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Abandoned Categories?


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No, it is I who owes an apology to Ambrosia.

 

I received an email inquiry a week or two ago about review pace in the World Monarchs category. My standard response to these is to resign from the group, unless it's for a category that I founded and for which I serve as leader. So, I went to resign, and much to my surprise I discovered that I was the group leader. I have no recollection of that! I did not found this category and I don't really like the detailed naming requirements. Rather than refusing submissions for failing to follow the exact waymark name convention, I left those submissions alone for others who cared. When criticized for slowness, I resigned.

 

That in turn made for more work by my friend Ambrosia, and I regret that imposition.

Edited by The Leprechauns
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No, it is I who owes an apology to Ambrosia.

 

I received an email inquiry a week or two ago about review pace in the World Monarchs category. My standard response to these is to resign from the group, unless it's for a category that I founded and for which I serve as leader. So, I went to resign, and much to my surprise I discovered that I was the group leader. I have no recollection of that! I did not found this category and I don't really like the detailed naming requirements. Rather than refusing submissions for failing to follow the exact waymark name convention, I left those submissions alone for others who cared. When criticized for slowness, I resigned.

 

That in turn made for more work by my friend Ambrosia, and I regret that imposition.

Ah, sweet of you. No worries. :)

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INDOOR MALLS seems to be stalled.

 

The leader, Blue Quasar, has apparently decided to drop out of Waymaking after having made a significant contribution during the formative stages of our hobby. Unfortunately, he just left his categories hanging. I haven't heard back from my inquiry, and my waymark has been languishing there for a month now.

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I'm just wondering, how long can a group leader go without logging into Waymarking.com* before they are considered absent?

*There are TWO different log in dates which can be found. One is on Waymarking in the group leadership list which shows "Last Login" and the second is "Last Visit" in the user profile. This second date appears to be a log in to any Groundspeak site.

 

The reason I am asking is because I see WM Groups with officers list that have 8 to 10 people, while only a few have logged in in the last few weeks. How can waymarks get reviewed if no one is there to review them? Yes, I do know that notification of a new waymark is sent out to each leader which has the option to review new waymarks.

 

I also have seen where group leaders have not logged in to Waymarking.com in a year, but are active on the Geocaching site. Example user - Last log (Waymarking) 8/13/2010. Last Visit, from PROFILE*, 12/20/2013. How can this person still be considered a group officer?

 

I've run across several groups with 5 members, where only two or even just ONE person has logged in in the last month. I have even seen officers who have only logged in once, to either sites. (Compare log in dates from both listed above)

 

A specific example - A group has 19 leaders. In the last month 78 waymarks have been reviewed by only 9 people. Of those 78, 29 were reviewed by one person, followed by two with 13 reviews, one had 9, and the remaining had less than 5 each. In this specific group the name of the person who reviewed/approved the waymark was not listed prior to November 2013. All prior reviews/approvals just stated "vote to approve/deny".

 

I guess I should also add that of those 19 people, ten have logged into Waymarking.com in the last week, most today. However, two people's last log ins were in 2010, one in 2012, one in June 2013, one in Sept 2013, two in Oct 2013 and one in Nov 2013. (Am I putting too much work into this?)

 

I'm not saying that there shouldn't be a large group of leaders, this allows for more opportunity for different people to review waymarks. Plus it increases the chance that someone will review it.

 

To remove an officer, it takes a 2/3 (66%) vote. If the group has 19 members and 2/3's of 19 is 13 (12.54), and only 10 members of the group have logged in in the last month how can any one be demoted? Is there a way for the GROUP LEADER to demote members? I didn't see that option anywhere.

 

Don't get me wrong. I know that there are groups with 100% commitment to their category. I love to post to those categories, I know that I can expect a response in a day or less.

 

We all have our own lives and and Waymarking is not a top priority, even to me. I realize that some people are quicker to get to a review than others. (I've been told that I shouldn't even start to send follow-up messages until a week has past) And I am well aware that this whole place is run by volunteers. However, if you are going to take on the added responsibilies (Group Leader) then you should keep up with what comes along with task or take a moment to remove yourself from the leadership. (I have seen this in the activiy log: user name "quit the group".)

 

Am I making a big deal out of nothing?

Am I sticking my nose into someplace that it doesn't belong?

Am I setting myself up for some really nasty backlash?

 

I don't know. I just hope that I am not the only one who sees this and wonders "WHY?".

 

NOTE: I contemplated deleting this message several times. I actually worked on this for a few hours, trying to make sure that it didn't make me sound like a jerk. Hopefully it will have the positive effect that I intended it to and not a negative one. Please feel free to reply directly to me if you like.

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INDOOR MALLS seems to be stalled.

