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Waymark Categories Available For Adoption


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As many of you know, our latest update introduced the concept of Group Management. We hope this new management system will help distribute the responsibility of managing new waymark submissions, and foster a sense of community and shared ownership among participants of the website.

 

Today, June 15th, was the deadline for converting individually managed categories to Group management. Most of you have done just that (thanks!), but there are a few categories which have, sadly, been abandoned. We will now be transferring Leadership of these categories on the Join A Group page.

 

The Requirements:

  • You must be a Premium Member
  • You may not lead more than 4 categories already (Officer positions are okay)

 

How To:

  • Visit the Join A Group page
  • Find a Group which is currently up for adoption (check the mission statement)
  • Join the Group and standby for promotion to the Officer level

All Groups will initially be led by a user named "Adopt Me". "Adopt Me" will promote the first two Group members. After that, those two members will be responsible for assigning ranks and permissions to later members.

 

Once you have at least two officers you will need to initiate a vote to demote the leader ("Adopt Me"). Call a vote for leadership demotion, unanimously vote in the affirmative, and the first Officer to have joined the category will become the new leader. At this point "Adopt Me" will quit the Group entirely.

 

That's it! Keep in mind that your new category will be on Probation until the Group has three active Officers. This means you cannot make changes to the description and variables, and it will be set to auto-approve new waymarks until you satisfy the Group requirements.

 

Plea for Sanity:

 

Keep in mind that Group leadership and category management are important jobs, and may require a sizeable chunk of your free time. If you aren't passionate about a particular category it would be a good idea to take a step back and let someone else take over. Let's see if we can handle this transition fairly and with the spirit of community we have seen thus far. Thanks, and Happy Waymarking!

 

-Nate

 

Disclaimer - Groundspeak reserves the right to change or reverse any of this, without notice, if unforseen negative consequences arise. Unforseen positive consequences, however, will be claimed to have been done on purpose.

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Active Quarries

Airports

All Things Star Wars

Ansel Adams Photo Hunt

Beach Huts

Bookcrossing Zones

Botanical Gardens

Boy Scout Camps

Campgrounds

Castles

Civil Rights Memorials

Civilian Conservation Corps

Concert Halls

Coordinate Palindromes

Covered Bridges

Curling Clubs

Dance Clubs

Dead Poets' Society Memorials

Disc Golf Courses

Dog Statues

Drive-In Movie Theaters

Equestrian Statues

Farmers' Markets

Fiberglass Horses

Fishing Holes

Foucault Pendulums

Free Overnight RV Parking Locations

Garage Door Art

Gargoyles

Gender Separated Entrances

Ghost Towns

Ginormous Everyday Objects

Graffiti

Hot Air Balloon Festivals

Ice Age Trail

Ice Cream Parlors

Ice Skating Rinks

Infamous Crime Scenes

Lavoir (wash houses)

Libraries

Lincoln Highway Markers

Lion Statues

Living Statues

Luftwaffe Radar Ruins

Medal Of Honor Resting Places

Metal Detecting

Military Installations

Millennium Trees

Mormon Temples

Mountain Summits

Murals

Natural Arches

Natural Cave Entrances

News Article Locations

Octagon Buildings

Oddball Museums

Odd-Shaped Buildings

Old Tractors

Old World Originals

Payphones

Pedestrian Suspension Bridges

Pet Cemeteries

Pictographs

Pony Express Monuments

Pubs and Inns

Racetracks

Railway Roundhouses

Relocated Structures

Renaissance Fairs

Scenic Hikes

Simulacra

Small Town, Big Name

Spring Houses

Summit Registers

Suspension Bridges

Topiaries

Trappist Abbeys

Turtle Crossings

UK Trigpoints

Unique Weathervanes

Unusual Speed Limits

Vasco da Gama

Vietnam POW/MIA Monuments

Where's In A Name?

