why did they delete my data?

[+cpine]

I have so many questions in regards to the challenges... they all revolve around why! Why won't they give us an explanation as to what the real reason is they just trashed the whole thing.

Why the hell did they get rid of my stats in regards to the challenges. I did a lot of work to accomplish some of them as in props for the photos etc... The way this has come across is "Screw you your just the customer we do what we do for a reason and you don't need to know why we make decisions". I have emailed the Groundspeak office and just got replies like "Thanks for your input" another time "you know you can post on the forums as they are monitored." I would like a discourse on this freaking issue but I am not getting any response. "The Frog has spoken peasants premium members or not you have no say in any of this" I am especially pissed off about my data being deleted! WHY!???

 

Chris

Edited December 15, 2012 by cpine

[+K13]

I have so many questions in regards to the challenges... they all revolve around why! Why won't they give us an explanation as to what the real reason is they just trashed the whole thing.

Why the hell did they get rid of my stats in regards to the challenges. I did a lot of work to accomplish some of them as in props for the photos etc... The way this has come across is "Screw you your just the customer we do what we do for a reason and you don't need to know why we make decisions". I have emailed the Groundspeak office and just got replies like "Thanks for your input" another time "you know you can post on the forums as they are monitored." I would like a discourse on this freaking issue but I am not getting any response. "The Frog has spoken peasants premium members or not you have no say in any of this" I am especially pissed off about my data being deleted! WHY!???

 

Chris

It would seem to me that you answered your own question. See bolded portion of your post...

[+cpine]

I have so many questions in regards to the challenges... they all revolve around why! Why won't they give us an explanation as to what the real reason is they just trashed the whole thing.

Why the hell did they get rid of my stats in regards to the challenges. I did a lot of work to accomplish some of them as in props for the photos etc... The way this has come across is "Screw you your just the customer we do what we do for a reason and you don't need to know why we make decisions". I have emailed the Groundspeak office and just got replies like "Thanks for your input" another time "you know you can post on the forums as they are monitored." I would like a discourse on this freaking issue but I am not getting any response. "The Frog has spoken peasants premium members or not you have no say in any of this" I am especially pissed off about my data being deleted! WHY!???

 

Chris

It would seem to me that you answered your own question. See bolded portion of your post...

 

True but is this an acceptable position for a company to have to its customers?

[+DragonsWest]

I have so many questions in regards to the challenges... they all revolve around why! Why won't they give us an explanation as to what the real reason is they just trashed the whole thing.

Why the hell did they get rid of my stats in regards to the challenges. I did a lot of work to accomplish some of them as in props for the photos etc... The way this has come across is "Screw you your just the customer we do what we do for a reason and you don't need to know why we make decisions". I have emailed the Groundspeak office and just got replies like "Thanks for your input" another time "you know you can post on the forums as they are monitored." I would like a discourse on this freaking issue but I am not getting any response. "The Frog has spoken peasants premium members or not you have no say in any of this" I am especially pissed off about my data being deleted! WHY!???

 

Chris

It would seem to me that you answered your own question. See bolded portion of your post...

 

True but is this an acceptable position for a company to have to its customers?

 

Ask Apple or Garmin or Google or any of hundreds of companies.

 

The truth is the minority actually value your opinion or input.

[+releasethedogs]

because you're one of the few people who bothered. Challenges was an experiment that failed so they extirpated from the site like a dead appendage.

[+T.D.M.22]

There was enough notice for you to save all your pictures and stuff. It's not like you were making money doing them, it was for fun. you had fun doing it then it wasn't for nothing even if it was discontinued.

[4wheelin_fool]

Groundspeak defines itself as a listing service. They don't make rules on how the game is played, they only describe it. Listing Virtuals, ALRs, and Challenges is a gray area which falls outside the realm of a listing service and makes it appear that they are exerting control over the activity. Once this occurs, it's possible that they could be considered liable for damages and injuries, despite the disclaimer. Just a thought.

[+Walts Hunting]

They did announce it

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=304869

 

Maybe you should watch the Announcements Topic to stay up to date. Basically the amount of people doint them was miniscule and there were all kind of arguments about ones approved, ones denied and who contolled the logs.

