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New Nearest Cache Page (Observations)


iryshe

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quote:
Originally posted by rezz:

how do get at the map for my state from the nearest cache page? also when will that map show the caches i've found marked off again? as you can see i use the maps a lot.


 

Visit any cache from your nearest cache page and there is a link to the map. Also, doing a search from the front page by state still has a link to the state map.

 

We're integrating and testing the new map server over the next two weeks and hopefully will have it done within that timeframe. I'm very excited to see this one coming!

 

frog.gif Jeremy Irish

Groundspeak - The Language of Location

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I like the new colors to separate our 'finds' and 'owned caches' from the 'haven't found yet'. I'm also discovering caches I haven't hit yet near me, thanks to the new page. I look forward to seeing the other ways you fix the concerns addressed here.

 

Thank you for putting up with our crankiness over relatively trivial things. (I'm not dismissing login problems as trivial. That's a big problem.)

 

*****************

 

Till a voice, as bad as Conscience, rang interminable changes

On one everlasting Whisper day and night repeated -- so:

"Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges --

"Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!"

 

Rudyard Kipling , The Explorer 1898

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Good point about the need to list 'temporarily unavailable' caches, Jeremy. Definitely some around here that should be archived, though (a year is a long time to be temp. unavailable)!

 

Regarding maps, can you confirm that a feature of the new mapserver will be to check caches that have been found (as the current maps used to do)? I'd also like to see locationless caches stricken from the maps, since there is no cache at the location indicated.

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quote:
Originally posted by Jeremy:

Two updates:

 

Added two background colors. A grey for caches you have found and a light yellow for caches you own.

 

The "my cache page" link has a (filter finds) option which adds the F=1 to the end of the query. Click on that if you want your finds and hides filtered. It's a good temporary solution.

 

Next I'll be re-adding glasses for items on your watch list, and filtering out locationlessc caches (as well as allowing searches for just locationless caches).

 

frog.gif Jeremy Irish

Groundspeak - The Language of Location


 

Thank you for the grey and yellow highlights...that makes the quick glance at the seach results much easier. Despite all the chatter about this problem and that solution, etc. I thank you for your continued work to balance both efficiency and practicality for us, the users. Keep it up.

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quote:
Originally posted by IntotheWoods:

Regarding maps, can you confirm that a feature of the new mapserver will be to check caches that have been found (as the current maps used to do)? I'd also like to see locationless caches stricken from the maps, since there is no cache at the location indicated.


 

Yes. However due to bandwidth and server load we will have to make this for Premium Members only. That shouldn't be a problem since you are one.

 

Locationless caches will be stricken from the maps. We'll also be separating out all the cache types so you can see them as their own icon. This will be an excellent way to see at a quick glance whether a cache is a virtual, traditional, etc.

 

frog.gif Jeremy Irish

Groundspeak - The Language of Location

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Sorry Belgium! I fixed it so you can now "Search All" caches in your country. I hope this didn't cause a diplomatic incident!

 

Locationless caches are now searchable by "all" (sorted in alphabetical order). You can also search by keyword and by username (hid/found) but not by coordinate, zipcode, state, etc. It is even bookmarkable for you crazy fans of locationless caches. It should also appease folks who don't like seing them on a local search.

 

Finally, default distance is now set at 100 miles, so the counts should be as they were before. You can still go as high as 150 miles on the "hide and seek a cache" page.

 

Whew! I think I hit them all. If there is still login issues please post them in a different topic. Thanks!

 

frog.gif Jeremy Irish

Groundspeak - The Language of Location

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Not sure what this is saying, so I'll ask it here...

 

When I pick a cache and click the link for displaying all caches near that one, some of the caches on the results page display a -1 degree where the distance is from the original cache. Other caches besides the original do show that, but only a few of them. It ends up masking information pertaining to which direction the cache is from the first one chosen.

 

Brian

Team A.I.

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Jeremy, again, you're awesome to listen and try to incorporate some of our suggestions. Thanks.

 

I have to agree that Sissy-n-CR's setup is awesome. I especially like the way the day/month/year designations are abbreviated, where the placed date is, and the different found designation.

 

Just because I always have to do things my own way, I came up with one of my own. Pretty much the same.

 

Thanks again, J & crew!

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First of all - THANKS! Great work, it's better in lots of ways. It'll take a bit of time to get used to it all but I'm sure that in a few weeks the vast majority of people will wonder how they got along the old way...