Wikipedia Entries

Winter Sports Locations

Working Water Wheels

Yellow Arrow Lookup

"Z" Welcome Signs

Edited by OpinioNate
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Sorry.. quick questions

 

1... What happens to Waymarks in the Categories that never get Adopted? Are the Archived? I own some in a few of these, and not keen on losing my work.

 

2... I tried using the directory search with keywords... how do we find them (eg. Racetracks) if that didn't work. I think my friend would take Racetracks, if I can give him the link

 

3... If in the future someone wants to suggest one of these Categories, will you unarchive it for them? Will some kind of keyword flag go up saying that it used to exist?

 

4... Is there a time frame for this step to complete by?

 

;) The Blue Quasar

 

P.S. I am happy to see that you guys are holding people accountable to "Category Abandonment"... good job! Like it a lot.

 

/daydream on

 

Wish that happened in Geocaching too, when cachers stop addressing/logging on to the site. Renew listing would be so nice :lol:

 

/daydream off

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Hmmmm...The Blue Quasar brought up a good point. If groups aren't formed, what happens to the existing waymark listing? Does it go away, or will it remain a static listing of what was already in it? My earliest waymark was also in the Civil Rights Memorials category. It was WM70 -on 8/17/2005, so I think that's a very early one, maybe 70th? And people actually visit it!! I would hate for it to go away. But now I see there is already a group being formed for it, so maybe it's OK.

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Questions/Issues:

 

1) The process as you described above didn't work for the Infamous Crime Scenes Managers group. I joined first (and was automatically promoted). StagsRoar and tozainamboku then joined, but they weren't automatically promoted, so we can't take a vote to demote Adopt Me. My officer rank doesn't allow me to promote the regular members, so we can't move forward with the category.

 

2) The Winter Sports Locations category shouldn't be up for adoption - there is a 3 person group (led by the previous owner Mountain_Wanderer) set up to run the category, but that group hasn't been able to adopt the category. I sent you an email through you profile a couple of days ago explaining the situation, perhaps you didn't receive it? (let me know if you need me to re-send the email)

 

3) Unless I'm misunderstanding something, the adoption process as described above would seem to me to lead to categories managed by only two people, because after two real managers get into the group and demote Adopt Me, you've indicated that Adopt Me will quit the group, leaving just two officers. By the way, for the Medal Of Honor Resting Places Managers group, that isn't quite what happened - after Adopt Me was demoted, the group ended up in the following configuration: a leader (BruceS) and two officers (me and Adopt Me). In other words, Adopt Me didn't automatically quit the group (which is a good thing, since we need three officers, but also a bad thing if we need to do more voting).

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Questions/Issues:

 

1) The process as you described above didn't work for the Infamous Crime Scenes Managers group. I joined first (and was automatically promoted). StagsRoar and tozainamboku then joined, but they weren't automatically promoted, so we can't take a vote to demote Adopt Me. My officer rank doesn't allow me to promote the regular members, so we can't move forward with the category.

 

2) The Winter Sports Locations category shouldn't be up for adoption - there is a 3 person group (led by the previous owner Mountain_Wanderer) set up to run the category, but that group hasn't been able to adopt the category. I sent you an email through you profile a couple of days ago explaining the situation, perhaps you didn't receive it? (let me know if you need me to re-send the email)

 

3) Unless I'm misunderstanding something, the adoption process as described above would seem to me to lead to categories managed by only two people, because after two real managers get into the group and demote Adopt Me, you've indicated that Adopt Me will quit the group, leaving just two officers. By the way, for the Medal Of Honor Resting Places Managers group, that isn't quite what happened - after Adopt Me was demoted, the group ended up in the following configuration: a leader (BruceS) and two officers (me and Adopt Me). In other words, Adopt Me didn't automatically quit the group (which is a good thing, since we need three officers, but also a bad thing if we need to do more voting).

 

Yes, I am not being automaticaly promoted either. It just makes me a normal member.