[+geojerry7]

It's a bummer they trashed the whole thing. Would of been nice if they could of kept what we found. Guess it just wasn't logistically possible.

[+Mosaic55]

Back when Groundspeak had the feedback forums, it seemed like they were interested in what members had to say. Today, not so much.

 

I don't get why they called Challenges a failure. Sure they didn't get a huge following, but there were gradually a few more being published around here. I never saw any attempt on Groundspeak's part to remedy the weaknesses after the concept was pushed out. It's not Challenges that failed, it is Groundspeak that failed to develop the concept they created with Pocket-query and map functionality.

 

Sweeping the whole thing under the rug makes no sense to me.

 

I let my premium membership lapse due to no spare time for caching. I'm getting more interested in starting up again. But, it's highly unlikely I will renew my premium member ship anytime in the near future given Groundspeak's current disregard for customer's opinions and lack of communication.

 

BTW, I created one Challenge, 16 people completed it, it got 6 "thumbs up" and zero "thumbs down".

[+Roman!]

They did announce it

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=304869

 

Maybe you should watch the Announcements Topic to stay up to date. Basically the amount of people doint them was miniscule and there were all kind of arguments about ones approved, ones denied and who contolled the logs.

 

The only reason I knew about it was because of the forum but not everyone visits the forum. I was at a 12-12-12 event and the majority of cachers never knew anything till after the challenges were removed. GS needs to get better at communicating with it's customers.

[Keystone]

My understanding is that a direct email was sent by Groundspeak to every account that had recorded Geocaching Challenge activity. Like the announcement in the forums, these emails were sent a week in advance of the change.

[+Roman!]

My understanding is that a direct email was sent by Groundspeak to every account that had recorded Geocaching Challenge activity. Like the announcement in the forums, these emails were sent a week in advance of the change.

 

I did 1 challenge and I never received an email, in fact I just went back through my trash and do not have one, I do get the newsletters though. When people are surprised it's usually not a good thing, why not put it on the main challenge page on the website?

[+loudrie]

I have so many questions in regards to the challenges... they all revolve around why! Why won't they give us an explanation as to what the real reason is they just trashed the whole thing.

Why the hell did they get rid of my stats in regards to the challenges. I did a lot of work to accomplish some of them as in props for the photos etc... The way this has come across is "Screw you your just the customer we do what we do for a reason and you don't need to know why we make decisions". I have emailed the Groundspeak office and just got replies like "Thanks for your input" another time "you know you can post on the forums as they are monitored." I would like a discourse on this freaking issue but I am not getting any response. "The Frog has spoken peasants premium members or not you have no say in any of this" I am especially pissed off about my data being deleted! WHY!???

 

Chris

 

Dear Chris, this is the anwers what we got from geocaching :

Dear Geocacher,

 

In our effort to inspire outdoor play through Geocaching, we are often faced with decisions about what to focus on next, and what to focus on less. It is through these decisions that we explore opportunities to grow the global game of Geocaching.

 

Occasionally, during this process, we are faced with the reality that certain ideas don't catch on as we had hoped. In these situations we owe it to ourselves and to you to make tough decisions about the future of every project and the resources to be applied to each. Sometimes, as a result, cool features must become casualties.

 

In this spirit, we have decided to retire Geocaching Challenges.

 

This means that, effective today, we have disabled the ability to create new Challenges. We have also removed the Challenges application from all mobile application stores. In approxim ately 7 days, we will be removing all traces of the Challenges functionality and related content from Geocaching.com.

 

On an office wall here at HQ is a sign that reads, "Let's make better mistakes tomorrow." By accepting that we will sometimes get it wrong, we can allow ourselves to learn from and imagine new opportunities in the world of Geocaching. Our hope is we can take the lessons from Challenges and create better tools to guide you on your next adventure.

 

Sincerely,

Geocaching.com

[+Don_J]

"you know you can post on the forums as they are monitored."

 

Please don't do that to me. I inhaled my coffee as I was reading that. I could have died!

[+Don_J]

My understanding is that a direct email was sent by Groundspeak to every account that had recorded Geocaching Challenge activity. Like the announcement in the forums, these emails were sent a week in advance of the change.

