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I am proud of my country...but why do you lend the ancient name to a foreign country?


YanniG

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I live in Athens, Greece and lately here in geocaching.com I see some odd and strange things.

There is a country at the northern borders of Greece that the United Nations have given it the name F.Y.R.O.M. (Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia), this site intents to name it simply as Macedonia.

Some fellow local geocachers felt offended (including me) and after compains the site changed the name to FYROM for some days...but now the people who control the site returned to the name that offends me when they simply give it to another country than mine.

Is there any particular reason not to use the United Nations naming for this country?

 

I wait for some reasonable and responsible answer from the ones who control the country list here in geocaching.

 

Regards,

YanniG

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It can be a bit confusing...

 

In the UN site, you can select "Macedonia" from the country list and get this result. They then refer to Macedonia as "The Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia"

 

On another part of the site, they refer it as "Macedonia, The FYR". Maybe this is an intermediate solution that can please all.

 

No, it does not please me, Alexander the Great was speaking ancient Greek and taught the whole of the then known world the Greek language and civilization, we have not any clues that he was Yugoslavian...Pure Greek was the hero !

Visit Alexandria in Egypt and even the India and there are many reagions that know about Greece, not Yugoslavia...

Stealing history is a really bad thing...

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...There is a country at the northern borders of Greece that the United Nations have given it the name F.Y.R.O.M. (Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia), this site intents to name it simply as Macedonia....

 

That's the English name for that country. It's probably as simple as that. FYROM is a Politically Correct Name for that country that I truly doubt the locals call themselves.

 

There is no end to differences between the English name for a county and what other langues may call that county and more important to me what they call themselves. Japan, Ireland, Norway, Germany, Switzerland to name a few.

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That's the English name for that country. It's probably as simple as that. FYROM is a Politically Correct Name for that country that I truly doubt the locals call themselves.

 

There is no end to differences between the English name for a county and what other langues may call that county and more important to me what they call themselves. Japan, Ireland, Norway, Germany, Switzerland to name a few.

 

My friend, the problem begins while we have named the northern parts of Greece as Macedonia and this is since the time of Alexander the Great!!!

So, when someone else uses this ancient name of country region of yours as his country name don't you feel offended?

Edited by YanniG
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So, when someone else uses this ancient name of country region of yours as his country name don't you feel offended?

Why would you? Consider it an honor. I know of a town in another state as mine with the same name. I never thought about being mad that they stole the name.

 

Its just geography. Simply where we are on a map/globe.

 

Unless the name was being used in a derogatory way, i dont get it.

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If you dont live there then what is the problem?

 

My friend, I think your nation has not suffered from any neighbours that are hungry for your precious land...

My nation has enough memories of suffer from neighbours...

 

And yes, Santorini, Mykonos and Paros are very far from the northern borders for you to worry.

I will tell you when to worry...

Edited by YanniG
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That's the English name for that country. It's probably as simple as that. FYROM is a Politically Correct Name for that country that I truly doubt the locals call themselves.

 

There is no end to differences between the English name for a county and what other langues may call that county and more important to me what they call themselves. Japan, Ireland, Norway, Germany, Switzerland to name a few.

 

My friend, the problem begins while we have named the northern parts of Greece as Macedonia and this is since the time of Alexander the Great!!!

So, when someone else uses this ancient name of country region of yours as his country name don't you feel offended?

 

Not really. I live in the United States of America, (USA). We tend to call ourselves Americans, it sounds a lot better than United Statesians. But if a Mexican said "I too am American" It may be confusing to others, but he's right. The USA is a single country in North America. Other Americans however would be offended, just as some South and Central Americans may be offended that we tend to use the term to refer to ourselves and not in the broader sence of the people of the American contenents. (Ok, it's not so simple, it's just not a national issue here)

 

Your history is different and has much deeper roots.

 

Greece at one time had an empire. Was at one time both the Country Macedonia and the Northern Provences of Greece at one time part of a larger Macedonian region?

Edited by Renegade Knight
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That's the English name for that country. It's probably as simple as that. FYROM is a Politically Correct Name for that country that I truly doubt the locals call themselves.

 

There is no end to differences between the English name for a county and what other langues may call that county and more important to me what they call themselves. Japan, Ireland, Norway, Germany, Switzerland to name a few.

 

My friend, the problem begins while we have named the northern parts of Greece as Macedonia and this is since the time of Alexander the Great!!!

