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How do you know it’s Friday?


Keith Watson

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The first few times it was amusing, now I am not so amused with the pattern. I know more and more people are using the system and the load is going up. But this is a paid feature. I pay for PQ’s and expect to get them. Once again it is Friday and I the system has yet to generate any of my PQ’s for two days. I guess I will have to wait till next week to find any caches that were approved in the last two days.

 

Is there any hope that this will be straightened out, or are we doomed to re-creating the pocket queries just to move up the queue to get them through. I suspect that after a while of everyone being forced to do that, it still won’t suffice.

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... or you could make a copy of the pocket query that you are missing, and watch it arrive within minutes.

 

I run about 25 pocket queries per week. If one doesn't show up and it's getting late in the day, I copy the PQ, check "run once and delete," and the problem's solved. Happens once or twice per month. It helps greatly if each PQ is scheduled to run just once each week. If you need fresher data, make a copy and run the original on Monday and the copy on Friday. PQ's scheduled to run daily are at the very bottom of the priority ladder.

 

Just checked and one of today's three queries have arrived. I'll have to watch the other two closely as one of them is the update for new local caches hidden in my home area.

 

Have a terrific weekend of geocaching!

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That will only work until everyone starts doing it and we end up back at the same spot. It’s nice during the week to get them with out having to do any manual work. What would be even nicer is to get them on Thursday and Friday with out having to do the extra work. Sure I can just make a copy and get mine right away, but that means someone else is getting pushed down the queue and wont get theirs. That does exactly seam fair, does it?

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... or you could make a copy of the pocket query that you are missing, and watch it arrive within minutes.

 

I run about 25 pocket queries per week. If one doesn't show up and it's getting late in the day, I copy the PQ, check "run once and delete," and the problem's solved. Happens once or twice per month. It helps greatly if each PQ is scheduled to run just once each week. If you need fresher data, make a copy and run the original on Monday and the copy on Friday. PQ's scheduled to run daily are at the very bottom of the priority ladder.

 

What is the point of having a nearest to home pocket query if I just have to visit the site and redo it every week? I might as well stay on the free service and download each new listing manually from the site. The value add for PQs for me is that I get a file on Friday that I can dump almost directly onto my eXplorist and run out the door to go caching, without having to spend an hour on the gc.com site fetching listings.

 

Perhaps it's time to add a priority flag to our pocket queries. Pick a maximum of three PQs that will always be treated as a "new" pocket query by the system. This would allow someone like me to get the PQ that I really care about -- new caches near home, and if there is a two day backlog on my query around another area then I'm not as concerned.

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Is this irritating? Yes it is, but from what i have seen from the developers in the past I know they are wroking hard to get this fixed. Geocaching seems to have hit quite a boom in the last year and they are probably still trying to meet the demand. We do pay for the service and its not unreasonable for us to expect it to work, but unlike many other companies we know they are working on it.

 

Where as many of us pay a lot more to companies who offer buggy and just bad software, with little to no complaint. Give them time they will figure it out ...the other option you have is to cancel your premium service until the issue is resolved.

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Since you can have 40 PQs in your list, why don't you create "Monday," "Tuesday," "Wednesday," "Thusday," "Friday," "Saturday," and "Sunday" PQs and check their day for them to run. Since six days elapse between each day, they should run right on time. :)

 

I don't schedule my PQs, I just request whichever area I would like to have, whenever I want it. If by some chance, I have requested that area recently, I make a copy of it and run the copy and delete it.

 

I keep that PQ List page open in my browser all the time, so it is always easy to get to.

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The problem I have with the PQs however, is the lack of an easy way, without reloading the pages at least twice, to run a PQ without having it turned on. A "Run Now" or "Add to Queue" button, like the "All Finds" PQ has would prevent having to reload the pages.

 

To run a PQ for today, I get this message The Pocket Query _Four Corners has been turned on for Friday

 

I don't want to schedule that PQ, I just want that area today. After it runs, I have to uncheck that box, making the page reload again, to turn it off. :anicute:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

EDIT to add it looks like this has been fixed . . . the checkmarks for Friday went away after the PQ ran.

