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Favourites and other things


the pooks

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Favourites and other stuff...

 

It's the day after Xmas, lazy and hot (Britons eat your hearts out), irrigation is under control (finally), the wine is good and so time to ponder about some things - like the "Favourites" feature. What do you think? In principle I am against any form of "Favouritism" as I feel Geocaching is the one activity where everyone has an opportunity to play the game the way they want. But like all activities, the more popular it gets, the more the need to apply rules. I decided that I would not make use of this new feature. I mean, what's wrong with reading the listing and the logs and then deciding on that basis whether a particular cache grabs your fancy or not? What happened to bookmark lists? And then there is the debate about whether the 1:10 "favourite":"finds" is the optimal ratio. So I avoided the issue for 1 day and succumbed. Went through the list of found caches. Ran out of "Favourites" before just before I got to the end of the list which suggests various things:

1. The ratio is quite spot on

2. I must enjoy the caches

 

And then about the term: do you "favouritise" or "favour" a cache when you click that button. There is a little fuss about this on the UK forum. Although "favouritise" does technically not sound correct, it does do a better job of describing the specific activity of utilising this GC feature as opposed to some generic statement such as "Kate Winslet is my favourite actor"

 

Then there is the topic of the new forum layout. Personally I don't think it improves anything. It does not add anything new (as far as I know) and looks more confusing than before, but then again I am notoriously resistant to change, so am willing to accept it is just me. Besides, it is not necessarily LESS confusing, and maybe a change is as good as a holiday. (This might sound critical, but actually the forum layout is and was pretty OK in my opinion).

 

This might sound like the ramblings of a slightly bored individual, and if it does - it is!

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Kinda agree with the pooks - I will do a cache because I want to not because it has a lot of "favourites". Many caches that I do are in secluded places that do not get many finds anyway. Not particularly interested in clicking that button.

 

Again I need to agree - nothing that lights my fire with the new layout at all. If I can be a bit critical it is the use of low index colours which make it difficult at a quick glance to see if a thread has been read or not and the orange button to take you to the last unread post is very dull. Yep - the old layout suited my likes better!

 

My 2c worth.

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I like the favourite idea - when travelling it gives an idea of which caches to do if one's pressed for time. As I've mentioned before, the Dutch have a similar system, and I certainly found it useful for the times I travelled - I even used it to find some must-do caches that I would want to travel for! It needs to get critical mass, though, but that'll come with time.

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I quiet like the idea of favourites.

 

I'm about to head into Oman and have limited time to do some caching en route.

 

I know one or two cachers in the region and have seen that they have given a Favourite star to one cache along the route - tjhen I'll probably enjoy that one too - opposed to another about an hour in the opposite direction (I can only do one of the two - and both cache descriptions seem pretty good).

 

So it helps in that case. But there are a number of others that have no rating that are on my TO DO list for the trip.

 

Another tool - numbers aren't the driver for me - but recommendations from others whom I trust. I guess a bookmark could havfe done this too - this is just more visual and easier to maintain.

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I concur with the manifold sentiments expressed ibid.

The new layout, to me, seems cluttered and I did not see the need to change the old layout in the first place. It lacked nothing this new layout has to offer.

 

English is an amazingly rich language and I am sure the correct syntax could have been found to describe a list of favourites or preferences. <_<

 

This brings me to another point.... If we now have the option to express our preferences, why not the opposite? Give one the ability to show which caches are your least favourite. There have been some caches which are infinitely forgettable and should only be attempted if you are that desperate for numbers. Attempt at your own peril and all that! Then, at least someone new, who may be passing through an area won't be tempted waste time on a 3 km hike through blackjacks up a hill to find a micro which may or may not even be there because the cache owner has lost interest and cannot be bothered to maintain their own caches. All hypothetical, of course. :rolleyes:

Just a thought... ;)

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... at least someone new, who may be passing through an area won't be tempted waste time on a 3 km hike through blackjacks up a hill to find a micro which may or may not even be there because the cache owner has lost interest and cannot be bothered to maintain their own caches. All hypothetical, of course. :rolleyes:

Just a thought... ;)

 

I'm sensing a personal experience :D

 

But I do agree that maybe there should be a system of thumbs up/down. Some may like it, some may not, but a majority will rule out one way or the other in the end.

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But I do agree that maybe there should be a system of thumbs up/down. Some may like it, some may not, but a majority will rule out one way or the other in the end.

 

Agreed - I've come across some pretty lame caches in my experience. How about a NANO placed in the middle of the desert with no living being within 50km! :huh:

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One of the reasons I like GCVote is that it is a 1 to 5 star rating system. If it has been voted as a one star cache by a couple of cachers then I will put it on the ignore list. The system carries that punitive element. If I look at the GCVotes oveall, it seems to give a better "feel" for the quality of caches than the Favorites system.

 

I quite like the Firefox script that expresses Favorites as a percentage of total finds, also gives the less found caches to shine against those that a found often.

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One of the reasons I like GCVote is that it is a 1 to 5 star rating system. If it has been voted as a one star cache by a couple of cachers then I will put it on the ignore list. The system carries that punitive element. If I look at the GCVotes oveall, it seems to give a better "feel" for the quality of caches than the Favorites system.

 

I quite like the Firefox script that expresses Favorites as a percentage of total finds, also gives the less found caches to shine against those that a found often.

 

The main problem is you have to find out about GCVote and then install scripts which while dead simple is more than (probably) most people are comfortable doing. If you are using a PC other than one of you own you probably will not have the scripts installed

 

The GC favorite system has been propagated to all users and is available no matter where you log in from.

 

The unfavourite option is quite interesting - perhaps you should be able to covert some of your favorite points to unfavourite points.

 

I am still guessing the vast majority of users are looking at the faveroute thing and just going WTF! and not bothering with it.

 

Trev

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I quite like the favourites tool because it made me go through a list of all the caches I have found in the past and brought up some great memories of caches past. GCVote is also a nice idea and I thnk both have their place in this world of ours.

 

What would be nice is a search option to list the caches in an area with the highest "favourite" hits. Or am I missing something?

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What would be nice is a search option to list the caches in an area with the highest "favourite" hits. Or am I missing something?

Use the "Hide and seek" page. Enter address. Get a long list. Click on the "Favorites" little blue icon heading the top of the column and the list is resorted with most favorites at the top, descending.

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