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Fix request : date hidden


Chrysalides

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Occasionally, some geocaches are hidden with a certain theme, and the reviewer would change the "date hidden" to reflect a date of significance. For example, there is a geocache near Monterey with a date hidden of 1963 - the original air date of a particular episode of The Twilight Zone.

 

I don't mind the fact that the dates are tweaked - in fact, I rather like it, it shows that the business end of the hobby is not all starchy and proper but can be fun and whimsical. However, since my pocket queries split up the number of geocaches by date placed (as recommended by Markwell in his excellent PQ guide), I can't pick up any geocache with a date hidden before 1994.

 

Is it possible to make the earliest date "1900" or whatever the earliest date the database backend supports? An even better choice would be to have a "----" entry, which when used in the "DateTimeBegin" field indicates from beginning, and when used in the "DateTimeEnd" field indicates no end date.

 

Thank you for your consideration.

Edited by Chrysalides
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I like your request for a "from beginning" date range.

 

However, I wanted to note that you are wrong in your assertion that, "the reviewer would change the "date hidden"". Date hidden is set by the cache owner, not the reviewer. And now and then by bugs in the interface between the Safari browser and the website (1901 dates).

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I'm a little disappointed that there has been no Groundspeak response on this, since it affects PQ functionality.

 

I guess Signal helps those who helps themselves. This is my preliminary attempt at working around the problem with a GreaseMonkey script, and the two geocaches I have trouble with shows up.

 

// ==UserScript==
// @name		   Pocket Query Date Modifier
// @namespace	  chrysalides
// @description	Change date to before 1994
// @include		http://www.geocaching.com/pocket/gcquery.aspx*
// ==/UserScript==

var dateBegin = document.getElementsByTagName("select"), i;

for (i = 0; i < dateBegin.length; i++) {
if (dateBegin[i].name == "DateTimeBegin$Year") {
	dateBegin[i].options[dateBegin[i].options.length] = new Option("1900", "1900", false, false);
	break;
}
}

 

By the way can someone recommend a good GreaseMonkey reference? The "Dive Into Greasemonkey" is rather out of date, and attempts to use "document.Form1" or even "document.getElementByID()" didn't work.

Edited by Chrysalides
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That's because it's document.getElementById() - case matters :laughing:

Rats.. foiled by inconsistent uppercase characters! :surprise: Thanks.

 

I guess in my spare time I'll clean up the script - I don't really need a "begin" year of 1994-1999, for one thing. Doesn't sound like anyone else is affected by the problem of strange hide year though, from the lack of responses in this thread.

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OK.. I experimented and apparently the earliest date you can set for a cache hide is 1/1/1900. Anything else returns 500 Server Error when you try to submit a cache. So an earliest "From" date of 1900 appears safe.

 

I've enhanced the GreaseMonkey script in case anyone else wants to use it. Feel free to look over the source to make sure nothing funny is going on. It should be human readable as I didn't use anything exotic in it.

 

PQ Begin / End Date Workaround

 

Please let me know if there are any problems or issues you encounter.

 

Basically what it does:

 

1. Look through begin year list and start removing dates before 2000 from the end, until it hits a value that is selected (this happens if you are editing an existing PQ with a year begin of 199x)

 

2. Do the same thing for year end.

 

3. Add 1900 as last option of year begin.

 

4. If no begin year is already selected, we select 1900. This hack is necessary because the "selected" is set by Groundspeak's server, and since it does not know about "1900" as an option, if you're editing an old PQ with a begin date of 1900, 2010 would be selected instead.

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Hello All, Hello Chrysalides,

 

We are all having the same concern than you regarding Placed versus Validated dates!!!

Just one exemple: a cache in France has been hidden on July 07, 2009 but sent for publication on Decembre 13, 2009.

By using the function "List newest in My Country", this cache appears on page 172 of 721 without the mention "NEW"!!!

By using a pocket query settup with “Placed during the last week or the last month” I’m naturally not incorporating this cache.

By using a pocket query settup with “Placed during the last year” the result is greater than the 500 allowed.

I asked for the same think than you to the French Reviewers: “Could you change the hidden date by the published date?”

I have been answered: “We are not authorized to modify a cache page (except for abuses)!”

 

My request to Groundspeak is:

1/ Could you please change the sorting in “List newest” by using “Published date” instead of “Placed date”?

2/ Could you please change (or add) into the Pocket Queries, the option “Placed during” by “Published during”?

 

Thanks for your answer…

Gerard from France

Edited by Biquidou
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1/ Could you please change the sorting in “List newest” by using “Published date” instead of “Placed date”?

 

This isn't done because of Events, with old or current publish date, but placed dates in the future.

 

2/ Could you please ... add) into the Pocket Queries, the option...“Published during”?

 

Yes, I think this might solve all problems re placed date at once. As long as people understand how it will impact on seeing events.

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You are right Palmetto!!!

My request 1/ “List newest” might cause some confusions regarding Events and Mega Events.

But, as the “New” mention remains for around one week, active GeoCacheurs will not have concern.

Premium Members are also recieving a weekly “News Letter” wich compile Event and Mega Event scheduled.

Thanks to support my request 2/ which may solved our commun concern!!!

GG+++

Edited by Biquidou
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2/ Could you please ... add) into the Pocket Queries, the option...“Published during”?

 

Yes, I think this might solve all problems re placed date at once. As long as people understand how it will impact on seeing events.

I'm not 100% certain, but I seem to recall some older caches where I scrolled down to the beginning of the log, but could not find the "published" log.

 

OK.. found an example. It's a virtual, but I think it's the date. I've not determined the cutoff point.

 

GCAD16

 

If the published date is actually stored in the database, or if the published log is there, just not visible to us plebes, then it's not an issue.

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