Series caches . Overlong titles and repetative info

[+CHOCALCHEMY]

RANT. Long Titles and Duplicate Information. Please will composers of SERIES caches consider reducing the title length as we users get confused when the last bit gets dropped off our maps and GPSr displays, so which one are we on? The same information for each cache is tedious and having to read or print it in case there is a difference (sometimes vital) is a pain in the elbow!A better way is demonstrated by:- Cakemaker who reduces "Pipers Hill Series" to "PH" and says this only once! (GC1GC6M PH No Gratuities) explore!

[+hukilaulau]

I learned the hard way that if a series has a really long name at the beginning, magellan geocache manager will only keep one of them, so you end up in the field ready for a good hunt and only have one of the caches in your gps! The easy solution is to look at the list before uploading to the gps and putting a descriptive word or number at the front, so that "uncle charile's super fun fantastic caching adventure #1 the old barn" becomes "Barn-uncle charlie's super fun fantastic caching adventrue #1 the old barn"

I think you can do the same thing with GSAK.

[Clan Riffster]

If you use GSAK, you can set it up to customize names with the same first 8 letters or so.

Pipers Hill Series 1 thru 5 would show on your screen as PipersH1, PipersH2, etc.

(Depending on how you set up GSAK)

[+sbell111]

I remember with fondness taht many of the original caches that were imported into GC.com were named 'geocache'. That never caused a problem that I am aware of, nor would I expect to unrelated caches called 'In the sticks' or 'Harry Potter' to cause a problem. Certainly, problems related to similar names are being caused by the way that the data is handled by third party programs. Therefore, the solution to the problem should be found within those programs, not through a change in how gacahes are listed. After all, would it really be feasible to verify that every cache name is unique prior to listing? A smarter way to handle this issue is to ensure that 'cache name' is not the field that you use as the primary field. The GC# is a better choice, since it is known to be unique.

[+StarBrand]

Best bet is to have them display by the GC code - that is always unique and cannot be confused with another cache.

[+Vater_Araignee]

It is a bit much to ask CO to reduce Cache names to fit your device.

If you have people reduce the No.2 up caches in a series to just abbreviation then they wont show up in a keyword search. Bump them because they should have a weak device and/or be willing to do more research?

 

You also want repetitive information removed? What happens when somebody does PQ for all caches in a radius, runs out the door and the first one in a series is not in the radius? Screw 'em because your device can't handle it or you want to save some ink?

 

Find a work around instead of ranting that people with tech that can handle it should get punished. I know, that is not your intention, but that is what the result would be.

 

Get GASK and use

%drop2 %Name

as your naming convention on an export.

 

Some Macros you might be interested in.

• BagThe = Removes Leading "The " from cache names.
  
• ShortenSeriesName = Shorten cache series names.
  

[+CHOCALCHEMY]

It is a bit much to ask CO to reduce Cache names to fit your device.

If you have people reduce the No.2 up caches in a series to just abbreviation then they wont show up in a keyword search. Bump them because they should have a weak device and/or be willing to do more research?

 

You also want repetitive information removed? What happens when somebody does PQ for all caches in a radius, runs out the door and the first one in a series is not in the radius? Screw 'em because your device can't handle it or you want to save some ink?

 

Find a work around instead of ranting that people with tech that can handle it should get punished. I know, that is not your intention, but that is what the result would be.

 

Get GASK and use

%drop2 %Name

as your naming convention on an export.

 

Some Macros you might be interested in.

• BagThe = Removes Leading "The " from cache names.
  
• ShortenSeriesName = Shorten cache series names.
  

[+CHOCALCHEMY]

It is a bit much to ask CO to reduce Cache names to fit your device.

If you have people reduce the No.2 up caches in a series to just abbreviation then they wont show up in a keyword search. Bump them because they should have a weak device and/or be willing to do more research?

 

You also want repetitive information removed? What happens when somebody does PQ for all caches in a radius, runs out the door and the first one in a series is not in the radius? Screw 'em because your device can't handle it or you want to save some ink?

 

Find a work around instead of ranting that people with tech that can handle it should get punished. I know, that is not your intention, but that is what the result would be.

 

Get GASK and use

%drop2 %Name

as your naming convention on an export.

 

Some Macros you might be interested in.

• BagThe = Removes Leading "The " from cache names.
  
