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Pocket Query attributes filtering


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Posted

This topic: Hiders not using attributes got my wondering.... Those of you who use Pocket Queries and use the attributes sections to filter for caches, what are the top 10 attributes that you use the most?

 

The attributes I use the most:

 

Include:

  • winter friendly
  • takes less than an hour
  • <1km
  • scenic

Exclude:

  • NOT 'dogs'
  • recommended at night
  • access or parking fee
  • NOT 'winter friendly'
  • boat
  • swimming

Posted

I tend to exclude caches that have the "No Dogs" attribute since one of my main reasons for caching is to have places to take the dog for walks.

 

In the winter I will include caches that are marked with the snowflake, even though cache owners seem confused as to what it is supposed to mean.

Posted

I don't use them to filter.

As I recall, they didn't work properly when first implemented, so I gave up on the idea rather quickly.

Same here. I never touch the stuff. Except that I glance at them on a cache page.

Posted

Exclude "Needs Maintenance"

You'll be avoiding caches where the CO couldn't figure out how to remove that icon (the cache itself may be doing perfectly well, having been fixed months ago). I don't mean you shouldn't avoid them anyway. :rolleyes:

Posted

I just checked my PQs. None of them use attributes as part of the filtering.

 

Usually, it's just location and type. (I normally exclude mystery/puzzle caches, and have a separate "solved unfound puzzles" bookmark PQ for them.) Occasionally I filter for other criteria (e.g., difficulty, terrain) using a scratch PQ that I keep around specifically for online use (using the preview function). But I don't recall ever filtering for attributes that way.

Posted

Exclude "Needs Maintenance"

You'll be avoiding caches where the CO couldn't figure out how to remove that icon (the cache itself may be doing perfectly well, having been fixed months ago). I don't mean you shouldn't avoid them anyway. :rolleyes:

Yep.

 

Given that the PQ is run to find caches 'on the off chance' of having time to look, 800+ is more than enough to choose from. :)

 

Also filter out those who mark their caches as 'Unknown' and 'Other' for size, mainly in an effort to hide the fact it's a Nano...

Posted (edited)

They now work correctly on the filters for the PQ, but I still have issues with the implementation. Only allowing 10 user assigned attributes is a problem in my book. Read here.

 

But from that same post:

I can't think of any cache that I own that uses more than four or five attributes, and I rarely search exclusively by attributes other than in a "foot note" aspect. Attributes also aren't fully in use. I recently checked on caches in the GONIL area recently and found that if you exclude the Needs Maintenance attribute, 31% of the caches had NO attributes assigned.

 

Since the searching is unreliable because of limits imposed by the website, and unreliable because of the lack of uniformed use, I've simply gone to looking at them like the owner providing parking coordinates or encrypted hints: these are helpful pieces of information, but not a sole reliable means of ascertaining whether or not I"m going to hunt for a cache.

 

However, I will identify caches for two specific characteristics if I'm doing a search of quick information: Exclude Park-and-grab, Exclude poison plants.

Edited by Markwell

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