Ping

[I!]

Alternative to boilerplate logs from the Intro App: pings.

 

A ping would be a rather robotic Found It log like "Ping! User X registered a find". Pings would be invisible to anyone but the finder and the CO, so the CO gets the benefit of knowing the cache still exists whilst not diluting (in the eyes of prospective future finders) the collection of real logs waxing lyrical about the cache. Apart from the invisible ink, pings are full/genuine finds.

 

Too late to change, no doubt, but interested nonetheless in your thoughts: would pings, making default logs basically invisible, have suited you better than "That's one more find for me! ..." ?

[+Team Microdot]

Can't see any measurable benefit.

[+TriciaG]

would pings, making default logs basically invisible, have suited you better than "That's one more find for me! ..." ?

No.

 

It doesn't train the newbies to be better cachers, but keeps them a neophyte.

[I!]

It doesn't train the newbies to be better cachers, but keeps them a neophyte.

The user would have the option to log. If they're not inclined to do so, better that their non-logs (pings / default logs in current speak) don't clutter up the cache page? I should think logging would remain the preferred option for those that wish to play a fuller role in the game.

[+TriciaG]

Ah. I didn't catch the option part. I thought you meant that all app users would "ping" instead of log.

 

I still don't like it. Better to train them than provide a lowest common denominator option, IMHO.

[+Chrysalides]

Pings would be invisible to anyone but the finder and the CO

 

No, as a person searching for a cache, I'd like to know if it has been found recently, including finds from beginners using the intro app.

 

The solution to this, I guess, is to add the option to see or ignore "pings". Personally, I think it just adds too much complexity, and is very unlikely to happen.

[+Viajero Perdido]

I don't put out caches just to get pings in return.

[+rjb43nh]

Does requiring some cachers (who you feel aren't as good as you are) to sign their online logs differently, or make their logs invisible to you, make your logs more valuable?

[I!]

as a person searching for a cache, I'd like to know if it has been found recently ... the solution to this, I guess, is to add the option to see or ignore "pings"

Good catch. Another solution: make the most couple of pings visible, but the rest not.

 

My opening post was based on a probably-controversial assumption that the (subset of) Intro App users that people complain about, who can't be bothered to write logs, are mostly not teachable. By and large, they see geocaching as a fun spur-of-the-moment thing and don't see the need to get bogged-down in writing thank-you notes. I'd like to know when they happened to find one of my caches, but I don't want my cache pages filled with generic boilerplate Found It notes. So I could've asked: if gc.com had decided not to display boilerplate Found It logs, would you be less irritated by them?

 

Of course some Intro App users are teachable. If the App had said something like "auto-log privately, or share your experience?" (i.e. ping vs. proper log) then I'd hope the more community-minded users would have quickly gravitated towards the sharing option.

 

This isn't a proposal for change. Simply wondering where the Intro App log quality problem really lies.

[I!]

Does requiring some cachers [snipe snipped] to sign their online logs differently ...

See post #4. I should've been clearer about that in the OP.

[+rjb43nh]

Does requiring some cachers [snipe snipped] to sign their online logs differently ...

See post #4. I should've been clearer about that in the OP.

Oh, I think you've been very clear about the intent of you "improvements". Elitism by any other name.....

[I!]

[+DanOCan]

Must be a regional thing. I don't see very many logs on caches I own or have found that have the boilerplate from the intro app, certainly not enough to be a problem needing a solution. Maybe one day that will change and people will look back and think "People used to write individual logs?", the way the notion of manually entering coordinates and going out to find just one cache seems so quaint to modern cachers.