Release Notes - September 11, 2014

[+Geocaching HQ]

Read the previous release notes

 

Release Notes

 

We've got a whole list of squashed bugs to report:

 

• Geocaches can now be submitted using more browsers, including many mobile browsers.
  
• "See More Events" option added to the Weekly Newsletter.
  
• Fixed Caches Along a Route so that routes can once again be successfully saved.
  
• Updated controls on the geocache adoption page.
  
• Editing images is now more user friendly.
  
• The Preview Profile Details panel on the Account Settings page is fixed.
  

 

Whew! Now that's a lot of bug squashing. And, as always, lots of behind-the-scenes improvements are in the works as well.

[+cerberus1]

Woohoo! My other 2/3rds will be happy to see cache along a route working. Thanks !

[+Delta68]

Hmmm... still no text only email option

 

If we are going to be lumbered with these html emails you could at least include something useful like an 'Add to ignore list' link!

 

 

M

[+ADKer]

Hmmm... still no text only email option

 

 

Did you really expect different?

 

On the up side, thanks for caches along a route!

[jholly]

Hmmm... still no text only email option

 

If we are going to be lumbered with these html emails you could at least include something useful like an 'Add to ignore list' link!

 

 

M

Right after they put the widely requested weekly newsletter in text on the to-do list I'm sure GS will research the possibility of providing emails as text I'm sure it will be prioritized and put on the todo list. Babel fishing that last sentence yields it ain't going to happen.

[+Kacher82]

[*]"See More Events" option added to the Weekly Newsletter.

Nice! So now we can see the event 30 miles from home that somehow didn't get in the newsletter, despite several events 200 miles away that did?

What I would really like to see, in regards to the newsletter, is an option to have the 10 (or 20) closest events (say in the next 2 weeks, or month) listed, regardless of date. They could still be sorted by date.

[+DragonsWest]

Email is still broke, only shows up cluttered with HTML.

 

Noticed the maps looking different. Less sharp, not sure why that is. Are there now tiny drop shadows on icons? That wouldn't help anything. Looks like that's what it is. How about dropping those so the map is sharp.

[+ADKer]

Woah! Were there some changes to the map page? There's a lot more green, and the buttons and search bar are huge!

[+niraD]

Email is still broke, only shows up cluttered with HTML.

Yep. Maybe one of these days text-only email will be an option.

[+Delta68]

Woah! Were there some changes to the map page? There's a lot more green, and the buttons and search bar are huge!

 

'Search' still doesn't actually work though.

 

Yes really! Clicking the magnifying glass just doesn't do ANYTHING!!

 

M

[+Dr.MORO]

Email is still broke, only shows up cluttered with HTML.

Yep. Maybe one of these days text-only email will be an option.

 

And wishfully hoping the day comes soon.

 

Text-mail option, PLEASE!!!

[+Panther&Pine]

Which mobile browsers?

[+ratjam]

When will distance from home be added to the subject of enable/temp disable/archive notifications?

[+Car54]

When will distance from home be added to the subject of enable/temp disable/archive notifications?

 

+1

[+ADKer]

Woah! Were there some changes to the map page? There's a lot more green, and the buttons and search bar are huge!

 

'Search' still doesn't actually work though.

 

Yes really! Clicking the magnifying glass just doesn't do ANYTHING!!

 

M

 

What browser/OS are you using?

 

It works for me with Chrome/Windows 7.

 

[+Dr.MORO]

When will distance from home be added to the subject of enable/temp disable/archive notifications?

 

+1

 

+1

[+puczmeloun]

When will distance from home be added to the subject of enable/temp disable/archive notifications?

 

When will coordinates be added to the published notifications?

[+The A-Team]

When will distance from home be added to the subject of enable/temp disable/archive notifications?

Somewhat related to this is the log type in the subject line. Before the subject line was rolled-back to its previous incarnation, we were told that it depended on a change that hadn't yet been rolled out but would be in the next "site release". I don't pretend to know what they mean by "site release" or how often these happen, but it's been a month and a half since that statement. Are there any impending plans to re-roll-out the new subject lines, revised to take advantage of newer capabilities and taking public feedback into consideration? I like seeing the distance in the publish email subject lines, and I'd love to see both the log type and distance in all of the other emails.

[+MartyBartfast]

Woah! Were there some changes to the map page? There's a lot more green, and the buttons and search bar are huge!

 

'Search' still doesn't actually work though.

 

Yes really! Clicking the magnifying glass just doesn't do ANYTHING!!

 

M

 

What browser/OS are you using?

 

It works for me with Chrome/Windows 7.

 

I just checked this (it's not something I've ever used).

 

Search works on Chrome/Linux.

