+rogbarn Posted September 15, 2003 Share Posted September 15, 2003 On Aug. 17, the number of benchmark remaining fell below 700,000. On Aug. 22, the number of benchmarks found reached 5% of the total. The final major milestone of the summer is to reach 40,000 benchmarks found. Despite a recent slowdown in benchmark finds, it will probably be reached on Saturday, Sept. 20th. Congratulations to all who have helped add to this number. Quote Link to comment
+rogbarn Posted September 17, 2003 Author Share Posted September 17, 2003 Apparently we have entered the major slowdown of the season. The pace of benchmark finds has fallen dramatically this week. We hit 20,000 benchmark finds on March 25th. Since March 13th, the rolling 7-day average has mostly been above 100, raising as high as 163 on July 12th. The lowest point was the beginning of June when it fell to 72 on June 9th. Last Sunday it again fell under 100 and has continued to drop. Today the 7-day average is at 75, the lowest since June 9 and since March 8 before that. The bottom line is that the 40,000 milestone is slipping and it is currently expected on Monday 9/22. As long as we hit it before next Thursday 9/25, we can claim to have gone from 20,000 to 40,000 in less than 6 months. A pretty amazing feat! Quote Link to comment
+JoGPS Posted September 17, 2003 Share Posted September 17, 2003 I know we have been a slacker, be busy with other things, but will be back hunting in a jiffy.....JOE Quote Link to comment
+rogbarn Posted September 17, 2003 Author Share Posted September 17, 2003 quote:Originally posted by JoGPS:I know we have been a slacker, be busy with other things, but will be back hunting in a jiffy.....JOE Yea Joe, with 470 benchmark finds, you're way behind! Not to mention the 2,000+ cache finds and over 100 caches owned. Yea, you've been a real big slacker!!! Don't you get what I've been saying???? Really Joe, thanks for your contributions. Quote Link to comment
+JoGPS Posted September 17, 2003 Share Posted September 17, 2003 Thanks for the kind words but I have not found a benchmark in a month, and starting to have withdrawals ……….. JOE Quote Link to comment
+GeckoGeek Posted September 17, 2003 Share Posted September 17, 2003 So what happens when I start submitting my destroyeds? I've got 5 I need to post and I've got a bunch more cued up. Quote Link to comment
+rogbarn Posted September 17, 2003 Author Share Posted September 17, 2003 quote:Originally posted by GeckoGeek:So what happens when I start submitting my destroyeds? I've got 5 I need to post and I've got a bunch more cued up. Unfortunately, GC.com currently only tracks benchmark finds. If and when they also track not founds and/or destroyed, I'd be more than happy to track those too. Quote Link to comment
+Rich in NEPA Posted September 18, 2003 Share Posted September 18, 2003 quote:Originally posted by RogBarn: Unfortunately, GC.com currently only tracks benchmark finds. If and when they also track not founds and/or destroyed, I'd be more than happy to track those too. In my opinion destroyed marks should rightfully be logged as "Found." I know this sounds counter-intuitive to some of you but in order to claim that a mark is destroyed it needs to be positively identified. It's not as self-contradictory a concept as it may appear. Think of it as, "The 'station' itself was found, but the mark/landmark is missing/destroyed and the 'station' is no longer viable." The station that is the subject of this post is a very good example. The evidence from RACooper's research is certainly adequate. Perhaps a more qualified forum member could explain this better than I can. For benchmark hunting purposes, once a station has been officially (NGS) reported or listed as destroyed, it can not be logged again on the GC.com website as "Found." This gives the "recoverer" the credit he deserves for his efforts. Cheers ... ~Rich in NEPA~ --- A man with a GPS receiver knows where he is; a man with two GPS receivers is never sure. --- Quote Link to comment
+Zhanna Posted September 18, 2003 Share Posted September 18, 2003 Rich, I agree with you. After much deliberation I decided to use the same criterion when logging HU1397. I couldn't care less about the numbers themselves, but we should get credit for all our successful recoveries, including those cases in which we were the first to positively identify a station that no longer exists. Zhanna Quote Link to comment
MOCKBA Posted September 18, 2003 Share Posted September 18, 2003 It might be relatively easy to transfer the benchmark-logging process to a competing caching / point-hunting site. Indeed - the BM location info is not proprietary - the BM info as reflected in the internal DB of GC.com is out of date - the history of BM finds by the members is inconsistent, with plenty of woefully substandart finds, fake finds, and general lack of oversight and review by qualified people (a new site would still be able to provide a link to un-reviewed logs at gc.com, of course) - the interface / functionality is poor (no regional maps, unsorted lists, problems with stats and counts, parsing problem with would-be skulls, buggy log deletion, no link-up to NGS recovery sheets, no way to query for unpubs, no way to add unlisteds, even the ones explicitly on USGS quad maps, to list just a few) - and (of course not least) a stepparent attitude of TPTB. What do you think? Perhaps gc.com is indeed a wrong place for this activity? Quote Link to comment
RACooper Posted September 18, 2003 Share Posted September 18, 2003 Since the GC.com data isn't directly reported to NGS, I think a suggestion I saw a few weeks ago (sorry, don't remember who!) would be perfect. Split the found/not found/destroyed into two fields: a) status--found/not found(/note). Exact location of mark was confirmed or not. condition--good, poor, destroyed. This would allow GC to give credit for marks that the location has been confirmed, but the marker is missing/destroyed, and still not give "credit" for not founds (but could include them in the stats counts as a "not found" field). I know I've marked a couple as "not found" that I plan to go back and research in depth at a later date. I guess I would edit my entry at that time (presuming I either found it or confirmed destruction) to update the status. Quote Link to comment
