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Geocaching.com site update Feb 1st 2011


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PQ error?

From the Active Pocket Queries window, in the preview column, I click the left icon to preview a PQ.

The window opens with a list of 1000 caches...... lets say these are the 1000 caches closest to my home.

I then click the Placed column, to presumably order the 1000 caches newest to oldest......

What I then find is that the list populates with caches that were NOT in the original 1000 cache PQ..... it comes up with caches that are at the opposite end of the UK and even some from the Netherlands appear. The list still claims to have 1000 over 50 pages.

What is going wrong here? Surely the Placed column reorder should display the original 1000 in order newest to oldest?

Anyone any ideas if this is a bug in the software?

Thanks.

 

That is by design. Your PQ is maxed out, meaning you have it set to return caches out to a radius that exceeds the 1000 cache capacity. When viewing it sorted by distance, it returns the 1000 closest caches, even though the pool you are telling it to draw from is greater. When you then sort by date placed, it sorts all of the caches in that pool by date and returns the 1000 newest. Some (or many) of those newest ones may not be among the group of closest ones.

 

You should trim down the radius in your PQ so that it is not unnecessarily drawing from caches so distant from the origin. It's best to try to set the radius to a point where the number of returned caches fall at or just below the maximum of 1000.

This is counter-intuitive. When you get a list and sort it, you expect THAT list to be sorted, not to get another list. Making the user adjust the radius everytime the numbers change is (IMO) ridiculous. My closest to home PQ changes the distanct everytime I run it - new caches hidden, caches I find both change the radius. And often I see 2-5 caches at the radius not included because they are above the max number. If I have a PQ set at exactly the radius, then sort that list which of these 2-5 other caches are included?

 

You need to think of a PQ as an advanced search with a limit on what can be returned. Each time you re-sort, it re-runs the search using the new criteria you've specified. You specify the radius when setting up the PQ and this is not changed just because you change the sort order.

 

If you find yourself frequently needing to re-sort your PQ, then you should adjust it so that your radius is accurate, or use the other search mechanisms on the site.

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The files .loc downloaded by a premium member cannot be opened with mapsource.

The same file of caches downloaded by a basic member if they can be opened with mapsource.

 

The problem seems to reside in the "tags" <difficulty>, <terrain> and <container> that the files include .loc downloaded by a premium member.

 

Any solution for this problem?

 

Greetings.

OmortsoN

 

This information was added to the .loc file in order to support another application. All programs should be able to handle extra tags in an XML file (which is what .loc is) without breaking. The issue lies with MapSource's inability to handle this situation and you should direct your complaints to Garmin.

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Thanks to your both for your quick reply. I fully agree with The Jester and his/her comments above. If I run a PQ to generate a list, I expect that list to be reordered and not draw in caches from within the set radius. How does one find the optimum radius to select 1000 caches only? This radius figure would, on average, reduce each day, as there are more newer caches in my area than those that are archived. This would require everyone to edit their PQ daily to reduce ( and work out ) the optimum radius. The software currently only returns 1000 max caches and dumps these into the .gpx file, so why cannot it be set to ignore caches outside the 1000 closest?

 

Thanks. Steve

I cut this back to limit the size of the post.

 

What I do when I want all the caches within, say 100 miles of home, is to do several PQs with the difference being the date placed. Near the bottom of the PQ form is a way to select those within a range of dates. I select dates so that the PQ returns a bit less than 1000 caches. That does not need to be adjusted very often.

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Like the new maps and milestones on the statistics page.

 

But is there any way in a future release we could edit the milestones? I deleted a couple of "armchair" caches which throw my milestones off but I still want (for example) the 500th cache I found at that time to be my 500th find on the milestone page. That 500th find is now my 498th find but it my mind it'll always be my 500th find.

 

Thanks for all your hard work!

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Does this mean that the twitter integration is fixed now, based on the comments about it in the change log? I couldn't tell if it was fixed because of that or the text on the page was just updated.

 

It's been functional for a while.

 

Regarding #24599, once a Needs Maintenance tag is set to a cache, what steps need to be taken to get it removed (i.e., not showing an issue with the status of the cache)?

There are a couple of maintenance attributes on the info column in the search results for 2 of my caches and there is no need for maintenance acording to the logs so how I do I get rid of them?

 

Post an "Owner Maintenance" log on the cache after taking care of any issues.

 

Around here, it's very common for a seeker to post a NM, the owner to post a Temp Disable, replace the cache and post an Enable, never realizing that there is still a NM on their cache. The cache can go for years with that cross icon. Perhaps a method can be enacted to clear the attribute after an owner enables thier cache. A check box type of system, "do you wish to clear the Needs Maintenance Attribute"?