 

Oh . . . in the time it took me to compose this, the PQs I checked in my list ran . . . :D

Edited by Miragee
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I guess my mistake it expecting the system to perform as advertised. They should advertise the PQ feature of the premium membership as, “May work when not too many people want to use it”

 

Please excuse my sarcasm.

 

My whole point of this thread is not the many different ways to get around it not working correctly, but the fact that it is not working correctly.

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That will only work until everyone starts doing it and we end up back at the same spot. It’s nice during the week to get them with out having to do any manual work. What would be even nicer is to get them on Thursday and Friday with out having to do the extra work. Sure I can just make a copy and get mine right away, but that means someone else is getting pushed down the queue and wont get theirs. That does exactly seam fair, does it?

Yeah that's so much extra work to make a copy. The time you spent complaining on the forums you could be out caching. What gc.com gives us for a mere 30.00/year is the best bargain on the planet. My cachevan now costs 60.00 to fill up and that money is gone in no time. GEEZ guy.
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That will only work until everyone starts doing it and we end up back at the same spot. It’s nice during the week to get them with out having to do any manual work. What would be even nicer is to get them on Thursday and Friday with out having to do the extra work. Sure I can just make a copy and get mine right away, but that means someone else is getting pushed down the queue and wont get theirs. That does exactly seam fair, does it?

Duplicate post sorry.

Edited by horsegeeks
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I guess my mistake it expecting the system to perform as advertised. They should advertise the PQ feature of the premium membership as, “May work when not too many people want to use it”

 

Please excuse my sarcasm.

 

My whole point of this thread is not the many different ways to get around it not working correctly, but the fact that it is not working correctly.

 

Its not like they are ignoring the situation. They are working to fix it. Your $30.00 is roughly $0.082 a day. since PQs are only a part of the premium membership package how much of that 82 cents per day should you get rebated when it doesn't run. since you can run 5 a day you have to figure that each Pq is only 20% of what ever percentage the PQs are of membership. Let me know how much you think you are owed. And just for the record read the Terms of Use and the PQ agreement to see if you are entitled to a rebate when it doesn't work. I am sorry if it doesn't work the way you think it should all the time. Life isn't fair. Look at all the windows users. They understand software crashing. Perhaps you need to take a breath and understand that in the grand scheme of things its not that big of a deal.

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I guess my mistake it expecting the system to perform as advertised. They should advertise the PQ feature of the premium membership as, “May work when not too many people want to use it”

 

Please excuse my sarcasm.

 

My whole point of this thread is not the many different ways to get around it not working correctly, but the fact that it is not working correctly.

 

Its not like they are ignoring the situation. They are working to fix it. Your $30.00 is roughly $0.082 a day. since PQs are only a part of the premium membership package how much of that 82 cents per day should you get rebated when it doesn't run. since you can run 5 a day you have to figure that each Pq is only 20% of what ever percentage the PQs are of membership. Let me know how much you think you are owed. And just for the record read the Terms of Use and the PQ agreement to see if you are entitled to a rebate when it doesn't work. I am sorry if it doesn't work the way you think it should all the time. Life isn't fair. Look at all the windows users. They understand software crashing. Perhaps you need to take a breath and understand that in the grand scheme of things its not that big of a deal.

You said it a lot better than I did.
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Its not like they are ignoring the situation. They are working to fix it.

...

Perhaps you need to take a breath and understand that in the grand scheme of things its not that big of a deal.

I'm not sure what your "take a breath" comment adds to the discussion. It strikes me as pretty snotty, especially coming from a moderator.

 

Sure, the PQ problem is not the end of the world, but it's frustrating, and after a couple of years of "working on it" I think people have a right to complain when they don't get what they are paying for. I can't even get my PQs to run reliably twice a week (3 that I run only on Mondays and Thursdays didn't run until early this morning). Copying them and bumping everyone else down in the queue is a non-solution for the reason the OP pointed out: It isn't fair. (It also adds a lot of steps for those of us who use GSAK to pull down the PQs from email and automatically process them based on name.) So I don't blame people for complaining. But for complaints, I'm not sure Groundspeak would even be "working on it."

