Favorites idea

December 27, 2013

Hey fellow Geocachers!

I really like the "favorites" option for Geocaches. It is cool to be able to see how many favorites a specific cache has, to make you all the more excited to look for it and see if you like it too. And if you're anything like me, even more exciting is when your own Geocache gets favorited.

I think it would be cool if there was some type of "Special favorite" option - something to show you really appreciated/loved the Geocache. Maybe every 50 or so (more? less?) cache finds you would have a "special favorite" to give. I just think it would be an especially cool way to thank the owner, and I can't imagine how cool it would be to have your own cache get a special favorite point.

Is this just lame? Random things pop into my head, I guess. I would really appreciate feedback.

hunter259

Edited December 27, 2013 by hunter259

5.2k · December 27, 2013

No thanks. Then you get into "rating" a cache. I like the existing system which just says "good" or ""

We don't really need another category of "really good"

December 27, 2013

Nice idea, but unnecessary: a really good cache will attract really appreciative logs, and those are much more satisfying to read than any number of favourite points.

3.1k · December 27, 2013

Bookmarks rule. :antenna:

Just put your favorite favorites on a list and make it viewable.

Edited December 27, 2013 by NeverSummer

December 27, 2013

All good points...

I should have thought about it longer.

December 27, 2013

I made a public bookmark list of my absolute most favorites. I did this after doing a great cache one day, noticing that someone else had put that cache on their own "favorites" bookmark list, realizing that we liked the same types of caches, and had a ball going after the caches on their list (all of which were awesome by my standards).

Ever since, if I really like a cache, I always take a look and see if someone else has included it on a "favorites" type public bookmark list - it's a great way to find a ready-made list of caches that I will probably really like. It helps to include a blurb (on the bookmark list) about why the cache was great so that others can tell if it meets their own "great" scale.

3.2k · December 28, 2013

Agree with the posts above about creating your own "ultra-favorites" list. Mine lists about 1 per 100 finds.

1.4k · December 28, 2013

I don't think we need it but see where you are coming from. The ones everyone logs...Would give it 10 favorites if I could...Those could be the ultra faves.

6.5k · December 28, 2013

I would like to see them do something to recognize caches that have a high percentage of favorite points/finds.

But other than that I think this feature works pretty well. You just have to remember that you should use fave counts in a local analysis, and not try to compare counts across regions. Areas that have high tourism and lots of virtuals will always have skewed data.

December 29, 2013

I don't use favourites at all so I see no use in a "super-favourites" option.

2.4k · December 29, 2013

My only problem is I am always running out of favorite points. I currently have a 6 cache backlog. Wish there was a way to accumulate favorite points faster. I'm a moderate cacher so I don't build up favorite points quickly. I have a "pending favorite points" list I keep but that takes up time.

December 29, 2013

I did that as well when I started. But I soon realized that I couldn't keep writing "I'll give it a Fav when I get my next one" on cache pages, because half the time I forgot about the cache. That got me thinking. If I don't really really really remember the experience I had at the cache, or solving the puzzle, then does it really deserve a favorite point? I've learned to be selective in which caches I favorite. Favorite points are supposed to be for the really well thought out/well executed caches. People now days seem to throw out favorite points everywhere now. I know some of the cachers in my area don't usually give out favorite points, and many of them have hundreds that they don't use.

One thing I don't like though is when a cacher gives my cache a favorite point, and then five days later takes that point away. I've had a cache that had 10 points on it. I checked the listing two weeks after that, and it was down to seven. I think if there's one thing that Groundspeak should add to the favorite points system, is that once you've posted a favorite to a cache then you can't take it back.

As for the original topic: I agree with making a bookmark list. That's the easiest and best way to do it.

Edited December 29, 2013 by GopherGreg

3.2k · December 29, 2013

Perhaps you are just setting the bar too low. I had the advantage of having a lot of finds by the time the favorites option was added. I looked over all my finds and picked out the best 5% as a starting point. I still use those caches as a standard.

option #2.. go do a simple power trail to build up your favorite points. []

7.5k · December 29, 2013

That has happened to me. To get some Fav votes back I went through my fav list and removed my votes from archived caches on my list, then put those caches on a shared/public "Archived Favorites" bookmark list.

December 30, 2013

I agree with most here.....adding more to the favorites points system is overdoing just a bit.

15.3k · December 30, 2013

It's really a matter of calibration. When Favorites were first introduced, I marked as Favorites the caches that I had previously listed on my favorites bookmark lists as the very best caches I had found. I had a lot of Favorites votes left.

Some people would stop at that point, but I figured that lots of unused Favorites votes weren't doing anyone any good. So I recalibrated my expectations to something like "better than average" and started assigning the unused Favorites votes. I ran out well before I got to the end of my list of finds.

