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Kulwinder

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Hello

 

I was just woundering if it would be possible to show a scorecard on this website showing which people have found the most caches, and which caches have the most visits. There could also be one showing the least visited caches. This would be helpfull in determining which caches are potentially the hardest to find. If I knew for instance that a cache 1000 miles away had never been visited I might well make the effort to go and find it, whilst one nearby that is visited regularly is not quite as attractive.

 

Thank you

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Another request to enhance the site: feedback options regarding the cache at the moment you log your visit. The two following ones seem to me the most usefull: 'surroundings' (is the location of the cache nice ?) and 'used techniques' (where there fun techniques to use to get to the cache, like riddles, microcaches, etc. ?).

In practice I see it as a 6 level choice: No Comment, Very Bad, Bad, Neutral, Nice, Very Nice; with No comment as default. For each cache the feedback can be aggregated to show an average score (so if only one person ranked it as nice -> 4/5). The 'no comments' aren't taken into account in order not to bias the results with the 'no feedback' of those not willing to complete it.

As a last option, you could implement in the search a 'more than ... score' to find a cache for the two feedback options.

Hope it gets realised once...

Alpenmarmot.

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quote:
Originally posted by Jonathan Day:

I was just woundering if it would be possible to show a scorecard on this website showing which people have found the most caches, and which caches have the most visits.


I would be shocked if this ever happened, since it has been strongly noted that geocaching isn't about the numbers. Some people want toplists and such, and those requests have been routinely denied (and with quite understandable reasons).
quote:
There could also be one showing the least visited caches. This would be helpful in determining which caches are potentially the hardest to find. If I knew for instance that a cache 1000 miles away had never been visited I might well make the effort to go and find it, whilst one nearby that is visited regularly is not quite as attractive.
If you become a paid subscribing member of geocaching.com, you can get "Pocket Queries", which are files e-mailed to you with up to 500 caches each (you can request up to five per day). Once you get those (in GPX format), you can load them into a program (say, Watcher icon_biggrin.gif) and look for those hard caches you want to find. I use Watcher for that all the time (well, when I'm not driving 20 hours to an event cache or sitting home slinging code on Watcher).

 

[[[ ClayJar Networks ]]]

Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

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I am new but I already have a wishlist item! The ability to search caches that are accessible by boat! Some specify if you could get there this way, but some just indicate they are by the water and you can't really tell if you could boat to it, etc. etc. And those I think you just have to stuble upon in the search lists unless there is a way to search hydros that I don't know about. I did find a thread about hydros with some listed but it really didn't mention many in my area of the state & I know there are many more. :-) My 2 cents!

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Once cache attributes are implemented, you'll have something to use to see things like that. In the meantime, where are you? You don't have a "Location" in your profile, so I can't point you in any particular direction (there are some of us who know a lot about our local hydros). Anyway, I think I'm going to run a new set of Pocket Queries so I can use Watcher to seek out and watch the new hydrocaches.

 

[[[ ClayJar Networks ]]]

Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

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We can't have people getting access to this type of data. It may encourage competition or comparisons. icon_eek.gif

 

quote:
Originally posted by Jonathan Day:

Hello

 

I was just woundering if it would be possible to show a scorecard on this website showing which people have found the most caches, and which caches have the most visits.

Thank you


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quote:
Originally posted by topdog01:

How about adding a stat on the Users stat page to show how many first finds they have had?


How would you determine this? If you used the log ID, you could see the first find logged online, but I know I sometimes find myself *well* over a thousand miles away... If I'm first finder there, I almost certainly won't be first find logger.

 

You obviously can't use just the date, since you can't tell which of the five people to log it that date was the first. Also, there is no time information to use on the logs, since all the logs on the existing 63,071 active caches (plus all the archived caches) exist without times. Obviously, you can't get everyone to go back and add times to all their logs, but that wouldn't matter anyway, since sometimes finds come within minutes (or seconds) so everyone would need very accurately set precise watches (and the memory or notes to go with them) in order to use time as the first find key.

 

Of course, even if it you were starting Geocaching.com from scratch today (thanks to your time machine), and even if you *could* issue every new member an official Geocaching.com atomic clock wrist watch (with 16 MB of memory for timestamp and label storage), what would keep Moe Bettor (the lazy, cheating cacher) from logging a bunch of caches with times before the first finder in order to inflate his lying stats? I suppose, like "the one that got away", first finds will simply have to remain the pride of the one telling the story.

