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Geocaching.com Version Two

KBI

By KBI
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OpinioNate

OpinioNate

Posted
Posted

Would you have any idea if they were thinking of having an affinty, favorites or awards system or perhaps something else like that?

 

Yep. The new site will give people the ability to compliment each other in the form of "rewards". Different kinds of rewards will be "sinister hider", "funny logs", or "hide more!". In aggregate those compliments can be used in different ways to promote or help you find caches you like.

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TrailGators

+TrailGators

Posted
Posted

Would you have any idea if they were thinking of having an affinty, favorites or awards system or perhaps something else like that?

 

Yep. The new site will give people the ability to compliment each other in the form of "rewards". Different kinds of rewards will be "sinister hider", "funny logs", or "hide more!". In aggregate those compliments can be used in different ways to promote or help you find caches you like.

Awesome! :rolleyes: Thanks!
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Harriet the Spy

+Harriet the Spy

Posted
Posted

 

Yep. The new site will give people the ability to compliment each other in the form of "rewards". Different kinds of rewards will be "sinister hider", "funny logs", or "hide more!". In aggregate those compliments can be used in different ways to promote or help you find caches you like.

 

LOL When I read this the first thing I thought of was the awards you get in Halo. I wonder how SkyJacker, Beatdown, Slice and Dice, Killjoy (or my son's favorite), Splatter would transfer over to caching. :ph34r::ph34r:

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Anonymous'

+Anonymous'

Posted
Posted

Would you have any idea if they were thinking of having an affinty, favorites or awards system or perhaps something else like that?

 

Yep. The new site will give people the ability to compliment each other in the form of "rewards". Different kinds of rewards will be "sinister hider", "funny logs", or "hide more!". In aggregate those compliments can be used in different ways to promote or help you find caches you like.

When I first read this I really didn't like the idea. Rating has never been my sort of thing. As long as the "rewards" are all positive, I don't see too much problem in it. Maybe the people motivated by numbers and rewards will spend time putting together quality caches.

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ReadyOrNot

+ReadyOrNot

Posted
Posted

Would you have any idea if they were thinking of having an affinty, favorites or awards system or perhaps something else like that?

 

Yep. The new site will give people the ability to compliment each other in the form of "rewards". Different kinds of rewards will be "sinister hider", "funny logs", or "hide more!". In aggregate those compliments can be used in different ways to promote or help you find caches you like.

 

You guys are awesome! You have no idea how much better geocaching is going to be because of this feature!!! Well done!

 

Now what am I going to argue about in the forums? Well, I'm sure i'll find something.

 

THANKS GUYS!

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TrailGators

+TrailGators

Posted
Posted

Any chance of a Q&A or FAQ regarding the Redesign?

 

Example: Will Benchmarking as it currently exists be going away?

 

If you guys want to ask questions like this feel free. I'll collect them all and present them to Jeremy to be answered (if the answer is... answer...able).

Hi Nate, I'm wondering if the new version might give us the ability to ignore all the caches of certain cachers (whose styles are vastly different than our own style)? It would be way easier if you could hit one button to ignore them all instead of ignoring them one by one.... :D

 

Also one of the things I really like about Waymarking is that that site lets you customize things so that you only see categories of waymarks that you are interested in. This is very cool feature! Since the two sites are merging I was just wondering if the merger will give us that ability for geocaching?

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Nazgul

+Nazgul

Posted
Posted

Any chance of a Q&A or FAQ regarding the Redesign?

 

Example: Will Benchmarking as it currently exists be going away?

 

If you guys want to ask questions like this feel free. I'll collect them all and present them to Jeremy to be answered (if the answer is... answer...able).

 

Cool. Here are my questions:

 

1. Will there be any changes to Benchmarking?

2. Will there be any changes to Virtuals?

3. Will we see any functionality added to the Friends feature, as has been alluded to by TPTB in the past?

 

Those are the only ones I have off the top of my head, that I feel comfortable asking anyway. :D

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sbell111

+sbell111

Posted
Posted
... Since the two sites are merging I was just wondering if the merger will give us that ability for geocaching?
I don't think that the two sites (four sites?) will be actually merging, as this would kind of do away with one of the major reasons to create WM.com. I think that the account data will simply be moved to GS.com and that the other sites will hit against it.

 

Of course, it has been mentioned that GC.com and WM.com will use very similar code which will allow for features that are successful at one site being introduced at the other.

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TrailGators

+TrailGators

Posted
Posted (edited)
... Since the two sites are merging I was just wondering if the merger will give us that ability for geocaching?
I don't think that the two sites (four sites?) will be actually merging, as this would kind of do away with one of the major reasons to create WM.com. I think that the account data will simply be moved to GS.com and that the other sites will hit against it.

 

Of course, it has been mentioned that GC.com and WM.com will use very similar code which will allow for features that are successful at one site being introduced at the other.

I meant that some portions are merging. I realize that each will retain a unique identity. I guess I envisioned each as becoming more of a module on our main page. However, some backend features may operate in the same manner so it is possible that geocaching could gain some new features based on a merger. So that is why I was wondering which features would now be available in geocaching. For example, I bet that a common Pocket Queries will now be available for each module so you can add waymarks to your caching PQs if you wanted to. Edited by TrailGators
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ReadyOrNot

+ReadyOrNot

Posted
Posted

Of course, it has been mentioned that GC.com and WM.com will use very similar code which will allow for features that are successful at one site being introduced at the other.

 

I can't wait!

 

Nate,

Can we give us a little more information on how the awards will work? Is there a limit to how many caches we can "Award"? or can I give out awards to my hearts content?

 

Thanks!