 

I did 1 challenge and I never received an email, in fact I just went back through my trash and do not have one, I do get the newsletters though. When people are surprised it's usually not a good thing, why not put it on the main challenge page on the website?

 

It should have been in a yellow banner at the top of every page, just like the down for maintenance banner. Just a short announcement with a link to the full forum announcement.

 

I saw it in a FB post by one our group members long before I stumbled upon it in the forum.

[+Sharks-N-Beans]

Hmmm...Just because Challenges no longer have their own discussion board doesn't mean this is any more on topic here than before. How about moving to Off Topic?

[+The_Incredibles_]

I feel for you. I didn't put alot of effort into challenges, but I know many people did. I feel it was very inconsiderate to just wipe them off the face of the earth. It wouldn't have hurt anybody to let people keep their stats. Even the Challenges forum could have been made read-only, but it wasn't, it was just removed. Between the challenges and the new icons, I'm starting to get really annoyed. It's too bad there's not more real competition out there, as I would move immediately.

[+tozainamboku]

My understanding is that a direct email was sent by Groundspeak to every account that had recorded Geocaching Challenge activity. Like the announcement in the forums, these emails were sent a week in advance of the change.

Absolutely. We all knew a week in advanced and nobody said anything.

 

A certain moderator made sure any forum discussion was moved the to the proper "Challenges" section of the forum. But somehow that disappears as well. And if anyone wrote Groundspeak directly since that would be confidential correspondence you can't prove it.

 

There is no evidence anyone complained. So you can't say that Groundspeak doesn't listen.

Edited December 15, 2012 by tozainamboku

[+MartyBartfast]

My understanding is that a direct email was sent by Groundspeak to every account that had recorded Geocaching Challenge activity. Like the announcement in the forums, these emails were sent a week in advance of the change.

Absolutely. We all knew a week in advanced and nobody said anything.

...

There is no evidence anyone complained. So you can't say that Groundspeak doesn't listen.

For what it's worth I had logged 1 challenge and I did not receive the Email ( and no it didn't go to my Junk mail), I heard about it when it was mentioned on a facebook group where several others who had both set and found challenges also never received the mail. So at best the Email notification was hit and miss.

Edited December 15, 2012 by MartyBartfast

[+stijnhommes]

I didn't log any challenges, but I had two on my to do list for the future.

The way Groundspeak approached this could've been better. A simple bit of info on profile pages with their challenge stats costs little money and would save those members from seeing their effort disappear into a black pit.

 

I urge you, Groundspeak, please don't follow into Google's footsteps by ignoring your customers. You have the biggest Geocaching site for a good reason. Don't give your competition the ammunition they need to move into your market.

[+cpine]

i was not intending to infer that they did not notify me... there notification is lame and vague at best! I have all of my photos etc...

Edited December 16, 2012 by cpine

[knowschad]

i was not intending to infer that they did not notify me... there notification is lame and vague at best! I have all of my photos etc...

 

Vague?!?

 

In approximately 7 days, we will be removing all traces of the Challenges functionality and related content from Geocaching.com.

 

I sure wish they'd stop beating around the bush and just come right out and say what they mean!

[Clan Riffster]

It wouldn't have hurt anybody to let people keep their stats.

That.

 

Groundspeak redefined itself with that move. Prior to this, when Groundspeak decided a part of their game wasn't working for them they did one of two things. Either they locked those objects down so no one could log any more, as they did with locationless caches, or they eliminated the option of creating more, allowing the existing ones to die a natural death, as they did with virtuals. In both those cases, we all kept our stats.

 

I created eight challenges. The feedback was mostly positive. Folks seemed to enjoy them. I certainly enjoyed creating them and checking on them as time allowed. Now, the only proof I have of ever making these is a screen shot I snapped before they killed them.

Groundspeak's decision was most foul.

[+The A-Team]

So at best the Email notification was hit and miss.

Email notifications from Groundspeak have had problems for a long time. I tried to show TPTB that there was a problem, but my bug report discussion got hijacked by a bunch of off-topic posts and TPTB never acknowledged the problem. I'm not at all surprised that there are many that didn't receive the Challenge-removal email. FWIW, I logged 57 challenges and created one, and did receive the email.

