Odd-Shaped Buildings

[+MountainWoods]

OK. So there are some really weird shaped buildings around here. I know of a hexagon shaped home (not geodesic). But there is little chance of every Waymarking them. Why?

 

You have to know the bloomin' date that it was built!!!

 

Yes, the variable says that you can leave it blanks if you don't know the date.

No, because it is required, and the Waymarking site will not let you save it without the required field being filled in.

 

So the field says to enter something approximate if you don't know.

 

Since I have an aversion to outright lying in my waymarks, why should I make up, say, 9/23/1963 and put it in a waymark, just because I have to put something there to get it to be recorded.

 

Can some leader in that category please go in and make that variable not required. I'm sure that a good percent of waymarks submitted to the category have had to use "off the top of my head" dates, just so that the waymark could be saved; let alone approved. That is ridiculous.

 

Thank you.

[+jhuoni]

You have to know the bloomin' date that it was built!!!

 

So the field says to enter something approximate if you don't know.

 

Since I have an aversion to outright lying in my waymarks, why should I make up, say, 9/23/1963 and put it in a waymark, just because I have to put something there to get it to be recorded.

 

 

If it is a residence, just walk up the door and ring the bell... Then give them "Hi, I'd like to waymark you house. But I don't know when it was built."

 

I'm sure after the police clear you and your family forgives you for being arrested, you could always check the tax records?

[+MountainWoods]

Yep. That's exactly how I feel.

 

Until/unless someone does something about it, it goes on my "don't bother" list for posting. Not my ignore list for visiting.

[+silverquill]

I totally agree with you about required field where the information might not always be easily available, and I try to avoid this in categories that I write. The downside to that, however, is that some people just won't bother to try to fill in variables that are optional, and then get upset if the waymark is declined with a request for basic information that is readily obtained.

 

I am an officer in this category, but I do not have editing privileges and the category leader is not very active anymore. I have worked with him in the past, however, so I'll see what I can do. This really should not be a required field.

 

Thanks for bringing this issue to light.

[Country_Wife]

I don't have a big problem with picking a date out of a hat, but when I do, I always use Jan 1 in the hope that people will take the hint that the date is approximate.

 

Edited to add: In hindsight, it would probably be a good idea to make a note of that in the long description as well.

Edited August 17, 2014 by Country_Wife

[+Bear and Ragged]

you could always check the tax records?

 

May be available in the US...

Not 'Public Record' in the UK, or some other parts of the world.

And Waymarking IS global!

Edited August 17, 2014 by Bear and Ragged

[+MountainWoods]

I don't have a problem with using 1/1 if I only know the year. The one Odd-Shaped Building that I have submited (and is Approved), I had just about given up on trying to find its construction date. I figured it was after the US Civil War and before the train tracks bypassed the area where the building is, so I was going to guess about 1870. (Though I figured it could be 5 years either way.)

 

I was very fortunate that this time I went through dozens of web search pages and finally found one that had the date, 1908. Wow, was my guess off. I'm usually pretty thorough on my waymarks, and I might have found that date anyway.

 

But the main point is that there are a lot of odd shaped buildings that the average person cannot find the construction date. Even to within a decade. The current owners are like the 13th owners of the building, and have no clue who built it or when. (I like jhouni's idea: knock on the door, ask them how old their house is, and then get knocked on your butt. Or do a stretch in the big house.)

 

I'm going to do my best to try to find a date if I can. But I'd be disappointed if I had to pass up a really good odd-shaped building just because I didn't know the construction date, and it wasn't available with a web search.

 

I thought of using 1/1/1111 in the field, and then saying in the Description "Ignore the date below. It is required, but the real date of construction of this building cannot be determined by this waymarker or any lay person without access to government records." Or some such. (I'd hate to have to hire Paul Drake to be able to post truthful waymarks!)

 

This is an aside, but how many of you know what year your home was built. I happen to know mine. We are the third owners; and the folks who built the home stopped in one day to visit with my wife when I was at work. The house before this one, we built; so I better know when it was built. But our first home I only knew to the proper decade (1960s).

 

Thanks silverquill. Hope it can get fixed. I don't like to lie, and I don't like the "ignore the date below" thing. Though I've had to do that on Municipal Parks and Plazas because it insists on opening and closing times, which usually vary with the season (like 95% of the time) - from dawn to dusk. Can't put in fixed times for that, ya know. But I don't like having to say "ignore it".