WHY WAS MY CHALLENGE REMOVED?

[+Pawn-of-Chaos]

I created an acceptable challenge that should not have violated any geocaching rules. I already got some "thumbs up" on it. Now it's gone! What happened? Do you think you should indicate that the FLAG mean inappropriate rather than watch this challenge? I would bet that's what happened to mine...

[+The Cheeseheads]

Turn off the caps lock and tell us what it was.

[+Max and 99]

I searched near your home location, and you're right-nothing shows up. Do you by chance have the GC number to share?

It's a flaky search system, so I hope your challenge is still out there, just hard to find!

[+The Cheeseheads]

It looks like a lot of the ones that aren't tied to a specific location are getting archived.

 

Bad: Post a picture of yourself doing a phoon.

 

Good: Post a picture of yourself doing a phoon in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

[+Pawn-of-Chaos]

Sorry about the Caps. The challenge I created is no longer in my Published Queue and it is no longer in Milwaukee WI. It is just gone. I know that 2 people had already accepted the challenge. It was entitled Urban Decay and was a photo challenge. I did not note down what "GC" number it was assigned. And there was no notification from Groundspeak that it was either created or archived. It was created between 14:00 and 16:00 CST today.

[knowschad]

Yeah, the two challenge caches I did today where archived.

I'm sort of glad they were. Posting something on twitter and climbing a tree is kind of a pathetic for getting cache finds...

 

Speaking of posting on Twitter... did y'all catch the clever use of the oh-so trendy "@" symbol to mean "located at"?

[+Max and 99]

And there was no notification from Groundspeak that it was either created or archived. It was created between 14:00 and 16:00 CST today.

 

And that, my friend, is one of the downfalls of not being the owner of a challenge you create!

 

Is someone actually going through the challenges to decide which ones to archive? Wow!

[+dfx]

Yeah, the two challenge caches I did today where archived.

I'm sort of glad they were. Posting something on twitter and climbing a tree is kind of a pathetic for getting cache finds...

 

Speaking of posting on Twitter... did y'all catch the clever use of the oh-so trendy "@" symbol to mean "located at"?

 

The "@" doesn't mean "located at" on Twitter though

[+edscott]

And there was no notification from Groundspeak that it was either created or archived. It was created between 14:00 and 16:00 CST today.

 

And that, my friend, is one of the downfalls of not being the owner of a challenge you create!

 

Is someone actually going through the challenges to decide which ones to archive? Wow!

 

I don't see how they can fail to monitor them.. and the up-side of that is they will become so much of a time drain of Groundspeak they will have to pull the plug on the whole stupid idea. Kiss a frog??? ( | )

[+Harry Dolphin]

And there was no notification from Groundspeak that it was either created or archived. It was created between 14:00 and 16:00 CST today.

 

And that, my friend, is one of the downfalls of not being the owner of a challenge you create!

 

Is someone actually going through the challenges to decide which ones to archive? Wow!

 

I don't see how they can fail to monitor them.. and the up-side of that is they will become so much of a time drain of Groundspeak they will have to pull the plug on the whole stupid idea. Kiss a frog??? ( | )

 

Need to find my frog quick, so I can get the icon before they pull the plug on this dreadful mistake. Were they serious about this?!?

[+t4e]

It looks like a lot of the ones that aren't tied to a specific location are getting archived.

 

Bad: Post a picture of yourself doing a phoon.

 

Good: Post a picture of yourself doing a phoon in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

 

maybe releasing some kind of guidelines ahead of the actual implementation would have avoided all this

 

and no, listening to a 40 minutes podcast shouldn't have been the way to get that info

[GOF and Bacall]

It looks like a lot of the ones that aren't tied to a specific location are getting archived.

 

Bad: Post a picture of yourself doing a phoon.

 

Good: Post a picture of yourself doing a phoon in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

 

maybe releasing some kind of guidelines ahead of the actual implementation would have avoided all this

 

and no, listening to a 40 minutes podcast shouldn't have been the way to get that info

 

So far my favorite post of the day.

[+The Cheeseheads]

Sorry about the Caps. The challenge I created is no longer in my Published Queue and it is no longer in Milwaukee WI. It is just gone. I know that 2 people had already accepted the challenge. It was entitled Urban Decay and was a photo challenge. I did not note down what "GC" number it was assigned. And there was no notification from Groundspeak that it was either created or archived. It was created between 14:00 and 16:00 CST today.

Was it "Take a picture is this specific dilapidated building" or "Take a picture of some sort of urban decay in your town"? If it was the latter, then that would probably explain it.

[+Pawn-of-Chaos]

Sorry about the Caps. The challenge I created is no longer in my Published Queue and it is no longer in Milwaukee WI. It is just gone. I know that 2 people had already accepted the challenge. It was entitled Urban Decay and was a photo challenge. I did not note down what "GC" number it was assigned. And there was no notification from Groundspeak that it was either created or archived. It was created between 14:00 and 16:00 CST today.

