Weekly Notification

[+ScarabDrowner]

wow, is it me, or did this post turn up empty?

 

when I asked for the second duplicate post to be deleted, I didn't mean for both of them. Oh well...

 

I had originally asked if it were possible to allow us users to control some aspects of the Weekly Notification email. I currently get new caches and events in the email which are up to over 100 miles away from me. I would like to find some way to limit that to the new caches and events which are only about 30 miles away from me or so. Is this currently (or in the future could it be) possible?

[+The Cheeseheads]

I'll second this. Since the email seems to be created dynamically anyway, what's one more call to the database to find a radius size?

 

Although, now that I'm thinking about it...

 

If I were GC.com, since I already have the zip/postal codes for a large percentage of my users, instead of generating a separate email for everyone, I'd just create a single email for every postal code (e.g. 63012) and then everyone who has 63012 as their code would get the same email. So instead of generating hundreds of thousands of emails (at least for US users), I'm only generating about 42,000.

 

I wonder which way it works?

[+Glenn]

I'll second this. Since the email seems to be created dynamically anyway, what's one more call to the database to find a radius size?

 

Although, now that I'm thinking about it...

 

If I were GC.com, since I already have the zip/postal codes for a large percentage of my users, instead of generating a separate email for everyone, I'd just create a single email for every postal code (e.g. 63012) and then everyone who has 63012 as their code would get the same email. So instead of generating hundreds of thousands of emails (at least for US users), I'm only generating about 42,000.

 

I wonder which way it works?

 

Ah, but it wouldn't be just one more call would it? There are over 1,200,000 accounts and each account receiving the weekly email updates would require a call of their own. Unless you are advocating that only you benefit from the feature.

 

To add a feature like this Groundspeak would have to buy an additional server just to do all those calls or risk drastically slowing down one of the current servers. Is is doable. You just have to convince Groundspeak to buy an additional a server.

[+The Cheeseheads]

I'll second this. Since the email seems to be created dynamically anyway, what's one more call to the database to find a radius size?

 

Although, now that I'm thinking about it...

 

If I were GC.com, since I already have the zip/postal codes for a large percentage of my users, instead of generating a separate email for everyone, I'd just create a single email for every postal code (e.g. 63012) and then everyone who has 63012 as their code would get the same email. So instead of generating hundreds of thousands of emails (at least for US users), I'm only generating about 42,000.

 

I wonder which way it works?

 

Ah, but it wouldn't be just one more call would it? There are over 1,200,000 accounts and each account receiving the weekly email updates would require a call of their own. Unless you are advocating that only you benefit from the feature.

 

To add a feature like this Groundspeak would have to buy an additional server just to do all those calls or risk drastically slowing down one of the current servers. Is is doable. You just have to convince Groundspeak to buy an additional a server.

If each email is indeed generated individually, when the call to the database is generated to ask for caches, it needs to already have the center point and a maximum distance to limit the number of caches returned. Since the server has already gotten data from your profile (the center point, your email address, etc.) it would just have to add a radius size as well which would not require an extra server to handle.

[+StarBrand]

Actually this would be a great feature to add - simply change the radius of the notification.

 

I am fairly certain that it runs an actual 100 mile radius from the users home coords. For each and every user. - Making that selectable from say 20 miles out to a max of 100 should not be too much of a problem. But I have been known to be wrong.

[+ScarabDrowner]

I am fairly certain that it runs an actual 100 mile radius from the users home coords.

 

For the caches, yes, it seems that 100 miles is the limit. But I've got one event listed in my email with a distance of 174 miles (and 11 others over 100 miles, out of 17 events total), so there seem to be different settings at work here.

[+Miragee]

I don't even get the Weekly Notification . . . I get "New Cache Notifications for Puzzle caches, Event caches, Traditional, and Multi caches. I also get Archived Cache Notifications. I can choose the distance for each of these Notifications. For instance, I get Event Notifications for a further distance away than for new Traditional, Multi, or Puzzle Caches.

 

Seems like Premium Members could use the Notifications to customize what caches they want to learn about and not depend on the Weekly Notifications at all . . .

[+stepshep]

I don't even get the Weekly Notification . . . I get "New Cache Notifications for Puzzle caches, Event caches, Traditional, and Multi caches. I also get Archived Cache Notifications. I can choose the distance for each of these Notifications. For instance, I get Event Notifications for a further distance away than for new Traditional, Multi, or Puzzle Caches.

 

Seems like Premium Members could use the Notifications to customize what caches they want to learn about and not depend on the Weekly Notifications at all . . .

 

Yep, the only reason I get the notification is to read the top article. Other than that I don't read anything else in it, I use the Instant Notfiy for that.

[+The Cheeseheads]

I don't even get the Weekly Notification

Do you have it set in your profile to receive the weekly "emailer"?

 

[+StarBrand]

I am fairly certain that it runs an actual 100 mile radius from the users home coords.

 

For the caches, yes, it seems that 100 miles is the limit. But I've got one event listed in my email with a distance of 174 miles (and 11 others over 100 miles, out of 17 events total), so there seem to be different settings at work here.

About 6 months ago they increased the distance to 200 miles for events on the theory that may people would drive that far for an Event.

[+kabsi]

I had originally asked if it were possible to allow us users to control some aspects of the Weekly Notification email. I currently get new caches and events in the email which are up to over 100 miles away from me. I would like to find some way to limit that to the new caches and events which are only about 30 miles away from me or so. Is this currently (or in the future could it be) possible?

The caches (see IV. Recently Published Geocaches ) are listed in increasing distance from your home coordinates. If you are interested in caches only 30 miles away, why don't you just stop reading after the caches reach this distance?

 

The list of events (see III. Upcoming Events (25 Events)) is a different issue as this list is not sorted by distance to home coordinates. I'd appreciate if this list had been sorted like the caches.

[+Cardinal Red]

The list of events (see III. Upcoming Events (25 Events)) is a different issue as this list is not sorted by distance to home coordinates. I'd appreciate if this list had been sorted like the caches.

 

The events are sorted by DATE, as they should be. Yes any events on the same day could also be sorted by distance, but it's not rocket science to look over that day and see which one is closest to you. If it ain't broke don't "fix" it.

[+kabsi]

The list of events (see III. Upcoming Events (25 Events)) is a different issue as this list is not sorted by distance to home coordinates. I'd appreciate if this list had been sorted like the caches.

 

The events are sorted by DATE, as they should be. Yes any events on the same day could also be sorted by distance, but it's not rocket science to look over that day and see which one is closest to you. If it ain't broke don't "fix" it.

Duh, I never meant it to be that complicated.

 

I am only interested in events close to me. Who isn't? So either the list should be sorted by distance so I can easily find events near me (and then it's not rocket science to look over nearby events and see which one is earliest) or ScarabDrowner has a very valid point that the list needs to be limited by distance set by the user.

Edited July 28, 2007 by kabsi

[+Miragee]

You could set up a Pocket Query to only return Event caches within a certain distance of your chosen location.