Premium Membership

[+fatblokecaver]

Dear all,

 

I do not take part in werigo or Waymarking I look up the caches and go and get em when I can - so to the delemma - do I renew my premium membership or don't I.

What would I loose out on - not much me thinks, I can still access the co ords for caches and go out to do em that is all I need.

Does anyone else agree?

Can anyone talk me out of not renewing my premium membership? If so why?

 

FBC

[lakeuk]

Why did you take out premium membership, wouldn't the reason continue to be the same?

[+jerryo]

You need PM for pocket queries, ignore lists, bookmarking (as opposed to watching) caches, and removing “found” caches on Google maps. To mention a few. Or at least you did.

 

Just think of all those micros in the woods you can put on your ignore list with premium membership. I let mine lapse for months but I found it quite useful so I renewed.

Edited September 30, 2008 by jerryo

[+Stuey]

I do not take part in werigo or Waymarking I look up the caches and go and get em when I can - so to the delemma - do I renew my premium membership or don't I.

 

Would you spend money each month to subscribe to Sky Sports and Sky Movies yet only watch BBC1? If that was me, I'd cancel.

[+Jacobite]

You won't be able to download GPX files, create PQ's, log MO caches without giving GSP 30 bucks.

GSP will tell you that your 30 bucks will go towards new features and contribute to their site development,

But you'll have no say in what these new features will be, so they may be of little use to you. GSP also have a habit of make new features available to US members and seem to forget about the rest of the planet, so effectively some members subsidise other members. GSP is cutting deals with a number of big players within the communications industries, and is no longer the p*ss poor outfit it used to be.

 

Just a few things to consider, before handing over your hard earned cash.

Hope this helps

[+BlueDeuce]

If you have no need for what the current services a premium membership offers then I would not recommend renewing. Out of everything they offer, I'd say the PQ option and the subsequent ability to load cache data into my PDA is what I need/like most.

 

If there is a particular option that would you enhance your geocaching experience, you should ask them to provide it.

 

If enough people want it, then you just might get it.

[+currykev]

$30 = 60 fags or 1 good bottle of wine.

And the Gc.com benefits are somewhat healthier.

[+Happy Humphrey]

GSP also have a habit of make new features available to US members and seem to forget about the rest of the planet, so effectively some members subsidise other members.

Is that really the case? What features do US members get that are unavailable outside the US?

[+Haggis Hunter]

My advice is don't initially renew. See how your caching is affected and if you find it makes no difference then you have your answer. If it makes it more difficult hand entering all the co-ords and printing off paper then yet again you have your answer.

 

I pay my £15 per year because it makes sorting out caches a lot easier, and I also prefer paperless caching. As long as I can still play the game the way I want, then the political issues don't bother me.

 

I think I pay for an additional service and at £1.25 per month I don't think you can really complain!

[+Alibags]

I pay because considering the amount of time I spend geocaching, and therefore using the gc.com website, $30 seems like a very small and reasonable amount to me. I don't think of it in terms of what I get out, but more in terms of what I can give back.

[+SUp3rFM & Cruella]

$30/year is nothing compared to what geocaching.com provides you, and I'm not talking about site features.

[NickPick]

I'd suggest that you pay if you want to, or if there are premium only features that you want to use.

 

If you don't want to pay, or feel that you can't afford it, and can manage without the premium features, then go back to being a basic member.

[+chizu]

Pay if you want to, don't if you don't, as long as if you cancel your membership it isn't just to make a "statement" or a "protest" against anything GC have done, as they won't even notice, and you'll just be cutting your nose off to spite your face (IMHO).

[+Fuchsiamagic]

Emailed notifications are enough to keep me coughing up.

[+pklong]

Do I post a witty reply or don't I?

[+rutson]

Do I post a witty reply or don't I?

 

Lass walks into a pub and asks for an innuendo so the barman gave her one.

[+kewfriend]

To pay, or not to pay: that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler at the cache to offer

The slings and arrows of outrageous meaness,

Or to pay arms into the bank of dollars,

And by not paying GC dot COM? To die: to sleep;

 

PAY and disPLAY - I do

[+sTeamTraen]

GSP also have a habit of make new features available to US members and seem to forget about the rest of the planet, so effectively some members subsidise other members.

Is that really the case? What features do US members get that are unavailable outside the US?

 

It's true that there are some telecom-related features, such as the Trimble navigator thingy, which require you to be with a US mobile carrier. The recently launched TextMarks service (basically, logging by SMS) similarly depends on having a US mobile phone.

 

I suppose you could say that this means that non-US members "subsidise" US members. On the other hand, since the US has the largest number of members and many of the costs of running the site are essentially fixed (or at least, not linear with the number of caches), you could argue that the US members are collectively subsidising everybody else. (Can you tell that I've been trying to help my daughter with her economics homework?)

 

If Groundspeak were unable to launch new features until the underlying technology were to be available in every country worldwide (or even just every country with more than, say, 1000 cachers), they wouldn't make progress very quickly. If Trimble or TextMarks turn out to be hugely popular then maybe a similar service would emerge in some European countries. Ultimately it's a commercial decision, not a nationalist one.

[+currykev]

thanks rutson.

[+Jacobite]

What would I loose out on - not much me thinks, I can still access the co ords for caches and go out to do em that is all I need.