So, when someone else uses this ancient name of country region of yours as his country name don't you feel offended?

 

I don't think you'll get much sympathy from Americans (or United Statesians as the case may be) in this case. After all we have New York, New Mexico, New Jersey, New Hamsphire (as states); Brazil, Cuba, Peru, Cairo, and thousands of others (as cities) just to name a few. We aren't offended, and to the best of my knowledge those who the names were taken from aren't terribly offended either.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Kingdom of Macedonia extended over the geographic area that is now FYROM (or whatever you want to call it).

 

I think until the UN (and the parties involved) come to a final agreement (have been in a stalemate since 2002) one party or the other will be offended regardless of the name used.

Edited by BRTango
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Kingdom of Macedonia extended over the geographic area that is now FYROM (or whatever you want to call it).

 

I think until the UN (and the parties involved) come to a final agreement (have been in a stalemate since 2002) one party or the other will be offended regardless of the name used.

 

Actually, Alexander the Great united the divided city-nations of the territory of Greece to a great empire and took its borders until India...not a simple thing...

 

Is it the Americans here and then the rest of the world or a community of people of all over the world that share the same passion for a hobby using multi billion american military technology?

I am talking to that community, to see the difference that this site faces the problem.One day they erase Macedonia and after some days they bring it back...is this serious?

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Kingdom of Macedonia extended over the geographic area that is now FYROM (or whatever you want to call it).

 

I think until the UN (and the parties involved) come to a final agreement (have been in a stalemate since 2002) one party or the other will be offended regardless of the name used.

 

Actually, Alexander the Great united the divided city-nations of the territory of Greece to a great empire and took its borders until India...not a simple thing...

 

Is it the Americans here and then the rest of the world or a community of people of all over the world that share the same passion for a hobby using multi billion american military technology?

I am talking to that community, to see the difference that this site faces the problem.One day they erase Macedonia and after some days they bring it back...is this serious?

 

I of course can't speak for the powers that be, much less the geocaching community as a whole, but I would argue that until the naming issue is resolved by your government, the governemt of the FYROM and the United Nations, that preference for the name should be given to the people who live there. If they call themselves Macedonia, then so be it, Macedonia it shall be called.

 

Unless you cache in the FYROM and have to suffer the injustice of looking at the name on your cache stats all day long... then the only reason it should offend you is because you are going out and looking for it.

 

So why not just sit back, enjoy the hobby using multi-billion american (united statesian?) military technology and let your governments sort out the eaches?

Edited by BRTango
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Should they change the name of Greece in the system to the "Hellenic Republic" since that is the official name? I think GC.com is just using the common names.

 

At the risk of a compete digression. Yes. It would be ideal if the English name for a country matched what the people in the country called their own country. I suspect other languages have the same disconnect though.

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You've got to be careful for this not to get very very political. I am aware of the underlying Greek frustration about the Macedonia name. I am aware of the historical contexts (only from stuff I've seen on the news) and why Greece has appealed to the UN about the naming of the nation as Macedonia rather than the politically correct un-natural name that we've ended up with. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

 

However, the Germans are not asking for their nation to be called Deutschland (as would be in their tongue), the Irish are not asking for Eire. Its common names that the English speaking world apply to other countries. I always call the country America or USA, hardly ever United States of America. It doesn't trip off the tongue. Much like Macedonia is easier to say (and remember) than FYRoM. In fact a classic example is lots of people call the UK, England. And England is NOT the same thing as the United Kingdom... but we know lots of people just don't get it and I can't be bothered explaining about the 4 little nations that make up the United Kingdom every single time I meet other Europeans or Americans. So I just let it go. If they do happen to know about a little place called Wales, then that's just all the better! :P Language usually evolves on use rather than what the politicians want us to use or say!

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Dear friends,

 

The problem here is not just about a name. As someone wrote here sometimes we can even feel pride if someone else is using our name. However, the issue here is more complex and I dare say in some ways sinister too. You see, the region that is now called Republic of Macedonia up until 1945 was called Vardar.

The name Macedonia up until then refered only to the Greek Macedonia region. After the end of WWII Yugoslav leader Tito named the region now called FYROM, Macedonia (The region incidentally occupies about 25% of what was ancient Macedonia). Tito did this as a first step to claim the region of Greek Macedonia (Which occupies about 55% of the ancient Macedonia - the rest is in Bulgaria). Claiming the Greek Macedonian region would provide Yugoslavia with access to the Aegean Sea. However, Tito never succeeded in finding an excuse to invade Greece and gain access to the Aegean.