Was it "Take a picture is this specific dilapidated building" or "Take a picture of some sort of urban decay in your town"? If it was the latter, then that would probably explain it.

 

I re-read the "Learn More" section and it says "You can think of Geocaching Challenges as a combination of virtual, challenge, and locationless caches. The basic idea, 'go somewhere, do something,' can find expression in many different forms." I would take this to mean that a locationless type of challenge should be allowed. It does not have to be tied to a specific point. For example, "Kiss a Frog" can be done anywhere.

[cezanne]

I would take this to mean that a locationless type of challenge should be allowed. It does not have to be tied to a specific point. For example, "Kiss a Frog" can be done anywhere.

 

Kiss a frog is a worldwide challenge and those can only be created by Groundspeak. Normal cachers are expected to come along with challenges taking place that specific locations.

 

Cezanne

[+The Cheeseheads]

I would take this to mean that a locationless type of challenge should be allowed. It does not have to be tied to a specific point. For example, "Kiss a Frog" can be done anywhere.

 

Kiss a frog is a worldwide challenge and those can only be created by Groundspeak. Normal cachers are expected to come along with challenges taking place that specific locations.

 

Cezanne

And unfortunately, that point isn't the most clear.

[+briansnat]

I would take this to mean that a locationless type of challenge should be allowed. It does not have to be tied to a specific point. For example, "Kiss a Frog" can be done anywhere.

 

Kiss a frog is a worldwide challenge and those can only be created by Groundspeak. Normal cachers are expected to come along with challenges taking place that specific locations.

 

Cezanne

 

Considering the apparent goal of challenges, kissing a frog is a very poor example to set.

[+Walts Hunting]

I would take this to mean that a locationless type of challenge should be allowed. It does not have to be tied to a specific point. For example, "Kiss a Frog" can be done anywhere.

 

Kiss a frog is a worldwide challenge and those can only be created by Groundspeak. Normal cachers are expected to come along with challenges taking place that specific locations.

 

Cezanne

 

Considering the apparent goal of challenges, kissing a frog is a very poor example to set.

 

so kiss a frog in front of a local landmark would be better?

[+Pawn-of-Chaos]

I would take this to mean that a locationless type of challenge should be allowed. It does not have to be tied to a specific point. For example, "Kiss a Frog" can be done anywhere.

 

Kiss a frog is a worldwide challenge and those can only be created by Groundspeak. Normal cachers are expected to come along with challenges taking place that specific locations.

 

Cezanne

 

Is that the "official" response? I shall test that out in 24 hours when I submit another one tied to a specific location and specific task.

[+popokiiti]

So, one has to pinpoint a specific location for a challenge? There's a challenge for sunset photos near a cache....not one cache, any cache. I suppose that is one Groundspeak put out.....

[GOF and Bacall]

So, one has to pinpoint a specific location for a challenge? There's a challenge for sunset photos near a cache....not one cache, any cache. I suppose that is one Groundspeak put out.....

 

Yes. User submitted challenges are supposed to be location specific. Unfortunately that wasn't made very clear. Many challenges have been deleted/archived because they weren't.

[+popokiiti]

I thought that the "Flag" thing was a marker to show where the poster completed the challenge - as in the great litter pick up. I would rather see the word "Report."

[+BuckeyeClan]

So, one has to pinpoint a specific location for a challenge? There's a challenge for sunset photos near a cache....not one cache, any cache. I suppose that is one Groundspeak put out.....

 

I saw that one--it probably won't last long. The ones that Groundspeak puts out appear under the "Worldwide" tab. They are the only ones (for now) that can create the worldwide challenges.

[cezanne]

I would take this to mean that a locationless type of challenge should be allowed. It does not have to be tied to a specific point. For example, "Kiss a Frog" can be done anywhere.

 

Kiss a frog is a worldwide challenge and those can only be created by Groundspeak. Normal cachers are expected to come along with challenges taking place that specific locations.

 

Cezanne

 

Is that the "official" response? I shall test that out in 24 hours when I submit another one tied to a specific location and specific task.

 

No, not an official one, but a correct one. Unfortunately, Groundspeak did not communicate their intent reasonably well and even the FAQ is not very clear. Going somewhere could also be understood e.g. to go to a bridge or go to Berlin and not to a specfic bridge or a specific point in Berlin. Instead of coming up with teaser videos saying nothing and not giving away much in the weekly Groundspeak letter, Groundspeak would have been far better off by putting more effort in communication and instruction of potential creators of challenges.

 

What you did not know when I wrote my reply is that challenges get archived automatically when enough cachers flag it. I thought that the archival is just a manual process. I still guess however that yesterday manual intervention was involved as well.

 

Cezanne

[+g8orRaiders]

Another issue I am seeing is that when the challenges got removed and if you accepted the challenge they still show up in your accepted list. You don't have a way to remove them from your accepted list now.