 

Edit to add: It seems to me the ability to bump people by copying a PQ is abusive and should be stopped. Why does a newly-created PQ take precedence over one I've been waiting 3 days for? I'm already "in line" but you can come along and go to the front because you know a trick? Some solution.

Edited by Lightning Jeff
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No trick at all really. Pocket Queries were designed for a cacher to run a set of criteria through and get it quickly and go caching. That is they way I have always used it. I typically get my PQ and can be out the door in less than 10 minutes.

 

I think the design is not flawed in the priority system at all. Why should your repetitive need for the exact same data several times per week take precedence over my 1 or 2 per week different request for the specific areas I am heading out too?

 

For FTF opportunities, I manually type in the coords and once every other week or so is more than suffcient to keep my local area up-to-date in the GPS. With so many targets to hunt.

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Ran two PQ's this morning, received them, had them loaded into GSAK,GPS and PDA and was out a whole 15 minutes of time. Have never experienced the problem that is causing all of this whining and belly aching personally..... And not to be picky but 0.082 would be 8.2 cents a day, less than a dime. What else did you do today that cost you less than a dime? :anicute:

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The web site should be able to run all the pocket queries scheduled for Friday or any other day. If it doesn't they should invest in more hardware to do that. That being said - if for some reason there are too many PQs queued so that they don't finish in the day, Groundspeak has published exactly the criteria used to prioritize them. PQ queries are run in the order they were last run with PQs that have never run at the head of the queue. Groundspeak is giving priority to people who choose to only run a PQ when they need the data. So they run a specific PQ for the area where they plan to cache that day (or the next day). Next in line are those that ask for their PQs only once or twice a week. The lowest priority are people who ask for their PQs every day whether they are going to use them or not. Now if you are in the last group you may feel that you have a good reason to run your PQ every day. You may think the priority scheme is unfair. But if you are in the other group, especially those in the first group, the scheme is working just right. And I suspect that Groundspeak likes it too. Because if people only asked for PQs when they neeeded, Groundspeak wouldn't have to upgrade the hardware as often.

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I simply check the PQ only when I need it. Last week's data is usually still pretty up-to-date, unless there's been a rash of new hides in the area. I've rarely had a problem with getting queries in a timely manner and, when that does happen, I do what Lep said earlier...

 

A suggestion for the FTF hounds in the bunch: You can create a query to only search for caches "Which have not been found", then copy the link to 'Preview this Query' to your Favorites (I have a link on the taskbar). Whenever I want to see the newest, unfound caches, I simply click the link which I have created, and get those results instantly as a preview. Those few new caches that I might go look for can then be printed out for a quick exit from the house without waiting for a query to download and parse. :anicute:

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Since you can have 40 PQs in your list, why don't you create "Monday," "Tuesday," "Wednesday," "Thusday," "Friday," "Saturday," and "Sunday" PQs and check their day for them to run.

 

Don't you think this just adds to the problem?

I can't imagine needing a PQ everyday. Let alone 5 each day :anicute: I have a full time job and a 1/2 acre lot to upkeep so I can't go caching everyday. Then comes outings with family & friends who just aren't interested in treking through the woods.....

 

I just run the PQ minutes before heading out the door and I get it before I can get to my Inbox :anicute:

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No . . . having a PQ in the list is no problem. I only made that suggestion for those people who, for whatever reason, have to get the same PQ every day. :anicute:

 

If you have not run your PQ for several days and run it "minutes before heading out the door," it will arrive before you can get to your InBox . . . but that doesn't happen if you ran that same PQ the day before. :anicute: Usually there is a long delay for those "daily PQs," hence the various suggested work-arounds . . .

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I guess my mistake it expecting the system to perform as advertised. They should advertise the PQ feature of the premium membership as, “May work when not too many people want to use it”

 

Please excuse my sarcasm.

 

My whole point of this thread is not the many different ways to get around it not working correctly, but the fact that it is not working correctly.

