Jump to content

Add a Social Network type feel!


RPatey219

Recommended Posts

I think Geocaching.com should implement part of the website that allows you to follow your friends and other people in the geocaching community, to see their activity, and even activity to premium members when caches are enables and stuff.

What do you guys think?

Link to comment

Uh..... No, thank you.

 

There have been a number of suggestions to "convert" geocaching.com to something more akin to fakebook. Usually some support, always lots of non-support.

 

A number of recent threads have strongly expressed desires to keep others from 'watching' or following their activities as well as a number of stalking claims. Suggestions have been made requesting ability to block others from seeing or being able to follow another cachers' activities.

Link to comment

Uh..... No, thank you.

 

There have been a number of suggestions to "convert" geocaching.com to something more akin to fakebook. Usually some support, always lots of non-support.

 

A number of recent threads have strongly expressed desires to keep others from 'watching' or following their activities as well as a number of stalking claims. Suggestions have been made requesting ability to block others from seeing or being able to follow another cachers' activities.

 

Opt-in, opt-out?

Link to comment

Yeah I think an choice to opt in or out of it would be a good Idea. I understand that some do not want they're activity followed. However, I would love to receive updates on certain peoples activity in the geocaching world, and to see all logs posted on geocaches in my area in a newsfeed-style format.

Also, my key phrase: allow you to follow friends, or others that allow followers. Not everyone.

Edited by RPatey219
Link to comment

If you go to your profile, you can see your friends listed, and when their last activity was. You can click on their name, go to the "geocaches" tab, and see what caches they've last logged. If you're a premium member, you can be instantly notified when a cache in your area is enabled, disabled, published, etc. If you're interested in a specific cache or trackable, you can add it to your watch-list and be notified of any logs. What more do you need? Like has been said, if you want social media, join Facebook. I've heard there's geocaching groups there.

In my mind, Groundspeak has integrated too much already with Facebook and Twitter, with the links on the logging page.

Link to comment

I realize this, but I just think it would be more beneficial if I could see all that information in a newsfeed-style column. I'm not asking for "Geocachingbook" or "Geocachitter". I just want a newsfeed style column to display all this information. This way I don't have to sift through my email for it, or go and run through my friends to see their activity. Just trying to make it a little simpler.

Link to comment

This sounds like something they could do for you over at project-gc.com

 

That is a site where there the developer responds to suggestions and tangible progress occurs. I wouldn't count on any changes over here (even if it does involve twitface).

 

Me - I am into Anti-Social Networking. Of course divulging any details would negate its value.

Link to comment

I would like to see the ability to reply to cache finds. For example, you look at a cache and you see the most recent logs. You find something in the cache that is related to a recent log - and you comment on the log that a previous cacher logged.

 

Oh, you mean like a geocaching forum.....Ya they should have a geocaching forum. Again, they have the forums, and facebook, and twitter. You can also email other cachers. Everything you want is available, you just have to do it. Again this is a geocache listing website, you want Facebook, then use Facebook.

Link to comment

I would like to see the ability to reply to cache finds. For example, you look at a cache and you see the most recent logs. You find something in the cache that is related to a recent log - and you comment on the log that a previous cacher logged.

 

Oh, you mean like a geocaching forum.....Ya they should have a geocaching forum. Again, they have the forums, and facebook, and twitter. You can also email other cachers. Everything you want is available, you just have to do it. Again this is a geocache listing website, you want Facebook, then use Facebook.

 

I understand that www.GeoCaching.com is not a social network and already has a ton of features, including this VERY robust forums section.

 

BUT

 

I still think original post from RPatey219 and the suggestion from T.D.M.22 would be a great addition! More importantly, I think the entire site of www.GeoCaching.com could use significant improvements in the UI/UX.

 

I just recently revisited www.GeoCaching.com after several years of inactivity (partly because of the difficulty I have browsing the site) and I could not believe that there has been no major changes to improve usability on the GeoCaching website in the past 5 years. I agree that it is important to keep www.GeoCaching.com a site that is unique to it's users and community. But, I am also sad to see the site falling behind as far as appearance and usability. Technology moves fast and GeoCaching is all about joining Technology, Exploration and Community. I think the site should reflect these three elements and be built to encourage it's users to be active in not only finding more caches, but the events and activity of other users of the GeoCaching community. When I first started caching, I was just as drawn to the community as I was to the hidden little treasures.

 

I will be excited to follow the Feature Requests section of the Forums to see what new improvements are on the horizon. Thanks!

Link to comment

 

I will be excited to follow the Feature Requests section of the Forums to see what new improvements are on the horizon. Thanks!

 

This forum is for 'Feature Discussions and Suggestions', not for announcement of features under development, not for features being considered, and definitely not for features about to be implemented.

 

Groundspeak prefers the 'Pandora's Box' approach to site 'improvement' deployment.

Link to comment

 

I will be excited to follow the Feature Requests section of the Forums to see what new improvements are on the horizon. Thanks!

 

This forum is for 'Feature Discussions and Suggestions', not for announcement of features under development, not for features being considered, and definitely not for features about to be implemented.

 

Groundspeak prefers the 'Pandora's Box' approach to site 'improvement' deployment.

 

It's kind of sad, but when this forum was initiated, it was for all of those things.

 

At any rate, most of what the OP is asking for was supposed to become a part of the Friends feature, which was obviously abandoned not long after it was initiated. If I want to watch a Friends activity, and that Friend will allow it, why not?

 

It's also sad that Facebook has made bad words out of "social" and "friend", and that everyone has an instant bad reaction whenever someone suggests a feature that uses those words. I think that it would be a nice feature to be able to see what my geocaching friends have been up to without having to search through each of their profiles.

Link to comment

 

At any rate, most of what the OP is asking for was supposed to become a part of the Friends feature, which was obviously abandoned not long after it was initiated. If I want to watch a Friends activity, and that Friend will allow it, why not?

 

 

Yup, I was fairly intrigued by what could be done with the 'Friends' Feature, and excited to see new facets developed.