 

The leader, Blue Quasar, has apparently decided to drop out of Waymaking after having made a significant contribution during the formative stages of our hobby. Unfortunately, he just left his categories hanging. I haven't heard back from my inquiry, and my waymark has been languishing there for a month now.

 

I also noticed this. One month and a half: http://www.Waymarking.com/waymarks/WMJFZ9_Tatvan_Yasam_Avm_Tatvan_Turkey

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Actually this is an on-going conversation, on an on-going problem. :anitongue::sad:

 

Right now I am at about a 5 or 6 out of 10 as far as being "into" Waymarking, and that changes from time to time. But I cannot imagine myself bowing out of the hobby completely if I were a group leader without trying to make sure that my absence was covered. That has nothing to do with the hobby, but with common courtesy. It seems like some folks decide to leave the hobby and burn all of the bridges for everyone else as they leave. That is downright low, in my opinion. :angry:

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Here are a few more:

 

Virginia Historical Markers

 

Leader: 06/25/13

Officer: 04/20/13

Officer: 1/11/14 (previous 11/16/13, logged in at my request)

 

I have expressed interest in this group, have been nominated to officer. Neither of the two other officers have logged in or responded to my email requests. One is active on GC.com, the other's email address is no longer valid. (direct email contact "bounced")

 

Alaska Historical Markers

 

Leader: 06/11/13

Officer: 05/05/13

Officer: 10/29/13

 

I don't have anything pending here, but I think Lat34North might.

 

North Dakota Historical Markers

 

Leader: 04/23/13

Officer: 11/25/11 (really?)

Officer: 06/11/13

 

There are a few others in the Historical Marker section that are looking like they are being ignored. I can't pass judgement because I don't know what is pending.

 

I applaud all those of you who are single handedly running your groups. I see there are a lot of you out there.

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I have checked these categories. Only Alaska has long pending waymarks. Virginia has no pending waymarks and North Dakota has four all submitted today.

 

We submitted those 4 to NORTH DAKOTA HISTORIC MARKERS -- we did not know that ND HMs may be an inactive category. We will see when we get reviews/approvals and post here.

 

QUILT SHOPS is also VERRRY SLOWWW and no response from POLITE emails sent weeks ago to the last-logged-in officer. I sent those the CheckMark today. I like to WM Quilt Shops because they are cute and are a hard icon to get so that other WMs can find these rare WMs. But . . . maybe these will be my last for this category :(

 

SOUTH DAKOTA HISTORIC MARKERS -- no officers logged in since Dec 2013, and most not since spring/summer 2013. I sent my 2 stuck WMs there to Checkmark today too after no response to my polite email sent weeks ago.

Edited by Benchmark Blasterz
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A new candidate: Ropes Course

Leader hasn't been logged in since 12/1/2012 .

The other officers haven't been logged in since 11/6/2013 and 10/16/2013.

 

One of my waymarks waits since 12/5/2013 - more than one month ...

I tried to get in contact - still waiting ...

 

I wrote to touchstone on 04/18/13 -> no answer

 

Uh oh. We have one for this category that needs to be written up :( Hope it will revive --

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INDOOR MALLS seems to be stalled.

 

The leader, Blue Quasar, has apparently decided to drop out of Waymaking after having made a significant contribution during the formative stages of our hobby. Unfortunately, he just left his categories hanging. I haven't heard back from my inquiry, and my waymark has been languishing there for a month now.

 

It seems Lumbricus took over this one. Good.

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Well, I seem to be having an issue with another category that used to be pretty responsive: One-Room Schools. It has been nearly a month since I submitted one and it has gone nowhere. There's nothing wrong with the waymark itself:

  • It is of a former one-room school.
  • There are several photos.
  • The write-up gives as much information as I could find after an extensive web search.
  • The school was also used as a church, but that is typical of one-room schools! They often were used as community centers and churches, so that shouldn't disqualify it.
  • After it was no longer used as a school, it was taken over by a small church and an addition (very obvious) was added to the back of the building, away from the road. But the photos clearly show the classic look of a one-room schoolhouse if you ignore the addition.
  • I've waymarked other one-room schools that fit all of the above points, and they went through with no problem.

The goal is to

The purpose of this category is to waymark existing and/or historic One-Room Schoolhouses.

So I'm puzzled as to why it should sit there for nearly a month.

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Well, I seem to be having an issue with another category that used to be pretty responsive: One-Room Schools. It has been nearly a month since I submitted one and it has gone nowhere.

 

<snip>

So I'm puzzled as to why it should sit there for nearly a month.

 

I am not showing any waymarks awaiting approval in the One-room school house category. I show you had

"Roach School near Eagle Rock, MO" submitted on 12/31 and it was approved on 1/3. Can you check if it is one that went to vote, I can not see those.