 

Just thinking.

 

I would love to see that. I reactivated a cache at the beginning of last month and I didn't realize there was still a NM attribute until just a few days ago. I've seen more than a few caches with this problem as well.

 

Logging in is very slow.

I've changed back and forth from admin account to Premium account to basic account this morning.

Takes about 30 seconds.

 

I did turn off Greasemonkey (no effect). Firefox 3.5.7 Windows 2000 professional

 

Gee, someone still using Win2000!

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I am sorry if this is not the appropriate place for this posting and the moderator has my permission to move it to the correct forum. I was searching my local area for caches I have not found. On the Geocaching Map (I am signed in) none of my previous found are listed. Even my the cache I own is not showing up with a star. I have hit refresh with the same results everything was fine a couple hours ago. What am I doing wrong?

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You need to think of a PQ as an advanced search with a limit on what can be returned. Each time you re-sort, it re-runs the search using the new criteria you've specified. You specify the radius when setting up the PQ and this is not changed just because you change the sort order.

 

The problem is that a PQ's primary intended use, or rather its apparent intended use (according to the name) is to bulk download a large number of caches. When the PQ runs and generates the GPX files, it will always sort the caches by distance and will thus deliver the 1000 caches closest to the origin. The "preview" therefore is expected to show the same caches as would appear in the GPX file (hence the name "preview") and so the sorting is expected to happen within this list only. That's why it's counter-intuitive, even though from a database POV it makes perfect sense of course.

 

A workaround would be to incorporate a "sort by" selection criterium into the PQ and have people use only that, and not let them sort the preview list. That way the PQ would always generate the same caches as appear in the preview.

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But is there any way in a future release we could edit the milestones? I deleted a couple of "armchair" caches which throw my milestones off but I still want (for example) the 500th cache I found at that time to be my 500th find on the milestone page.

You can do that now. Go to Your Profile >> Your Account Details >> Statistics change and at the bottom is the Milestone Overrides section.

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Thanks to your both for your quick reply. I fully agree with The Jester and his/her comments above. If I run a PQ to generate a list, I expect that list to be reordered and not draw in caches from within the set radius. How does one find the optimum radius to select 1000 caches only? This radius figure would, on average, reduce each day, as there are more newer caches in my area than those that are archived. This would require everyone to edit their PQ daily to reduce ( and work out ) the optimum radius. The software currently only returns 1000 max caches and dumps these into the .gpx file, so why cannot it be set to ignore caches outside the 1000 closest?

 

Thanks. Steve

I cut this back to limit the size of the post.

 

What I do when I want all the caches within, say 100 miles of home, is to do several PQs with the difference being the date placed. Near the bottom of the PQ form is a way to select those within a range of dates. I select dates so that the PQ returns a bit less than 1000 caches. That does not need to be adjusted very often.

 

Thanks for the input and reply. I will certainly give that a try, but still unsure how to get the newest caches to the top of the list, without displaying those outside the 1000 closest. The point I was mentioning earlier just seems more logical and easier with the one PQ. Thanks. Steve

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You need to think of a PQ as an advanced search with a limit on what can be returned. Each time you re-sort, it re-runs the search using the new criteria you've specified. You specify the radius when setting up the PQ and this is not changed just because you change the sort order.

 

The problem is that a PQ's primary intended use, or rather its apparent intended use (according to the name) is to bulk download a large number of caches. When the PQ runs and generates the GPX files, it will always sort the caches by distance and will thus deliver the 1000 caches closest to the origin. The "preview" therefore is expected to show the same caches as would appear in the GPX file (hence the name "preview") and so the sorting is expected to happen within this list only. That's why it's counter-intuitive, even though from a database POV it makes perfect sense of course.

 

A workaround would be to incorporate a "sort by" selection criterium into the PQ and have people use only that, and not let them sort the preview list. That way the PQ would always generate the same caches as appear in the preview.

 

Some good points here.

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EDIT:

 

My bad... The icons on both sites are working fine. So there's a net gain on icons :lol:

 

===========================================

Minor inconvenience:

After yesterday's update the geocaching.com pages have lost there icon (as in Favicon).

On the other hand, the link to this forum has regained its icon.

 

Firefox 3.6.13/W7

Edited by stebu
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Making the user adjust the radius everytime the numbers change is (IMO) ridiculous. My closest to home PQ changes the distanct everytime I run it - new caches hidden, caches I find both change the radius. And often I see 2-5 caches at the radius not included because they are above the max number. If I have a PQ set at exactly the radius, then sort that list which of these 2-5 other caches are included?