So I recalibrated again, at a level somewhere in between "the very best" and "better than average", and ended up using most of my Favorites votes, with a few left over in case I encounter a few exceptional caches in a row. That's what works for me.

But awarding Favorites votes to more than 10% of your finds isn't going to be sustainable.

7.5k · December 30, 2013

That describes my strategy too. I'm looking for better then average - a pleasant walk and final location, a maintained cache and one that feels like the cache owner cared to provide a quality cache experience (and doesn't break any guidelines - things screwed into trees seems to be the number one guideline breaker, but they tend to get a lot of FPs).

3.2k · December 30, 2013

Taking back a favorite because the cache is now archived doesn't seem right to me. How did that reduce your experience the day you found it?

.

6k · December 30, 2013

I have to confess that I have retrieved some favorites from archived caches. Since they do not show up in any type of query they serve no useful function while I can redistribute them to currently available caches where they will benefit the caching commuinity.

As to more favorites; the easier they are to accumulate the less valuable they are (a basic inflationary rule). A faster rate would mean that the level of quality for them would go down. Here is something I do. While I am not a big fan of power trails I am often close to them during my travels and will go out at grab 1-2 hundred, give one favorite point to the master cache and save the rest for future use.

7.5k · December 30, 2013

Here's the GC help centre information regarding Favorites:

Since the point of Favorites is to recommend great caching experiences to others, it doesn't really make sense to spend a Favorite point on an event which has already taken place.

This is how I see FP points on archived caches. I can't recommend that folks go enjoy the cache because it doesn't exist anymore. I prefer that my FPs are actively used to help the community find good existing caches. If I run out of points, and find good caches that I want to recommend to others, I feel it helps the community as a whole more to take back from caches that don't exist anymore, in order to reward and recommend caches that are in-play. But I do understand that COs would like to keep them as a badge of honor. The best I can do with the current system is to place the Favored archived cache on a public shared bookmark list. What might help - when a cache is archived, the cache gets to keep its FP count but the people who gave it an FP get the point back to place on an existing cache.

Here's what the Help Center says about FPs and archived caches:

Can I get the Favorite Point returned if a geocache is archived?

When a geocache is archived the Favorite Point remains with the geocache. Removing a Favorite Point from an archived geocache and awarding it to a new one is up to you. Visit your Favorites List and look for geocaches with the red strikethrough indicating that they are archived, and then remove the geocache from your Favorites List to free up the Favorite Point. There is nothing wrong with leaving a Favorite Point on an archived geocache if you prefer it.

7.5k · December 30, 2013

Glad I'm not the only one. I admit feeling a little bad when removing it, so that's why I started the bookmark list, as a way of acknowledging the CO's efforts.

I agree.

Forcing myself to do lame power trails in order to pick up more Fav points doesn't work for me. Plus it may encourage cache owners to plant more of these if they conclude that popularity means people enjoy and want more PTs.

Maybe, if somehow, even after removing FPs from archived caches I still run out of FPs (extremely unlikely), I'd do the PT and in my online log state that I'm only doing it to pick up some FPs for quality cache finds.

2.4k · December 30, 2013

The problem is I issue favorite points for many reasons. Area, cache hide. camo, originality or just the caching experience I had that day. I guess I just like many of the caches I've done. I have removed favorite points but only from caches that have been archived.

9.2k · December 30, 2013

I have three "degrees" for classifying caches I really enjoyed.

A nicely done cache earns a favorite point.

An especially memorable cache earns a place on my Top 5% Greatest Cache Hunts bookmark list, in addition to a favorite point. (This bookmark list -- one of the first 75 ever created -- helped form the argument for the favorite points feature, along with similar early lists by Markwell, Moun10Bike and others.)

Within my Top 5% List, I distinguish the best of the best by editing the bookmark title to include "A TOP 10 CACHE." These appear at the beginning of the list -- easily done by adding a space at the beginning of the title.

I follow the same conventions on my bookmark list for Favorite Archived Caches. I do not remove favorite points when a cache is archived. I still have hundreds of FP's left to award.

Both bookmark lists are "public" and are linked from my profile page. The Top 5% list for active caches is linked from my forum signature. This publicity, and the ability to create a pocket query from a bookmark list, helps me share my recommendations with other like-minded geocachers.

With this system in place, I do not personally see a need for any further refinement of the official site tools for favorite points. I would prefer that feature development efforts be focused elsewhere. This would include, for example, the ability to specify a minimum number and/or percentage of favorite points when constructing a pocket query.

Edited December 30, 2013 by The Leprechauns

Favorites idea

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