See Logs and Notes for this User

[+Mule Ears]

A lot of Geocaching activity takes the form of logs and notes other than "Found It" and "Attended" logs. Would it be feasible to add a link to the Profile page, similar to "See the forum posts for this user," that would enable us to view other log and note activity? Is there some other way to search this information?

Edited May 22, 2008 by Mule Ears

[+TotemLake]

A lot of Geocaching activity takes the form of logs and notes other than "Found It" and "Attended" logs. Would it be feasible to add a link to the Profile page, similar to "See the forum posts for this user," that would enable us to view other log and note activity? Is there some other way to search this information?

I agree. DNFs can be very entertaining logs. I write some of my best adventures on a DNF.

[+Mule Ears]

I agree. DNFs can be very entertaining logs. I write some of my best adventures on a DNF.

 

My DNFs tend to be rather short and grumpy. If I knew that they were more widely read, maybe I'd try to accentuate the positive. Good point.

 

This idea occurred to me because I've come to rely on the Profile page as a capsule biography of other cachers, and I recently realized how incomplete it is. Notes, DNFs, maintenance, etc. are a big part of a cacher's activity.

[O-Mega]

A lot of Geocaching activity takes the form of logs and notes other than "Found It" and "Attended" logs. Would it be feasible to add a link to the Profile page, similar to "See the forum posts for this user," that would enable us to view other log and note activity? Is there some other way to search this information?

 

I had suggested this here: User Logs but it didn't generate much interest. I would like to see a feature where instead of just listing the caches and trackables a user has found, it would also link to the users log from the icon of the cache or trackable.

[+russellvt]

I agree. DNFs can be very entertaining logs. I write some of my best adventures on a DNF.

Similarly, I agree. It also helps spouses and S/Os who maintain their own account and have the tendency to log by "surfing the other's profile."

 

And yeah, while it potentially enables some level of "cyberstalking" (though that's expressly forbidden in the ToS, IIRC), certain more-prolific folks can be quite fun/entertaining to read their logs for comedic value alone (similarly I've seen a few "best DNF log" discussions here a few times).

[+Mule Ears]

I agree. DNFs can be very entertaining logs. I write some of my best adventures on a DNF.

Similarly, I agree. It also helps spouses and S/Os who maintain their own account and have the tendency to log by "surfing the other's profile."

 

And yeah, while it potentially enables some level of "cyberstalking" (though that's expressly forbidden in the ToS, IIRC), certain more-prolific folks can be quite fun/entertaining to read their logs for comedic value alone (similarly I've seen a few "best DNF log" discussions here a few times).

 

Cachers who know my habits sometimes email me to ask, "Everything OK?" if they don't see the find log(s) they expect. They can't see the DNF or Owner Maintenance log I posted that day. Anyhow, I don't think that visibility of other log types would make cyberstalking that much more likely. If it's a problem, then it's a problem with the present setup, too.

[+TotemLake]

I agree. DNFs can be very entertaining logs. I write some of my best adventures on a DNF.

Similarly, I agree. It also helps spouses and S/Os who maintain their own account and have the tendency to log by "surfing the other's profile."

 

And yeah, while it potentially enables some level of "cyberstalking" (though that's expressly forbidden in the ToS, IIRC), certain more-prolific folks can be quite fun/entertaining to read their logs for comedic value alone (similarly I've seen a few "best DNF log" discussions here a few times).

 

Cachers who know my habits sometimes email me to ask, "Everything OK?" if they don't see the find log(s) they expect. They can't see the DNF or Owner Maintenance log I posted that day. Anyhow, I don't think that visibility of other log types would make cyberstalking that much more likely. If it's a problem, then it's a problem with the present setup, too.

It is, and due to respecting their privacy I won't cite them, but this is a good point. Right now, they do log everything as notes for their personal use and it typically makes it tougher to track without watching every single cache in the locale.

 

I wouldn't be opposed to make this part of the My Friends feature. In this manner, they can have their social circle by opting in per person rather than have a blanket on or off at the profile level.

[+Cache O'Plenty]

I was concerned about the privacy/stalking part of this idea until I saw the "Friends" connection. That should be a critical criteria of anything like this. You can accomplish the same thing now by opening each cache they've found and finding their entry. Very tedious, but doable. Stalkers already have their ways of doing their thing.

[+russellvt]

I was concerned about the privacy/stalking part of this idea until I saw the "Friends" connection. That should be a critical criteria of anything like this. You can accomplish the same thing now by opening each cache they've found and finding their entry. Very tedious, but doable. Stalkers already have their ways of doing their thing.

Good point... but I also like the idea of maybe closing down the "found logs" to those in a contact and/or "friends" list. Though I tend to be more of a "paranoid" type (read: network security dweeb), of all things I'm not too overly concerned about folks reading my GC log entries... then again, I've not yet done something like "a sick call for the sake of another caching day" or anything like that, either! *laugh*

[+Mule Ears]

I was concerned about the privacy/stalking part of this idea until I saw the "Friends" connection. That should be a critical criteria of anything like this. You can accomplish the same thing now by opening each cache they've found and finding their entry. Very tedious, but doable. Stalkers already have their ways of doing their thing.

 

Maybe I'm just thick, but I don't see the privacy angle. People are posting their finds as notes because their definition of private is "visible to everyone who views the cache pages, but not to those who view my profile?" The logs are still online, just inconvenient to find. That's not really private. What am I missing?