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Questions/Issues:

 

1) The process as you described above didn't work for the Infamous Crime Scenes Managers group. I joined first (and was automatically promoted). StagsRoar and tozainamboku then joined, but they weren't automatically promoted, so we can't take a vote to demote Adopt Me. My officer rank doesn't allow me to promote the regular members, so we can't move forward with the category.

 

It's not automatic, it just seemed that way because I was effecting the promotions as my inbox filled up. Then I went home for the evening. :)

 

2) The Winter Sports Locations category shouldn't be up for adoption - there is a 3 person group (led by the previous owner Mountain_Wanderer) set up to run the category, but that group hasn't been able to adopt the category. I sent you an email through you profile a couple of days ago explaining the situation, perhaps you didn't receive it? (let me know if you need me to re-send the email)

 

Sorry about that. I'll sort out that Group after this post.

 

3) Unless I'm misunderstanding something, the adoption process as described above would seem to me to lead to categories managed by only two people, because after two real managers get into the group and demote Adopt Me, you've indicated that Adopt Me will quit the group, leaving just two officers. By the way, for the Medal Of Honor Resting Places Managers group, that isn't quite what happened - after Adopt Me was demoted, the group ended up in the following configuration: a leader (BruceS) and two officers (me and Adopt Me). In other words, Adopt Me didn't automatically quit the group (which is a good thing, since we need three officers, but also a bad thing if we need to do more voting).

 

Nothing is automatic. I'm behind Adopt Me's controls and use the same functionality as everyone else. It's going to be your responsibility to recruit your last Officer to meet the 3 minimum requirement. When Adopt Me quits, it doesn't mean the category disappears, just that it will be set to auto-approve new waymarks.

 

Adopt Me will quit after the Officer's vote him out, or if you're in a rush you could initiate a vote to boot him (66% required).

 

-Nate

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Sorry.. quick questions

 

1... What happens to Waymarks in the Categories that never get Adopted? Are the Archived? I own some in a few of these, and not keen on losing my work.

 

We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Some of the categories are a little... lame. If no one shows an ounce of interest in them, then, yes, they'll be archived and the waymarks lost. I don't anticipate this happening with too many, and if needs be I'll take ownership of a couple (more :) ) so we don't lose anything important.

 

2... I tried using the directory search with keywords... how do we find them (eg. Racetracks) if that didn't work. I think my friend would take Racetracks, if I can give him the link

 

That category was never made visible.

 

3... If in the future someone wants to suggest one of these Categories, will you unarchive it for them? Will some kind of keyword flag go up saying that it used to exist?

 

No, they'll have to go through Peer Review with a new group and category.

 

4... Is there a time frame for this step to complete by?

 

We're going to play it by ear. When interest in adopting these categories dies down we'll know it's time to finish up.

 

P.S. I am happy to see that you guys are holding people accountable to "Category Abandonment"... good job! Like it a lot.

 

It will be a huge relief for us to see all the categories converted to group management. Hopefully then we'll be able to see just how well it works. Thanks for supporting the idea!

 

-Nate

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Excuse me if this has come up before..

 

I've had a waymark pending in the Civil Rights Memorial category for a long time. What happens to it? Will I need to re-submit it to the new group? And if there is never a group?

 

If there is never a group, sadly it's lost. In this case you don't have anything to fear because some folks have already expressed interest in managing that particular category. Your waymark will be there waiting for them to review (assuming it's not archived).

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So forgive me if I didn't read this in previous posts but how does somebody become the leader of a category - I have signed up to support a few categories as an officer but have an intrest in only leading one or 2 in particular - am I reading it correctly when it says that after 3 officers step forward the "Adopt Me" quits - then does that make Officer 1 the leader or how does that work?

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So forgive me if I didn't read this in previous posts but how does somebody become the leader of a category - I have signed up to support a few categories as an officer but have an intrest in only leading one or 2 in particular - am I reading it correctly when it says that after 3 officers step forward the "Adopt Me" quits - then does that make Officer 1 the leader or how does that work?