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Carr Lane School is still sitting there with: The vote on this waymark's status has not completed yet

 

That's unusual for this category, which is usually turned around pretty quick. But 4 weeks is 4 weeks!

 

Thanks for checking.

 

Echoing what Ambrosia wrote, an officer needs to release it from vote, it is stuck in "vote limbo", the voting was completed in 3 days. An officer in the group just needs to go to their group page and it will automatically be released. Unfortunately that is something I can't do.

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This is confusing to me, 'cause I've only been an officer in a couple of groups for a few months. Generally we go in there and review a waymark, accept it, and it is published. I don't even know how to get it in "group vote", nor why it would be in there. It's odd that they voted on it in 3 days and yet it is stuck. I hope we never do that to folks putting waymarks in our categories! (Worst thing is, I don't even know how a waymark can get stuck -- so I can avoid it!)

 

BTW, how do you get that information, that it was voted on in 3 days and so on? It doesn't look like you're an officer (which makes sense, since otherwise you could unstick the waymark). So you and I are at the same "level" with regard to that category, I think. Where do you see that kind of information?

 

Thanks!

Edited by MountainWoods
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This is confusing to me, 'cause I've only been an officer in a couple of groups for a few months. Generally we go in there and review a waymark, accept it, and it is published. I don't even know how to get it in "group vote", nor why it would be in there. It's odd that they voted on it in 3 days and yet it is stuck. I hope we never do that to folks putting waymarks in our categories! (Worst thing is, I don't even know how a waymark can get stuck -- so I can avoid it!)

 

BTW, how do you get that information, that it was voted on in 3 days and so on? It doesn't look like you're an officer (which makes sense, since otherwise you could unstick the waymark). So you and I are at the same "level" with regard to that category, I think. Where do you see that kind of information?

 

Thanks!

 

Group Vote in simple terms: When one officer can't decide if the waymark should be approved. It goes to a vote by all the officers. It got stuck because it didn't get released. (Don't ask me why)

 

As for Waywizard, I believe him/her to be a Waymarking/Geocaching Lackey. They have superhuman powers above those of a normal Waymarker. There are a few of those here. They can be helpful provided you don't feed them after midnight.

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Ah. That was something I couldn't see. I thought Waywizard was like the rest of us mere mortals. I should have guessed from the handle...

 

Thanks.

 

Oh, by the way, does it go to group vote if you click on that link that says something like "Not sure? Let others in the group decide" (or whatever the wording is)? I may have clicked that one time when I was new to one of the groups and really wasn't sure. If so that's not what I thought it meant. I thought it meant that I was abstaining and letting someone else make the decision. (Although in hindsight, NOT voting at all would do that!)

 

It's getting a little clearer every day. Unfortunately I've never found good documentation on that side of Waymarking. Something like "orientation for the new officers" or some such. (Make sure you have a badge. Carry a gun. Whoops! Wrong officers...)

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Ah. That was something I couldn't see. I thought Waywizard was like the rest of us mere mortals. I should have guessed from the handle...

 

Thanks.

 

Oh, by the way, does it go to group vote if you click on that link that says something like "Not sure? Let others in the group decide" (or whatever the wording is)? I may have clicked that one time when I was new to one of the groups and really wasn't sure. If so that's not what I thought it meant. I thought it meant that I was abstaining and letting someone else make the decision. (Although in hindsight, NOT voting at all would do that!)

 

It's getting a little clearer every day. Unfortunately I've never found good documentation on that side of Waymarking. Something like "orientation for the new officers" or some such. (Make sure you have a badge. Carry a gun. Whoops! Wrong officers...)

That's the correct link. You post your concerns in the box (why you want it to go to a vote), and that's sent to all the officers.

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When a Waymark it is up for vote it is for 3 days or until it passes or fails which ever comes first. The problem is that they don't get released automatically. It is a long standing bug or unintended consequence of group vote. They are easy to release but seldom do people go to the group page thus they get stuck in limbo sometimes for some time. This is an active group so just email an officer to go to the group page.

 

As jhouni has indicated I have some powers to do somethings but other things I can't do. One thing I can do is check what waymarks are in any category queue that have not been acted on.

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As jhouni has indicated I have some powers to do somethings but other things I can't do. One thing I can do is check what waymarks are in any category queue that have not been acted on.

 

And we can always use an extra hand around here. BruceS and Checkmark (the two that I know and bug nonstop) do a great job, but a few more "visible" resources would be wonderful.

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Yep. I got the email last night. Funny thing is the comments about it not looking like a classic one-room school. It looks a lot more like a one-room school (in the Ozarks) than that horrendous brick beauty in the category description! Country one-room schools are usually a bit different from town one-room schools. Anyway, since this one has an addition that spoils the looks (and I've waymarked a few with the same characteristics), I updated the description to point that out. Guess I should have done that in the first place.