 

Now, after the fall of communism in Eastern Europe and the break-up of Yugoslavia the people living in what is now called FYROM became an independent nation. So they have a need to define their national identity, history and heritage. THIS IS WHERE THE PROBLEM LIES. They claim that they are descendants of Alexander the Great and the ancient Greek tribe of Macedon. They do this because they would like to have a glorius past and history. For us however, history proud Greeks (and we have every right to be so), this is unnacceptable. We will not allow someone else to distort history and historical facts in order for them to built themshelves a heritage. Some of them even go as far as saying that Greece should give up the name Macedonia because they are the true Macedonians. Alexander the Great did not speak Slavic, did not write in Cyrillic. He spoke and wrote ancient Greek. The Slavic tribes arrived in the region ~1,000 years after the death of Alexander the Great.

 

I hope that now you understand a bit better this very sensitive issue for us Greeks. It is not about the name, it is about what the name implies. It is as if the United States laid claim to the history of the British Empire just because they happen to occupy some of the land that used to belong to the British.

 

Best regards,

Shrek & Fiona

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This whole depate is silly (sorry about that).

I don't know how you Greeks can be proud of war crimes made by Alexander. It's a fact because what else you can call all that empire building. So this all depends from what perspective you look at this thing. So drop this silly depate and let Macedonia be what it is.

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:ph34r: When the Alexander dies the Dariu's mother (the great Persian enemy of Alexander) mourning Alexander for several days.

This teach to us that Alexander the Great was a man with vision for the world

EVEN THE MOTHER OF HIS ENEMY CRY FOR HIS DEATH

Please read history ,try to find the history books of ARIANOS and learn moore for the great King

Also don't be think that i want to offend you I say all this very friendly

 

Best regard and friendsip from Greece

sakis

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This whole depate is silly (sorry about that).

I don't know how you Greeks can be proud of war crimes made by Alexander. It's a fact because what else you can call all that empire building. So this all depends from what perspective you look at this thing. So drop this silly depate and let Macedonia be what it is.

 

It is easy to insult someone. I could easily insult you by saying that you have no way of understanding this issue because you come from a country whose history is not older than 100 years. Oh sorry...what did you say? it is not so? Did I manage to strike a nerve there? The history of Alexander and Macedonia is the history of Greece. War crimes or not, bad or good this is OUR history and not theirs. But of course you would never understand because at the time when Alexander the Great was committing "war crimes" your people were up in trees chewing fruit or living in caves. Is that insult enough for you? Being ignorant and letting things just be what they are because we can't be bothered to set things right is what is silly.

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OK, easy. Everyone take a step back and breathe. I'm not an administrator or a moderator, but I'd like to make some peace here. I don't speak for anyone but myself here, so bear with me.

 

Fellow geocachers, this is not a USA-only site, or a Finland-only site, etc. This is a USA-based site, with many American members, but it's a global community. Just because you don't understand, or don't care about, the dispute between Greece and FYROM/Macedonia, doesn't mean it is unimportant. If you don't care about the issue, go post somewhere else, but posting along the lines of "stop worrying about it" or "this is silly" is NOT going to help anything.

 

To our geocachers in Greece: the dispute between the nations of Greece and FYROM is far from final, so there's not going to be a good answer on this for either side.

 

For right now, I can say this: when I type in "Macedonia" on Google Maps, I see the neighbor to your north. When I type in "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia," I see only confusion. And when I type in "F.Y.R.O.M." I see Y City, Arkansas, for reasons I can only imagine.

 

Geocaching.com has to refer to the nation to the north of Greece as something. Because the mapping sites upon which GC.com depends are still using the disputed name, unfortunately I don't see that GC.com taking steps to change it from "Macedonia" to calling it something else makes a lot of sense.

 

I doubt this will sit well, and I sympathize with your distaste for this. The fact that it was temporarily changed on the site to "FYROM and has now been changed back would not appear to help things any. Unfortunately, until the situation is resolved at the UN or between the two nations, I don't see these forums as the best place to argue out the issue. GC.com doesn't make foreign policy; they (like most others) follow the conventional wisdom. One day the conventional wisdom may change to call "Macedonia" something else, but right now it's the trend to call it "Macedonia."

