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Stagnate Categories: An ongoing problem


T0SHEA

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The place to look is active waymarkers.

 

I would consider us active waymarkers, however as far as number of reviews we fall way short of 500.

 

Not sure how these stats relate to getting waymarks reviewed in a timely manner. No actual names are provided (and they should not be), so without doing the grunt work there is not a way to make that correlation as you suggested.

 

It is time to move on either in a new thread or change the subject back to getting pending waymarks reviewed.

 

500 waymarks is the number to get on the list that gets generated monthly. This is a pool of waymarkers who are active and could be interested in reviewing. The way to get categories reviewed in a more timely manner would be to add active waymarkers as reviewers. The waymarkers on the 500 waymark list that are active were over 100 waymarkers. The missing step is to compare them against the list of people that already are officers. The active waymarkers who are not already officers or are officers on less than 30 categories can be approached as potential officers. That way we can do something positive instead of just whining that our way marks don't get reviewed fast enough.

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Actually the point is not stats per se, but how to find reviewers to help with the stagnant categories. The point was that rather than focus on the categories, if you look at the reviewers you may find people to add as officers. The place to look is active waymarkers.

You try to solve a problem by focussing on the only point that works. Finding new officers is easy and has always been.

 

The problem is that there are no old officers left to invite the available new helpers.

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Really? There is no mechanism to add officers except have the existing officers do it? Surely the Waymaking wizards can do it.

 

There are no mechanism designed in the site to add new officers if the old do not do so. Yes, Waywizard can have enrollment opened up for closed groups and can have regular members promoted in groups however this must be done as a last resort. It is preferred if the existing group becomes active enough to at least promote one new officer thus it does not appear as if Waywizard/Groundspeak is being heavy handed in this mostly community run endeavor.

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It is preferred if the existing group becomes active enough to at least promote one new officer thus it does not appear as if Waywizard/Groundspeak is being heavy handed in this mostly community run endeavor.

 

I don't think I would call it being heavy handed after members of the community have tried to reach out to the leader and officers and consistently receive little or no response. I believe a certain number of people are just not invested in the hobby but absolutely refuse to let go. I personally don't think this is a situation worth tolerating. I have no problem holding leaders and officers responsible for their management of a category and being subject to a Groundspeak intervention (for example promoting a willing and able member). Besides, what reason is there really to object to the addition of an officer under these circumstances?

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Question: can the founder/ leader of a category permanently retire and lock the category? Similar to archiving a geocache?

 

If possible, this could be an attractive alternative solution to the hostile takeover threats and public shamings.

 

YIKES!! I would hope this could not happen. If it could, all growth and fun of the category would be lost, and it would be nothing more than a catalogue of the past, gathering dust. Very dispiriting for posters. :(

 

My understanding is that once a category is created, it belongs to the COMMUNITY as a whole, not one individual creator.

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Question: can the founder/ leader of a category permanently retire and lock the category? Similar to archiving a geocache?

 

If possible, this could be an attractive alternative solution to the hostile takeover threats and public shamings.

Of course, this is not possible and we are all happy about this. The only real attractive alternative solution is to make sure a category is properly managed with enough active officers.

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YIKES!! I would hope this could not happen. If it could, all growth and fun of the category would be lost, and it would be nothing more than a catalogue of the past, gathering dust. Very dispiriting for posters. :(

 

My understanding is that once a category is created, it belongs to the COMMUNITY as a whole, not one individual creator.

To clarify, existing approved waymarks could still be visited, but the "archived" category would be locked to new submissions. The hostile takeover gang would be free to establish a brand new category around the same general subject, with category rules suited to their different tastes and needs. But the original category's requirements would stay as they were in effect on the date when the archived category is locked down.

 

I looked through the Waymarking FAQ's and other official resources on Waymarking.com, and I could not find a statement that the "community as a whole" owns all the categories. Please point me to official corroboration of your assertion. My belief is that the category management group owns their category.

 

Of course, this is not possible and we are all happy about this.

Not everyone is happy, or I wouldn't have posted. So who is this "we?"

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YIKES!! I would hope this could not happen. If it could, all growth and fun of the category would be lost, and it would be nothing more than a catalogue of the past, gathering dust. Very dispiriting for posters. :(

 

My understanding is that once a category is created, it belongs to the COMMUNITY as a whole, not one individual creator.