 

Yep. 'Twould be nice to get that bug fixed. Along with a host of others....

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I tried to post a waymark in the category "Boy Scout Camps" more than 2 months ago and did not recieve answer yet.

You think that's bad? I submitted one on December 7th, over 5 months ago! I kept forgetting to bring it up here until you posted.

 

I'd be interested in helping out with this category, if that's possible.

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Great! There are seven new waymarks today in this category. Thanks a lot to who fixed the problem! :)

It was Waywizard that approved them. Thanks for that Waywizard, but isn't there still a problem? Will you be a permanent foster parent of this category (and possibly others), or is there a strategy in the works to deal with these abandoned categories?

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Great! There are seven new waymarks today in this category. Thanks a lot to who fixed the problem! :)

It was Waywizard that approved them. Thanks for that Waywizard, but isn't there still a problem? Will you be a permanent foster parent of this category (and possibly others), or is there a strategy in the works to deal with these abandoned categories?

Each is dealt with as they become identified. This one is in the works.

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I tried to post a waymark in the category "Boy Scout Camps" more than 2 months ago and did not receive answer yet.

You think that's bad? I submitted one on December 7th, over 5 months ago! I kept forgetting to bring it up here until you posted.

I have one waiting for over six months now. No officer has logged in since last year! I’m going for the record for longest time to approve from submission. :D

Does anyone know what the record for waiting is?

 

In my data dabbling, I realized that with some effort, I could survey the Officer List for each category and identify categories with “inactive” officers or even those with just one active officer. Not that I’m volunteering, just imagining...

 

BTW, I’ve added two new columns, that I found interesting, to the

Largest Category List . One column shows the date of the first waymark approved in the category, which tells you when the category came into existence. The second new column is the date of the most recently approved waymarked. This can give you some insight into which categories are either 1.) not responsive in their approvals or 2.) just not receiving any new waymarks to publish.

 

My next thought is to use these two dates to compute an average number of waymarks approved per year for each category. It’s feasible and maybe interesting.

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A fellow in Australia's West had to wait 18 months & 4 days for a waymark to be approved.

 

D'oh! That's gonna be tough to beat! Do you remember the category?

 

Have a gander at WanderingAus profile - he tells a pretty good story about that one. All's well now I believe.

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Category Dead Vehicles (Nomen omen ;-) ) looks abandoned. I wrote to Checkmark, but he didn't respond to me last half an year. Is below mentioned topic still actual? Is there any other way how to do a category "coup" and make it active?

 

Category: http://www.Waymarking.com/cat/details.aspx?f=1&guid=b18c1221-f795-4d0e-8120-a8933adab122&wft=2&uid=cc6c6c4e-ff20-4e3e-a340-d7377ff98192&st=124

Topic: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=309195

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I tried to post a waymark in the category "Boy Scout Camps" more than 2 months ago and did not receive answer yet.

You think that's bad? I submitted one on December 7th, over 5 months ago! I kept forgetting to bring it up here until you posted.

I have one waiting for over six months now. No officer has logged in since last year! I’m going for the record for longest time to approve from submission. :D

Does anyone know what the record for waiting is?

 

In my data dabbling, I realized that with some effort, I could survey the Officer List for each category and identify categories with “inactive” officers or even those with just one active officer. Not that I’m volunteering, just imagining...

 

BTW, I’ve added two new columns, that I found interesting, to the

Largest Category List . One column shows the date of the first waymark approved in the category, which tells you when the category came into existence. The second new column is the date of the most recently approved waymarked. This can give you some insight into which categories are either 1.) not responsive in their approvals or 2.) just not receiving any new waymarks to publish.

 

My next thought is to use these two dates to compute an average number of waymarks approved per year for each category. It’s feasible and maybe interesting.

 

I don't think your dates are relative. I believe the date on the waymark is the day I originally created it, and not the day I submit it. So, when I get back from a trip, and I make placeholders for the waymarks I intended to create, and then don't come back and finish them for a long long time, it skews the data.

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I don't think your dates are relative. I believe the date on the waymark is the day I originally created it, and not the day I submit it. So, when I get back from a trip, and I make placeholders for the waymarks I intended to create, and then don't come back and finish them for a long long time, it skews the data.

There are two different dates associated with a waymark. The date on the detail page is indeed the created date, no matter when it was posted or accepted.

 

But the date visible on category (and other) searches is the exact date of approval.

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I have one waiting for over six months now. No officer has logged in since last year! I’m going for the record for longest time to approve from submission. :D

Well, the mentioned waymark (for metal detecting) has now been waiting for over a year for approval. I’ve emailed (via Waymarking and geocaching) the leader, who hasn’t logged on in over a year. The other two officers haven’t logged in in over five years! I’m not interested in taking over this category.

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