+user13371 Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 (edited) I'm curious why "Geocaching for the iPhone" is "Protected" so that one has to be logged in to read it. If that section were entirely for application support of the GC product, it'd "kinda sorta maybe" make sense for it to be a separate area. But I've seen moderators move general discussions about the iPhone's accuracy and battery life out of the "GPS And Technology" section to the iPhone section. The Garmin, DeLorme, and other brand owners converse together -- there's no separate, locked "Geocaching with Garmin" subsection. You don't need to log on to read those discussions or even be a registered user. How come the iPhone users get locked away? Edited July 21, 2009 by lee_rimar Link to comment
Keystone Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Ummm, because it's Groundspeak's Forums, and Groundspeak developed the iPhone app? Link to comment
+user13371 Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 (edited) Keystone, I completely understand about supporting a Groundspeak app and alluded to that in my original post. But even general tech questions about the iPhone get moved there, and it's a "protected" forum. Prospective users looking for general info on the iPhone as a GPS will have a harder time getting there. A newbie (maybe without even a user ID yet) finds the section and gets told they must be registered and log in to read it? That's not very inviting -- may even be a bit off-putting to someone who hasn't made up their mind about the sport yet. Edited July 21, 2009 by lee_rimar Link to comment
Rhialto Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Just tested it and I also think it's not intended. While not logged in, we see a much shoter list of available forums and this one is listed but it's the only one who ask to log in when you want to enter it. Link to comment
Skippermark Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 In general, there's not much difference in caching whether someone uses one brand of GPS over another. There are differences in how they work, but they are still just a GPS and work similarly. The iPhone app, on the other hand, is something totally different and has features that even the latest GPS units with full cache descriptions don't offer. Since the iPhone is so feature-rich and unlike anything out there, it makes sense to give it it's own discussion area. Now, if TPTB would enable the RSS feed for the iPhone section so I could read it offline with my iPhone RSS reader, that would be sweet. Link to comment
+user13371 Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 (edited) Okay, I withdraw the first part of the question (why a separate section). The IMPORTANT question remains: Why is it a protected section requiring a registered user login? Consider this scenario: Joe Noobie has just found the forums at Groundspeak. Not registered yet, browsing the titles of posts in the GPS Tech section. Sees a topic heading "Apple I-Phone Question (-moved-)" and clicks on it. But because the moderator moved that discussion to the iPhone section, Joe N. gets an error saying he's not allowed to read it until he registers and logs in. Very unfriendly. Edited July 21, 2009 by lee_rimar Link to comment
+Allanon Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 If you'll notice, there are quite a few less forums displayed if you are not logged in, including the this one, the Web Site forum...and the same error is displayed if you click a 'moved' link to it. Obviously it's a Protected Forum too, as are the others that are not visible. The only difference is that one is visible when not logged in (iPhone) and the other is not visible (Web Site). Not saying it's right or wrong, but it is inconsistent. Link to comment
Rhialto Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Like I said I think it's an error and this forum should have been made visible. Hopefully a Moderator will fix this soon - OR - explain the reason why it's restricted to registered users. Link to comment
+Raine Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 I don't know for certain, but I think that's so Google or any other search bot doesn't index it. But as I said, that's in my non-Groundspeak lackey voice -Raine Link to comment
Keystone Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 Raine, I think now is when you ask Nate to say that only 200 people are using that forum, so it really doesn't matter. Link to comment
+user13371 Posted July 22, 2009 Author Share Posted July 22, 2009 ...so Google or any other search bot doesn't index it....Um, I ask why GC made it hard to for folks to find and read -- and as a reply you point out another way it makes it hard to find and read? Explain the logic underlying that conclusion, please. Link to comment
JoshLytle Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 ...so Google or any other search bot doesn't index it....Um, I ask why GC made it hard to for folks to find and read -- and as a reply you point out another way it makes it hard to find and read? Explain the logic underlying that conclusion, please. This was in fact unintentional and it has now been corrected. Thank you lee_rimar for pointing this out. Link to comment
+YeOleImposter Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 ...so Google or any other search bot doesn't index it....Um, I ask why GC made it hard to for folks to find and read -- and as a reply you point out another way it makes it hard to find and read? Explain the logic underlying that conclusion, please. This was in fact unintentional and it has now been corrected. Thank you lee_rimar for pointing this out. Dang! There go all my conspiracy theories. Link to comment
+user13371 Posted July 23, 2009 Author Share Posted July 23, 2009 ... unintentional and it has now been corrected. Thank you lee_rimar for pointing this out....Thank you for correcting it! Sometimes ya just gotta find the right person to ask Link to comment
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