posted

I agree something should be done. I use Firefox and the first thing I need to do when logging on to this forum is start crossing boxes and I now just cross any that mention congratulations. If there were not so many I would probably read and contribute to them again.

 

Why not keep the pinned thread for most announcements and use this forum only for significant achievements such as 100, 500, 1000 etc?

 

Dave - The Gecko's

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purple_pineapple

+purple_pineapple

Posted
Posted

I agree something should be done. I use Firefox and the first thing I need to do when logging on to this forum is start crossing boxes and I now just cross any that mention congratulations. If there were not so many I would probably read and contribute to them again.

 

Why not keep the pinned thread for most announcements and use this forum only for significant achievements such as 100, 500, 1000 etc?

 

Dave - The Gecko's

 

I'm with Dave here, and many of the above posts. The pinned topic is rather impersonal, so why not keep that for any that want to use it, and ONLY have major milestones as indivisual threads... I would add 200 as well, as that gets entry into the Hall of Fame! so 100, 200, 500, 1000, 1500, 2000 (in my dreams...)

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Kitty Hawk

+Kitty Hawk

Posted
Posted

 

One suggestion I have is to set up a site to log your congratulations and lock any congratulation topic to stop it from floating at the top of the list.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Exactly what I proposed some time ago - this is a perennial topic. :laughing:

If people want to add to the congratulation they can do so in the pinned thread. :anibad:

 

I also suggested this some time back and still think it resolves all the issues, the thread drops down the list and anyone interested can send an e-mail as Slytherin suggests.

 

No one has ever offered me congratulations .... :P ons

 

Me neither, so I am an active contributer to the absense of congrats threads.

 

Two further points - if it is that offensive, use Firefox and the ignore threads script. Even if you only use Firefox to access the forum and use IE to everything else.

 

If you take it as read that we are all a nice bunch :huh: congratulations threads will persist and it's not our way to ban them. As an example, you see with 'self promotion' threads occassionally that people will gently point out that they are not allowed which is OK. Can you imagine someone setting up a congratulations thread only to have a couple of pompous messages to say 'we don't do this kind of thing here'?

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mongoose39uk

+mongoose39uk

Posted
Posted

I don’t want to take anything away from people who have passed a significant landmark and I am certain it feels good to have your pears congratulating you, but I think we need to stop this.

 

I aint got any pears....got some bananas

 

ROFLMAO ;):D:):P:P:D:P:P:):D:D:):laughing::anibad::huh:

 

Seriously just ignore them. To be honest have seen a lot worse on here recently.

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Lactodorum

Lactodorum

Posted
Posted

As has been pointed out, this is a recurring topic and I have tried to reconcile two completely opposite points of view by having the pinned "Congrats" topic at the top of the page. I agree that this is not perfect and has now grown so large that it has probably reached the point when I should close it (thoughts on this please).

 

I have asked in the past to have a separate sub-forum but this has not been possible to achieve.

 

I have my own thoughts on congrats threads but I won't bore you with them as they are not really important. Suffice it to say that I find Firefox and the Greasemonkey "Ignore" script an absolute godsend :laughing: !

 

The suggestion to use Geocacheuk forum for these threads is a good one, however not everyone uses that site, despite it being a very useful resource.

 

I suspect this will run and run. Sorry.

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The Bolas Heathens

+The Bolas Heathens

Posted
Posted

I like Lactodorum's suggestion of a sub-forum for these threads which would work very well. I was just about to suggest something similar.

 

I don't use Firefox much and whilst the greasemonkey scripts are great, I don't want to be forced to use Firefox just for the GC.com forums and Safari for all other websites.

 

I personally like the congrats threads as it's nice to see people achieving milestones but would rather they are separated from the main threads somehow so I can quickly see what is happening in those times when I don't want to read the congrats threads.

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markandlynn

markandlynn

Posted
Posted

Simple solution.

Delete the pinned thread it was meant to get rid of all congrats threads.

Ask people to lock the thread after starting it so 2-5posts max unless its one of the agreed milestones (100, 200, 500, 1000)

 

More complex.

Move the entire UK forum activity over to GUK.

Post one pinned thread pointing everyone over to GUK.

Direct new thread statrters to use GUK.

 

Most of the other countries and some of the seven US state forums do this allready.

 

See Australia for an example.

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Team Clova

+Team Clova

Posted
Posted

Simplest solution is if you dont want to dont read them???