 

Thanks to your both for your quick reply. I fully agree with The Jester and his/her comments above. If I run a PQ to generate a list, I expect that list to be reordered and not draw in caches from within the set radius. How does one find the optimum radius to select 1000 caches only? This radius figure would, on average, reduce each day, as there are more newer caches in my area than those that are archived. This would require everyone to edit their PQ daily to reduce ( and work out ) the optimum radius. The software currently only returns 1000 max caches and dumps these into the .gpx file, so why cannot it be set to ignore caches outside the 1000 closest? Thanks. Steve

 

The problem is that sorting "nearest 1000" by date is pretty meaningless because, as you say, the "nearest 1000" radius changes every day.

 

For example, there could be a new cache today being the "newest" but it's sitting right on the edge of your PQ radius. Now if tomorrow two new caches are published closer, but the previous newest doesn't go down to place 3 in the "newest list" but drops out. Not really useful.

 

If you create, on the other hand, a PQ with say 50 miles distance, and then sort the results by date, you'll always see the newest caches within these 50 miles.

 

So I'd suggest 2 PQ for 2 different things:

- For the nearest caches in your area, use your PQ with 1000 caches from home coordinates.

- If you want to know the newest caches in your area, first decide how far you're interested in the newest caches, setup a PQ with that distance limit and then sort the results by date - you'll always see the newest caches on top even if there are more than 1000 caches.

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The problem is that sorting "nearest 1000" by date is pretty meaningless because, as you say, the "nearest 1000" radius changes every day.

 

So what? If I just want to get the 1000 closest caches to here, I make a PQ with a limit of 1000 and an arbitrarily large radius. I'm not interested in a specific set of caches, just the 1000 closest ones whenever the PQ runs or I look at it. Then I want to look at the list on the web page and sort it, let's say by favorite count. But I can't, it's gonna give me something else. I don't want to have to fine-tune the radius so that the PQ returns me just 1000 caches, because it does that anyway!

 

The "newest 1000" or "most favoured 1000" or "most whatever 1000" radius also changes every day.

Edited by dfx
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But is there any way in a future release we could edit the milestones? I deleted a couple of "armchair" caches which throw my milestones off but I still want (for example) the 500th cache I found at that time to be my 500th find on the milestone page.

You can do that now. Go to Your Profile >> Your Account Details >> Statistics change and at the bottom is the Milestone Overrides section.

Sweet! Thanks for the info!

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The files .loc downloaded by a premium member .......

 

This information was added to the .loc file in order to support another application. All programs should be able to handle extra tags in an XML file (which is what .loc is) without breaking. The issue lies with MapSource's inability to handle this situation and you should direct your complaints to Garmin.

 

Thank you very much for the reply.

 

Greetings.

omortsoN

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Making the user adjust the radius everytime the numbers change is (IMO) ridiculous. My closest to home PQ changes the distanct everytime I run it - new caches hidden, caches I find both change the radius. And often I see 2-5 caches at the radius not included because they are above the max number. If I have a PQ set at exactly the radius, then sort that list which of these 2-5 other caches are included?

 

Thanks to your both for your quick reply. I fully agree with The Jester and his/her comments above. If I run a PQ to generate a list, I expect that list to be reordered and not draw in caches from within the set radius. How does one find the optimum radius to select 1000 caches only? This radius figure would, on average, reduce each day, as there are more newer caches in my area than those that are archived. This would require everyone to edit their PQ daily to reduce ( and work out ) the optimum radius. The software currently only returns 1000 max caches and dumps these into the .gpx file, so why cannot it be set to ignore caches outside the 1000 closest? Thanks. Steve

 

The problem is that sorting "nearest 1000" by date is pretty meaningless because, as you say, the "nearest 1000" radius changes every day.

 

For example, there could be a new cache today being the "newest" but it's sitting right on the edge of your PQ radius. Now if tomorrow two new caches are published closer, but the previous newest doesn't go down to place 3 in the "newest list" but drops out. Not really useful.

 

If you create, on the other hand, a PQ with say 50 miles distance, and then sort the results by date, you'll always see the newest caches within these 50 miles.

 

So I'd suggest 2 PQ for 2 different things:

- For the nearest caches in your area, use your PQ with 1000 caches from home coordinates.

- If you want to know the newest caches in your area, first decide how far you're interested in the newest caches, setup a PQ with that distance limit and then sort the results by date - you'll always see the newest caches on top even if there are more than 1000 caches.