 

I imagine the people of "Taiwan," who refer to themselves as the legitimate democratic government of not only their island but all of the People's Republic of China, aren't pleased to see their island called anything other than "China." But again, their dispute is with the PRC at the multinational level, and that's not something that I would find appropriate to argue about here on the geocaching site.

 

My two American cents, which are of course subject to your local currency exchange rate... :ph34r:

Edited by hzoi
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Did I manage to strike a nerve there? The history of Alexander and Macedonia is the history of Greece. War crimes or not, bad or good this is OUR history and not theirs. But of course you would never understand because at the time when Alexander the Great was committing "war crimes" your people were up in trees chewing fruit or living in caves. Is that insult enough for you? Being ignorant and letting things just be what they are because we can't be bothered to set things right is what is silly.

 

Sorry to say, but you did not manage to strike nerve.

Because if we want exaggerate it is basicly true what you said.

 

So I support that Macedonia stays as name of country.

Edited by Geovius
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Dear friends,

 

The problem here is not just about a name. As someone wrote here sometimes we can even feel pride if someone else is using our name. However, the issue here is more complex and I dare say in some ways sinister too. You see, the region that is now called Republic of Macedonia up until 1945 was called Vardar.

The name Macedonia up until then refered only to the Greek Macedonia region. After the end of WWII Yugoslav leader Tito named the region now called FYROM, Macedonia (The region incidentally occupies about 25% of what was ancient Macedonia). Tito did this as a first step to claim the region of Greek Macedonia (Which occupies about 55% of the ancient Macedonia - the rest is in Bulgaria). Claiming the Greek Macedonian region would provide Yugoslavia with access to the Aegean Sea. However, Tito never succeeded in finding an excuse to invade Greece and gain access to the Aegean.

 

Now, after the fall of communism in Eastern Europe and the break-up of Yugoslavia the people living in what is now called FYROM became an independent nation. So they have a need to define their national identity, history and heritage. THIS IS WHERE THE PROBLEM LIES. They claim that they are descendants of Alexander the Great and the ancient Greek tribe of Macedon. They do this because they would like to have a glorius past and history. For us however, history proud Greeks (and we have every right to be so), this is unnacceptable. We will not allow someone else to distort history and historical facts in order for them to built themshelves a heritage. Some of them even go as far as saying that Greece should give up the name Macedonia because they are the true Macedonians. Alexander the Great did not speak Slavic, did not write in Cyrillic. He spoke and wrote ancient Greek. The Slavic tribes arrived in the region ~1,000 years after the death of Alexander the Great.

 

I hope that now you understand a bit better this very sensitive issue for us Greeks. It is not about the name, it is about what the name implies. It is as if the United States laid claim to the history of the British Empire just because they happen to occupy some of the land that used to belong to the British.

 

Best regards,

Shrek & Fiona

 

I fully understand your situation... In the past, I've worked with several people from Greece and several people from FYROM. I understand the angst that is involved and the history between the two peoples. From a historical point of view, you are absolutely correct in saying that Macedonia is Greek... and that the slavic people of FYROM are in a way usurping the name for thier own historical purposes.

 

I don't mean to be insensitive to the issue here... however, the problem is not one which Geocaching.com administrators can resolve. They must call that nation something... and most importantly, they must call that nation something which will be accaptable first and foremost to the people in that nations Geocaching community. Right now, that is Macedonia.

 

I understand fully that this is upsetting to you and many other Greeks. But... if the roles were reversed and controversy surrounded the name of Greece... would you want to be called something that upset you, just so your neighbors didn't feel upset?

 

The geocaching community in FYROM is a small one... there are a total of 17 caches in the country. The best way to resolve this is to place each of those caches in your ignore bookmark and refrain from searching for anything in the region. Then lobby your government and the Greek ambassador to the UN to get back to the negotiating table and resolve the issue once and for all.

 

This is a political problem and not one that the geocaching community will ever solve. Once it is solved politically, I'm certain Geocaching.com administrators will be more than happy to change the name to whatever it has been determined to be.

 

Yes, I am an American, yes I fully understand that this is a global community. I think you need to take a step back and understand that as well... this is a global community, and your neighbors to the north are a part of it. Take it up with them... if you can convince them to call themselves something different, then by all means have them write to contact @ geocaching.com and tell the administrators to change it.