 

I waited and waited, but nothing happened.

 

Eventually I decided it was pretty-much pointless to have anyone listed there, and removed them all. :(

Link to comment

No thanks. There's enough "in your face" tracking / overshare from Facebook, Foursquare etc. I kinda like how it is, you can choose to share your logs on Facebook.

 

I also like the Friends feature as is... its useful to use the "logbook" feature on the website and see who of your friends have found a cache if you need help. C:Geo can also tell you which of your friends have found the cache.

Link to comment

I would like to see the ability to reply to cache finds. For example, you look at a cache and you see the most recent logs. You find something in the cache that is related to a recent log - and you comment on the log that a previous cacher logged.

 

Oh, you mean like a geocaching forum.....Ya they should have a geocaching forum. Again, they have the forums, and facebook, and twitter. You can also email other cachers. Everything you want is available, you just have to do it. Again this is a geocache listing website, you want Facebook, then use Facebook.

 

I understand that www.GeoCaching.com is not a social network and already has a ton of features, including this VERY robust forums section.

 

BUT

 

I still think original post from RPatey219 and the suggestion from T.D.M.22 would be a great addition! More importantly, I think the entire site of www.GeoCaching.com could use significant improvements in the UI/UX.

 

 

Ummmm.....It wasn't an idea, it was sarcasm. I was suggesting, that we need a geocaching forum, and I put that post in the geocaching forum....

Link to comment

I think Geocaching.com should implement part of the website that allows you to follow your friends and other people in the geocaching community, to see their activity, and even activity to premium members when caches are enables and stuff.

What do you guys think?

 

Please no, can't we have anything that doesn't try to bombard me with endless drivel under the guise of "never miss a crucial update"?

 

I can see what my friends are up to by clicking their profiles, the last thing I want is an endless feed that makes sure I know within a nanosecond that they found a cache. If I wanted that kind of drivel I'd sign up to twitface.

Link to comment

Seriously, though, can't the stuff the OP is asking for be done with the tools already in place?

 

follow your friends and other people in the geocaching community, to see their activity, and even activity to premium members when caches are enables and stuff.

and to see all logs posted on geocaches in my area in a newsfeed-style format.

Email-to-twitter automation could be done? There can be a way to restrict tweet recipients to PMO-only? If so, porting inbound Instant Notification emails to an outboun tweet script would accomplish this?

 

receive updates on certain peoples activity in the geocaching world

Doesn't this already happen if you use the twitter integration part?

 

I'm off that grid so I can't test this stuff.

 

EDIT: better CLI tool URL and DAMMIT, I am NOT off that grid

Edited by frinklabs
Link to comment

I think Geocaching.com should implement part of the website that allows you to follow your friends and other people in the geocaching community, to see their activity, and even activity to premium members when caches are enables and stuff.

What do you guys think?

I don't like the idea, as a whole, but I do like the idea of a news feed with local (50km or so radius?) caches when they have been enabled/disabled/archived/unarchived - any log that isn't a 'found it' 'didn't find it' or 'write note'.

Link to comment

I think Geocaching.com should implement part of the website that allows you to follow your friends and other people in the geocaching community, to see their activity, and even activity to premium members when caches are enables and stuff.

What do you guys think?

 

Please no, can't we have anything that doesn't try to bombard me with endless drivel under the guise of "never miss a crucial update"?

 

I can see what my friends are up to by clicking their profiles, the last thing I want is an endless feed that makes sure I know within a nanosecond that they found a cache. If I wanted that kind of drivel I'd sign up to twitface.

 

Ideally, what the OP is suggesting wouldn't be forced upon anyone, and you would have to opt in to allow anyone to watch your activity. It would be incorporated into the current "Friends" feature which most of are already ignoring as it currently doesn't offer that much.

Link to comment

I think Geocaching.com should implement part of the website that allows you to follow your friends and other people in the geocaching community, to see their activity, and even activity to premium members when caches are enables and stuff.

What do you guys think?

 

Please no, can't we have anything that doesn't try to bombard me with endless drivel under the guise of "never miss a crucial update"?

 

I can see what my friends are up to by clicking their profiles, the last thing I want is an endless feed that makes sure I know within a nanosecond that they found a cache. If I wanted that kind of drivel I'd sign up to twitface.

 

Ideally, what the OP is suggesting wouldn't be forced upon anyone, and you would have to opt in to allow anyone to watch your activity. It would be incorporated into the current "Friends" feature which most of are already ignoring as it currently doesn't offer that much.

 

It would still be nice if Groundspeak could focus their development efforts on more useful things that would improve the caching experience for everyone rather than providing more features for people to sit on their backsides looking at what everyone else has done. If you want to watch your friends' status updates in realtime there's already an abundance of it on twitface, why does geocaching.com need to replicate it?

 

There are enough other ideas in this forum alone that would make the site better without yet another attempt to turn another site into a twitface clone.

Link to comment

I think Geocaching.com should implement part of the website that allows you to follow your friends and other people in the geocaching community, to see their activity, and even activity to premium members when caches are enables and stuff.

What do you guys think?

 

Please no, can't we have anything that doesn't try to bombard me with endless drivel under the guise of "never miss a crucial update"?

 

I can see what my friends are up to by clicking their profiles, the last thing I want is an endless feed that makes sure I know within a nanosecond that they found a cache. If I wanted that kind of drivel I'd sign up to twitface.

 

Ideally, what the OP is suggesting wouldn't be forced upon anyone, and you would have to opt in to allow anyone to watch your activity. It would be incorporated into the current "Friends" feature which most of are already ignoring as it currently doesn't offer that much.

 

It would still be nice if Groundspeak could focus their development efforts on more useful things that would improve the caching experience for everyone rather than providing more features for people to sit on their backsides looking at what everyone else has done. If you want to watch your friends' status updates in realtime there's already an abundance of it on twitface, why does geocaching.com need to replicate it?