To clarify, existing approved waymarks could still be visited, but the "archived" category would be locked to new submissions. The hostile takeover gang would be free to establish a brand new category around the same general subject, with category rules suited to their different tastes and needs. But the original category's requirements would stay as they were in effect on the date when the archived category is locked down.

 

I looked through the Waymarking FAQ's and other official resources on Waymarking.com, and I could not find a statement that the "community as a whole" owns all the categories. Please point me to official corroboration of your assertion. My belief is that the category management group owns their category.

 

Of course, this is not possible and we are all happy about this.

Not everyone is happy, or I wouldn't have posted. So who is this "we?"

 

I think that most of us here know who the "we" is, and I'm not one of them. <_< Speaking for myself only, I really like the idea. :)

 

I have gave up Waymarking here and would like the one and only category that I created locked. I don't want it taken over by the community here.

 

I don't even know if this site has an admin that could help me lock my category, but if it's possible then I want to have my category locked.

 

Thanks for posting this idea. B) I believe it's a very good idea.

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Manville Possum, thought I read somewhere that you quit the forums. Perhaps I am mistaken.

 

So you want to lock Historic Upping Stones, Hitching Posts, and Carriage Blocks category, that is if your statement that you have only created "one" category is correct. There is a recent approved waymark dated 12/3/2016 with currently 381 approved waymarks.

 

Or since you are at least the leader in one category that I located: Virginia Historical Markers, you want to lock this one also?

 

I can only speculate your reasoning behind such a bold suggestion to lock a category or possibly two.

 

As you have so often stated "I have gave up Waymarking here". Where else would you waymark?

 

Thanks for being waymaking's "token" martyr.

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Manville Possum, thought I read somewhere that you quit the forums. Perhaps I am mistaken.

 

So you want to lock Historic Upping Stones, Hitching Posts, and Carriage Blocks category, that is if your statement that you have only created "one" category is correct. There is a recent approved waymark dated 12/3/2016 with currently 381 approved waymarks.

 

Or since you are at least the leader in one category that I located: Virginia Historical Markers, you want to lock this one also?

 

I can only speculate your reasoning behind such a bold suggestion to lock a category or possibly two.

 

As you have so often stated "I have gave up Waymarking here". Where else would you waymark?

 

Thanks for being waymaking's "token" martyr.

 

Please keep your comments to me respectful. Yes, I gave up Waymarking because of snide people like yourself, and just because I responded to The Leprechauns idea gave you no reason to point out that I quit posting in the forums. That is just rude of you!

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Speaking for myself only, I really like the idea. :)

 

I have gave up Waymarking here and would like the one and only category that I created locked. I don't want it taken over by the community here.

 

I don't even know if this site has an admin that could help me lock my category, but if it's possible then I want to have my category locked.

 

Thanks for posting this idea. B) I believe it's a very good idea.

Glad to hear that I'm not alone! And I'd bet there are other category founders who feel the same way, but who don't follow this forum section.

 

If given the opportunity, I would lock down the four categories I founded at the launch of Waymarking.com: Irish-American Historic Places, Iron Furnace Ruins, Landlocked Lighthouses and Pennsylvania Historical Markers. These categories pre-dated the group management requirement. And, I am the founder/leader in "Names from the Bible," and would also seek to have that locked -- but only after consulting with the active group members because the category was created after the institution of group management.

 

Then, I could resign as an officer in the three remaining groups where I've stayed active as a favor to a friend who is the category leader, and where I've not previously been driven to resign after one of the many public shaming threads over the years.

 

At that point, I could make a clean break from Waymarking! Those still active in the hobby would then have five fewer "Stagnate Categories" to worry about. They'd be free to re-establish new categories with their own requirements about the same subject matter.

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Speaking for myself only, I really like the idea. :)

 

I have gave up Waymarking here and would like the one and only category that I created locked. I don't want it taken over by the community here.

 

I don't even know if this site has an admin that could help me lock my category, but if it's possible then I want to have my category locked.

 

Thanks for posting this idea. B) I believe it's a very good idea.

Glad to hear that I'm not alone! And I'd bet there are other category founders who feel the same way, but who don't follow this forum section.

 

If given the opportunity, I would lock down the four categories I founded at the launch of Waymarking.com: Irish-American Historic Places, Iron Furnace Ruins, Landlocked Lighthouses and Pennsylvania Historical Markers. These categories pre-dated the group management requirement. And, I am the founder/leader in "Names from the Bible," and would also seek to have that locked -- but only after consulting with the active group members because the category was created after the institution of group management.