 

Of course, a single email and a single forum post was not the way to make the announcement. I would have expected some kind of notice at least on the "Find Challenges" page, but I never saw anything there or on any other Groundspeak-managed website, even their blog. It's like they really didn't want everyone to know.

[+cpine]

i was not intending to infer that they did not notify me... there notification is lame and vague at best! I have all of my photos etc...

 

Vague?!?

 

In approximately 7 days, we will be removing all traces of the Challenges functionality and related content from Geocaching.com.

 

I sure wish they'd stop beating around the bush and just come right out and say what they mean!

 

Tell me why they needed to remove my data? Tell me why they decided to stop the whole program? Other than some general reference that it was not popular or not working etc... seemed to me it was working just fine. Yes it was VAGUE!!!!!!!! WHat is the eal story... all I got from that notice was they were going to do it and that is it!

 

I am really having trouble understanding why you don't get my question... yes Vague... what made them make this drastic of a change ?! Are you truly not understanding or just twisting this to start a fight?

Edited December 16, 2012 by cpine

[+cpine]

It wouldn't have hurt anybody to let people keep their stats.

That.

 

Groundspeak redefined itself with that move. Prior to this, when Groundspeak decided a part of their game wasn't working for them they did one of two things. Either they locked those objects down so no one could log any more, as they did with locationless caches, or they eliminated the option of creating more, allowing the existing ones to die a natural death, as they did with virtuals. In both those cases, we all kept our stats.

 

I created eight challenges. The feedback was mostly positive. Folks seemed to enjoy them. I certainly enjoyed creating them and checking on them as time allowed. Now, the only proof I have of ever making these is a screen shot I snapped before they killed them.

Groundspeak's decision was most foul.

 

Exactly! Thank you!!!

Edited December 16, 2012 by cpine

[+T.D.M.22]

Ok. So they have no more challenges. So why do you NEED that data? It's not like it'll be used for anything. This is supposed to be a fun game. You completed the challenges and had fun. You did have fun didn't you? If not, why do them? I guess the point is that It's a game Now I do think they should have kept the data, but they didn't. They are a privately owned company and can do what they please. Maybe there are good reason why they are completely wiping it. There is a possibility that they could have had the person who developed challenges "fall out of favor" Possible lawsuits over who owns the rights etc etc. But they obviously had a reason to not tell us, so if you are that concerned try contacting Groundspeak. There really isn't anything to be accomplished by continuing here other than people making you mad or you just looking for someone to say you're right.

[+T.D.M.22]

i was not intending to infer that they did not notify me... there notification is lame and vague at best! I have all of my photos etc...

 

Vague?!?

 

In approximately 7 days, we will be removing all traces of the Challenges functionality and related content from Geocaching.com.

 

I sure wish they'd stop beating around the bush and just come right out and say what they mean!

 

Made my day.

[+cpine]

i was not intending to infer that they did not notify me... there notification is lame and vague at best! I have all of my photos etc...

 

Vague?!?

 

In approximately 7 days, we will be removing all traces of the Challenges functionality and related content from Geocaching.com.

 

I sure wish they'd stop beating around the bush and just come right out and say what they mean!

 

Made my day.

 

Like I said this post has nothing to do with the context of my post and does not answer the question I asked... you can pull one line out and twist it to infer most anything ... what did this add to the discussion? I asked a legitimate question about what is going on and some folks juts want to make fun of others I suppose because it makes them feel better about themselves. ...I will risk getting a warning post from moderators if I post anything else.

[+cpine]

.

Edited December 16, 2012 by cpine

[+Don_J]

Ok. So they have no more challenges. So why do you NEED that data? It's not like it'll be used for anything. This is supposed to be a fun game. You completed the challenges and had fun. You did have fun didn't you? If not, why do them? I guess the point is that It's a game Now I do think they should have kept the data, but they didn't. They are a privately owned company and can do what they please. Maybe there are good reason why they are completely wiping it. There is a possibility that they could have had the person who developed challenges "fall out of favor" Possible lawsuits over who owns the rights etc etc. But they obviously had a reason to not tell us, so if you are that concerned try contacting Groundspeak. There really isn't anything to be accomplished by continuing here other than people making you mad or you just looking for someone to say you're right.