 

Even if you dont use Firefox/grease monkey scripts surely it takes a fraction of a second to scan the page and see what threads are congrats ones?

 

There aren't that many posts on this forum, that for people checking on a daily basis, they will have to scroll through pages of posts to read the previous days unread ones - so why all the angst???

 

The pinned topic is way too impersonal - I dont (and wont) use it - I see nothing wrong with congratulating people on their achievements here. Which reminds me....

 

:D:P:P Well done Us 4 and Jess!!! :laughing::anibad::huh:

 

Its a hunt for tupperware - if we are all mad enough to do that, why are we getting so uptight about a couple of cm of computer screen being used to congratulate people when that hit a milestone???

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ryme-intrinseca

+ryme-intrinseca

Posted
Posted

I have never started a 'Congrats' thread myself, but I have to say that I don't have a problem with them as long as the thread is clearly labelled.

 

I have dial-up access at home, the page loads pretty quickly anyway, so it's no hassle just to ignore threads that I'm not interested in, whether they are for congratulations or not.

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Firth of Forth

+Firth of Forth

Posted
Posted

Congratulations threads are important. Is there anyone here who doesn't appreciate significant milestones being recognised?

 

A lot of the Scottish milestones are congratulated on our own forums, thus 'saving' space here. However, one reason to post it here is so that Deego can update the Hall of Fame. This could be done via an email I suppose, but I'm not sure that every cacher who reaches a milestone knows about it and some may not want to 'blow their own trumpet' as it were.

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Nediam

Nediam

Posted
Posted (edited)

I didn't know about it - we reached 100 last weekend (now I'm 'blowing my own trumpet!') but didn't know there was a 'hall of fame'?!

 

The Hall of Fame can be found here, but you need to reach 200 to be entered. So go on....get caching :laughing: (congrats on your first 100)

 

For the record, I prefer the indiviual threads :anibad:

Edited by Nediam
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andy_the_rocketeer

andy_the_rocketeer

Posted
Posted

How am I supposed to just ignore them?

Some have "congratulations" in the topic, some have "well done", some have "xxx reaches milestone", etc... so I have to intelligently read each topic and ignore, rather than just mindlessly ignore anything that looks like a congrats thread. How about insisting that congrats threads must begin with a standard text.

 

At the time of writing this reply, about 25% of threads on 1st page are congrats threads, but it certainly seems a lot more when you have to keep re-filtering out the same threads which have been replied to since the last refresh.

Personally, I find it's just noise which just hides the real topics.

 

If people are suggesting I ignore 25% of the throughput of the forum, then either that 25% is spam or that 25% needs its own subforum.

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Simply Paul

+Simply Paul

Posted
Posted
...If we ban congratulations threads, then we might have to start complaining about something else. what'll be next?
PDA problems/info threads would get my vote. :laughing:

However, should I ever get around to getting one, no doubt I'd regret gryping. My feelings on congrats threads are well documented but I can see both sides of the argument, especially when someone's worked through a week's worth and bumped them all to the top of the forum. I don't think getting rid of them to the pinned area is the answer - nor is making it 100, 200, 500 etc.

 

I would say anyone about to post one would do well to ask themselves if they know the person or team actually read this forum, as I have seen congrats to people I've never seen post here (I accept they may be a keen lurker) and wondered if they'd ever be seen by the intended recipient.

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andy_the_rocketeer

andy_the_rocketeer

Posted
Posted

Why not add a congrats topic icon - a champagne bottle or somesuch

Then it will be obvious from the listing and those that don't want to read them can avoid them without opening them

The problem is not a case of opening them or not... it's a case of having to filter the topic titles to find the 'real' topics.

 

I don't think getting rid of them to the pinned area is the answer - nor is making it 100, 200, 500 etc.

Regardless, in N months time when this has all blown over, someone (very possibly some who's not lurking/posting for this argument) will start posting messages not in accordance with the guidelines. This would be true whether the guidelines are that all congrats threads are banned or listing specific milestones that are allowed.

 

If some people really do think that congratulting someone else for reaching 400 or 600 or 1100 really is 'important' then the other option could be to ban all non-congratulations threads here :D and rename it the UK Geocachers Congratulatory forum :D and then have another forum elsewhere with a number of different topics, and explicitly ban them there (or have a dedicated sub-forum).

 

rant over... not against congratulating people, just a really bad signal to noise ratio :D

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