 

If there are no other officers for a group I'm going to assume you want to lead and change your rank to Officer 1. If that's not the case you can just quit the leadership position after you and the other officers vote out Adopt Me. The next person in line will take over.

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Can some of these categories be consolidated? For example -- Summit Registers and Mountain Summits. Can't there just be a variable for register on the Mountain Summit page?

 

There are also some categories here that I really don't want to see go away, but at the same time, it doesn't make sense for me to lead them. The Ice Age trail, for example. I've only hiked on it once, and I don't live anywhere near Wisconsin. But I'd hate to see the category disappear just because it was not adopted.

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So, question for Nate.

 

Patudles owns the category, "Pictographs". I worked on her to get a group started which she started a bit ago, but it's just now finished...a day late. Now it wants her to set up a new category for the group, and doesn't give her an option to transfer the group to her category, because it has been taken out of her hands. What should she do?

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Ok, I signed up for the ones I care about, which brings me to my question:

 

Are there enough premium members Waymarking to take on all those categories and still remain within the 5 category limit?

 

 

I got to admit - that very question was on my mind as well - as there seems to be a heap of categories up for adoption huh!

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Ok, I signed up for the ones I care about, which brings me to my question:

 

Are there enough premium members Waymarking to take on all those categories and still remain within the 5 category limit?

 

 

I got to admit - that very question was on my mind as well - as there seems to be a heap of categories up for adoption huh!

 

I guess we'll just have to see. I can tell you that several people who have never before posted here have already been promoted to Officer 1, so our perception might be a bit skewed by forum participation. We appear to be moving along at a decent pace. Thanks for everyone's help so far. :rolleyes:

 

-Nate

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So, question for Nate.

 

Patudles owns the category, "Pictographs". I worked on her to get a group started which she started a bit ago, but it's just now finished...a day late. Now it wants her to set up a new category for the group, and doesn't give her an option to transfer the group to her category, because it has been taken out of her hands. What should she do?

 

Pictographs was moved to Patudles' category.

 

-Nate

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So, question for Nate.

 

Patudles owns the category, "Pictographs". I worked on her to get a group started which she started a bit ago, but it's just now finished...a day late. Now it wants her to set up a new category for the group, and doesn't give her an option to transfer the group to her category, because it has been taken out of her hands. What should she do?

 

Pictographs was moved to Patudles' category.

 

-Nate

I knew there was a reason that I liked you. :rolleyes:

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Ok, I signed up for the ones I care about, which brings me to my question:

 

Are there enough premium members Waymarking to take on all those categories and still remain within the 5 category limit?

 

 

I got to admit - that very question was on my mind as well - as there seems to be a heap of categories up for adoption huh!

 

I guess we'll just have to see. I can tell you that several people who have never before posted here have already been promoted to Officer 1, so our perception might be a bit skewed by forum participation. We appear to be moving along at a decent pace. Thanks for everyone's help so far. :rolleyes:

 

-Nate

I got promoted today to Officer 1 on a very important category to me. Many thanks. I joined too many groups I suppose. I own three already, but they are pretty quiet. The other two that I would like to be the leader of the most are the Natural Arches group and the Ansel Adams Photo Hunt group. Looks like I am 50% there. Hopefully enough people will start surfing groups and joining up. I had someone join one of my first three groups today. That was cool.

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I know I saw this somewhere but I can't find it this morning....

 

In the LIBRARIES Group... I signed up, and was listed as "Officer 1".

 

I can see TIKI-4 as well as Tsegi Mike & Desert Viking are stuck in the 'Members' section but not getting promoted to Officer.

 

How do they get promoted? I can't do it. I think it has to do with Libraries being on Probation... but ...

 

HELP?!?!?!?!? Or am I just jumping the gun here, and need to be patient? (like that has ever been my strong suit :anibad: )

 

:) The Blue Quasar

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I know I saw this somewhere but I can't find it this morning....

 

In the LIBRARIES Group... I signed up, and was listed as "Officer 1".

 

I can see TIKI-4 as well as Tsegi Mike & Desert Viking are stuck in the 'Members' section but not getting promoted to Officer.