 

Now to the suggestion:

 

Some of my local cachers have been kicking around an idea. I'm not a premium member yet so I don't know if Pocket Queries do this - but we were wondering if it would be possible to add a feature to sort caches in a direction.

 

Currently caches are only sorted by distance (of course I'm not talking about different types, just the location). It's a small pain to select caches in a direction when you have this:

 

Distance: 5.5 W

Distance: 5.6 W

Distance: 5.8 E

Distance: 6.5 S

 

I don't know if it's worth the trouble of also allowing the search to show a particular direction (or even 2 or 3 directions, such as S and SE) when you're searching.

 

I'm not sure if anybody else would find this useful, or if there is a way to work this out that I'm not aware of, but it's just an suggestion icon_smile.gif

 

southdeltan

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I'm working on some icons for the site. Great suggestions! I'll see what I can do about shrinking down the days/months text though I think I'll get far more "what is h and m?" email queries.

 

As for the date I think the majority of folks prefer it to be listed in its own column, though I could be wrong. It is worth a poll in the general forums.

 

I'll get the glasses icon on the page tomorrow for items on your watch list. I like your pink color for unavailable caches as well so I'll probably add that.

 

frog.gif Jeremy Irish

Groundspeak - The Language of Location

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quote:
Originally posted by southdeltan:

We were wondering if it would be possible to add a feature to sort caches in a direction.


 

Yes, this could be done and it has been asked before. Unfortunately my priorities at this point is to get the entire site running on the same code base, before I can work on additional new features to the search page. Every page on the web site will be going through an overhaul with much needed changes so once the bits are done I'll get back to the nearest cache page.

 

I owe the Premium Members some new features so when I overhaul Pocket Queries I'll make sure to add some new features like this one.

 

Thanks!

 

frog.gif Jeremy Irish

Groundspeak - The Language of Location

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quote:
we were wondering if it would be possible to add a feature to sort caches in a direction.


 

This is also something I've always wanted to see... some way to limit criteria by direction. I was thinking of just limiting it to certain Lat/Long (i.e. exclude west of W 122 38 001, or show all caches between W 122 38 001 and W 122 40 001) or something like that. It would be an awesome feature to add specifically to pocket queries.

 

Still having login problems when switching between asp or aspx pages, and also when switching computers, although I do eventually get logged in. What topic board should this be followed up on?

 

"Not all who wander are lost." - J.R.R. Tolkien

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Jeremy-

 

Great work in the last 2 days. You've managed to deal with the inevitable bugs from a major change and also extend the program with additional features requested by the users...

 

I have read this whole thread over the last 2 days, but I'm not sure this has been covered...

 

The only annoyance I have now is if I search for a specific cache, and then want to see nearby ones, I can't easily filter out the ones I've already found. A "sticky" option of include/exclude found caches that could be changed on any page would be useful (or any other implementation that "fixes" that problem.)

 

[i guess adding &f=1 to the resulting URL isn't the worst thing to have to do, but it just seems there should be a "cleaner" solution.]

 

But, great work. As someone who has been writing code for nearly 40 years, I have some idea what it takes to accomplish what you've done.

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'Server Error in '/' Application' Found

 

I do the following:

 

Advanced Search

Locationless Caches by Postal Code

Postal code = 30680

 

This is the error page displayed.

 

"Length cannot be less than zero. Parameter name: newlength"

 

Maybe this is just be one of the improvements (a snazzy error page instead of the .NET error page) that comes along with updating the rest of the site because I just noticed I receive the same sort/feel of an error page if on login I supply an invalid password.

 

But now from the "All geocaches" search I don't receive Locationless caches in the results and before I did (and I believe there should at least be two in the results - one found and one unfound).

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quote:
Originally posted by Jeremy:

quote:
Originally posted by IntotheWoods:

Regarding maps, can you confirm that a feature of the new mapserver will be to check caches that have been found (as the current maps used to do)? I'd also like to see locationless caches stricken from the maps, since there is no cache at the location indicated.


 

Yes. However due to bandwidth and server load we will have to make this for Premium Members only. That shouldn't be a problem since you are one.

 

frog.gif Jeremy Irish


 

Jeremy,

 

Do you mean that seeing the caches we have visited marked with a special symbol will only be for Premium members, or are you only referring to locationless caches? Seeing which caches you have and have not visited seems to be the main point of having a cache map.