 

Until then, I recommend that you just enjoy the game.

 

Best Regards,

BRTango

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Is there any particular reason not to use the United Nations naming for this country?

 

According to the Wikipedia article, the current name for Greece's neighbouring country according to the UN is "Republic of Macedonia".

 

"The term "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" is purely a provisional reference — describing how the UN calls the state — rather than a determination by the UN of what the state's name should be (hence not a provisional name). "

 

Bearing in mind that these borders are merely for the convenience of people when listing the location of hidden lunchboxes, it seems that geocaching.com are not being unreasonable in using the latest known official name of a country. I suggest that our respected Greek friends direct their energies towards having this naming dispute resolved rather than lobbying the geocaching community (who have very little influence on the dispute, I suspect). Once there is a new official name, I'm sure that the "country list" will be amended accordingly.

 

HH

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After all,

me and my fellow local geocachers, as an act of protest may want to temporarily dissable all our own geocaches for some time (maybe for the whole Summer period?)

Maybe by this way all the geocaching visitors of Greece will be informed for the problem that there is at the country list of gc.com

What would you think if you went to a country that THE MAJORITY of the 375 or so caches would be unavailable for logs and Found?

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After all,

me and my fellow local geocachers, as an act of protest may want to temporarily dissable all our own geocaches for some time (maybe for the whole Summer period?)

Maybe by this way all the geocaching visitors of Greece will be informed for the problem that there is at the country list of gc.com

What would you think if you went to a country that THE MAJORITY of the 375 or so caches would be unavailable for logs and Found?

 

It's a protest against who? The geocachers who stated their opinion here (hey, you posted on the forums) or against Groundspeak? Either way, everyone looses with that position from you.

 

Was that position taken after knowing the answer from Groundspeak?

 

There's a saying in Portugal "If you loose your temper, you loose the reason".

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After all,

me and my fellow local geocachers, as an act of protest may want to temporarily dissable all our own geocaches for some time (maybe for the whole Summer period?)

Maybe by this way all the geocaching visitors of Greece will be informed for the problem that there is at the country list of gc.com

What would you think if you went to a country that THE MAJORITY of the 375 or so caches would be unavailable for logs and Found?

 

I would think that the geocaching community in that country was being very petty and simple minded. Remember this is a political debate between nations not one which the geocaching community can or will resolve.

 

A better form of protest would be to make it known to all visitors to Greece that you are personally ignoring all caches placed within the country that Geocaching.com calls Macedonia and state your reasons why. This can be added on as a part of your cache page, your profile and even printed up and placed inside your caches if you like.

 

If you do decide to punish the entire geocaching community over something your polititicians can't straighten out then you might want to rethink your place within this Global community we call geocaching. Maybe Terracache, Navicache or a new listing service GreeksOnlyCache.com would be a better place for you.

 

Don't be so simple minded with this. You understand the history of the debate and you know perfectly well that this is a multi-naitonal political debate. It can't and won't be resolved by the geocaching community regardless of your feelings. Put your energy to better use and lobby your government to get back to the negotiating table and resolve it once and for all.

Edited by BRTango
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If you do decide to punish the entire geocaching community over something your polititicians can't straighten out then you might want to rethink your place within this Global community we call geocaching. Maybe Terracache, Navicache or a new listing service GreeksOnlyCache.com would be a better place for you.

 

 

We have thought of a local geocaching community in the past, but believe me, that would ruin gc.com in all the ways at the Greek territory...

 

It is curious that we do not hear anything official from the authorities of gc.com ! ! !

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It is curious that we do not hear anything official from the authorities of gc.com ! ! !

Isn't their answer above enough?

 

And what IS the official UN name for the country in question (in your opinion)? I guess you ignored my earlier post because it was not what you wanted to hear! :ph34r:

Edited by Happy Humphrey
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To head this one off. The name will be how it is until there is an "Official" Name.
It is curious that we do not hear anything official from the authorities of gc.com ! ! !

You have done - Raine is the lead Groundspeak site developer.

Edited by Edgemaster
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I would think that the geocaching community in that country was being very petty and simple minded. Remember this is a political debate between nations not one which the geocaching community can or will resolve.