 

How do they get promoted? I can't do it. I think it has to do with Libraries being on Probation... but ...

 

HELP?!?!?!?!? Or am I just jumping the gun here, and need to be patient? (like that has ever been my strong suit :anibad: )

 

:) The Blue Quasar

Linky to earlier post. :)

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Ambrosia Posted Today, 07:45 AM

 

QUOTE(The Blue Quasar @ Jun 17 2006, 08:39 AM) *

 

I know I saw this somewhere but I can't find it this morning....

 

In the LIBRARIES Group... I signed up, and was listed as "Officer 1".

 

I can see TIKI-4 as well as Tsegi Mike & Desert Viking are stuck in the 'Members' section but not getting promoted to Officer.

 

How do they get promoted? I can't do it. I think it has to do with Libraries being on Probation... but ...

 

HELP?!?!?!?!? Or am I just jumping the gun here, and need to be patient? (like that has ever been my strong suit laugh.gif )

 

cool.gif The Blue Quasar

 

Linky to earlier post. tongue.gif

 

Thanks QOW !

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what about 'devilish locations'? i see that a group has been formed, but my mark still has not been approved....

 

do they know there is a que? i would assume [arent we both sometimes? LOL] that there are more out there besides me with marks in limbo.

 

with groups galore is there any word on the 'daily digest' for notifications?

 

as i was browsing the 'join a group page' i notices the quite a few of the groups were on the list twice....and it also appears that the groups are listed from 'new' to 'old'.....plus, the * saying i am a member is still not working properly....could there not be a '*' for groups i am an officer in and a '&' for those i am only a member in?

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Grrr..... :anibad: I guess I have to be mad at myself. I spent a couple of hours this morning going to a spot, recording a waymark, coming back home and writing up a page, finding an internet link for it and uploading all my gallery etc. I submitted the Waymark for approval.

 

A couple of hours later I started thinking..Oh No!!..and I checked the list and it was an abandoned category (Living Statues) I hadn't thought about that earlier because there had been a waymark added in the last few weeks, so it didn't appear to be abandoned.

 

Here's my question - while new waymarks aren't being approved in these categories now, maybe the category setting could be waymarks CANNOT be added. And maybe the option to record waymark on the page be "grayed out" so that you couldn't waste your time? I know the situation isn't much different than the original owner not reviewing the submitted waymarks, but this way the website could maybe put in the "time wasting" stopper.

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Okay, now I have a question.

 

I've had a Waymark waiting for approval in the Farmers' Market category since 6/12. There is now a group in place for this category and I'm now an officer, but my submitted waymark isn't showing up as awaiting approval for this group. For the other groups I'm in there's a "Manage" link, but not for this one.

 

Will this be corrected or will I have to resubmit the waymark? It's still on my list of owned waymarks, but it's not in the category's list of waymarks awaiting approval.

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Grrr..... :laughing: I guess I have to be mad at myself. I spent a couple of hours this morning going to a spot, recording a waymark, coming back home and writing up a page, finding an internet link for it and uploading all my gallery etc. I submitted the Waymark for approval.

 

A couple of hours later I started thinking..Oh No!!..and I checked the list and it was an abandoned category (Living Statues) I hadn't thought about that earlier because there had been a waymark added in the last few weeks, so it didn't appear to be abandoned.

 

Here's my question - while new waymarks aren't being approved in these categories now, maybe the category setting could be waymarks CANNOT be added. And maybe the option to record waymark on the page be "grayed out" so that you couldn't waste your time? I know the situation isn't much different than the original owner not reviewing the submitted waymarks, but this way the website could maybe put in the "time wasting" stopper.

 

They were supposed to be set to auto-approve but that switch wasn't flipped on the transfer. It's fixed now so go ahead and submit your waymark.

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Okay, now I have a question.