Or you could just use GSAK (gsak.net) and put the PQs together and filter however you wish. That listing can certainly be sorted by date.

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Update -- now the Beta maps don't show any caches at all at any zoom level. Same in IE and Firefox.

 

We just had a database issue. Statistics and personalization settings on the maps are currently affected. We're working on it; thanks for your patience!

 

And we are back in operation.

 

Now that I've used the Beta map for a while, I find that the personalization features come and go. I'll see my finds sometimes and sometimes not at the same zoom level. Seems like they are there initially but after I scroll around they disappear.

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Took care of that for you; it took some under-the-covers work, as NM logs are no longer available for events!

That is true for normal events and CITOs.

But you can still log NM for mega events. Same with NM notifications for mega events (BTW. are retract notifications fixed now?).

 

On the other hand, why shouldn't people be able to log NM for an event listing.

A couple of event owners here in Germany try to fill their D/T matrix with rare D/T combinations. It doesn't make sense do have an event in a restaurant and have T4.5, maybe in combination with a wheelchair accessible attribute. It would be nice to log NM to have the listing fixed.

 

PS: It would be nice to have all attributes available for events. Each event is an individual case and may need fitting attributes.

Why is there a RV attribute, but not other means of transport like bicycle or motorcycle? What if I have a bicycle, motorcycle, quad event (there was a motorcycle event during Geokur mega event)?

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As a future enhancement of the Beta Maps -

It would be very helpful to be able to directly measure distances on the geocaching maps. Something similar to that used in the Google Earth "Ruler" tool.

This would be very usefull, not only when placing caches, but also when planning a day's caching; How long a hike to this one; how far off the road is this; etc. Right now you have to go to another map, figure out the exact location of the cache(s), and then you can measure! Much simpler if you could do it all on one page.

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Minor problem I just noticed with the Beta Maps:

 

If I click on a cache icon very near the top of the map, when the info balloon pops up it scrolls the map slightly. However, it doesn't scroll the map enough; the top line of the popup is still off the map.

 

On the regular maps, the map scrolls properly to display the entire popup.

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In Nate's initial post of updates and bugfixes, he mentions:

 

24601: Set GPS Adventures Maze as an event cache

Changed Adventures Maze cache from a traditional to an event

 

I notice this on the Maps Beta, but I would've also expected to see this change under the "Geocaches" tab on any particular User Profile. As it stands currently, I still see the Adventure Maze type on its own and not bundled under the "All Event Cache Types" subheading.

 

For the sake of consistency, can I suggest that this change to an event cache type be implemented across the board (i.e. User Profiles, "Geocache Type" description page)?

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Quick Bug Report for the new update:

 

When doing an advanced search by country/state you can't search for a specific cache type. For example, an advanced search of

 

Unknown Caches

By Country/State: United States/Washington

 

will return ALL caches in washington. I tried this for multiple cache type and country state combinations. The result was the same each time.

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I tried to use the new version of the beta map, but there is some issue that prevents me using it: the newly implemented filter-functionality doesn't work with Google Chrome-browser (version 9).

In Firefox it works fine and it's a really nice feature - the beta map becomes more and more usable with that functionality - great!

 

Can you please have a look on this issue regarding Google Chrome and fix it?

 

Thank you! :)

 

Kind regards

JetGum

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Two small points.

 

On the maps parts of the statistics page can the Isle of Man be added as a label and a flag? At the moment that line is blank except for the number of finds.

 

Thanks; we'll look into this. I imagine that it was expected that Isle of Man would be wrapped into the UK stats, but I can't confirm that.

 

 

Thank You for doing this.

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Quick Bug Report for the new update:

 

When doing an advanced search by country/state you can't search for a specific cache type. For example, an advanced search of

 

Unknown Caches

By Country/State: United States/Washington

 

will return ALL caches in washington. I tried this for multiple cache type and country state combinations. The result was the same each time.

Vote here for this:

http://feedback.geocaching.com/forums/75863-report-a-problem/suggestions/1444803-filtering-for-a-cache-type-in-advanced-search-does

 

(BTW. are retract notifications fixed now?).

 

While you're at it, also enable notifications for "needs archive" logs :P

I am surprised that already somebody came up with it:

http://feedback.geocaching.com/forums/75863-report-a-problem/suggestions/1421767-notification-types-retract-sba

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Beta Maps 'My Finds' initially loads on the maps and then after a few minutes scrolling around, they disapear. Enable Personalization is still ticked. Tried unticking and then ticking again, nut still no finds displaying. Reload page and they come back, but you have to scroll the map back to the area you were viewing. I know others are having similar trouble, but I cannot see any feedback from the moderator. Any news if this is been looked into? Thanks.