 

 

You are absolutely right about this. The geocaching community, even if it wanted to, cannot resolve the naming dispute. We also agree that disabling all of the Greek caches as a protest is an extreme measure, and would probably do more damage to our cause than good. We are glad to see well informed people like you that understand the reality of this issue, but at the same time we are saddened to see people here who based on their ignorance believe that this is a silly issue or an issue that does not deserve attention (even outside of Geocaching.com). It is those people that we feel have to be educated. This is why we have proposed to the Greek geocaching community a series of historical caches placed all over Greece that trace the history of Greece from ancient times up to now. In this way geocachers visiting Greece would also get a lesson learning about the history of the country they are visiting.

 

Best regards,

Shrek & Fiona

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It is curious that we do not hear anything official from the authorities of gc.com ! ! !

Isn't their answer above enough?

 

And what IS the official UN name for the country in question (in your opinion)? I guess you ignored my earlier post because it was not what you wanted to hear! :ph34r:

 

Well, after a research at www.un.org the name of the country in question is "Macedonia, The FYR of"

I do not see this at the country list of gc.com but half of it...

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It is curious that we do not hear anything official from the authorities of gc.com ! ! !

Isn't their answer above enough?

 

And what IS the official UN name for the country in question (in your opinion)? I guess you ignored my earlier post because it was not what you wanted to hear! :ph34r:

 

Dear HH,

 

If you go to the UN site below you will find the 'proper' name under which the UN recognises that country.

The country is not under "M" not even under "F" but under "T" for "The former...".

 

http://www.un.org/members/list.shtml#t

 

This is exactly what we mean that people need to be educated. Remember Wikipedia due to its nature is NOT a valid source of information and should not be referenced when trying to support facts.

 

regards,

Shrek & Fiona

Edited by Shrek_&_Fiona
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Well, after a research at www.un.org the name of the country in question is "Macedonia, The FYR of"

I do not see this at the country list of gc.com but half of it...

Do you have a link to the UN page that confirms this? It's important that the source says that this is the official name (i.e. not just the provisional reference). I can't easily find the relevant web page. The UN site often refers to the FYR of M but I believe that it's a convention they're using to avoid causing offence. I'm no expert so I could be wrong - but then Wikipedia would be wrong as well.

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Well, after a research at www.un.org the name of the country in question is "Macedonia, The FYR of"

I do not see this at the country list of gc.com but half of it...

Do you have a link to the UN page that confirms this? It's important that the source says that this is the official name (i.e. not just the provisional reference). I can't easily find the relevant web page. The UN site often refers to the FYR of M but I believe that it's a convention they're using to avoid causing offence. I'm no expert so I could be wrong - but then Wikipedia would be wrong as well.

 

see our previous post :ph34r:

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I would think that the geocaching community in that country was being very petty and simple minded. Remember this is a political debate between nations not one which the geocaching community can or will resolve.

 

 

You are absolutely right about this. The geocaching community, even if it wanted to, cannot resolve the naming dispute. We also agree that disabling all of the Greek caches as a protest is an extreme measure, and would probably do more damage to our cause than good. We are glad to see well informed people like you that understand the reality of this issue, but at the same time we are saddened to see people here who based on their ignorance believe that this is a silly issue or an issue that does not deserve attention (even outside of Geocaching.com). It is those people that we feel have to be educated. This is why we have proposed to the Greek geocaching community a series of historical caches placed all over Greece that trace the history of Greece from ancient times up to now. In this way geocachers visiting Greece would also get a lesson learning about the history of the country they are visiting.

 

Best regards,

Shrek & Fiona

 

Now this is a good use of time, energy, and resources. While I won't be able to travel to Greece anytime in the near future... when I do, I would love to do a historical series of caches to learn more about the Nation and its history.

 

In these circumstances... education is always the best option. I fear that if what YanniG proposed actually happened... many in Greek Geocaching community would be alienated and the fun of geocaching ruined for a lot of people to no end at all.

 

Best of luck in all of this, and I look forward to seeing your historical series... maybe something similar to Cache Across America series could be done.

 

Best regards,

 

BRTango

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In these circumstances... education is always the best option. I fear that if what YanniG proposed actually happened... many in Greek Geocaching community would be alienated and the fun of geocaching ruined for a lot of people to no end at all.

 

We couldn't agree with you more!

 

Best of luck in all of this, and I look forward to seeing your historical series... maybe something similar to Cache Across America series could be done.

 

Could you please direct us to any of these "Caches Across America". Maybe we could find some very useful ideas by looking at those.