It initially didn't work on Firefox/Linux but then I turned off Greasemonkey and it works.

Edited September 14, 2014 by MartyBartfast

[+K13]

Still needing a fix of the html emails. Their file size is HUGE compared to the old text ones.

[+Yellow ants]

So, how are the plain text emails coming along?

Edited September 15, 2014 by Yellow ants

[+Delta68]

 

Search works on Chrome/Linux.

It initially didn't work on Firefox/Linux but then I turned off Greasemonkey and it works.

 

XP with Firefox, yeah looks like it's not too keen on greasemonkey

 

M

[+DragonsWest]

So, how are the plain text emails coming along?

 

We're probably going to see animated email, with the full HTML5 A/V experience (zow!) before they get around to it.

[+Dr.MORO]

So, how are the plain text emails coming along?

 

We're probably going to see animated email, with the full HTML5 A/V experience (zow!) before they get around to it.

 

I was kind of expecting that too, much more so than the plain-text email option we really really want.

Sad...

[+Viajero Perdido]

• Geocaches can now be submitted using more browsers, including many mobile browsers.

Sigh. It is a smartphone game now. Groundspeak wants it that way. Expect more quick-and-dirty cache pages...

 

• The Preview Profile Details panel on the Account Settings page is fixed.

If you mean this page: http://www.geocachin...iledetails.aspx

...it's still somewhat messed up; fonts bigger than actual profile. CSS must be different somehow. As a result I still can't use it, so profile tweaking still takes an extra step to see the changes. (Firefox 32, Linux, 100% scale, allow sites to choose their own fonts (yeck)). No big deal; just declare it a misfeature and lose it.