 

There are enough other ideas in this forum alone that would make the site better without yet another attempt to turn another site into a twitface clone.

 

I'm not as anti-social media as many here but this is a key point. Groundspeak has a finite amount of development resources and any time spent on developing a feature that some people would like but many would just opt-out on (or not opt-in) is time and resources that could be spent developing something that has more universal support. This become more of an issue when there is already a viable workaround.

 

 

Link to comment

I think Geocaching.com should implement part of the website that allows you to follow your friends and other people in the geocaching community, to see their activity, and even activity to premium members when caches are enables and stuff.

What do you guys think?

I don't like the idea, as a whole, but I do like the idea of a news feed with local (50km or so radius?) caches when they have been enabled/disabled/archived/unarchived - any log that isn't a 'found it' 'didn't find it' or 'write note'.

The feature may not exist in that form, but there are workarounds -notifications of new caches and watchlists for specific caches. Doesn't give the comprehensive info you want, though.

Link to comment

I would like to see the ability to reply to cache finds. For example, you look at a cache and you see the most recent logs. You find something in the cache that is related to a recent log - and you comment on the log that a previous cacher logged.

 

Oh, you mean like a geocaching forum.....Ya they should have a geocaching forum. Again, they have the forums, and facebook, and twitter. You can also email other cachers. Everything you want is available, you just have to do it. Again this is a geocache listing website, you want Facebook, then use Facebook.

Most CO's don't use the forums. You could post a note on the cache listing. But so many are into the numbers game that they don't savor their finds or want to talk about them.

Link to comment

I think Geocaching.com should implement part of the website that allows you to follow your friends and other people in the geocaching community, to see their activity, and even activity to premium members when caches are enables and stuff.

What do you guys think?

I don't like the idea, as a whole, but I do like the idea of a news feed with local (50km or so radius?) caches when they have been enabled/disabled/archived/unarchived - any log that isn't a 'found it' 'didn't find it' or 'write note'.

The feature may not exist in that form, but there are workarounds -notifications of new caches and watchlists for specific caches. Doesn't give the comprehensive info you want, though.

 

An obvious associated solution would be to replace the tangled mess that is the notification option and let us have an "all cache types" option. Setting up a different notification for each individual cache type is one of the worst designs I've seen in a while.

Link to comment

I think Geocaching.com should implement part of the website that allows you to follow your friends and other people in the geocaching community, to see their activity, and even activity to premium members when caches are enables and stuff.

What do you guys think?

 

Please no, can't we have anything that doesn't try to bombard me with endless drivel under the guise of "never miss a crucial update"?

 

I can see what my friends are up to by clicking their profiles, the last thing I want is an endless feed that makes sure I know within a nanosecond that they found a cache. If I wanted that kind of drivel I'd sign up to twitface.

 

Ideally, what the OP is suggesting wouldn't be forced upon anyone, and you would have to opt in to allow anyone to watch your activity. It would be incorporated into the current "Friends" feature which most of are already ignoring as it currently doesn't offer that much.

 

It would still be nice if Groundspeak could focus their development efforts on more useful things that would improve the caching experience for everyone rather than providing more features for people to sit on their backsides looking at what everyone else has done. If you want to watch your friends' status updates in realtime there's already an abundance of it on twitface, why does geocaching.com need to replicate it?

 

There are enough other ideas in this forum alone that would make the site better without yet another attempt to turn another site into a twitface clone.

 

For someone that spends so much time sitting on their backside criticizing "twitface", you really should make an effort to learn about how they work.

 

I have no desire to broadcast to world that I found a cache yesterday. I don't have a twitter account and I very seldom use my FB account. I have no problem giving my geocaching friends, on an individual basis, permission to have my activity compiled with their other friends and put in one spot for them to review.

 

I know that the word social has been spoiled for some, but the fact of the matter is that most of us are social and we like to interact with our friends. I like to know what my friends are up to, provided that they are on board with the idea.

 

A simple, non intrusive, opt in from both sides process that compiles my friend activities and puts it in one spot is something that I would take advantage of. If it doesn't float your boat, don't participate.

Link to comment

I think Geocaching.com should implement part of the website that allows you to follow your friends and other people in the geocaching community, to see their activity, and even activity to premium members when caches are enables and stuff.

What do you guys think?

 

Please no, can't we have anything that doesn't try to bombard me with endless drivel under the guise of "never miss a crucial update"?

 

I can see what my friends are up to by clicking their profiles, the last thing I want is an endless feed that makes sure I know within a nanosecond that they found a cache. If I wanted that kind of drivel I'd sign up to twitface.

 

Ideally, what the OP is suggesting wouldn't be forced upon anyone, and you would have to opt in to allow anyone to watch your activity. It would be incorporated into the current "Friends" feature which most of are already ignoring as it currently doesn't offer that much.

 

It would still be nice if Groundspeak could focus their development efforts on more useful things that would improve the caching experience for everyone rather than providing more features for people to sit on their backsides looking at what everyone else has done. If you want to watch your friends' status updates in realtime there's already an abundance of it on twitface, why does geocaching.com need to replicate it?

 

There are enough other ideas in this forum alone that would make the site better without yet another attempt to turn another site into a twitface clone.

 

I'm not as anti-social media as many here but this is a key point. Groundspeak has a finite amount of development resources and any time spent on developing a feature that some people would like but many would just opt-out on (or not opt-in) is time and resources that could be spent developing something that has more universal support. This become more of an issue when there is already a viable workaround.

 

What is the viable work around? I'm not going to broadcast every cache find to my FB account where 1/2 of the people looking could not care less. That's as stupid as posting that I had a breakfast burrito this morning. A newsfeed type thing on GC com, targeted to interested geocachers is much different than FB or Twitter.

 

It always amazes me how much we sit here and worry about the GC developers' time and how they spend it. I seriously doubt that anyone posting on these topics has any idea what's going on the GC development team.

 

Are there other things that I would like to see done first? How about,

 

Corrected coordinates on the maps.

Advanced PQ system.

Ability to ignore another user.

