+NYPaddleCacher Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 Remember souvenirs? There hasn't been much activity regarding souvenirs since all US States and Canadian provinces were released but I got some email a couple of days ago with a bit of news. I had submitted a feedback issue suggesting that the ability to obtain a souvenir merely by using the search function in the geocaching mobile app should be turned off. We'll, Groundspeak implemented my suggestion. Their official response was: "Souvenirs are no longer awarded through the mobile apps simply by doing a nearby cache search. It is required to find a geocache now. Thank you for the feedback!" Quote Link to comment
Andronicus Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 Remember souvenirs? There hasn't been much activity regarding souvenirs since all US States and Canadian provinces were released but I got some email a couple of days ago with a bit of news. I had submitted a feedback issue suggesting that the ability to obtain a souvenir merely by using the search function in the geocaching mobile app should be turned off. We'll, Groundspeak implemented my suggestion. Their official response was: "Souvenirs are no longer awarded through the mobile apps simply by doing a nearby cache search. It is required to find a geocache now. Thank you for the feedback!" Well that is good. How lame was that anyway. Quote Link to comment
knowschad Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 Remember souvenirs? There hasn't been much activity regarding souvenirs since all US States and Canadian provinces were released but I got some email a couple of days ago with a bit of news. I had submitted a feedback issue suggesting that the ability to obtain a souvenir merely by using the search function in the geocaching mobile app should be turned off. We'll, Groundspeak implemented my suggestion. Their official response was: "Souvenirs are no longer awarded through the mobile apps simply by doing a nearby cache search. It is required to find a geocache now. Thank you for the feedback!" Well that is good. How lame was that anyway. +1 A lot of horses are out of the barn already, but at least the doors are shut for the future. Quote Link to comment
+Ike 13 Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 This should have been done from day one. Better late then never I guess. Quote Link to comment
+nekom Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 Yeah I have to agree, that's pretty cheap. Quote Link to comment
+sbell111 Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 (edited) Yeah I have to agree, that's pretty cheap. The logic behind the original decision was sound. If you are out in the field looking for caches, you are geocaching. The souvis were given for geocaching, not for finding geocaches. Therefore, the original decision makes sense. Many people didn't understand (or agree with) the distinction, so they made noise. Business decisions are often made as a result of noise, regardless of whether the noise is correct. Edited April 4, 2011 by sbell111 Quote Link to comment
+Ike 13 Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 Yeah I have to agree, that's pretty cheap. The logic behind the original decision was sound. If you are out in the field looking for caches, you are geocaching. The souvis were given for geocaching, not for finding geocaches. Therefore, the original decision makes sense. Many people didn't understand (or agree with) the distinction, so they made noise. Business decisions are often made as a result of noise, regardless of whether the noise is correct. I must disagree sbell. Let's say I'm on a road trip and I only have time to search for one cache in that state and I cannot find it in the 5 minutes I have to look for it. Since I do not have a smart phone I would not get the souvi. But another cacher with a smart phone can drive through the state, never get out of their car, and with one quick search of the nearby caches on their phone they get the souvi. Oh well no point in arguing now. I just wonder if they are now working for souvis for each country Quote Link to comment
+Team GPSaxophone Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 Yeah I have to agree, that's pretty cheap. The logic behind the original decision was sound. If you are out in the field looking for caches, you are geocaching. The souvis were given for geocaching, not for finding geocaches. Therefore, the original decision makes sense. Many people didn't understand (or agree with) the distinction, so they made noise. Business decisions are often made as a result of noise, regardless of whether the noise is correct. I must disagree sbell. Let's say I'm on a road trip and I only have time to search for one cache in that state and I cannot find it in the 5 minutes I have to look for it. Since I do not have a smart phone I would not get the souvi. But another cacher with a smart phone can drive through the state, never get out of their car, and with one quick search of the nearby caches on their phone they get the souvi. Oh well no point in arguing now. I just wonder if they are now working for souvis for each country Actually, you could just be flying over a state and checking for nearby caches (using the plane's wifi to be legal) to get credit. You don't even have to have boots on the ground. Quote Link to comment
+dfx Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 (edited) If you are out in the field looking for caches, you are geocaching. The souvis were given for geocaching, not for finding geocaches. I don't know about you, but I would assume that for most people it's perfectly possible to be somewhere and not be geocaching. Starting some software on your phone doesn't change that. The opposite is also true: it's perfectly possible to be geocaching and not have the software running on your phone. One has nothing to do with the other really. If you're actually looking for a cache, then yeah, you're geocaching. But your phone doesn't know that. The next closest indicator of actually being geocaching is finding a cache. There you go. If you think the original setup made sense, then maybe you might be more interested in Foursquare... Edited April 4, 2011 by dfx Quote Link to comment
+CanadianRockies Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 The logic behind the original decision was sound. If you are out in the field looking for caches, you are geocaching. The souvis were given for geocaching, not for finding geocaches. Therefore, the original decision makes sense. Did Groundspeak originally give souvenirs for DNFs, too? If not, then I don't see how the original decision makes sense. Quote Link to comment