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Minor problem I just noticed with the Beta Maps:

 

If I click on a cache icon very near the top of the map, when the info balloon pops up it scrolls the map slightly. However, it doesn't scroll the map enough; the top line of the popup is still off the map.

 

On the regular maps, the map scrolls properly to display the entire popup.

 

Thanks! I've entered this into our internal bug queue.

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It would take to long to search if someone already asked and answered this. But is there a chance Notifications could combine the cache types and you can toggle which type you want instead of making separate notifications per type?

 

Let's try to keep this thread focused on bugs related to this release of the site. You should post suggestions on the feedback site. That said, this bugs me too and I entered a story for it in our database weeks ago!

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In Nate's initial post of updates and bugfixes, he mentions:

 

24601: Set GPS Adventures Maze as an event cache

Changed Adventures Maze cache from a traditional to an event

 

I notice this on the Maps Beta, but I would've also expected to see this change under the "Geocaches" tab on any particular User Profile. As it stands currently, I still see the Adventure Maze type on its own and not bundled under the "All Event Cache Types" subheading.

 

For the sake of consistency, can I suggest that this change to an event cache type be implemented across the board (i.e. User Profiles, "Geocache Type" description page)?

 

I'll get a story in to tighten up consistency on this throughout the site. Thanks!

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I tried to use the new version of the beta map, but there is some issue that prevents me using it: the newly implemented filter-functionality doesn't work with Google Chrome-browser (version 9).

In Firefox it works fine and it's a really nice feature - the beta map becomes more and more usable with that functionality - great!

 

Can you please have a look on this issue regarding Google Chrome and fix it?

 

Thank you! :)

 

Kind regards

JetGum

 

I'm running Chrome 9 and do not see this issue.

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It's a shame that the maps can't be ordered. It's obvious for the American based coders to set it as USA above Canada above the rest of the World, but when I've found 182 caches in Europe, 7 in Canada and 0 in the US, having Canada on top seems rather backwards.

 

We still have a number of enhancements coming to the statistics pages and this is one that is on the list.

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Beta Maps 'My Finds' initially loads on the maps and then after a few minutes scrolling around, they disapear. Enable Personalization is still ticked. Tried unticking and then ticking again, nut still no finds displaying. Reload page and they come back, but you have to scroll the map back to the area you were viewing. I know others are having similar trouble, but I cannot see any feedback from the moderator. Any news if this is been looked into? Thanks.

 

We're investigating reports of this. It seems to happen with the "old" maps, too.

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24719: Allow Users to View Home Location Statistics in Kilometers if they prefer Metric System

Units will be determined and displayed based on the user's account preferences

 

Travel bug maps are still in miles although my setting is metric:

http://www.geocachin...aspx?ID=3032543

 

Those pages were not touched in this release. The distance units of these pages will be addressed in an upcoming milestone.

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The maps are great, but I wonder if it's possible for more detail around regions of small islands? I'm about to take a cruise to the Lesser Antilles, and would like to see a zoomed in map of the Caribbean. I've cached in Dominican Republic and Jamaica, and the latter is difficult to see.

 

Other than that, it's great! I officially have no reason to keep updating my own stats.

 

Thanks,

SiaFhir

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The maps are great, but I wonder if it's possible for more detail around regions of small islands? I'm about to take a cruise to the Lesser Antilles, and would like to see a zoomed in map of the Caribbean. I've cached in Dominican Republic and Jamaica, and the latter is difficult to see.

 

Other than that, it's great! I officially have no reason to keep updating my own stats.

 

Thanks,

SiaFhir

 

See Nate's response in post #25: we are unfortunately limited at this time to the maps that Google provides.

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I mentioned this in the general forum and was given a possible explanation.

 

There apparently is a bug with the percentage of favored votes. If a log owner has deleted a found it log in the past apparently it is still being factored in the percentage ratio. I.E. I saw a cache with 3 found it logs, 1 favorite, but the percentage said 25%. Could be because of a log deletion.

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I mentioned this in the general forum and was given a possible explanation.

 

There apparently is a bug with the percentage of favored votes. If a log owner has deleted a found it log in the past apparently it is still being factored in the percentage ratio. I.E. I saw a cache with 3 found it logs, 1 favorite, but the percentage said 25%. Could be because of a log deletion.

 

Could you give me the GC code of the cache in question? I'd like to investigate this. Thanks!

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