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Changing D/T rating on my cache


mellers

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My first puzzle cache was pretty hard at level 4, but I'm thinking of upping the difficulty rating to 4.5 given that it's not had many solvers over time. However, I'm wondering what effect this will have on the "Difficulty and Terrain of Caches I've Found" grid on the stats page for the people who have found it.

 

I don't particularly want to foul up anyone's quest to fill the whole table, by changing it, if the change means that the stats page takes a 'found' cache from the old D/T combination square and puts a new 'found' one in the new D/T combination square. (sorry did that make sense?)

 

Now I know that some challenge caches which require one of every D & T rating (such as the Somerset well-rounded cacher challenge) make it clear that it's the" D/T rating of the cache as at when you found it", which counts - so that's not a problem. However, there will be some people who are simply filling their table for their own satisfaction. I'd like to know what the implication of changing my rating will have on their stats page and how I can help them get round any problems I might inadvertently cause...

 

Anyone here changed a D/T rating and can tell me how it shows up on other peoples stats?

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My first puzzle cache was pretty hard at level 4, but I'm thinking of upping the difficulty rating to 4.5 given that it's not had many solvers over time. However, I'm wondering what effect this will have on the "Difficulty and Terrain of Caches I've Found" grid on the stats page for the people who have found it.

 

Anyone here changed a D/T rating and can tell me how it shows up on other peoples stats?

 

Changing the rating will alter the rating on finders stats.

 

As it is, none of the logs mention it being under-rated. In fact the FTF log confirms that he thinks it's correct. So why do you feel the need to alter it now??

 

It's just as likely that people aren't bothering to go through the effort of completing a tricky puzzle for what is at the end of the day a 1 terrain film pot! :rolleyes::ph34r:

Edited by keehotee
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I don't particularly want to foul up anyone's quest to fill the whole table, by changing it, if the change means that the stats page takes a 'found' cache from the old D/T combination square and puts a new 'found' one in the new D/T combination square. (sorry did that make sense?)

 

 

you can see other people's stats page, since there are only 3 finders its easy to figure out if your difficulty rating change will affect them

 

in this case all 3 of them have plenty of 4/1 finds so it will not make a difference, if you want to change it now is a good time

 

 

It's just as likely that people aren't bothering to go through the effort of completing a tricky puzzle for what is at the end of the day a 1 terrain film pot! :rolleyes::ph34r:

 

blah blah blah :rolleyes:

Edited by t4e
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My first puzzle cache was pretty hard at level 4, but I'm thinking of upping the difficulty rating to 4.5 given that it's not had many solvers over time. However, I'm wondering what effect this will have on the "Difficulty and Terrain of Caches I've Found" grid on the stats page for the people who have found it.

 

I don't particularly want to foul up anyone's quest to fill the whole table, by changing it, if the change means that the stats page takes a 'found' cache from the old D/T combination square and puts a new 'found' one in the new D/T combination square. (sorry did that make sense?)

The primary purpose of the difficulty and terrain ratings are as indicators to prospective finders. That the ratings have subsequently been adapted for other purposes does not change that. Changing the ratings will change the DT grids - that is unfortunate, but the over-riding consideration is that the ratings reflect the reality.

 

Having said that, I would only change ratings if they were clearly inaccurate, I wouldn't keep fiddling with them by half a star here and there.

 

I would not be useful to comment on the accuracy of the rating of your specific cache without actually having tried it myself.

 

Rgds, Andy

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I think it's a shame when D/T ratings have to be changed. But I sit firmly on the fence and here is why:

 

Against change - My first FTF was a 5/5. It no longer is a 5/5. That's a shame because the rating is relative. Though the rating is now more comparable with other 5/5 caches around the country.

 

In favour of changin - I've got it wrong in the past and feel it's unfair for future finders to not be able to search for appropriate caches. The hardest I find to work out are disabled/wheelchair friendly or multi/Wherigo caches.

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Personally after my experience I will stick with the rating I put on a cache and not change it.

 

I have cache (it was my third hide) which I rated following the guidelines. Everyone kept saying I had rated it too high and after constant badgering and a little more experience in doing `extreme` caches I bowed to pressure and dropped the rating.......

... the moaning I then got :blink:

 

Moral is:

you cant please everyone, there will always be someone who is not happy and ratings can sometimes be subjective.

 

Check, before you publish your cache, that your happy with it then stick to it!

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What about a particularly tricky puzzle, which the CO thinks is a 4.5, but then to provide a higher likelyhood of finds begins to release hints...

 

We've found puzzles that were rated as 4's through decrypting some very difficult puzzles and found the chaches, then the CO decides thaT only a couple of people have found it, so releases a series of hints, and begins to downgrade the difficulty...poof goes the 4.

 

OR

 

A very difficult cache at the top of a tree is slowly lowered down the tree and terrain shifts accordingly, as the CO lowers the cache, he lowers the terrain, all previous finders have lost their terrain ratings. Right now the only way to preserve those ratings are to archive the original and re-publish...

 

Perhaps if the CO could have the option of maintaining the previous finds as the old difficulty by having to do an official cache condition rating change like the co-ord change button, putting up a flag in the database or some such thing, that way early changes due to tweaking after getting feedback could be done one way, and a "major" change in the cache condition could be done in a different way that locks the ratings.

 

Just a thought.

 

NB

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Just had a head scratching afternoon. I had noted a few days ago a cache nearby which would fill in one of my 18 empty squares on my D/T grid. I thought it odd at the time that this 'hole' was there but dismissed it. Today, I looked at my paper D/T grid and noted that I had found one of this D/T rating but there were still 18 missing. So, I thought that one cache had been changed and it had another D/T rating filled in so I still had 63 done. Having investigated, I find that I have gained one and lost one but there are two caches involved. Since the new 'hole' can be filled in with a cache close by, thus not too much expense in travelling, I suppose I have gained overall (if I can find it) but it is still a nuisance when the ratings change. I must be really unlucky to have 2 change on me. I have looked in the logs involved but cannot see a note which would give the date of the change.

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