A power trail attribute.

A NANO cache size.

"Needs reviewer attention" instead of "Needs Archived".

Notification if a log on my cache is edited.

A year control on the calendar.

 

Let's face it, none of this is going to happen and either are any enhancements to the Friend feature, so all of those that are so afraid that they will have to waste time ignoring something can rest at ease.

Link to comment

I think Geocaching.com should implement part of the website that allows you to follow your friends and other people in the geocaching community, to see their activity, and even activity to premium members when caches are enables and stuff.

What do you guys think?

 

Please no, can't we have anything that doesn't try to bombard me with endless drivel under the guise of "never miss a crucial update"?

 

I can see what my friends are up to by clicking their profiles, the last thing I want is an endless feed that makes sure I know within a nanosecond that they found a cache. If I wanted that kind of drivel I'd sign up to twitface.

 

Ideally, what the OP is suggesting wouldn't be forced upon anyone, and you would have to opt in to allow anyone to watch your activity. It would be incorporated into the current "Friends" feature which most of are already ignoring as it currently doesn't offer that much.

 

It would still be nice if Groundspeak could focus their development efforts on more useful things that would improve the caching experience for everyone rather than providing more features for people to sit on their backsides looking at what everyone else has done. If you want to watch your friends' status updates in realtime there's already an abundance of it on twitface, why does geocaching.com need to replicate it?

 

There are enough other ideas in this forum alone that would make the site better without yet another attempt to turn another site into a twitface clone.

 

For someone that spends so much time sitting on their backside criticizing "twitface", you really should make an effort to learn about how they work.

 

I have no desire to broadcast to world that I found a cache yesterday. I don't have a twitter account and I very seldom use my FB account. I have no problem giving my geocaching friends, on an individual basis, permission to have my activity compiled with their other friends and put in one spot for them to review.

 

I know that the word social has been spoiled for some, but the fact of the matter is that most of us are social and we like to interact with our friends. I like to know what my friends are up to, provided that they are on board with the idea.

 

A simple, non intrusive, opt in from both sides process that compiles my friend activities and puts it in one spot is something that I would take advantage of. If it doesn't float your boat, don't participate.

 

My wife uses twitface extensively - I've seen the kind of drivel people post which is why I don't bother with it. These days it seems I can hardly do anything online without being invited to broadcast the fact on some other site or another.

 

If people want to share with the world and his dog (or with whatever subsets of that they are happy with) that they just found a cache then go right ahead and do it. But let's get improvements to the site that benefit everybody first rather than yet more stuff that's nothing to do with the basic aim to "go outside, do something".

Link to comment

I think Geocaching.com should implement part of the website that allows you to follow your friends and other people in the geocaching community, to see their activity, and even activity to premium members when caches are enables and stuff.

What do you guys think?

I don't like the idea, as a whole, but I do like the idea of a news feed with local (50km or so radius?) caches when they have been enabled/disabled/archived/unarchived - any log that isn't a 'found it' 'didn't find it' or 'write note'.

The feature may not exist in that form, but there are workarounds -notifications of new caches and watchlists for specific caches. Doesn't give the comprehensive info you want, though.

 

An obvious associated solution would be to replace the tangled mess that is the notification option and let us have an "all cache types" option. Setting up a different notification for each individual cache type is one of the worst designs I've seen in a while.

 

It still is not a workaround. If I want to see the activities of friends A-F, I would need to have a notification of every cache in the world, and then have to filter out the millions of notifications that don't involve friends A-F.

Link to comment

I think Geocaching.com should implement part of the website that allows you to follow your friends and other people in the geocaching community, to see their activity, and even activity to premium members when caches are enables and stuff.

What do you guys think?

I don't like the idea, as a whole, but I do like the idea of a news feed with local (50km or so radius?) caches when they have been enabled/disabled/archived/unarchived - any log that isn't a 'found it' 'didn't find it' or 'write note'.

The feature may not exist in that form, but there are workarounds -notifications of new caches and watchlists for specific caches. Doesn't give the comprehensive info you want, though.

 

An obvious associated solution would be to replace the tangled mess that is the notification option and let us have an "all cache types" option. Setting up a different notification for each individual cache type is one of the worst designs I've seen in a while.

 

It still is not a workaround. If I want to see the activities of friends A-F, I would need to have a notification of every cache in the world, and then have to filter out the millions of notifications that don't involve friends A-F.

 

It would work remarkably well given the idea that prompted it was "I do like the idea of a news feed with local (50km or so radius?) caches when they have been enabled/disabled/archived/unarchived - any log that isn't a 'found it' 'didn't find it' or 'write note'."

 

I'd rather let caching friends suggest caches directly to me if they thought I'd enjoy them (as a few already do) than have an automatic feed telling me every single time they logged a find. It would appear more relevant and, you know, more personal. Cacher A talking to me (anyone remember talking to people?) or even emailing me and telling me about the caching run they did and how much they enjoyed a particular cache or a circuit would be far more useful than just getting a notification that cacher A found 17 caches today and listing every single one of them.

Link to comment

I think Geocaching.com should implement part of the website that allows you to follow your friends and other people in the geocaching community, to see their activity, and even activity to premium members when caches are enables and stuff.

What do you guys think?

 

Please no, can't we have anything that doesn't try to bombard me with endless drivel under the guise of "never miss a crucial update"?

 

I can see what my friends are up to by clicking their profiles, the last thing I want is an endless feed that makes sure I know within a nanosecond that they found a cache. If I wanted that kind of drivel I'd sign up to twitface.

 

Ideally, what the OP is suggesting wouldn't be forced upon anyone, and you would have to opt in to allow anyone to watch your activity. It would be incorporated into the current "Friends" feature which most of are already ignoring as it currently doesn't offer that much.

 

It would still be nice if Groundspeak could focus their development efforts on more useful things that would improve the caching experience for everyone rather than providing more features for people to sit on their backsides looking at what everyone else has done. If you want to watch your friends' status updates in realtime there's already an abundance of it on twitface, why does geocaching.com need to replicate it?