[+TotemLake]

I was concerned about the privacy/stalking part of this idea until I saw the "Friends" connection. That should be a critical criteria of anything like this. You can accomplish the same thing now by opening each cache they've found and finding their entry. Very tedious, but doable. Stalkers already have their ways of doing their thing.

Let's keep that part as tedious as possible.

[+russellvt]

Maybe I'm just thick, but I don't see the privacy angle. People are posting their finds as notes because their definition of private is "visible to everyone who views the cache pages, but not to those who view my profile?" The logs are still online, just inconvenient to find. That's not really private. What am I missing?

Maybe "private" isn't quite the right angle. I see it as just a subtle difference between letting people view your logs cache-by-cache by happen-stance versus a "complete list of every place and approximate date/time you were there."

 

Perhaps, similarly, there's also call for an "ignore" list that prevents folks from seeing your cache logs. Or simply allow the direct exposure of your "found" logs (in your profile) to be user settable/selectable.

[+Mule Ears]

Maybe "private" isn't quite the right angle. I see it as just a subtle difference between letting people view your logs cache-by-cache by happen-stance versus a "complete list of every place and approximate date/time you were there."

 

Perhaps, similarly, there's also call for an "ignore" list that prevents folks from seeing your cache logs. Or simply allow the direct exposure of your "found" logs (in your profile) to be user settable/selectable.

 

But, but...stalking requires near-realtime intelligence. If you're worried about it, just delay posting your logs. Substituting a note doesn't make much sense. (And there's Google, after all.) Ah, well. I don't want to be the one to pull my own thread off-topic. I sense there's an underlying neurotic issue that defies explanation.

 

Back on my topic: Making logs available only to a select, opt-in group would kill much of the usefulness of the feature. For example, I recently placed a new cache that has not yet been found. It has attracted some interest and a couple of notes from other cachers. I'm curious as to whether these cachers commonly post these sorts of notes, or whether my cache uniquely inspired them. I could email and ask, but I'm not that curious. Level of curiosity is about the same as regarding what other caches they've found.

[+TotemLake]

Maybe "private" isn't quite the right angle. I see it as just a subtle difference between letting people view your logs cache-by-cache by happen-stance versus a "complete list of every place and approximate date/time you were there."

 

Perhaps, similarly, there's also call for an "ignore" list that prevents folks from seeing your cache logs. Or simply allow the direct exposure of your "found" logs (in your profile) to be user settable/selectable.

 

But, but...stalking requires near-realtime intelligence. If you're worried about it, just delay posting your logs. Substituting a note doesn't make much sense. (And there's Google, after all.) Ah, well. I don't want to be the one to pull my own thread off-topic. I sense there's an underlying neurotic issue that defies explanation.

 

Back on my topic: Making logs available only to a select, opt-in group would kill much of the usefulness of the feature. For example, I recently placed a new cache that has not yet been found. It has attracted some interest and a couple of notes from other cachers. I'm curious as to whether these cachers commonly post these sorts of notes, or whether my cache uniquely inspired them. I could email and ask, but I'm not that curious. Level of curiosity is about the same as regarding what other caches they've found.

 

Just to jump off topic a little bit, it isn't so neurotic. There are those that follow and track the finds and then send email messages to that person at a level that leaves you feeling very creeped out. With past history, you can also discern a pattern and make some pretty intelligent guesses. When it hasn't happened to you or a friend, it's pretty hard to imagine. When it does, you gain a new respect for the ability and remain mindful of ways to defend against it no matter how trivial it seems.

[+Mule Ears]

Just to jump off topic a little bit, it isn't so neurotic. There are those that follow and track the finds and then send email messages to that person at a level that leaves you feeling very creeped out. With past history, you can also discern a pattern and make some pretty intelligent guesses. When it hasn't happened to you or a friend, it's pretty hard to imagine. When it does, you gain a new respect for the ability and remain mindful of ways to defend against it no matter how trivial it seems.

 

Wow. That's awful. Don't know if logging with notes is the correct remedy, though. There's an old tradition known as the "blanket party" (with the stalker as the guest of honor) that would be much more appropriate.

[+ComputerCacheBug]

An option that could work is that the date/time stamp is only visible to the cache owner. Noone else would see this information and therefore make tracking more difficult since looking for a common time frame and day pattern are not accessible to them.

[+Corey]

I haven't seen a good reason not to hide other logs while showing "Found it" logs?

[+butrflybec]

There are those that follow and track the finds and then send email messages to that person at a level that leaves you feeling very creeped out.

 

Yep, I've had this happen a while back...it's not fun. But even if they don't have the ability to click a button and see all my logs, if they are truely stalking, they would probably go through the effort of taking time to find my logs in all my cache finds anyway. So I can't use that as an arguement as to why we shouldn't want this feature.

 

Other than the stalkerish creeps out there, I like folks to read my logs, it's why I write them anyway! ha! If I didn't want people to read them, I would stick with the old "Found It, TFTC" logs. And there are a few folks that I know write good logs that I think it'd be nice to be able to quickly read theirs. But yeah this is definently just a "want" and not a "need" feature....maybe when the lackey's get bored

[+baloo&bd]

I haven't seen a good reason not to hide other logs while showing "Found it" logs?

 

There really isn't. Stalking is not a concern to any but the extremely paranoid since logging is rarely done real-time and only shows a historica, which makes even their the concern moot.

 

Maybe with 2.0 this will be included. I can think of many uses, the least of which not being the entertainment factor, to make this a cool feature.