+hurleyanne Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Yeah I have to agree, that's pretty cheap. The logic behind the original decision was sound. If you are out in the field looking for caches, you are geocaching. The souvis were given for geocaching, not for finding geocaches. Therefore, the original decision makes sense. Many people didn't understand (or agree with) the distinction, so they made noise. Business decisions are often made as a result of noise, regardless of whether the noise is correct. Another issue that probably didn't help was the fact that sometimes the apps misfunctioned and wouldn't know where your current location was - instead placing cachers in Seattle and automatically granting them the Groundspeak Headquarters souvenir. I've seen posts where people said they had to contact Groundspeak to have that removed from their profile since they weren't anywhere near there. I can think of other things I'd rather the lackeys spend time on than deleting souvenirs from profiles... Quote Link to comment
+tozainamboku Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Yeah I have to agree, that's pretty cheap. The logic behind the original decision was sound. If you are out in the field looking for caches, you are geocaching. The souvis were given for geocaching, not for finding geocaches. Therefore, the original decision makes sense. Many people didn't understand (or agree with) the distinction, so they made noise. Business decisions are often made as a result of noise, regardless of whether the noise is correct. I must disagree sbell. Let's say I'm on a road trip and I only have time to search for one cache in that state and I cannot find it in the 5 minutes I have to look for it. Since I do not have a smart phone I would not get the souvi. But another cacher with a smart phone can drive through the state, never get out of their car, and with one quick search of the nearby caches on their phone they get the souvi. Oh well no point in arguing now. I just wonder if they are now working for souvis for each country Actually, you could just be flying over a state and checking for nearby caches (using the plane's wifi to be legal) to get credit. You don't even have to have boots on the ground. How would the app know the location based on the planes WIFI. It would probably think you are in Dallas no matter where you are. I believe the complaint was one of fairness. The souvenirs were awarded for using the mobile app and not for geocaching (despite what sbell says). The reason was that the idea for souvenirs came from the mobile app developers who saw other location based apps using this kind of game play to encourage their use. IMO, I thought geocaching had enough game play already and didn't need this. However, I see that for many who are not be into the numbers game or the FTF game, the icon/souvenir collecting game is another way to "play", so souvenirs are more popular that I would have predicted. Another issue that probably didn't help was the fact that sometimes the apps misfunctioned and wouldn't know where your current location was - instead placing cachers in Seattle and automatically granting them the Groundspeak Headquarters souvenir. I've seen posts where people said they had to contact Groundspeak to have that removed from their profile since they weren't anywhere near there. I can think of other things I'd rather the lackeys spend time on than deleting souvenirs from profiles... Even before, there were some souvenirs (like the Groundspeak HQ) which required you to find a cache. Only the geographic souvenirs were awarded for just using the mobile app. Now all souvenirs are treated the same and the issue of fairness is taken care of. Quote Link to comment
+hukilaulau Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 I don't know about you, but I would assume that for most people it's perfectly possible to be somewhere and not be geocaching. Nope It's not possible for me to be anywhere and not be geocaching. i don't think I'm alone... Quote Link to comment
TheCacheSeeker Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 I don't know about you, but I would assume that for most people it's perfectly possible to be somewhere and not be geocaching. Nope It's not possible for me to be anywhere and not be geocaching. i don't think I'm alone... You're not alone. When I vacation, I want to grab a cache somewhere... Quote Link to comment
Andronicus Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 ...How would the app know the location based on the planes WIFI. It would probably think you are in Dallas no matter where you are. ... Just like always, it would know were you are from the gps in the phone (assuming you have a window seat). The WiFi is for the online search, not the geolocation. Quote Link to comment
+sbell111 Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Yeah I have to agree, that's pretty cheap. The logic behind the original decision was sound. If you are out in the field looking for caches, you are geocaching. The souvis were given for geocaching, not for finding geocaches. Therefore, the original decision makes sense. Many people didn't understand (or agree with) the distinction, so they made noise. Business decisions are often made as a result of noise, regardless of whether the noise is correct. I must disagree sbell. Let's say I'm on a road trip and I only have time to search for one cache in that state and I cannot find it in the 5 minutes I have to look for it. Since I do not have a smart phone I would not get the souvi. But another cacher with a smart phone can drive through the state, never get out of their car, and with one quick search of the nearby caches on their phone they get the souvi. Oh well no point in arguing now. I just wonder if they are now working for souvis for each country Actually, you could just be flying over a state and checking for nearby caches (using the plane's wifi to be legal) to get credit. You don't even have to have boots on the ground. How would the app know the location based on the planes WIFI. It would probably think you are in Dallas no matter where you are. I believe the complaint was one of fairness. The souvenirs were awarded for using the mobile app and not for geocaching (despite what sbell says). The reason was that the idea for souvenirs came from the mobile app developers who saw other location based apps using this kind of game play to encourage their use. IMO, I thought geocaching had enough game play already and didn't need this. However, I see that for many who are not be into the numbers game or the FTF game, the icon/souvenir collecting game is another way to "play", so souvenirs are more popular that I would have predicted. Like many of your posts, you make these statements as if you were involved in the decisions, or at least aware of the discussion. I have seen no evidence to believe that you have this special knowledge. Quote Link to comment
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