 

~~~

 

Oh, and please bring back text emails. Seriously, HTML was Mistake of the Year.

 

Thanks in advance...

Edited September 16, 2014 by Viajero Perdido

[jholly]

 

Oh, and please bring back text emails. Seriously, HTML was Mistake of the Year.

 

Thanks in advance...

My nephew showed me email on a smartphone. I now understand why they went to HTML and I also understand they will never give a text option. You know, like only 200 folks or so using the site are not using a smartphone.

[+niraD]

My nephew showed me email on a smartphone. I now understand why they went to HTML and I also understand they will never give a text option. You know, like only 200 folks or so using the site are not using a smartphone.

Interesting... Using a smartphone is one of the reasons I prefer plain text email.

[+Wild-Skye]

[*]"See More Events" option added to the Weekly Newsletter.

Nice! So now we can see the event 30 miles from home that somehow didn't get in the newsletter, despite several events 200 miles away that did?

What I would really like to see, in regards to the newsletter, is an option to have the 10 (or 20) closest events (say in the next 2 weeks, or month) listed, regardless of date. They could still be sorted by date.

 

Totally agree

[+Mockingbird559]

My nephew showed me email on a smartphone. I now understand why they went to HTML and I also understand they will never give a text option. You know, like only 200 folks or so using the site are not using a smartphone.

Interesting... Using a smartphone is one of the reasons I prefer plain text email.

 

+1

[+Harry Dolphin]

So: Two things that previous updates broke have been fixed. Go for it! Umm...

More things working for I-phone users (whatever they are...)

And we're stuck with the html in e-mail. That is very annoying! That's what needs to be fixed the most.

[+DragonsWest]

 

Oh, and please bring back text emails. Seriously, HTML was Mistake of the Year.

 

Thanks in advance...

My nephew showed me email on a smartphone. I now understand why they went to HTML and I also understand they will never give a text option. You know, like only 200 folks or so using the site are not using a smartphone.

 

To see what the hullabaloo was about, I viewed some email in html. It gave me nothing I didn't have before. Can't figure what the advantage is.

[+MKFmly]

To see what the hullabaloo was about, I viewed some email in html. It gave me nothing I didn't have before. Can't figure what the advantage is.

Do people prefer HTML or TEXT email?

 

To find the answer to that question, we conducted a survey.

 

First, I posed this question:

 

“Do you like this new format for the email newsletter? Instead of simply sending blog posts, we’re sending a more personal email with commentary + information about the blog post.”

 

Here were the answers:

■55.1% of the respondants said “Yes”

■19.7% of respondants said “No”

■25.2% of respondants said “Kind of…”

 

And then I posed this question:

 

“If you selected Yes, No, or Kind of…, can you please elaborate? What did you like? What didn’t you like? Be as specific as possible.

 

This is where the interesting information came out…

 

People said they LOVED the text email because it was simple and much easier to read. Here are some quotes:

■“Clean”

■“Much easier to read”

■“The new format tended to make me feel as if I were a tried and trusted confidant— and that was welcomed”

■“It’s clean and easy to read. Call to actions are also clean and easy to follow.”

 

(+1 for minimalist web designs that focus on readability instead of fancy graphics :-D)

 

However, there was also some backlash. Not much, but there was some.

 

What was the main complaint?

 

It seems that people DO want to read in their email client, and when they do, they’re okay with staying there.

 

They also want the text to be clean, and easy to read, which makes sense.

 

But here’s the problem with “full text” emails:

 

In my experience, when you send the full text, you get less comments, less social media shares, and overall, LESS interaction with your subscribers.

 

I’ve also noticed higher unsubscribe rates, lower click-through rates, and in general, a lack of responsiveness.

 

That makes sense, too.

 

It’s About What Your Subscribers Prefer.

 

Seems like GS bought into some "marketing strategy" that in combination with unvalidated emails only serves to increase apathy and generate negative feelings of their brand with current clients. Obvioulsy, they are not reaching unvalidated email clients which they feel the need to market to, through email...

[+niraD]

What I would really like to see, in regards to the newsletter, is an option to have the 10 (or 20) closest events (say in the next 2 weeks, or month) listed, regardless of date. They could still be sorted by date.

Totally agree

That would be much better than the current events list, most of which is taken up with events that are far enough away that I won't attend them.

[+MotorBug]

That would be much better than the current events list, most of which is taken up with events that are far enough away that I won't attend them.

Since you live in the San Francisco Bay area many events with town listed are posted on the Geocachers of the Bay Area calendar. http://tinyurl.com/GBA-Calendar

[+terratin]

Looks like some style elements on the map have been updated. I must say the green is a bit strange: it distracts from the map itself and does not fit at all with the green at the top bar. Yes, I can see that it might be a good idea to highlight the parts on the map people can do something with, but I would suggest a colour that fits a bit better with the rest of the site.

[+DragonsWest]

Seems like GS bought into some "marketing strategy" that in combination with unvalidated emails only serves to increase apathy and generate negative feelings of their brand with current clients. Obvioulsy, they are not reaching unvalidated email clients which they feel the need to market to, through email...

 

90%+ of my GS email is logs on my caches. I don't click through on any of them. I just glance at the content to see if there's anything which requires some attention.

 

I'd like to see a survey on how people prefer which emails.

[+KRON family]

• Updated controls on the geocache adoption page.
  

And what about e-mails? There is still "Your Trackable adoption" and "if you are unable to maintain the Trackable, please consider disabling it" if you are adopting a geocache.

[Mr.Yuck]

• Updated controls on the geocache adoption page.
  

And what about e-mails? There is still "Your Trackable adoption" and "if you are unable to maintain the Trackable, please consider disabling it" if you are adopting a geocache.

 

See, good thing I read every post. I received a cache adoption request last week. The subject told me it was a trackable adoption request, and I believe that verbage mentioned "if you are unable to maintain the Trackable, please consider disabling it". Has this bug been around since before this release?

[Mr.Yuck]

• Updated controls on the geocache adoption page.
  