 

Its not like they are ignoring the situation. They are working to fix it. Your $30.00 is roughly $0.082 a day. since PQs are only a part of the premium membership package how much of that 82 cents per day should you get rebated when it doesn't run. since you can run 5 a day you have to figure that each Pq is only 20% of what ever percentage the PQs are of membership. Let me know how much you think you are owed. And just for the record read the Terms of Use and the PQ agreement to see if you are entitled to a rebate when it doesn't work. I am sorry if it doesn't work the way you think it should all the time. Life isn't fair. Look at all the windows users. They understand software crashing. Perhaps you need to take a breath and understand that in the grand scheme of things its not that big of a deal.

You said it a lot better than I did.

Yep. I was going to suggest that I had done the math and know I have some Canadian cents and a Canadian quarter at home that I could send for his rebate. I am glad that you seem to have a work around Kieth. It happened to me on Thursday, but I ran a quick copy and all was good in minutes. It took longer for me to make the quick copy than it took me to read this topic.
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I guess my mistake it expecting the system to perform as advertised. They should advertise the PQ feature of the premium membership as, “May work when not too many people want to use it”

 

Please excuse my sarcasm.

 

My whole point of this thread is not the many different ways to get around it not working correctly, but the fact that it is not working correctly.

 

Its not like they are ignoring the situation. They are working to fix it. Your $30.00 is roughly $0.082 a day. since PQs are only a part of the premium membership package how much of that 82 cents per day should you get rebated when it doesn't run. since you can run 5 a day you have to figure that each Pq is only 20% of what ever percentage the PQs are of membership. Let me know how much you think you are owed. And just for the record read the Terms of Use and the PQ agreement to see if you are entitled to a rebate when it doesn't work. I am sorry if it doesn't work the way you think it should all the time. Life isn't fair. Look at all the windows users. They understand software crashing. Perhaps you need to take a breath and understand that in the grand scheme of things its not that big of a deal.

You said it a lot better than I did.

Yep. I was going to suggest that I had done the math and know I have some Canadian cents and a Canadian quarter at home that I could send for his rebate. I am glad that you seem to have a work around Kieth. It happened to me on Thursday, but I ran a quick copy and all was good in minutes. It took longer for me to make the quick copy than it took me to read this topic.

 

I guess this all just means 'they' are not working at 'it' at all.

 

nice.

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;) You are wrong . . . they are working on it.

 

But, in the meantime, there are ways to get every PQ you want, in minutes. For me, there is no problem with the PQs. :D

I'm not so sure of this. I know they are working on the general site performance problems and that this may help some with the pocket query issues. I think that perhaps Jeremy does not want to fix this problem. If he can find a way to get users to only get Pocket Queries when they need them instead of running the same 5 pocket queries everyday, he can put off upgrading the Pocket Query servers. However the Pocket Query page says Pocket Queries can be "emailed to you on a daily or weekly basis" and that "you have up to 5 pocket queries run every 24 hour period." If in fact when you schedule the pocket queries to run daily there is no guarantee that they will run every 24 hour period, then the description should say so. The fine print probably already indicates that Groundspeak can't guarantee that your pocket queries will always run, but I haven't found it yet.

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I'm not so sure of this. I know they are working on the general site performance problems and that this may help some with the pocket query issues. I think that perhaps Jeremy does not want to fix this problem. If he can find a way to get users to only get Pocket Queries when they need them instead of running the same 5 pocket queries everyday, he can put off upgrading the Pocket Query servers.

I think this has been done before. They automatically disabled the check mark box everytime a PQ ran so each user had to go back to the PQ page and check the box to run the PQ again. If I remember correctly PQ's ran great then because the people who ran the same 3 or 4 PQ's everyday realized they didn't actually need them everyday and 'forgot' to go check the checkbox everyday.

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Well, well. Today it is wedneday and no PQ's have arrived. Even tried to duplicate one and said to run once an then delete. Results by minutes? No way. No, they have not been run. The dates on my PQ page is old. Suspect no problems with eMail.

 

And not a sound from TPTB. :blink:

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Is it my understanding if you want a PQ to run immediatly or soon then you have to tick the correct day, if this is right, can someone get that page updated to display what day it is, as its not always know for people in different time zone ( or even better a Queue Now button)

Very confusing... indeed

Also when I preview and try to download using Preview page it only gives me .loc file format .. huh (not GPX)

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