 

And there was me waffling on about subsidisation and the like! If that's all you need, then why would you pay for a premium member when you don't need it?

 

Unless of course, you feel that by giving GSP your money, you will be in some way investing in the future devlopement of the game? What do you think, eh?

 

I'm nodding, but my guide dog's saying "No!"

[+Happy Humphrey]

GSP also have a habit of make new features available to US members and seem to forget about the rest of the planet, so effectively some members subsidise other members.

Is that really the case? What features do US members get that are unavailable outside the US?

 

It's true that there are some telecom-related features, such as the Trimble navigator thingy, which require you to be with a US mobile carrier. The recently launched TextMarks service (basically, logging by SMS) similarly depends on having a US mobile phone.

 

I suppose you could say that this means that non-US members "subsidise" US members. On the other hand, since the US has the largest number of members and many of the costs of running the site are essentially fixed (or at least, not linear with the number of caches), you could argue that the US members are collectively subsidising everybody else. (Can you tell that I've been trying to help my daughter with her economics homework?)

 

If Groundspeak were unable to launch new features until the underlying technology were to be available in every country worldwide (or even just every country with more than, say, 1000 cachers), they wouldn't make progress very quickly. If Trimble or TextMarks turn out to be hugely popular then maybe a similar service would emerge in some European countries. Ultimately it's a commercial decision, not a nationalist one.

Oh: is that all it is? Not much of a "habit" then! Actually, I'd had a look at the Trimble Navigator and didn't spot that it was US-only. But I wasn't really going to use it anyway.

[+Team Sieni]

Oh: is that all it is? Not much of a "habit" then! Actually, I'd had a look at the Trimble Navigator and didn't spot that it was US-only. But I wasn't really going to use it anyway.

I've got it (Trimble Geocache Navigator 2.0.3) and it runs fine on Orange in the UK. Perhaps early versions were US specific? But anyway, Trimble aren't GSP.

Edited October 2, 2008 by Team Sieni

[+fatblokecaver]

Thanks for your replies.

I think that the only thing I would possibly miss is the downloading of caches onto my gps, mind you I still have to change the name any way!!!!

£15 is not a lot of dosh in the current climate - 4 bottles of reasonably nice red wine, 6 pints of real ale, a take away curry for 2 or 3 packets of fags.

The only thing I could do with from Groundspeak would be an automatic update of stats on my page in that as I do em the stats change (I would be willing to wait overnight for it to up date if necessary ).

 

I will have to make my decision later

 

FBC

[+SUp3rFM & Cruella]

Now you're going to leave us anxious.

 

[+GAZ]

 

I think that the only thing I would possibly miss is the downloading of caches onto my gps, mind you I still have to change the name any way!!!!

 

 

You don't need premium membership to download caches to your GPSr.

[+boats2]

 

You don't need premium membership to download caches to your GPSr.

 

Unless of course they are Premium Member only caches. What percentage of caches are member only these days and for what reason do people make them member only?

[+rutson]

487 in the UK out of 33295 so 1.5%

[+pklong]

487 in the UK out of 33295 so 1.5%

 

Next question, how many of those 487 premium member caches are good caches worth doing?

 

Philip

[+rutson]

Sorry, I'm engineer, I do figures not opinions ;-)

[+jerryo]

1.462682084%, actually. I'm a mathematician, not an engineer , and statistically speaking, I would say some of them are worth doing. Probably.

[+Fuchsiamagic]

...What percentage of caches are member only these days and for what reason do people make them member only?

I can't speak for others, but I changed one of mine to members only recently and moved it a few hundred feet after it got muggled twice. Only time will tell if I did the right thing.

[+Jacobite]

...What percentage of caches are member only these days and for what reason do people make them member only?

I can't speak for others, but I changed one of mine to members only recently and moved it a few hundred feet after it got muggled twice. Only time will tell if I did the right thing.

 

Yeah....and if it gets muggled again, we'll all know it was a premium member that done it!

Edited October 5, 2008 by Jacobite

[nobby.nobbs]

Making something members only doesn't stop people accidently finding them. That's how most caches are muggled.

[+jerryo]

...What percentage of caches are member only these days and for what reason do people make them member only?

I can't speak for others, but I changed one of mine to members only recently and moved it a few hundred feet after it got muggled twice. Only time will tell if I did the right thing.

 

Yeah....and if it gets muggled again, we'll all know it was a premium member that done it!

It never crossed my mind that a cacher, premium member or not, would muggle a cache. I wouldn't start thinking that. As nobby.nobbs says, it's muggles that do it, not cachers. Also I really can't imagine your local chavs logging onto GC and looking for caches to raid while they're online sourcing new supplies of Lambrini.

[+The Hungry Caterpillars]

I personally think premium membership is good value for money if you do a lot of geocaching and are heavily into gadgets and paperless caching.

otherwise perhaps not?

[+sparkyweb]

TBH I find it great for paperless caching.

 

I cancelled my subs for a while after my daughter was born and there was no time for caching but now I get back out there it makes it so much easier.

[+sparkyweb]

TBH I find it great for paperless caching.

 

I cancelled my subs for a while after my daughter was born and there was no time for caching but now I get back out there it makes it so much easier.

 

~edit sorry duplicate, forum threw a wobbly!

Edited October 6, 2008 by sparkyweb