 

[[[ ClayJar Networks ]]]

Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

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How about the state stats from Dan Miller's page be incorporated into the site. I find it a handy way to find out who other active cachers in my area are. Currently gc.com has no easy way of determining that. This site is about community afterall, isn't it? Also, on Dan Miller's site you can list the recent logs for a state or area. This is sure a lot easier than going through the pages and pages of cache listings (especially if you wanted a list of the Not Founds). I know a lot of you will say just use Dan's page then. I do, but if it were on the official site it would be a lot more accurate, and probably a lot faster.

 

I'm sure this post will get the same old, "its not about the numbers" response.

 

--RuffRidr

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quote:
Originally posted by RuffRidr:

I'm sure this post will get the same old, "its not about the numbers" response.


Maybe from the administration, but I'd like to second that suggestion. Dan's page offers the best updated statistical data there is on geocaching in the www today. But as the word says, Dan doesn't have time to maintain his great service, so who would do it better than gc.com itself? And there could be even more interesting stats as I recently suggested. All of them don't necessarily have to be competetive kind of numbers.

 

- I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory. -

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Some may find statistics to be politically incorrect, but why should they decide this for the entire community?

 

The dirty secret about statistics is that many of the xxGCA organizations are already scraping this website in order to construct stats for their members. Banning the competitive interest will not prevent it.

 

It seems to me that gc.com could provide a wealth of interesting statistics with lower server load. Or, they could open up a more useful interface for others to provide the statistics. Polling the "200 recent finds" list (as Dan's site does) is an approximation at best, and the alternative currently causes more page loads than is optimal.

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How about an icon that is a picture of a compass, with text describing it as "If you are only using a map & compass, or want additional hints, click here"

 

Then the person hiding the cache, if he wanted to, could give a set of extra clues (site pictures, detail maps, distace from mile marker xx, etc.) so that people who want to, can find them w/o GPS, or if they had a DNF and wanted to go back with more info to see what it was that stumped them.

 

You say "But people will cheat"... so we will have to institute a penalty, like return the cash prizes, trophy, and notoriet you gained by cheating and have your name highlighted in yellow in the logbook as a testament to your cowardice.

 

You could even have a delayed implementation of the access to additional hints... maybe have the extra hints appear after a week or so from when the cache is first posted.

 

Hukt un fonix werkt fur mee

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Another thing that'd be nice... invert the encryption separation in online log entries...

 

What I mean is instead of putting non encrypted text in [ ], make a command set [CRYPT] and [/CRYPT] to encrypt text in log entries.

 

Also, for encrypted text in a log entry, mopve the "Decrypt" button right after the encrypted text instead of way down at the very bottom of the log entry.

 

Hukt un fonix werkt fur mee

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How about online graphics of a semi-standard form to place inside each cache describing what it is, where the website is, and all that stuff for when people accidentally stumble upon a cache.

 

A graphic of a sticker for the outside would be nice, so that I can print up my own stickers and glue them to the outside (not that I can't anyway, but it'd promote some uniformity, at least among those who would participate in such a scheme)

 

Hukt un fonix werkt fur mee

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There is already a place for hints, and if you're a generous and intelligent cacher, you can use the hints area to add multi-level hints.

 

Changing the way you encrypt logs would be a big change that would confuse a lot of users. Additionally, changing it to UBB-style (HTML/XML-like) tags would be rather pointless. Consider it this way, '[' is shorthand for "<crypt>", and ']' is shorthand for "</crypt>". Nothing is gained by using the long form. As for putting the "decrypt" link right in the middle of the text... that will only make it less usable. It would probably be better right by the log header (analogous to the location of the hint decrypt link), but that's just a style detail.

 

Instead of graphics to place inside a cache describing it when people stumble on it, why not do a whole "This is a geocache..." page that explains what a cache is and where to find geocaching.com? It could look, I don't know, something like... um... these. Oh, and instead of a graphic for a sticker (so you can print running, bleaching paper stickers), how about they make really good quality plastic stickers? It would be really useful if they had two sizes... something for regular caches, and another for microcaches. Now *that* would promote uniformity *and* quality!