 

There are enough other ideas in this forum alone that would make the site better without yet another attempt to turn another site into a twitface clone.

 

I'm not as anti-social media as many here but this is a key point. Groundspeak has a finite amount of development resources and any time spent on developing a feature that some people would like but many would just opt-out on (or not opt-in) is time and resources that could be spent developing something that has more universal support. This become more of an issue when there is already a viable workaround.

 

What is the viable work around? I'm not going to broadcast every cache find to my FB account where 1/2 of the people looking could not care less. That's as stupid as posting that I had a breakfast burrito this morning. A newsfeed type thing on GC com, targeted to interested geocachers is much different than FB or Twitter.

 

I've got FB and twitter accounts that I never used that I set up with the same email address I use on my geocaching account. If I wanted to post a twitter message of status update I could use those accounts only those interested in my geocaching activity would see it.

 

 

It always amazes me how much we sit here and worry about the GC developers' time and how they spend it. I seriously doubt that anyone posting on these topics has any idea what's going on the GC development team.

 

I am not privy what the GC development is working on but I've been a software developer long enough that I think I can speculate on how development tasks are prioritized when there is a finite amount of resources. As you suggest, there are quite a few unimplemented features that have had strong support and my point was just that development time on those features should be a higher priority than something that is developed with an opt-in/opt-out feature (which implies that at least a large number of users would want to explicitly not use a feature being developed).

 

 

Are there other things that I would like to see done first? How about,

 

Corrected coordinates on the maps.

Advanced PQ system.

Ability to ignore another user.

A power trail attribute.

A NANO cache size.

"Needs reviewer attention" instead of "Needs Archived".

Notification if a log on my cache is edited.

A year control on the calendar.

 

Let's face it, none of this is going to happen and either are any enhancements to the Friend feature, so all of those that are so afraid that they will have to waste time ignoring something can rest at ease.

 

That's a good list of feature requests that have had strong support without any strong arguments against them (other than the fact the GS has said that they're not going to enhance the PQ system). That said, I've often thought that the friends feature was half baked, but with a little work could become a more useful feature. The problem is that any feature which is described with the term "friends" is going to be associated with FB friends and a lot of people are going to object to it just because of what it's called (I've often wondered if people would take Twitter more seriously if it wasn't called Twitter). I actually use Twitter on a daily basis and find it quite useful. Twitter and Facebook are just technologies. They don't create posts about what someone had for breakfast. People do. Don't blame the technology based on the fact that some people use it frivolously.

 

 

Link to comment

I think Geocaching.com should implement part of the website that allows you to follow your friends and other people in the geocaching community, to see their activity, and even activity to premium members when caches are enables and stuff.

What do you guys think?

I don't like the idea, as a whole, but I do like the idea of a news feed with local (50km or so radius?) caches when they have been enabled/disabled/archived/unarchived - any log that isn't a 'found it' 'didn't find it' or 'write note'.

The feature may not exist in that form, but there are workarounds -notifications of new caches and watchlists for specific caches. Doesn't give the comprehensive info you want, though.

 

An obvious associated solution would be to replace the tangled mess that is the notification option and let us have an "all cache types" option. Setting up a different notification for each individual cache type is one of the worst designs I've seen in a while.

 

It still is not a workaround. If I want to see the activities of friends A-F, I would need to have a notification of every cache in the world, and then have to filter out the millions of notifications that don't involve friends A-F.

 

It would work remarkably well given the idea that prompted it was "I do like the idea of a news feed with local (50km or so radius?) caches when they have been enabled/disabled/archived/unarchived - any log that isn't a 'found it' 'didn't find it' or 'write note'."

 

I'd rather let caching friends suggest caches directly to me if they thought I'd enjoy them (as a few already do) than have an automatic feed telling me every single time they logged a find. It would appear more relevant and, you know, more personal. Cacher A talking to me (anyone remember talking to people?) or even emailing me and telling me about the caching run they did and how much they enjoyed a particular cache or a circuit would be far more useful than just getting a notification that cacher A found 17 caches today and listing every single one of them.

 

Somehow, I can't imagine the cache police breaking into your house and holding a gun to your head, forcing you to view the newsfeed. Your attitude seems to be that because you are not interested, no one should have it.

 

The way that I see such a feed working for me is that it would give me opportunities to initiate conversation.

Link to comment

I think Geocaching.com should implement part of the website that allows you to follow your friends and other people in the geocaching community, to see their activity, and even activity to premium members when caches are enables and stuff.

What do you guys think?

 

Please no, can't we have anything that doesn't try to bombard me with endless drivel under the guise of "never miss a crucial update"?

 

I can see what my friends are up to by clicking their profiles, the last thing I want is an endless feed that makes sure I know within a nanosecond that they found a cache. If I wanted that kind of drivel I'd sign up to twitface.

 

Ideally, what the OP is suggesting wouldn't be forced upon anyone, and you would have to opt in to allow anyone to watch your activity. It would be incorporated into the current "Friends" feature which most of are already ignoring as it currently doesn't offer that much.

 

It would still be nice if Groundspeak could focus their development efforts on more useful things that would improve the caching experience for everyone rather than providing more features for people to sit on their backsides looking at what everyone else has done. If you want to watch your friends' status updates in realtime there's already an abundance of it on twitface, why does geocaching.com need to replicate it?

 

There are enough other ideas in this forum alone that would make the site better without yet another attempt to turn another site into a twitface clone.

 

I'm not as anti-social media as many here but this is a key point. Groundspeak has a finite amount of development resources and any time spent on developing a feature that some people would like but many would just opt-out on (or not opt-in) is time and resources that could be spent developing something that has more universal support. This become more of an issue when there is already a viable workaround.

 

What is the viable work around? I'm not going to broadcast every cache find to my FB account where 1/2 of the people looking could not care less. That's as stupid as posting that I had a breakfast burrito this morning. A newsfeed type thing on GC com, targeted to interested geocachers is much different than FB or Twitter.