• ShortenSeriesName = Shorten cache series names.
  

Just found my way back into forum!!! Whoops.

Tried your 2 suggestions, drop2 just makes them longer hiding the vital end!

The macro seemed to get rid of most of the way points and just use code names.

GSAC does shorten the name and number them as it pleases NOT as the longer cache name of the CO!

SO I need a macro that says if the words are the same as another then take first and last letters and drop the middles! What I need is to see the series but still see which is which and some CO 's do this brillantly!

[+sbell111]

It is a bit much to ask CO to reduce Cache names to fit your device.

If you have people reduce the No.2 up caches in a series to just abbreviation then they wont show up in a keyword search. Bump them because they should have a weak device and/or be willing to do more research?

 

You also want repetitive information removed? What happens when somebody does PQ for all caches in a radius, runs out the door and the first one in a series is not in the radius? Screw 'em because your device can't handle it or you want to save some ink?

 

Find a work around instead of ranting that people with tech that can handle it should get punished. I know, that is not your intention, but that is what the result would be.

 

Get GASK and use

%drop2 %Name

as your naming convention on an export.

 

Some Macros you might be interested in.

• BagThe = Removes Leading "The " from cache names.
  
• ShortenSeriesName = Shorten cache series names.
  

Just found my way back into forum!!! Whoops.

Tried your 2 suggestions, drop2 just makes them longer hiding the vital end!

The macro seemed to get rid of most of the way points and just use code names.

GSAC does shorten the name and number them as it pleases NOT as the longer cache name of the CO!

SO I need a macro that says if the words are the same as another then take first and last letters and drop the middles! What I need is to see the series but still see which is which and some CO 's do this brillantly!

Have you tried the GSAK forums?

[+briansnat]

Just display the GC code rather than the name, they are all unique.

[+J-Way]

Don't complain too loudly. One local guy had the same complaint and voiced it at an event (it actually is sortof a problem around here... the micro spew is horrendous to the point where the hiders have long run out of original names). The next week THESE caches started popping up all over town.

 

Which resulted in the placement of a retaliatory cache, "The Predators BBB Dared Me On The Go Song Cache", which features snippets from the titles of four of the local series caches.

[+todd300]

Similar titles in a series don't bother me. Many ways around it.

 

Just set your GPSr to just put the GC number on the map and take a notebook with a list of caches and refer to that GC number.

 

Use GSAK to rename the title.

 

Many other ways to get around it.

 

Nothing to complain about. I've had a few complainers in my area too about the long titles in the Spirit Quest series. That don't bother me when I see several listings on my PDA that says "Wisconsin Spirit Quest.." then it gets chopped off. So I just refer to my notebook with the GC number on it and the shorthand that I wrote such as "GC1TQ9J - WSQ - St. Matt's". Yup, that's it, and I go make the find.

 

What's the big deal on similar titles?

Edited June 20, 2009 by todd300

[knowschad]

Actually, I'm with the OP on this, although I know that nothing is going to change. And it isn't just about how the name displays on my GPS. GSAK macros won't help me remember which cache was what. Its probably just me, but I find it hard to differentiate at the end of the day when the caches all start with the same name. Even worse when the only part of the name differentiating them is a number.

 

On the other hand, I will never mention this at an event! LOL! That was just too funny!

[knowschad]

Best bet is to have them display by the GC code - that is always unique and cannot be confused with another cache.

 

I left that behind years ago! I do have it in the Notes field, and use that when logging at the end of the day, but I much prefer to see the name. The name sometimes tells me a lot about the cache (although it can also be misleading). But moreover, when caching with others, it's MUCH nicer to say, "OK, next one is "Duck Pond Cache" instead of "OK, next one is GCABCDE"

[+The Jester]

Just found my way back into forum!!! Whoops.

Tried your 2 suggestions, drop2 just makes them longer hiding the vital end!

The macro seemed to get rid of most of the way points and just use code names.

GSAK does shorten the name and number them as it pleases NOT as the longer cache name of the CO!SO I need a macro that says if the words are the same as another then take first and last letters and drop the middles! What I need is to see the series but still see which is which and some CO 's do this brillantly!

Look at "Smart Name Conversions" in the help file. You can use this to change long series names to anything you want (such as 'Green Mountain Hide' to 'GMH'). This will happen before the smart name calculation.