 

best regards,

Shrek & Fiona

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see our previous post :ph34r:

Thanks for the link (our posts crossed over, as I'm sure you realised) - but that UN entry seems to confirm the Wikipedia article as it says;

 

By resolution A/RES/47/225 of 8 April 1993, the General Assembly decided to admit as a Member of the United Nations the State being provisionally referred to for all purposes within the United Nations as "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" pending settlement of the difference that had arisen over its name.

"

 

I said;

"It's important that the source says that this is the official name (i.e. not just the provisional reference). ".

 

I have no axe to grind about this, but I don't like to see people getting hot under the collar about what appears to be a misunderstanding.

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see our previous post B)

Thanks for the link (our posts crossed over, as I'm sure you realised) - but that UN entry seems to confirm the Wikipedia article as it says;

 

By resolution A/RES/47/225 of 8 April 1993, the General Assembly decided to admit as a Member of the United Nations the State being provisionally referred to for all purposes within the United Nations as "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" pending settlement of the difference that had arisen over its name.

"

 

I said;

"It's important that the source says that this is the official name (i.e. not just the provisional reference). ".

 

I have no axe to grind about this, but I don't like to see people getting hot under the collar about what appears to be a misunderstanding.

 

I agree completely... after all, if we were going to get hot under the collar about the name of any country is should be the Isle of Man... I mean come on people... are Women not allowed there? My wife would be so offended?

 

(I on the other hand have been searching for the Isle of Women for a very long time... if you know where it is... well... just don't tell my wife)

 

 

 

 

 

B):ph34r:

 

A little levity folks... that's all... just a little levity!!

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I said;

"It's important that the source says that this is the official name (i.e. not just the provisional reference). ".

 

I have no axe to grind about this, but I don't like to see people getting hot under the collar about what appears to be a misunderstanding.

 

We would argue that there is no 'official' name for that country yet...but then we would get into technicalities of what constitutes an 'official' name, who decides about it etc etc....an issue better left to diplomats rather than geocachers...even though we are sure geocachers can be a lot better than diplomats in a lot of cases (...or caches :ph34r: )

 

Our participation (Shrek & Fiona's) in this forum is intended to raise awareness on this issue, not to try and force anyone to accept anything. So please do not feel like we are 'attacking' you in any way.

 

Best regards,

Shrek & Fiona

Edited by Shrek_&_Fiona
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Our participation (Shrek & Fiona's) in this forum is intended to raise awareness for this issue, not to try and force anyone to accept anything. So please do not feel like we are 'attacking' you in any way.

Thanks: awareness successfully raised, I think. I was only trying to highlight that perhaps the issue is not as clear-cut as the OP inferred, so Groundspeak had simply tried to take what appears to be the logical decision (i.e. use the last known official name).

 

I agree completely... after all, if we were going to get hot under the collar about the name of any country is should be the Isle of Man... I mean come on people... are Women not allowed there? My wife would be so offended?

Thankfully, women are very much allowed here! :ph34r:

 

What's in a name, after all - I've recently been to the beautiful Greek islands of Ithaca / Ithaki / Ithaka and Kefalonia / Cephalonia... wish I was there now, even though it's a superb sunny day here, and the sea looks as blue as the Mediterranean!

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Our participation (Shrek & Fiona's) in this forum is intended to raise awareness for this issue, not to try and force anyone to accept anything. So please do not feel like we are 'attacking' you in any way.

Thanks: awareness successfully raised, I think. I was only trying to highlight that perhaps the issue is not as clear-cut as the OP inferred, so Groundspeak had simply tried to take what appears to be the logical decision (i.e. use the last known official name).

 

I agree completely... after all, if we were going to get hot under the collar about the name of any country is should be the Isle of Man... I mean come on people... are Women not allowed there? My wife would be so offended?

Thankfully, women are very much allowed here! B)

 

What's in a name, after all - I've recently been to the beautiful Greek islands of Ithaca / Ithaki / Ithaka and Kefalonia / Cephalonia... wish I was there now, even though it's a superb sunny day here, and the sea looks as blue as the Mediterranean!

 

I'd take either... Granted I can see the monuments of downtown Washington D.C. and I'm overlooking the Pentagon... but the bulk of what I see are steel, concrete, traffic, noise. Ah... the isles. I'll take just about any of them over this!!

 

But wait a minute... Ithaca isn't in Greece... it's in New York!!! B):ph34r::D:D

 

Just kidding!!

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