 

I've got FB and twitter accounts that I never used that I set up with the same email address I use on my geocaching account. If I wanted to post a twitter message of status update I could use those accounts only those interested in my geocaching activity would see it.

 

 

It always amazes me how much we sit here and worry about the GC developers' time and how they spend it. I seriously doubt that anyone posting on these topics has any idea what's going on the GC development team.

 

I am not privy what the GC development is working on but I've been a software developer long enough that I think I can speculate on how development tasks are prioritized when there is a finite amount of resources. As you suggest, there are quite a few unimplemented features that have had strong support and my point was just that development time on those features should be a higher priority than something that is developed with an opt-in/opt-out feature (which implies that at least a large number of users would want to explicitly not use a feature being developed).

 

 

Are there other things that I would like to see done first? How about,

 

Corrected coordinates on the maps.

Advanced PQ system.

Ability to ignore another user.

A power trail attribute.

A NANO cache size.

"Needs reviewer attention" instead of "Needs Archived".

Notification if a log on my cache is edited.

A year control on the calendar.

 

Let's face it, none of this is going to happen and either are any enhancements to the Friend feature, so all of those that are so afraid that they will have to waste time ignoring something can rest at ease.

 

That's a good list of feature requests that have had strong support without any strong arguments against them (other than the fact the GS has said that they're not going to enhance the PQ system). That said, I've often thought that the friends feature was half baked, but with a little work could become a more useful feature. The problem is that any feature which is described with the term "friends" is going to be associated with FB friends and a lot of people are going to object to it just because of what it's called (I've often wondered if people would take Twitter more seriously if it wasn't called Twitter). I actually use Twitter on a daily basis and find it quite useful. Twitter and Facebook are just technologies. They don't create posts about what someone had for breakfast. People do. Don't blame the technology based on the fact that some people use it frivolously.

 

The sad thing, there were Geocaching "friends" way before there were Facebook "friends". I remember adding four Geo friends when the feature first came out, just to see what would become of it. Nothing ever did become of it so I haven't actually looked at that page for over a year, and that was by accident.

 

There is so much potential there that was never utilized. One of the first suggestions that came out after it was rolled out was exactly what I have been talking about, the ability to "watch" a friend, and of course the instant reaction of some was, what if I don't want to be watched? I would never advocate a system that forces people to do what they don't want. The fact is, some people do want it and I don't think that the cross section of vocal forum participants accurately represents how many may be interested in such a thing.

 

Maybe I'll go ask the GC-Project if they could pull it off.

Link to comment

RPatey219, want to know about what your friends are up to?... come to a meet n greet - talk in real time - plan to cache together...

for now, use the tools we do have from gc.com to be an armchair voyeur - that's what i did with stormgren-x's last endeavor for a smiley :P

 

and for those who follow me on geotwit - i'm off with my blanket to see the fireworks with family... B) HAPPY FOURTH of JULY AMERICA

Link to comment

 

The sad thing, there were Geocaching "friends" way before there were Facebook "friends". I remember adding four Geo friends when the feature first came out, just to see what would become of it. Nothing ever did become of it so I haven't actually looked at that page for over a year, and that was by accident.

 

Agreed. I actually looked at my "friends" page the other day. It only has 10 people on it and the only one that I correspond with is my brother out in California. None of the other geocachers I actually correspond with (mostly from the forums) are on my list.

 

 

There is so much potential there that was never utilized. One of the first suggestions that came out after it was rolled out was exactly what I have been talking about, the ability to "watch" a friend, and of course the instant reaction of some was, what if I don't want to be watched? I would never advocate a system that forces people to do what they don't want. The fact is, some people do want it and I don't think that the cross section of vocal forum participants accurately represents how many may be interested in such a thing.

 

Maybe I'll go ask the GC-Project if they could pull it off.

 

One of the other possibilities with the friends features is based on the notion that it creates another authorization role. Many of the systems that I develop implement the concept of users, roles (or groups)/, and permissions. The GS site already does this. Every user of the site is a member of one or more groups: anonymous (not logged in), authenticated (has logged in), basic or premium member, and some users may have a reviewer and/or forum moderator role. Every role has a set of permissions for what a member of that role can do. For example, the owner (authenticated user) of an account can check on box on their account page which indicates which roles can view their statistic page, but it's limited to just your self, or "public" (everyone else). If you add the notion of a "friends" role, one could set permissions such that only the owner of the account, and those on their friends list could do certain things. For example, bookmarks are currently only private or public. Adding "friends" as a role could facilitate the use of shared bookmarks, and even the notion of shared bookmarks that are readable *and* writable by friends. Want to go out caching with a group of friends. Create a shared bookmark and grant write permission to friends, and they can all add caches they would like they find to the bookmark list. Weed out caches that have not been found by any of the friends, and create a PQ from the list. Now everyone going out that day will have a list of caches that can be found and you won't be spending time looking for a cache that a few of the friends have already found.

 

Project-gc has been coming up a lot recently. I've only used it a few times and don't know whose behind it. It would be interesting to see it, or something like it, developed using the community open source model. Leverage the skills of volunteer software developers that can work on a common code base to implement some of the features that you mentioned earlier. With access to the Geocaching API, a robust search api with faceting could be developed that would knock the socks of the "search" capabilities the GS site provides.

Link to comment

 

The sad thing, there were Geocaching "friends" way before there were Facebook "friends". I remember adding four Geo friends when the feature first came out, just to see what would become of it. Nothing ever did become of it so I haven't actually looked at that page for over a year, and that was by accident.

 

There is so much potential there that was never utilized. One of the first suggestions that came out after it was rolled out was exactly what I have been talking about, the ability to "watch" a friend, and of course the instant reaction of some was, what if I don't want to be watched? I would never advocate a system that forces people to do what they don't want. The fact is, some people do want it and I don't think that the cross section of vocal forum participants accurately represents how many may be interested in such a thing.

