Maximum duration GC "in preparation"?

[+DaltonZ]

Hi All.

I am trying to place my first geocache. I have found an excellent ground zero, to which I created a Multi.

I have been planning this since months so my first entry on Groundspeak was in March.

Now I have submitted the cache the Reviewer had (has to) deny it because an older unpublished cache is to close.

If I'm already working on this for months, this unpublished cache is really moving slowwwwwww.

 

The Reviewer suggested either moving my cache (which is impossible because of the unique theme/location) or waiting...

 

Question 1: Is there a way to find out who is working on an unpublished cache? Perhaps they have moved, stopped or forgotten...

Question 2: Will an unpublished cache ever "time-out" so I can claim the spot? And how will I know?

 

THX!

Team DaltonZ - The Netherlands

[+SageTracey]

I suggest these are questions you need to ask your reviewer - respectfully.

 

And in future, ask your reviewer for a coordinates check before going too far down the track with your planning.

[+Team Microdot]

In my experience, in the UK, you have three months from creating a cache page with a GC code to publish that cache before your 'reservation' of that location lapses.

 

In the past, if I reserved a location in this way I could work on it for as long as I wanted and if another person submitted a cache for publication that was inside proximity of my location, the reviewer would contact me and ask me where I was up to.

 

At that point I could opt to release the location, or tell the reviewer that I was still working on the cache and hold the location.

 

This seems to have changed.

 

The location is 'held' for up to three months only and after that the location is freed up without the reviewer being under any obligation to contact the owner of the 'in progress' cache.

 

I understood this to be a global standard, but from your post it looks like it might not be a global standard at all.

[+redsox_mark]

I believe reviewers also take into account the communication and reviewer notes on the cache in preparation. E.g. if my in preparation cache is 6 months old, but there are recent notes showing I am working on it and explaining why there is a delay, this can be taken into account.

[+AnnaMoritz]

Ask your local reviewer seems a good idea. Maybe or not you will be told who is the other owner and how long you have to wait for the other cache to be published or not.

 

Unpublished caches older than six months may be automatically archived by Geocaching HQ (when the owner did not post notes why the cache isn't ready to be published "If you are working on a complex geocache or are waiting on permission for your geocache placement, communicate your progress by posting regular reviewer notes to unsubmitted listings.") as part of site maintenance and database clean-up.

 

If you want to proceed (besides/after checking the planning map and visiting nearby caches that might lead to your place) like proposed in the Help Center "contact a community volunteer reviewer for a saturation check with your proposed coordinates" try to find out how this is handled in your region. Like described there or in some other way in order not to end like http://coord.info/GC5VBJ7

 

For some countries the reviewers made public their way of proceeding, e.g. Bavaria:

older unpublished cache (<3 months) has priority, both owners get a mail that someone else also wants the place and a link to the other player profile

older unpublished cache (3-6 months) has to give feedback or activate the cache within 30 days, both owners get a mail that someone else also wants the place and a link to the other player profile

older unpublished cache (>6 months) has to give feedback or activate the cache within 7 days, both owners get a mail that someone else also wants the place and a link to the other player profile

 

In Austria there is a reviewer that telling 'there is no reservation'. If you ask your coordinates to be checked and then need let's say two weeks to finish, someone else might get the place if the other listing is submitted earlier - 'the coordinates are free now at the moment you ask, but not forever'. So here it seems a bit uncertain what happens to unpublished caches that are not yet submitted for review. "first come - first serve" for unpublished works in progress like in other places or 'first come - first serve' for unpublished caches that are already enabled and submitted for review or something else.

[+narcissa]

Just find a new spot and move on.

[knowschad]

Did you create a cache page when you first started the project? That reserves a "GC number". The reviewer was telling you that somebody else had reserved an older GC#. What they will do generally, when they see that, is ask the owner of the older GC# if they still plan to use that spot. If they say "no", or don't respond, he'll probably give it to you (assuming it meets other criteria for publication).

[knowschad]

Just find a new spot and move on.

That may well be the OPs only option, but that's a rather flippant response to someone that just spent a month trying to work out a multi that may only be possible in that one location. As you know, that is often the case with multi-caches in particular. You can't always simply pick up and move them. You end up trashing the entire project, and that can be very frustrating and discouraging.

[+coachstahly]

I had "saved" a spot for a cache by creating a cache page but saving it instead of submitting it and the reviewer contacted me, asking me what the status of my cache was. It wasn't ready and wasn't going to be ready for some time, so I gave it to the cacher who wanted the spot. You can always email the reviewer to see if they contacted the person who was holding the spot (be polite about it!).

[Nomex]

I took a look at your Listing and it appears that the Unpublished Listing was Archived by HQ yesterday during their periodic sweeps of Unpublished/Disabled Listings. Just glancing at the area, there appears to be another conflict with another active Listing, but you might try Enabling your Listing and see what your Local Reviewer has to say. It's not uncommon for people to mislabel their Waypoints, but again, I'm not familiar with the area (let alone the language ).

 

To answer your question, I generally give a couple of weeks to hear back from the Unpublished Listing CO. Sounds like from one of the posts above, that parts of Germany have a more structured system in place, so you would have to ask your Local Reviewer. Groundspeak doesn't offer specific guidance that I'm aware of, but I typically will favor a Listing that is ready to be Published over one that is not.

[+palmetto]

Agreeing with Nomex, you might try simply enabling your cache now.

 

Echoing Nomex, I usually ask the owner of the unpublished listing to respond about when it will be ready, or if they are willing to abandon it in favor of a cache that's ready now ~ UNLESS there's already a reviewer note to the unpublished that states the planned date (rare).

 

I give them a couple of weeks to respond. No response, I archive the unpublished and proceed with the ready cache. With response, they have a reasonable amount of additional time to get the cache ready.

[cezanne]

I understood this to be a global standard, but from your post it looks like it might not be a global standard at all.

 

There is neither a global standard with respect to the issue discussed in the OP (in some areas locations are not even "reserved" for a few hours - it's first come first served with respect to the time when the cache is sent to the queue) nor on many other aspects

(like e.g. whether reviewers are willing to perform coordinate checks in advance and if so in which manner or whether one is allowed to hold an event at a larger distance to one's home

location without a local contact).

[+DaltonZ]

TXH for all the response, especially Nomex and palmetto.

You are both reviewers and can see Unpublished Listings that a Normal Premium Member cannot see?

 

Resubmitting my Cache and crossing my fingers...