 

OH! One more thing! They could add an "Edit or Delete Message" button to the forums. It could look something like an open folder with a pencil's eraser over it. Then people could use it to edit their posts instead of posting a bunch of consecutive messages. Yeah, *that* would be cool.

 

[[[ ClayJar Networks ]]]

Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

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OK, if we forget about the number of caches that people have found would it still be possible to show information on the site showing which caches are still not found.

 

All that I can find is this:

As of today, there are 63160 active caches in 183 countries.

In the last 7 days, there have been 37569 new logs written by 9128 account holders.

 

Now of those 63160 caches which ones are still not found and in particular which is the oldest that is still not found. International travel is common these days and people are not only interested in finding out about the caches in their region. All that we would need is a top 10 or even top 100 list showing the oldest unfound caches.

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Let me clarify what I mean...

 

Right now, you click "encrypt this message" and place all text that you DON'T want encrypted within the brackets. so the message ends up:

 

[normal text] Rapelcgrq Grkg [more normal text]

 

and the decrypt button is way down at the bottom, & easy to miss. (Look at my Aug 1st entry HERE to see what I mean).

 

My preference would be when entering into the log, a button that says "Encrypt", but only text inside of the brackets [] would get encrypted.

 

In addition, it'd be nice to see the "Decrypt" button immediately after the encrypted text when reading the log.

 

Is any of that necessary? No.

Is it an improvement? I think it would be.

Is it a big deal? Naw, just a suggestion.

 

Hukt un fonix werkt fur mee

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quote:
Instead of graphics ..., why not do a whole "This is a geocache..." It could look, I don't know, something like... um... http://www.geocaching.com/seek/.

 

Oh, and instead of a graphic for a sticker (so you can print running, bleaching paper stickers),

 

OH! One more thing! They could add an "Edit or Delete Message" button to the forums. ...instead of posting a bunch of consecutive messages. Yeah, *that* would be cool.


 

The link to the description insert didn't seem to work... until I took a second look.

Here is a more direct link. A .jpg would also be useful. It could even have the

 

Geocahing logocolor60.gif

included to add a sprig of color

 

I am capable of making high quality, MULTI color stickers that will not fade, bleed, smear, or come unglued... in whatever custom size fits each container, at a fraction of the cost of buying and shipping them. I would be happy to do a writeup of instructions on how to do it for those who prefer the satisfaction of a good DIY project. If it's an issue of the logo being a licensed product, that is different, and I understand. This website and the Geocacing game as a whole represent a lot of work by the people who organize, maintain, and run it all.

 

Seperating topics into multiple messages aids in the ease of quoting a message, and makes the posts more readable, in my opinion. It was not done by accident or ignorance, it was done by preference.

 

I wasn't all that pleased to have my ideas picked apart... if you don't appreciate them, fine, you can ignore them. If you don't understand them, ask for clarification.

 

[This message was edited by Mark 42 on August 08, 2003 at 09:48 AM.]

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It'd be nice if all of the pictures you've uploaded were listed on the

"My Cache" page (URL Below), and if we could add & delete from there too.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/my/

 

Another enhancemant I'd like:

Once I've done a search for caches nearby, the ability to check the ones that I think are interesting, and then have them saved in a list of "Intersting caches".

 

Also, when I look at a cache online, if it looks interesting, add it to a list of "Interesting caches"

 

I'm not sure if "Watch this cache" will accoplish the same thing. I'll give that a try.

So far, I've assumed that "Watch this cache" will send me an email whenever someone logs a find, DNF, or othe note to it.

 

I'd like to be able to just have a list of caches I'm interested in, which would look just like the search results, but contain all & only the caches I've "highlighted".

 

Another idea... for another cache type icon...

an Icon in addition to the cache type & the TB flag would be a compass friendly icon... one which tells which ones are vible to be found w/o a GPS unit just from the description & map with only a map & compass.

 

Maybe the ability to filter searches so that they only list caches that are compass friendly. also... the ability to filter to show only caches with travel bugs in them.

 

Maybe a "Search for nearby travel bugs" option?

 

TAFN...

 

[This message was edited by Mark 42 on August 09, 2003 at 08:50 AM.]

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