 

Maybe I'll go ask the GC-Project if they could pull it off.

 

As I have posted several times before, (but now lost in the bowels of the forums) is my suggestion from several years ago to have a 'twitter-like' feature added to the Friends feature...I suggested it be called 'Croaking' (in honor of Signal).

 

A 'Friend' could elect to receive 'croaks' from other selected friends on an individual basis.

When I log a cache I felt was worthy to report, I could choose to 'croak it' via a checkbox on the 'log a cache' page.

Thus only my elite friends would be sent my logs I felt were worthy of them seeing/reading.

If someone persisted on 'croaking' trivial logs, I could remove them from that list but keep them as a 'Friend'.

 

As it is now, I have GC littlehelper, a (Greasemonkey script) that allows me to at least pick out the logs of my chosen VIPs when viewing a listing. Not the same as getting a 'real-time' feed of their activity, though.

Link to comment

I just want an easy, no foolin' way to stay updated on caches on my watchlist, in my area, and also my friends on the geocaching website. Other than adding them as a friend, there is no actual use for the feature at present.

 

Seriously, though, can't the stuff the OP is asking for be done with the tools already in place?

 

follow your friends and other people in the geocaching community, to see their activity, and even activity to premium members when caches are enables and stuff.

and to see all logs posted on geocaches in my area in a newsfeed-style format.

Email-to-twitter automation could be done? There can be a way to restrict tweet recipients to PMO-only? If so, porting inbound Instant Notification emails to an outboun tweet script would accomplish this?

 

receive updates on certain peoples activity in the geocaching world

Doesn't this already happen if you use the twitter integration part?

Link to comment

I think Geocaching.com should implement part of the website that allows you to follow your friends and other people in the geocaching community, to see their activity, and even activity to premium members when caches are enables and stuff.

What do you guys think?

I don't like the idea, as a whole, but I do like the idea of a news feed with local (50km or so radius?) caches when they have been enabled/disabled/archived/unarchived - any log that isn't a 'found it' 'didn't find it' or 'write note'.

The feature may not exist in that form, but there are workarounds -notifications of new caches and watchlists for specific caches. Doesn't give the comprehensive info you want, though.

 

An obvious associated solution would be to replace the tangled mess that is the notification option and let us have an "all cache types" option. Setting up a different notification for each individual cache type is one of the worst designs I've seen in a while.

 

It still is not a workaround. If I want to see the activities of friends A-F, I would need to have a notification of every cache in the world, and then have to filter out the millions of notifications that don't involve friends A-F.

 

It would work remarkably well given the idea that prompted it was "I do like the idea of a news feed with local (50km or so radius?) caches when they have been enabled/disabled/archived/unarchived - any log that isn't a 'found it' 'didn't find it' or 'write note'."

 

I'd rather let caching friends suggest caches directly to me if they thought I'd enjoy them (as a few already do) than have an automatic feed telling me every single time they logged a find. It would appear more relevant and, you know, more personal. Cacher A talking to me (anyone remember talking to people?) or even emailing me and telling me about the caching run they did and how much they enjoyed a particular cache or a circuit would be far more useful than just getting a notification that cacher A found 17 caches today and listing every single one of them.

 

Somehow, I can't imagine the cache police breaking into your house and holding a gun to your head, forcing you to view the newsfeed. Your attitude seems to be that because you are not interested, no one should have it.

 

The way that I see such a feed working for me is that it would give me opportunities to initiate conversation.

 

My attitude is actually that Groundspeak have limited resources that would be better spent on things that would improve the game of geocaching for everyone, than on things that just duplicate functionality already available elsewhere.

 

If you want to share your every move with your friends you can do so with an abundance of social media sites, which you can use to initiate conversation or not as you see fit. If you don't want to there's little point having yet another option to ignore, especially when there are so many more useful ideas being floated that would improve the game of geocaching that are apparently completely ignored by whoever pulls the strings at Groundspeak.

Link to comment

My attitude is actually that Groundspeak have limited resources that would be better spent on things that would improve the game of geocaching for everyone, than on things that just duplicate functionality already available elsewhere.

Who decides what improves the game of geocaching for everyone. I doubt there are many things Groundspeak developers could work on that everyone would agree improves the game. Most of these have to do with ensuring the website and database is accessible 24/7.

 

The main objective is to ensure that Groundspeak and geocaching stay around. This is mostly done by providing benefits that a few people are willing to pay for (premium memberships, travel bugs, smartphone apps), and by providing capabilities that attract and retain new customers. These capabilities do not have to be ones that majority of current geocachers want, or even ones that the majority will use. The purpose here is to attract and retain a certain demographic that are valuable to Groundspeak - either as paying members or by attracting advertising. Given the popularity of social networks elsewhere, it shouldn't be hard to see where these capabilities might be part of Groundspeak's overall business plan.

Link to comment

...

If you want to share your every move with your friends you can do so with an abundance of social media sites...

 

I don't care to join any of those other social media sites. I don't want to need to figure out how those sites work, and I don't want to need to filter out all the crap that would inevitably result.

 

I just want to let my 'Friends' know I finally found that cache I DNFed six times. :)

Similarly, I just want to know that my 'Friend' finally found that cache they DNFed six times.

Link to comment

My attitude is actually that Groundspeak have limited resources that would be better spent on things that would improve the game of geocaching for everyone, than on things that just duplicate functionality already available elsewhere.

Who decides what improves the game of geocaching for everyone. I doubt there are many things Groundspeak developers could work on that everyone would agree improves the game. Most of these have to do with ensuring the website and database is accessible 24/7.

 

The main objective is to ensure that Groundspeak and geocaching stay around. This is mostly done by providing benefits that a few people are willing to pay for (premium memberships, travel bugs, smartphone apps), and by providing capabilities that attract and retain new customers. These capabilities do not have to be ones that majority of current geocachers want, or even ones that the majority will use. The purpose here is to attract and retain a certain demographic that are valuable to Groundspeak - either as paying members or by attracting advertising. Given the popularity of social networks elsewhere, it shouldn't be hard to see where these capabilities might be part of Groundspeak's overall business plan.