 

Parsa

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I really the like the improvements that have been added over the last few days. One minor bug (at least I think it's a bug) that I've noticed: the search page seems to be automatically going by the account for the "hidden by" field, as opposed to what the user inputted on the cache page.

 

For instance, I placed an upcoming event cache and on the cache submission page listed the hider as "Mid-Missouri Geocachers", but on the search page it says it was hidden by ooga booga.

 

I second the suggestion for slightly stronger color, and I also really like the idea of having graphic icons for the terrain/difficulty - it just seems like it's a lot easier to read those at a glance than something like (3/3.5).

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quote:

beejay&esskay

Geocacher

posted June 17, 2003 08:41 PM

Jeremy-

 

Great work in the last 2 days. You've managed to deal with the inevitable bugs from a major change and also extend the program with additional features requested by the users...

 

I have read this whole thread over the last 2 days, but I'm not sure this has been covered...

 

The only annoyance I have now is if I search for a specific cache, and then want to see nearby ones, I can't easily filter out the ones I've already found. A "sticky" option of include/exclude found caches that could be changed on any page would be useful (or any other implementation that "fixes" that problem.)

 

[i guess adding &f=1 to the resulting URL isn't the worst thing to have to do, but it just seems there should be a "cleaner" solution.]

 

But, great work. As someone who has been writing code for nearly 40 years, I have some idea what it takes to accomplish what you've done.

 

 

I asked this question also and have yet to get an answer for it from Jeremy....Still waiting.

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Hi Jeremy,

 

quote:
Originally posted by Jeremy:

 

Visit any cache from your nearest cache page and there is a link to the map. Also, doing a search from the front page by state still has a link to the state map.


 

Unfortunately this is only true for caches in the US. Have a look at for example this cache in Austria!

 

Keep up the good work!

Gert

 

Short cuts make long delays.

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Wow, the improvements over the last couple of days are incredible. I'm left with only the minor quibble that the grey background for found caches is a bit pale -- someone mocked up a version with a stronger background color, and it made skimming quite a bit easier (while still leaving the text quite readable).

 

The ability to do a filtered search off of my cache page is truly a thing of beauty.

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quote:
Originally posted by Kite & Hawkeye:

I'm left with only the minor quibble that the grey background for found caches is a bit pale -- someone mocked up a version with a stronger background color, and it made skimming quite a bit easier (while still leaving the text quite readable).


 

This is what I'm talking about in respect to not pleasing everyone. Everyone's monitor is different and if you try to adjust for those whose monitor is a little light then it's too dark for others. Local user CSS will cure a lot of this.

 

On the issue of colored backgrounds, though someone might be able to come up with a better way to do it, I'd suggest this code change for cosmetic reasons; replace the HR tag with a blank cell.

 

Example of new code:

 

  <tr style="background-color=black; font-size=1">     <td colspan="8">&nb sp;</td>  </tr>  <tr style="background-color=#eeeeee; font-size=5">    <td colspan="8">&nb sp;</td>  </tr>  <tr style="background-color=#eeeeee">  ...cache info code here ...  </tr>  <tr style="background-color=#eeeeee; font-size=5">    <td colspan="8">&nb sp;</td>  </tr>  <tr style="background-color=black;font-size=1">     <td colspan="8">&nb sp;</td>  </tr>

 

(Of course the STYLE tags would be replaced with the appropriate CLASS tags and the "&nb sp;" needs the space removed to render as it was rendering even in the CODE tag here.)

 

Which will render something like:

72057_3700.gif

 

As you see it removes the blank area between the edge of the color and the cache division leaving enough negative space so the text doesn't seem crowded. Plus, with enough CLASSes defined users could change the spacing between the edge of the test and division, the color of the division, and more.

 

CR

 

72057_2000.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by Chrissy_Skyking & Blaze:

This is also something I've always wanted to see... some way to limit criteria by direction. I was thinking of just limiting it to certain Lat/Long (i.e. exclude west of W 122 38 001, or show all caches between W 122 38 001 and W 122 40 001) or something like that. It would be an awesome feature to add specifically to pocket queries.


 

You can do it if you over grab the caches from the PQs as a GPX and use Watcher. I know it's not live from the site, but that's what Pocket Queries are for. The extra really neat mining stuff.

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Okay, I'll go ahead and bring it up now.

 

User defined style sheets.

I thought I had seen this brought up before, but my memory is going and I couldn't find it. I know it'd be more work, but I think in the long run a worthwhile addition.