 

I've had a Waymark waiting for approval in the Farmers' Market category since 6/12. There is now a group in place for this category and I'm now an officer, but my submitted waymark isn't showing up as awaiting approval for this group. For the other groups I'm in there's a "Manage" link, but not for this one.

 

Will this be corrected or will I have to resubmit the waymark? It's still on my list of owned waymarks, but it's not in the category's list of waymarks awaiting approval.

 

It's there in your queue, Henki, but it appears Officer 2 cannot review waymarks by default as it should. We'll have this fixed shortly.

 

EDIT: Officer 2 has the appropriate permissions now. Check your queue.

Edited by OpinioNate
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i had asked whether this category setting modification would affect the sumpitions not yet approved.

 

Switching to auto-approve won't purge the queue of old submissions, but they'll all still be there when the new group is formed and the category is off probation.

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Ok, I signed up for the ones I care about, which brings me to my question:

 

Are there enough premium members Waymarking to take on all those categories and still remain within the 5 category limit?

 

 

I got to admit - that very question was on my mind as well - as there seems to be a heap of categories up for adoption huh!

 

I guess we'll just have to see. I can tell you that several people who have never before posted here have already been promoted to Officer 1, so our perception might be a bit skewed by forum participation. We appear to be moving along at a decent pace. Thanks for everyone's help so far. :laughing:

 

-Nate

I got promoted today to Officer 1 on a very important category to me. Many thanks. I joined too many groups I suppose. I own three already, but they are pretty quiet. The other two that I would like to be the leader of the most are the Natural Arches group and the Ansel Adams Photo Hunt group. Looks like I am 50% there. Hopefully enough people will start surfing groups and joining up. I had someone join one of my first three groups today. That was cool.

 

Glad you were able to snag a couple you care about! That's the idea here - get some managers with a vested interest. So far around 20 categories have been fully adopted. Thanks to everyone for stepping up!

 

I have taken to quitting categories with at least 3 other Officers to save you all the trouble of voting out Adopt Me. I won't do this for those Groups with only two Officers, but feel free to initiate the vote anyway. Just know that your category will still be on probation until you get a third Officer.

 

-Nate

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My pal HuckleBuckle created a group for managing the Ice Skating Rinks category back in April, but could never get enough people/officers to merge them. As it stands now, it's him, myself and two regular members. Is it possible to do some hocus pocus and attach this group to that category? The group is called Ice Skating Rinks Enthusiasts. Thx.

 

You showed some initiative by creating that Group back in April so I transferred the category there. It would be nice of you to invite CarleenP as one of your Officers since I had to boot her from the Group to do this. :laughing:

 

-Nate

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Grrr..... :laughing: I guess I have to be mad at myself. I spent a couple of hours this morning going to a spot, recording a waymark, coming back home and writing up a page, finding an internet link for it and uploading all my gallery etc. I submitted the Waymark for approval.

 

A couple of hours later I started thinking..Oh No!!..and I checked the list and it was an abandoned category (Living Statues) I hadn't thought about that earlier because there had been a waymark added in the last few weeks, so it didn't appear to be abandoned.

 

Here's my question - while new waymarks aren't being approved in these categories now, maybe the category setting could be waymarks CANNOT be added. And maybe the option to record waymark on the page be "grayed out" so that you couldn't waste your time? I know the situation isn't much different than the original owner not reviewing the submitted waymarks, but this way the website could maybe put in the "time wasting" stopper.

 

They were supposed to be set to auto-approve but that switch wasn't flipped on the transfer. It's fixed now so go ahead and submit your waymark.

 

Hmmmm. Thanks for trying, but after re-submittting it still shows "hasn't been approved yet" It must be something else.

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The next person in line will take over.

Is the "Call Number the line?

If so, the succession seemed to go in the wrong order in the case of Natural Cave Entrances Managers.

 

Whoever is promoted to Officer 1 takes over, since they are higher ranking. If no one had been promoted it would have gone alphabetically, and then by call number. The CN is more for reference than anything else (as far as you're concerned. Sean uses it to identify you in the Group code).

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