 

Sure, not everyone will agree on things that improve geocaching. It's just hard to see how the mission of "go outside, do something" is accomplished by coding more things to see what other people are doing, taking time away from things that might encourage people to "go outside, do something".

 

If people want to be able to post on twitface every time they log a cache that's all well and good, I just don't see how it is going to "attract and retain" people by them seeing a list of what other people are doing, just because they are doing it.

 

...

If you want to share your every move with your friends you can do so with an abundance of social media sites...

 

I don't care to join any of those other social media sites. I don't want to need to figure out how those sites work, and I don't want to need to filter out all the crap that would inevitably result.

 

I just want to let my 'Friends' know I finally found that cache I DNFed six times. :)

Similarly, I just want to know that my 'Friend' finally found that cache they DNFed six times.

 

I'd say that's what email is there for. If your friend is a prolific cacher the one they found after not finding six times is likely to get lost among the dozens of other caches they found, and if anything I'd wonder whether having people able to see every single log you write in real time would just provide another excuse for people not to write DNFs in the first place.

Link to comment

...

 

I'd say that's what email is there for. If your friend is a prolific cacher the one they found after not finding six times is likely to get lost among the dozens of other caches they found, and if anything I'd wonder whether having people able to see every single log you write in real time would just provide another excuse for people not to write DNFs in the first place.

 

A 'Friend' could elect to receive 'croaks' from other selected friends on an individual basis.

When I log a cache I felt was worthy to report, I could choose to 'croak it' via a checkbox on the 'log a cache' page.

Thus only my elite friends would be sent my logs I felt were worthy of them seeing/reading.

If someone persisted on 'croaking' trivial logs, I could remove them from that list but keep them as a 'Friend'.

 

I don't want to force an unwanted email on anyone, certainly not on everyone in my 'Friends' list (if I still had anyone on that list).

I don't want to send a notification about every lampskirt I lift, or every 'soggy filmpot behind a sign' I locate.

Only the logs I felt were 'important' would be sent. If your idea of what is interesting differs from mine you could choose to not get any more of my logs.

 

It would be like subscribing to an RSS feed. If you decide you don't like the content, unsubscribe.

Link to comment

...

 

I'd say that's what email is there for. If your friend is a prolific cacher the one they found after not finding six times is likely to get lost among the dozens of other caches they found, and if anything I'd wonder whether having people able to see every single log you write in real time would just provide another excuse for people not to write DNFs in the first place.

 

A 'Friend' could elect to receive 'croaks' from other selected friends on an individual basis.

When I log a cache I felt was worthy to report, I could choose to 'croak it' via a checkbox on the 'log a cache' page.

Thus only my elite friends would be sent my logs I felt were worthy of them seeing/reading.

If someone persisted on 'croaking' trivial logs, I could remove them from that list but keep them as a 'Friend'.

 

I don't want to force an unwanted email on anyone, certainly not on everyone in my 'Friends' list (if I still had anyone on that list).

I don't want to send a notification about every lampskirt I lift, or every 'soggy filmpot behind a sign' I locate.

Only the logs I felt were 'important' would be sent. If your idea of what is interesting differs from mine you could choose to not get any more of my logs.

 

It would be like subscribing to an RSS feed. If you decide you don't like the content, unsubscribe.

 

Maybe I didn't word my post very well. What I was thinking was that if you wanted to tell me about a great cache you found you'd write me a quick email saying something like "Hey TT, long time no see, found an amazing cache today that really had me scratching my head - great container" or whatever. You'd be telling me about the cache you thought I'd be interested to hear about without mentioning the other 23 you found that day that were wet film pots behind signs because you know I don't care much for those. You might have another friend who loves numbers so you'd tell them how you had a great day caching and found 24 caches in an afternoon.

 

My primary objection with the trends in social media are the way nothing is personalised any more - it's just like walking into a room with your fingers in your ears and shouting an announcement to everybody. Sometimes that's appropriate, but for myself I'd rather have a more personal communication from someone that relates to common interests and based on the fact they thought I might be interested in what they had to say, as opposed to just posting something on the basis that someone somewhere might find it interesting.

Link to comment

 

Sure, not everyone will agree on things that improve geocaching. It's just hard to see how the mission of "go outside, do something" is accomplished by coding more things to see what other people are doing, taking time away from things that might encourage people to "go outside, do something".

 

If people want to be able to post on twitface every time they log a cache that's all well and good, I just don't see how it is going to "attract and retain" people by them seeing a list of what other people are doing, just because they are doing it.

 

...

If you want to share your every move with your friends you can do so with an abundance of social media sites...

 

I don't care to join any of those other social media sites. I don't want to need to figure out how those sites work, and I don't want to need to filter out all the crap that would inevitably result.

 

I just want to let my 'Friends' know I finally found that cache I DNFed six times. :)

Similarly, I just want to know that my 'Friend' finally found that cache they DNFed six times.

 

I'd say that's what email is there for. If your friend is a prolific cacher the one they found after not finding six times is likely to get lost among the dozens of other caches they found, and if anything I'd wonder whether having people able to see every single log you write in real time would just provide another excuse for people not to write DNFs in the first place.

 

Are you doing this intentionally, or are you simply obtuse? If you look closely, you'll see that several anti-social media folks see the benefit of this. We do not want our activities broadcast to the world on Twitter of Facebook. That is exactly what we do not want. We want our Geocaching.com activity to stay on Geocaching.com, so continuing to suggest that I tweet out my finds is just a distraction.

 

As has been mentioned, there are several different areas of GC.com and tools on the site where we can get this info. A process that compiles all of it and puts it in one spot where it could be quickly reviewed gets me out of the house quicker. I would spend less time gawking at the computer if such a thing were in place. Knowing my friends recent activities would allow me to not only plan my own future adventures but also coordinate new adventures and get togethers with them. It would promote our geocaching activities.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...