 

By adding a CSS field in the user's profile and, if populated, replace a default style sheet; users could, in effect, partially skin the site to their liking.

 

IMHO now is a perfect time to do this with the new Nearest Cache page coming online. The benefits of which include users getting the colors they want, users could share info on how the modify their sheets, trade "skins," or even make sheets for others. The possibilities are much greater than available now, including putting a huge FOUND or OWNED graphic in the background of those cells and much more.

 

What could be changed is only limited by the number of classes you want to define.

 

A major benefit is you wouldn't have to worry so much about different platforms and which version of such-n-such software will render particular variables of a tag as users will be tailoring their sheets to their own use.

 

In short, this would go a long way towards letting users have what they want and not have to settle for compromises because some people can't use such tags or their equipment is different than others.

 

Thanks for listening.

 

CR

 

72057_2000.gif

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With the addition of the filters on the nearest in my cache page, this thing really rocks!! The only other suggestion I would make would be to bring back into the filters the ability to set the radius. When the new page launched at 150 mile radius, it practically doubled the number of caches I had left to find. icon_biggrin.gif Thanks for all your efforts on this.

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I, for one, would like to thank Jeremy (admin) and his partners for all of the work they do. I have spent hours surfing the discussions and have seen just how much time they spend in keeping this site current, active, and functioning well. The speed at which he and his partners are listening to the concerns of site users is amazing.

 

The new changes to the site are fantastic! This has, in part, renewed my interest in this site.

 

Thank you for staying positive in the face of the odd person that is negative.

 

Thanks again!

 

Shhh....do you hear that?

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There are a lot of messages here so if my suggestion has already been mentioned I apologize.

 

I love the new filter feature to hide caches I have already found. What I would love to see eliminated from the current list I see are disabled caches as they seemingly provide no benefit.

 

Thanks for an awesome site and continually improving it!

 

-Dan

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Great job. I still see 1 problem, missing cache in the search. I am not sure if there are any others missing. If I do a search from N48 W65, Miss Ketoe (GC7142) appears about 1.9mi from Quete Acadienne 1 (GC8622. From N 48° 00.000 W 066° 37.221, I do not see Miss Ketoe (use to be last on list and is 1 of my no finds, why I noticed, planning on another visit in July, was afraid it was archived), or when I search postal code E3N 1W3 at 150 mile radium, Miss Ketoe does not appear in the search, it is about 102miles out in the Postal Code search. It use to see the cache on my local coord search for my hometown trips. Just find it odd that I can no longer search this cache unless I do a closer search to it. Looking forward to the new site and new features.

 

Car37 & Shnde

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quote:
Originally posted by ILAdmin:

quote:
Originally posted by Chrissy_Skyking & Blaze:

This is also something I've always wanted to see... some way to limit criteria by direction. I was thinking of just limiting it to certain Lat/Long (i.e. exclude west of W 122 38 001, or show all caches between W 122 38 001 and W 122 40 001) or something like that. It would be an awesome feature to add specifically to pocket queries.


 

You can do it if you over grab the caches from the PQs as a GPX and use Watcher. I know it's not live from the site, but that's what Pocket Queries are for. The extra really neat mining stuff.


Thanks for the info! I've just downloaded Watcher and started learning it. However, it would still be a great addition to the Pocket Queries (someday when things are back to normal), because it would also cut a bunch of caches out of the Mobipocket book file generated at the same time as the GPX file, something I'm pretty sure Watcher doesn't do! icon_wink.gif

 

"Not all who wander are lost." - J.R.R. Tolkien

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quote:
Originally posted by Glitche Ente:

There are a lot of messages here so if my suggestion has already been mentioned I apologize.

 

I love the new filter feature to hide caches I have already found. What I would love to see eliminated from the current list I see are disabled caches as they seemingly provide no benefit.


 

Yeah, I also posted the same thing yesterday. Jeremy responded with: "They need to be listed. If they aren't no one will complain about them and they will exist in the wild forever. Please report the cache as "should be archived" if it goes untended for longer than a few weeks so we can keep the data fresh."

 

And that's why. Contact those cache owners to complain if you think they've been disabled too long.

 

"Not all who wander are lost." - J.R.R. Tolkien

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Jeremy thanks for all your efforts and diligence. Keep up the great work!!!

 

My only suggestion / comment is to add a filter so that the unavailable/archived caches get filtered out when doing searches of available caches, just like you filter out FOUND and caches placed by the user. My two cents.