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hh1

+hh1

Posted
Posted
Yep. The new site will give people the ability to compliment each other in the form of "rewards". Different kinds of rewards will be "sinister hider", "funny logs", or "hide more!". In aggregate those compliments can be used in different ways to promote or help you find caches you like.

 

Remember : any system where you rely on counts (positive, negative, specific notes...) is flawed.

Simply because the number depends on the number of visitors.

A cache (or a hider) near a large city or a populated area will get more hits.

Similar, a cache (or a hider) which (who) is operational for a long time will have more hits too.

 

Please don't go for cheap solutions which look attractive and simple when they fail otherwise.

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GO CACHN

+GO CACHN

Posted
Posted
Yep. The new site will give people the ability to compliment each other in the form of "rewards". Different kinds of rewards will be "sinister hider", "funny logs", or "hide more!". In aggregate those compliments can be used in different ways to promote or help you find caches you like.

 

Remember : any system where you rely on counts (positive, negative, specific notes...) is flawed.

Simply because the number depends on the number of visitors.

A cache (or a hider) near a large city or a populated area will get more hits.

Similar, a cache (or a hider) which (who) is operational for a long time will have more hits too.

 

Please don't go for cheap solutions which look attractive and simple when they fail otherwise.

Anyword on when the new site is going to be up and running?

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Keystone

Keystone

Posted
Posted

From the December 2007 post in the Announcements Forum:

 

When will it be done?

 

Wow. Talk about a moving target. We've invested 7 months on the project already and we're in our second month of actual development work. Our goal is to have a site launch by mid next year. This, of course, will be faster or slower due to the amount of folks we can put on the development effort. So every membership you purchase or Travel Bug you buy goes towards this goal.

 

(hint, hint)

 

When can I see something?

 

I hope that by sometime in Q2 next year we'll be able to present more information on the site and potentially give access for people to offer feedback. But honestly we can't commit at this time. It's better to have an unexpected surprise sneak peek instead of a disappointment for a missed deadline anyway.

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seldom|seen

+seldom|seen

Posted
Posted
Yep. The new site will give people the ability to compliment each other in the form of "rewards". Different kinds of rewards will be "sinister hider", "funny logs", or "hide more!". In aggregate those compliments can be used in different ways to promote or help you find caches you like.

 

Remember : any system where you rely on counts (positive, negative, specific notes...) is flawed.

Simply because the number depends on the number of visitors.

A cache (or a hider) near a large city or a populated area will get more hits.

Similar, a cache (or a hider) which (who) is operational for a long time will have more hits too.

 

Please don't go for cheap solutions which look attractive and simple when they fail otherwise.

Anyword on when the new site is going to be up and running?

 

Not necessarily, as long as the system is built with consideration of those limitations in mind.

 

Here is a post I pulled from another spot on this topic: I'd like to supply a list of rewards, who want is?

 

I am quite sure that this has probably been discussed and if so I apologize beforehand.

 

What are the chances that a simple cache rating system could be implemented into the "visit" cache page when logging finds?

 

The reason I ask is that there is a cache recognition process in place called Cache of the Month (at least in Wisconsin there is) and this process is flawed in that it relies on regional word of mouth to solicit votes for favorite caches.

 

What is does is recognize halfway decent caches based on a single cachers ability to communicate to other cachers he/she knows that a certain cache has been nominated and should be voted for.

 

What is isn't is a system designed to highlight some of the most creative and unique caches in the State.

 

I would propose a simple ranking system, stars or similar icon, to rate caches in a few discernable categories like:

 

1. Location

2. Container

3. Creativity

4. Memorable

5. Recommend

 

At the end of the month, the top 20 caches could go into a list and be voted on by the geocaching community as a whole, a list derived not by nomination, but by objective evaluations of caches visited that month.

 

A really difficult Puzzle cache found by 5 people might get 1 star for location, 1 star for container (keyholder for example), 5 star for creativity, 4 star for memorable, and 5 star for recommend.

 

Another traditional cache on a high cliff found by 20 people might get a 5 star for location, 1 star for container, 1 star for creativity, 5 star for memorable and 4 star for recommend.

 

Both caches, depending on the weight assigned to the categories and frequency of visitation might come out to about the same rank and end up on the months top ranked caches, even though the puzzle cache would never get nominated under the current system which necessitates a high degree of visitation to get nominated, or it doesn't stand a chance.

 

Of course it would have the added benefit of giving cachers an idea if they should even attempt to go after a cache. A cache that is a mile down the trail that is not memorable, is in a poor location and isn't very creative might then be ignored by cachers who don't have much time to spend caching. At the same time, other that might seem like simple grab and go's and could get overlooked might not be if they had a high score.

 

I find that the difficulty and terrain are simply not an accurate representation of cache creativity, I've done plenty of 1/1's that are memorable and conversely, many higher designated caches that are wholly forgetable.

 

It seems like there is a little more room in the Geocaching world to recognize the effort and creativity of the best and brightest beyond the logs which are sometime copy/pasted by cachers who don't have the time or intrest in adding glowing marks when they have 30-50 caches to log and this could be a functional solution with any number of benefits.

 

There, I think I'm done....

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ReadyOrNot

+ReadyOrNot

Posted
Posted

There, I think I'm done....

 

The idea behind the awards system is that TPTB want a system that does not have any negative aspects to it. A rating of 0 or 1 on a cache could be viewed negatively. If I award a cache "Awesome Adventure", I will be able to search for other caches that have received that award as well. Crappy caches will simply not receive any rewards. It's a system that's based on positive feedback. I'm hoping that just as people go for the FTF, cache owners will try harder to achieve certain rewards, which in the long run will increase the overall quality of caches.

 

At least that's my hope.

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