 

Would you feel the same way if they arbitrarily deleted all of the text of all of the logs that you wrote on Geocaches? How about if they deleted all of the text of logs that have been written on your caches? Yes, people supposedly had fun, but the logs were written and the statistics kept to remind them of the fun that they had. Why do people take photos at important events? To remind them of the good memories that were had there. I never touched a thing with the Challenges, but if I had and it was suddenly poofed, I'd be super upset. If anything, each user should be allowed to see their individual history in regard to the Challenges. No reason that I need to see yours, but I should be able to see mine. They should have left that tiny bit of functionality intact.

 

As far as your legal theory, I've been wondering about that as well, as everything was so sudden. If that were the case a simple statement saying that certain things were necessary and that they were out of their control, would put a final period on things. Instead, they leave their customers in a angry sort of limbo.

Edited December 16, 2012 by Don_J

[+lamoracke]

I know lots of folks in the Washington area who had over 50 challenges found. Of course I do know some folks who refused to do any, or even went as far as deleting their finds so they would not be known as someone who did some. However, I knew quite a few folks who liked them. Course, I personally think most of them would have liked virtuals, webcams, and locationless back too.

 

I am in the camp that am not heartbroken they are done as there were a lot of flaws in them, but I hated to see all that history removed. Like one chap above said, yeah, you have the memories, but my cache logs are like a photo journal / diary of stuff I have done on particular days. You delete the records, some of that fun is gone.

[AZcachemeister]

I'm not really appreciating what was done, but guess what?

 

It's their data, not ours.

 

The pictures, the logs, the cache page write-ups...ALL OF IT!

 

If (for whatever reason) Jeremy decides he's had enough fun and folds up his tent, it could all be gone...just like that.

[+Manville Possum]

It wouldn't have hurt anybody to let people keep their stats.

That.

 

Groundspeak redefined itself with that move. Prior to this, when Groundspeak decided a part of their game wasn't working for them they did one of two things. Either they locked those objects down so no one could log any more, as they did with locationless caches, or they eliminated the option of creating more, allowing the existing ones to die a natural death, as they did with virtuals. In both those cases, we all kept our stats.

 

I created eight challenges. The feedback was mostly positive. Folks seemed to enjoy them. I certainly enjoyed creating them and checking on them as time allowed. Now, the only proof I have of ever making these is a screen shot I snapped before they killed them.

Groundspeak's decision was most foul.

I created 22 and completed 13. My screen shot is not much to look at, but I took time to develop a few good listings. We that are PM's and support this site with our listings were the losers, not Groundspeak.

[+WarNinjas]

I got the email about them going away. We also had out one challenge and I think did a couple. I think they were right to get rid of them (IMO) but should have left the stats for those that did them. OH well no big deal for us but I do know if you put a lot of work into them it would be annoying.

-WarNinjas

[knowschad]

i was not intending to infer that they did not notify me... there notification is lame and vague at best! I have all of my photos etc...

 

Vague?!?

 

In approximately 7 days, we will be removing all traces of the Challenges functionality and related content from Geocaching.com.

 

I sure wish they'd stop beating around the bush and just come right out and say what they mean!

 

Tell me why they needed to remove my data? Tell me why they decided to stop the whole program? Other than some general reference that it was not popular or not working etc... seemed to me it was working just fine. Yes it was VAGUE!!!!!!!! WHat is the eal story... all I got from that notice was they were going to do it and that is it!

 

I am really having trouble understanding why you don't get my question... yes Vague... what made them make this drastic of a change ?! Are you truly not understanding or just twisting this to start a fight?

I wasn't answering the "why", and I can't. I wasn't invited to those meetings. I answered your ridiculous charge of vagueness.

 

How you feel about your logs and count being erased, and why they did it is an entirely different question. My GUESS, and that is all that it is, is that they are hoping that by erasing every trace, that challenges won't come back to haunt them as virtuals have. They are hoping that they won't have to put up with endless "bring back challenges" threads five years from now. But I really don't know... that's just my guess.

 

Are you truly not understanding or just twisting this to start a fight?

That was my very first post responding to your thread. Others have posted several. Why would you ask me that question before you asked some of the others?