And what about e-mails? There is still "Your Trackable adoption" and "if you are unable to maintain the Trackable, please consider disabling it" if you are adopting a geocache.

 

Me again. I don't feel like taking a screen shot, as I don't feel like blacking out user info and the personal note, but here's what I got for a CACHE adoption request email last week.

 

subject of email: You have a Trackable adoption request.

 

some highlights from within: "It looks like there's a Trackable that needs a new owner. Are you up for it?", and "Check out the Trackable: [name of cache and cache type]".

 

This should take about 2 minutes to fix with a grep search from the command line, right?

Edited September 24, 2014 by Mr.Yuck

[+Corfman Clan]

Me again. I don't feel like taking a screen shot, as I don't feel like blacking out user info and the personal note, but here's what I got for a CACHE adoption request email last week.

 

subject of email: You have a Trackable adoption request.

 

some highlights from within: "It looks like there's a Trackable that needs a new owner. Are you up for it?", and "Check out the Trackable: [name of cache and cache type]".

 

This should take about 2 minutes to fix with a grep search from the command line, right?

Two minutes? That's wishful thinking in even the best of circumstances. There's lots of things that probably need to be updated to correct that problem. Here's some possibilities:

• A new cache adoption email template will need to be created.
  
• The cache adoption email generator will need to be updated to use the new template.
  
• Verify cache adoption uses the new template.
  
• Verify trackable adoption uses the proper template.
  

Trivializing changes isn't helping anyone.

[Mr.Yuck]

Me again. I don't feel like taking a screen shot, as I don't feel like blacking out user info and the personal note, but here's what I got for a CACHE adoption request email last week.

 

subject of email: You have a Trackable adoption request.

 

some highlights from within: "It looks like there's a Trackable that needs a new owner. Are you up for it?", and "Check out the Trackable: [name of cache and cache type]".

 

This should take about 2 minutes to fix with a grep search from the command line, right?

Two minutes? That's wishful thinking in even the best of circumstances. There's lots of things that probably need to be updated to correct that problem. Here's some possibilities:

• A new cache adoption email template will need to be created.
  
• The cache adoption email generator will need to be updated to use the new template.
  
• Verify cache adoption uses the new template.
  
• Verify trackable adoption uses the proper template.
  

Trivializing changes isn't helping anyone.

 

Um, I know these release note threads get pretty nasty, and I myself rarely look at them. But that was a joke you know. Hence the smiley at the end.

[The Owner]

F.Y.I.This is the "End of the Road" for # 2 in Sodus as residents DO NOT appreciate speeding traffic by those who wish to play games! Find another spot Man!

[Mr.Yuck]

F.Y.I.This is the "End of the Road" for # 2 in Sodus as residents DO NOT appreciate speeding traffic by those who wish to play games! Find another spot Man!

 

There is a Sodus, New York, about 120 miles from me, although I've never been there. Is this an irate land owner, who just clicked on the first thread they saw?

[+cheech gang]

F.Y.I.This is the "End of the Road" for # 2 in Sodus as residents DO NOT appreciate speeding traffic by those who wish to play games! Find another spot Man!

 

There is a Sodus, New York, about 120 miles from me, although I've never been there. Is this an irate land owner, who just clicked on the first thread they saw?

Sodus Michigan has a cache by that name. Gc14qvx has been around a long time.

[+puczmeloun]

Maybe it's problem of Gmail, or some bug of last release, but why, when were all messages from Groundspeak pushed into HTML form, there are not converted these BBCode things? We don't have option for plain text mails, but at same time these mails are not in full HTML, what sounds weird.

 

Edited September 26, 2014 by puczmeloun

[+Dr.MORO]

Maybe it's problem of Gmail, or some bug of last release, but why, when were all messages from Groundspeak pushed into HTML form, there are not converted these BBCode things? We don't have option for plain text mails, but at same time these mails are not in full HTML, what sounds weird.

 

 

No Plain-Text email option, forced HTML messages although not BBCode compatible?

Still unbelievably & unacceptably "half-baked" situation, really.

 

No new release that fixed ALL these?

 

PLEASE, Plain-Text option! Please!

 

(How hard is this, truly? And why is it taking sooooo long. You had Plain-Text before...)

[+dprovan]

Maybe it's problem of Gmail, or some bug of last release, but why, when were all messages from Groundspeak pushed into HTML form, there are not converted these BBCode things? We don't have option for plain text mails, but at same time these mails are not in full HTML, what sounds weird.

I don't understand it, either. I would have thought this was a big motivation to switch to HTML mail, but the BBcode has always been sent through in the HTML mail verbatim. I thought it was just an oversight until it wasn't fixed in the last release.

[+Viajero Perdido]

HTML emails are a bug that was introduced two or three releases ago, possibly by a rogue programmer or manager.

 

Although the bug has been pointed out by more than a few people, as far as I know nobody from Groundspeak has even acknowledged the issue, let alone scheduled a fix.

 

Occasionally they listen, so we keep banging the drum...

[+ADKer]

F.Y.I.This is the "End of the Road" for # 2 in Sodus as residents DO NOT appreciate speeding traffic by those who wish to play games! Find another spot Man!

 

There is a Sodus, New York, about 120 miles from me, although I've never been there. Is this an irate land owner, who just clicked on the first thread they saw?

 

I'm actually kind of surprised no one had the name "The Owner" until now.

 

On another note, I have noticed the same BBCode issue. Wouldn't everything be simpler if we had the option of plain text?

[Mr.Yuck]

HTML emails are a bug that was introduced two or three releases ago, possibly by a rogue programmer or manager.

 

Although the bug has been pointed out by more than a few people, as far as I know nobody from Groundspeak has even acknowledged the issue, let alone scheduled a fix.

 

Occasionally they listen, so we keep banging the drum...

 

Now that's funny, the HTML emails are a bug.

 

Started in 2003, the cache LOGS have always been in BB code since then, and possibly always were. At the very least, that had to be implemented very early on. Thinking back fondly to the plain text email days, there are a couple of knuckleheads in my area with zany logs with various fonts and font sizes and colors in their logs, and I'm pretty sure when I would get owner logs or watchlist logs, I'd see more raw BB code tags then I would text.

 

@ADKer, true, I can't believe The Owner was still available! I suppose someone should email him, and tell him how to post to the actual cache page.