 

It bears repeating, thanks for everything, the sport of geocaching is a success because of your efforts.

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quote:
Originally posted by Kber:

My only suggestion / comment is to add a filter so that the unavailable/archived caches get filtered out when doing searches of available caches, just like you filter out FOUND and caches placed by the user. My two cents.


 

Look just two posts above yours to see an explanation of why unavailable caches will not be hidden.

 

In short, they will not be hidden so they will not be forgotten.

 

CR

 

72057_2000.gif

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Not to go off on a tangent, but we've all seen caches stay 'temporarily' disabled indefinitely. I hesitate to post 'should be archived' logs, lest I appear to be the cache police, but I would like to see them either restored or archived. I feel like a busybody writing personally to the owners, though.

 

Now that 'temporarily' disabled caches are going to be more prominent in search results (not tucked away neatly at the bottom of the screen), I guess there's more motivation to ask the owners if they intend to revive it, and suggest they archive it if they don't intend to bring it back to active status.. though I'm still afraid the reaction will be "who are you to bug me about it?".

 

I know we don't need more rules, but I sorta wish that a cache that remained temporarily disabled for more than a month or two would just revert to archived status. That may just be my dislike of confrontation talking, though.

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quote:
Originally posted by Kite & Hawkeye:

I know we don't need more rules, but I sorta wish that a cache that remained temporarily disabled for more than a month or two would just revert to archived status. That may just be my dislike of confrontation talking, though.


Doing that automatically would be bad. It's common for caches to be disabled for hunting season, for example. Deer season in Michigan is a good 3-4 months, at least (not a hunter, but I believe it's Sept to Jan). There might also be some that are in talks with park managers. One near me has been disabled for several months for that reason.

 

Flat_MiGeo_B88.gif

Well the mountain was so beautiful that this guy built a mall and a pizza shack

Yeah he built an ugly city because he wanted the mountain to love him back -- Dar Williams

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I have a suggestion, not sure what the rest of you think or what impact it might have.

 

I think I'd like to have my finds and hides hidden by default, and then if I wanted to see the information I could do a new search and check a box to unhide it. Kind of like it is now, but in reverse.

 

Or at least to have the hide my finds checkbox on each page, so I don't have to go to a new page to filter them out.

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That's a lovely shade of blue.

 

Now, when I mouse over any blue link, it turns from regular font to boldface. Kinda neat, but on my not-completely-obsolete imac my browser freezes for a good five seconds to process that, and another five when I mouse away. (I know things are currently a bit experimental and subject to change, and I really appreciate both the new functionality, and the responsiveness Jeremy's shown to the *cough* suggestions that immediately cropped up. So, in that spirit, I hope I don't sound too whiny -- it's just an observation. Have I mentioned the lovely shade of blue, the blazing speed of the searches, the exquisite grace of the filters?)

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Doh! Now I'll have to quit mooching of gc.com and pay up to get this feature.

 

quote:
Originally posted by Jeremy:

 

Yes. However due to bandwidth and server load we will have to make this for Premium Members only. That shouldn't be a problem since you are one.

 

frog.gif Jeremy Irish

Groundspeak - The Language of Location


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Jeremy, Working much better...however, only in IE 5.2.2 for the Mac. Netscape 7.01 is still logging out at the nearest cache page and requiring double log in on a cache page only before it keeps you logged in. Safari 0.9 only allows log in up to my cache page and no further. However, here on Groundspeak, Safari is working fine. I hope you can get Safari included soon as it is a far superior browser than IE or Netscape.

 

Keep up the good work!

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quote:
Originally posted by hammack:

Doh! Now I'll have to quit mooching of gc.com and pay up to get this feature.

 

quote:
Originally posted by Jeremy:

 

Yes. However due to bandwidth and server load we will have to make this for Premium Members only. That shouldn't be a problem since you are one.

 

frog.gif Jeremy Irish

Groundspeak - The Language of Location



 

I'm looking forward to this feature debuting. icon_smile.gif

 

Brian

Team A.I.

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Finally.... a primo perk to being a premium member. I'm so glad that the found maps will be back and think that having them only for the premium members will help recruit some of our more sluggish-to-join frequent fliers on the website. I can't wait to see them! Thanks Jeremy and Admin for all your hard work. The speedy server, the new look and organization, icon_biggrin.gif all is great!!!! icon_biggrin.gif

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