Edited December 16, 2012 by knowschad

[+cpine]

i was not intending to infer that they did not notify me... there notification is lame and vague at best! I have all of my photos etc...

 

Vague?!?

 

In approximately 7 days, we will be removing all traces of the Challenges functionality and related content from Geocaching.com.

 

I sure wish they'd stop beating around the bush and just come right out and say what they mean!

 

Tell me why they needed to remove my data? Tell me why they decided to stop the whole program? Other than some general reference that it was not popular or not working etc... seemed to me it was working just fine. Yes it was VAGUE!!!!!!!! WHat is the eal story... all I got from that notice was they were going to do it and that is it!

 

I am really having trouble understanding why you don't get my question... yes Vague... what made them make this drastic of a change ?! Are you truly not understanding or just twisting this to start a fight?

I wasn't answering the "why", and I can't. I wasn't invited to those meetings. I answered your ridiculous charge of vagueness.

 

How you feel about your logs and count being erased, and why they did it is an entirely different question. My GUESS, and that is all that it is, is that they are hoping that by erasing every trace, that challenges won't come back to haunt them as virtuals have. They are hoping that they won't have to put up with endless "bring back challenges" threads five years from now. But I really don't know... that's just my guess.

 

Are you truly not understanding or just twisting this to start a fight?

That was my very first post responding to your thread. Others have posted several. Why would you ask me that question before you asked some of the others?

 

The vagueness I was referring to was as to why they did what they did and yes this was a rant post... Sorry. I don't like this decision...

 

"Occasionally, during this process, we are faced with the reality that certain ideas don't catch on as we had hoped. In these situations we owe it to ourselves and to you to make tough decisions about the future of every project and the resources to be applied to each. Sometimes, as a result, cool features must become casualties."

The vagueness I was referring to was there were no real reasons given (that made any sense to me at least) as to why exactly they did this. It seemed very indirect in how it was worded. They say that they made a mistake and we are deleting all traces of the challenges. What? Why? A less vague answer would have been something like: "We can not afford to support challenges as we have had a less than adequate participation in them." We have spent a large percentage of improvement funds and the rewards have been less than needed to continue etc..." AS to the why they are deleting the data I really think there is not a good answer for me on this! ( I am sorry you thought when I said vague it was more literal in reference to when they were going to delete all of the information... I never said I did not know what they announced. .. I am sorry that I perceived your post as making fun of mine when you quoted one line of what I posted and turned it into a shot. (Perceived at least).

[+tomtwogates]

My understanding is that a direct email was sent by Groundspeak to every account that had recorded Geocaching Challenge activity. Like the announcement in the forums, these emails were sent a week in advance of the change.

 

I did 1 challenge and I never received an email, in fact I just went back through my trash and do not have one, I do get the newsletters though. When people are surprised it's usually not a good thing, why not put it on the main challenge page on the website?

 

Ditto and I did more than 1 challenge???

[+OZ2CPU]

you should NOT cache or do challenges for the stats, but for fun experiences,

even if your number of challenges are now gone from the web stats,

no one can take away the fun you had doing them, that is how I think of all the cool places we visited

and took pictures, and did wierd things just to handle a lot og chellenges,

we did 68 in 6-8 contries.

Edited December 16, 2012 by OZ2CPU

[+Walts Hunting]

Finally a responsible voice. Plus one from me

[+cpine]

you should NOT cache or do challenges for the stats, but for fun experiences,

even if your number of challenges are now gone from the web stats,

no one can take away the fun you had doing them, that is how I think of all the cool places we visited

and took pictures, and did wierd things just to handle a lot og chellenges,

we did 68 in 6-8 contries.

 

I do not do caches or Challenges for the stats, however if I did who are you or anyone else to say I should not? This game is whatever you want it t be! If someone loves racking up teh numbers (Power trails etc) then more power to them! I don't care how others play the game... I think this thread has run its course... I hope I have not offended anyone

[+cpine]

Finally a responsible voice. Plus one from me

 

So your opinion and anyone who agrees with you are teh only responsible voices? Please!

[knowschad]

Finally a responsible voice. Plus one from me

 

Where? Did I miss it? What did it say?