+Rich in NEPA Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 I'm sure the goal is to maintain a certain amount of parity of form with the Geocaching side, and I can understand that not everyone using the Benchmarking site wants to get involved with the formal aspect of making official recovery reports, updating "to reach" descriptions, submitting photos, GPS coordinates, etc., to the NGS. That's fine, but I think the site can easily accommodate those of us with more serious aspirations, too. Changing and limiting the logging options to "Found," "Not Found," and "Note" will not affect the ability of casual hunters for enjoying the activity and recording their experiences as they always have. On the other hand, adding a condition field to the "Found" option (Good, Poor, Destroyed) allows logging missing/destroyed marks, as well as giving credit for the effort of the recovery itself. Remember, if you can't identify the station then it should be logged as Not Found, much the same way that not signing the logbook constitutes not finding a Geocache. (Personally, I really don't feel it's OK to log a Geocache as found if the container is gone, even if you believe you found the hiding spot, but that's my opinion and I've always been true to it. If people want to log having seen only a reference mark as an actual find of the station itself, there's really nothing to stop them except their own integrity and sense of fairness. I'm generally satisfied that NGS requires proof of identity.) There are plenty of cases where stations with missing marks are still identifiable and useful. NGS recognizes this, too. Examples could be provided in a Benchmarking FAQ or some such similar guide to help users make that determination for the purpose of logging it, or the station in question could be brought to the attention of the forum for discussion and resolution. In this way we can all learn something new. Cheers ... ~Rich in NEPA~ --- A man with a GPS receiver knows where he is; a man with two GPS receivers is never sure. --- [This message was edited by Rich in NEPA on September 19, 2003 at 08:02 AM.] Quote Link to comment
JamesAG Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 Is anyone talking to GC.com about this? Are they putting some of these requests on their to-do list? (I'm sure they have a long list already) Quote Link to comment
Max Cacher Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 They have a very, very long to do list, but they are listening . TG Quote Link to comment
JamesAG Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 I have no doubt that you are listening and it is much appreciated. I am certainly NOT asking in a "What's the matter, aren't they listening to us?!?" manner. I know that GC.com has many things they are trying to do and many things they would like to do. I was just curious if anything has been formally presented to GC.com and whether or not there were specific changes GC.com was pursuing. I should have presented my question better. Thanks! Quote Link to comment
Max Cacher Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 No it was a good question and we did not take it in an unfavorable manner, I have asked for several of the things that everyone here in the benchmarks section wants, and GC.com is pursuing specific changes, other than that ,I have no details to give other than they are still trying to get the caching side of the site worked out first, some of the changes will go hand in hand with locationless and virtuals when they are redone. That’s about all I know, but please keep making suggestion to make this a better site, even if I don’t have anything to do with them. TG Quote Link to comment
Max Cacher Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 Now as doing the Forum Moderator job lets bring this thread back on topic please TG Quote Link to comment
+beejay&esskay Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Tennessee Geocacher:Now as doing the Forum Moderator job lets bring this thread back on topic please TG Hey, the count is 39,699 now. (You're welcome. ) Quote Link to comment
+happycycler Posted September 21, 2003 Share Posted September 21, 2003 I got a few today....every little bit helps? Everybody loves benchmarks more! Quote Link to comment
+rogbarn Posted September 22, 2003 Author Share Posted September 22, 2003 quote:Originally posted by happycycler:I got a few today....every little bit helps? Everybody loves benchmarks more! To rephase it properly, it should be: every little bit helps! We are currently less than 100 from the magic 40,000. Hopefully, some time later today, it will go over and someone will post it here! Quote Link to comment
+KC8JZK Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 I will only be happy when we find all of them Just kidding!! If we did find all of them what would we do after that? Quote Link to comment
+FourHighlandsRats Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 quote:Originally posted by xevious5:If we did find all of them what would we do after that? Go back and make sure they are still there? Quote Link to comment
+JeremyA Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 40,001 and counting... JeremyA Quote Link to comment
+happycycler Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 40001 benchmarks recovered so far. Only 696424 to go! I saw this @ ~ 9:10PM CDT Everybody loves benchmarks more! Quote Link to comment
+jeff35080 Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 Congrats to everyone for reaching the 40K mark! Jeff http://www.StarsFellOnAlabama.com http://www.NotAChance.com If you hide it, they will come.... Quote Link to comment
+planetrobert Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 HURRAH!!! i contributed 5 to the cause!!! NOW for 50,000 =) Now where did I set my GPS??? planetrobert.net Quote Link to comment
+GEO*Trailblazer 1 Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 I got a few more too. we are off vacation from the original 13 Colonies wow what great STONE MONUMENTS they got there. Standish Monument Plymouth National Monument WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS *GEOTRYAGAIN* TAKE PRIDE IN AMERICA http://www.doi.gov/news/front_current.html 1803-2003 "LOUSIANA PURCHASE" http://www.lapurchase.org "LEWIS AND CLARK EXPADITION" http://lewisclark.geog.missouri.edu/index Arkansas Missouri Geocachrs Association http://www.ARK-MOGeocachersAssociatoin@msnusers.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ark-Mo-Geocachers Quote Link to comment
+rogbarn Posted September 23, 2003 Author Share Posted September 23, 2003 As reported here be several people, the third major milestone of the summer fell last night when the benchmark front page reported that 40,001 benchmark had been found by the geocaching/benchmarking community. Thanks to all who contributed in both finding and in making this an enjoyable hobby. Quote Link to comment
+happycycler Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 AND thank you Rogbarn for keeping us statistically up-to-date! Everybody loves benchmarks more! Quote Link to comment
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