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Great New Idea


Hamish.D

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I am finding that I am spending a fair bit of my Geocaching downtime (ie when my GPS is charging) reading the logs written by other Geocachers. I have found quite a few of them to be quite humorous and really fun to read. This has also encouraged me to put more thought and effort into the logs I write.

 

How about incorporating a "like" button system (similar to Facebook) into the online log system?

 

However unlike Facebook, restrict the number of likes people can give out (which would make them worth something). The number of "likes" that each Premium Member can award to log entry's they enjoy could initially be based on the average log length they write. (ie if your average log length was 50 words per log then you would get 50 "likes to "spend") After that, for any "like" someone else placed on one of your logs, you would get one more "like" you could spend on someone else's (similar to the Favourite Point system). Also as each Premium Member increases their average log length by another ten words, Geocaching.com could award them another ten "likes" they could spend.

 

I can think of quite a few benefits of a system like this. The younger generation of Geocachers would enjoy it as it is familiar to them from its use in social media networks. The "numbers" Geocachers would enjoy another statistic to collect and increase. It would also give the well seasoned Geocacher something completely new and fresh to share their experience. I would also like to think that it could possibly help encourage all Geocachers to stop and really take in the experience they are having while out finding Geocaches. Not to mention the great enjoyment the tekkies at Geocaching.com would get out of implementing as system such as this.

 

I could ramble on hours on the possibilities but this isn't getting my average word count any higher! hehe

 

Thoughts people?

 

Happy holidays folks

Hamish.D

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This isn't Facebook. If you want Facebook features, use Facebook.

 

My opinion aside, having rewards based on the how long your logs are is way too easy to take advantage of. If I want to get extra logs, what's stopping me from writing "TFTC. Nufhucndiewiudkijdjehcirncienxiajdiejciejkxahicheinxksjxiehcurbcksnx iehcirncksnxidhcirnxisnxiehcunxksnxidhcie nxisncirjxosndirjixksjcirjcksnc irjfitjxrkhfutjfrkjfie" I can see it encouraging logs that aren't even real words, just so they can say they have several hundred likes to use. Yes, some will make up better logs, but I don't think the trade of is worth it.

Edited by T.D.M.22
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I am finding that I am spending a fair bit of my Geocaching downtime (ie when my GPS is charging) reading the logs written by other Geocachers. I have found quite a few of them to be quite humorous and really fun to read. This has also encouraged me to put more thought and effort into the logs I write.

 

How about incorporating a "like" button system (similar to Facebook) into the online log system?

 

However unlike Facebook, restrict the number of likes people can give out (which would make them worth something). The number of "likes" that each Premium Member can award to log entry's they enjoy could initially be based on the average log length they write. (ie if your average log length was 50 words per log then you would get 50 "likes to "spend") After that, for any "like" someone else placed on one of your logs, you would get one more "like" you could spend on someone else's (similar to the Favourite Point system). Also as each Premium Member increases their average log length by another ten words, Geocaching.com could award them another ten "likes" they could spend.

 

I can think of quite a few benefits of a system like this. The younger generation of Geocachers would enjoy it as it is familiar to them from its use in social media networks. The "numbers" Geocachers would enjoy another statistic to collect and increase. It would also give the well seasoned Geocacher something completely new and fresh to share their experience. I would also like to think that it could possibly help encourage all Geocachers to stop and really take in the experience they are having while out finding Geocaches. Not to mention the great enjoyment the tekkies at Geocaching.com would get out of implementing as system such as this.

 

I could ramble on hours on the possibilities but this isn't getting my average word count any higher! hehe

 

Thoughts people?

 

Happy holidays folks

Hamish.D

 

Thank you for making the decision to put more thought and effort into your logs. :D

 

A 'Like' button has been suggested before, so is NOT a new idea...

Neither is it 'Great' should you decide to read the previous threads...

 

Increasing log length is very easy, and would lead to 'spam' and there are enough logs that are copy and paste on every cache found for the day.

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I hate to burst your bubble, but this isn't a new idea. This has been suggested many times in the past, and has never seemed to get a very positive reception.

Here are some of the previous suggestions:

"Liking" other people's logs

Allow "liking" log entries

[suggestion] Posibility to give a thumbs up to a nice log

Like Button

[suggestion] Favorite points or likes on logs

 

I'm sure there are more. I only looked at the ones in the last 2 years.

 

Personally, I give this concept a Facebook_dislike_thumb.png.

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Liking is like a Facebook-like feature as much as it is like a YouTube-like or like a Twitter-like feature.

 

I would not like a feature like that here.

 

If I like a log, I use another feature which is also like a Facebook-like feature which is this forum allowing links, which I have used on logs like what I call the near-death doughnut log.

 

I have linked to it in a number of other threads like the speaking thread or like the Interesting logs thread or like the Challenge Caches - pre-signing of logs thread.

 

Analysis of forum post statistics like the number of backlinks could quantify attributes like a log's likeability.

 

Meanwhile, I was considering a suggestion like leveraging an existing Facebook-like service like Twitter but using a unique aspect of it like hashtags.

 

But I do not like the idea of doing things that might be harmful to caching like giving it any more publicity than it has already.

 

Like others have indicated, I also believe stealth can be fun when caching. If it were as pervasive as something like bird-watching then I do not believe I'd feel like stealth was required. I would not like that.

 

EDIT fix link

Edited by frinklabs
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Liking is like a Facebook-like feature as much as it is like a YouTube-like or like a Twitter-like feature.

 

I would not like a feature like that here.

 

If I like a log, I use another feature which is also like a Facebook-like feature which is this forum allowing links, which I have used on logs like what I call the near-death doughnut log.

 

I have linked to it in a number of other threads like the speaking thread or like the Interesting logs thread or like the Challenge Caches - pre-signing of logs thread.

 

Analysis of forum post statistics like the number of backlinks could quantify attributes like a log's likeability.

 

Meanwhile, I was considering a suggestion like leveraging an existing Facebook-like service like Twitter but using a unique aspect of it like hashtags.

 

But I do not like the idea of doing things that might be harmful to caching like giving it any more publicity than it has already.

 

Like others have indicated, I also believe stealth can be fun when caching. If it were as pervasive as something like bird-watching then I do not believe I'd feel like stealth was required. I would not like that.

 

EDIT fix link

 

I like this post. ☺

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