[+cpine]

Finally a responsible voice. Plus one from me

 

Where? Did I miss it? What did it say?

I am out of here... going to do some caching...

[+Snoogans]

I have so many questions in regards to the challenges... they all revolve around why! Why won't they give us an explanation as to what the real reason is they just trashed the whole thing.

Why the hell did they get rid of my stats in regards to the challenges. I did a lot of work to accomplish some of them as in props for the photos etc... The way this has come across is "Screw you your just the customer we do what we do for a reason and you don't need to know why we make decisions". I have emailed the Groundspeak office and just got replies like "Thanks for your input" another time "you know you can post on the forums as they are monitored." I would like a discourse on this freaking issue but I am not getting any response. "The Frog has spoken peasants premium members or not you have no say in any of this" I am especially pissed off about my data being deleted! WHY!???

 

Chris

 

I too am not happy about this, but I just don't have time for hand wringing and teeth gnashing over a trivial pursuit like challenges.

 

I was just starting to really get into the challenges. I'd be more ticked if I had put more time and effort into them as some people did.

 

I liked 'em and it's a shame they got clubbed like a baby seal and erased. They were never given a chance to mature.

[+Roman!]

you should NOT cache or do challenges for the stats, but for fun experiences,

even if your number of challenges are now gone from the web stats,

no one can take away the fun you had doing them, that is how I think of all the cool places we visited

and took pictures, and did wierd things just to handle a lot og chellenges,

we did 68 in 6-8 contries.

 

To some people the numbers may matter, who are you to tell others how to play the game? On top of that you are missing the point, it's not that they eliminated challenges but how they went about it and their clear disregard for the people that played that part of the game. What's next?

[+Snoogans]

It wouldn't have hurt anybody to let people keep their stats.

That.

 

Groundspeak redefined itself with that move. Prior to this, when Groundspeak decided a part of their game wasn't working for them they did one of two things. Either they locked those objects down so no one could log any more, as they did with locationless caches, or they eliminated the option of creating more, allowing the existing ones to die a natural death, as they did with virtuals. In both those cases, we all kept our stats.

 

I created eight challenges. The feedback was mostly positive. Folks seemed to enjoy them. I certainly enjoyed creating them and checking on them as time allowed. Now, the only proof I have of ever making these is a screen shot I snapped before they killed them.

Groundspeak's decision was most foul.

 

Exactly! Thank you!!!

Yep I agree.

[+Mudfrog]

I didn't care about challenges because i didn't think they had much, if anything, to do with geocaching. Frankly, i just didn't think they should have been added to the geocaching.com site. But, i quickly learned that they were unobtrusive to what i consider gecoaching and didn't get in the way of what i think geocaching is all about. In otherwords, it didn't bother me that they were there.

 

Gc.com should have handled this one differently. Deleting everything that was associated with them was rediculous. What really bothers me is why gc.com seems not to be very concerned of what it's customers want. It almost seems as if they are trying to run off customers!

Edited December 16, 2012 by Mudfrog

[+tozainamboku]

you should NOT cache or do challenges for the stats, but for fun experiences,

even if your number of challenges are now gone from the web stats,

no one can take away the fun you had doing them, that is how I think of all the cool places we visited

and took pictures, and did wierd things just to handle a lot og chellenges,

we did 68 in 6-8 contries.

 

Finally a responsible voice. Plus one from me

 

Let me paraphrase OZ2CPU in a more responsible way.

 

I do NOT cache or do challenges for the stats, but rather for the fun experiences. Even if your number of challenges are now gone from the web stats, no one can take away the fun you had doing them. I think of all the cool places we visited and took pictures, and did weird things just to handle a lot of challenges.

 

The number in the stats is a just a count of the logs you made on Geocahing.com. Geocaching.com can go away tomorrow and you will still have the memories of the caches you found. Of course you can keep an offline copy of what you found in GSAK or another tool, and still generate statistics. But what if you computer crashes and you don't have backup. Will all of your geocaching experience be worthless?

 

I believe OZ2CPU was saying that if you don't make statistics the primary reason for doing geocaching, you'll save yourself a lot a grief should Groundspeak make some arbitrary decision to get rid of stats, eliminate online logging, of simply go out of business.