 

Then, I could resign as an officer in the three remaining groups where I've stayed active as a favor to a friend who is the category leader, and where I've not previously been driven to resign after one of the many public shaming threads over the years.

 

At that point, I could make a clean break from Waymarking! Those still active in the hobby would then have five fewer "Stagnate Categories" to worry about. They'd be free to re-establish new categories with their own requirements about the same subject matter.

 

I think it's a great idea, but sadly unless there is an admin tool already in place I don't think it will happen. I don't even know for sure who to ask to help me lock my category. I'm fine with others creating another similar category with their standards.

 

Waymarking was in a decline eight years ago when I started, and I knew that and I still supported the site with my ideas and WM's.

My, how Waymarkers turn nasty to each other, and it's not just the forums. I'm tired of all this negative BS and have lost interest, and I want out. Your idea looks like the best way for me as well.

 

Can a site admin contact me in this matter?

 

Thanks in advance.

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Cave Entrances (Artificial)

 

I have a post awaiting review at that waymark category since November 14, 2016 3:12 PM.

 

elyob, thanks for trying to bring this topic back on track.

 

I did look at the category, and there seems at least to be a few recent officer logins. Have you tried cancelling your waymark and make a slight change and resubmit, somethings this works.

Edited by BK-Hunters
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Respectfully, it is elyob who is off topic. There are other threads for the specific purpose of calling out "slow waymark approvals." Per your own opening post, BK-Hunters, THIS thread is to deal with the need for "a procedure in place that is workable." You ask, "How do we fix this ongoing problem?"

 

I have offered a new, practical suggestion that would aid in solving the ongoing problem, and at least one other poster thought it was a great idea. Getting back to your own topic, do you think my idea would help to fix this ongoing problem?

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Respectfully, it is elyob who is off topic. There are other threads for the specific purpose of calling out "slow waymark approvals." Per your own opening post, BK-Hunters, THIS thread is to deal with the need for "a procedure in place that is workable." You ask, "How do we fix this ongoing problem?"

 

Again, respectfully, it was NOT elyob who was off topic. The title of this thread is "Stagnate Categories". It would seem that the title invites comments on categories which have stagnated or are, at the very least, quite slow in approving submissions. I'll agree that there are other similar threads afoot, but this was the most current one, so why not post here?

 

Keith

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Question: can the founder/ leader of a category permanently retire and lock the category? Similar to archiving a geocache?

 

If possible, this could be an attractive alternative solution to the hostile takeover threats and public shamings.

 

To get back to your initial question, yes, it seems that a category can, indeed, be retired. We have had experience with a category's being retired and it didn't appear to us an attractive alternative solution.

 

There was a category entitled Water Parks which accepted children's spray parks, among other things. We submitted several waymarks to the category, then one day when we wished to submit another it was nowhere to be found. Those waymarks disappeared with it, making it impossible for anyone to visit any of them.

 

We have no experience with a category's having been locked, but if the result is similar, all the existing waymarks may become locked, as well. Who knows?

 

I am having a great deal of difficulty in attaching the word graceful to retiring or locking a category in order for one to exit Waymarking. After all, what does the existence or nonexistence of a category have to do with anyone's active participation in the hobby? Many people have tried Waymarking, found it wasn't their cup of tea, so to speak, and exited gracefully. Too, many of those who have exited have left behind categories they had created and/or managed, leaving a legacy to the Waymarking community.

 

Retiring or locking an active category and viewing the act as part and parcel of exiting gracefully simply doesn't compute in my head. The legacy one would be leaving in such a case would be one of forcing those left behind to needlessly recreate a category that had once existed. As an example, I, for one, find the Historic Upping Stones, Hitching Posts, and Carriage Blocks category quite an interesting one and only wish we had been able to find more examples to submit to it. If it were to be closed and no one else was willing to take on the task I would be forced to recreate it as I have a strong affinity for any and all categories which deal with topics historical.

 

Keith

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As an example, I, for one, find the Historic Upping Stones, Hitching Posts, and Carriage Blocks category quite an interesting one and only wish we had been able to find more examples to submit to it. If it were to be closed and no one else was willing to take on the task I would be forced to recreate it as I have a strong affinity for any and all categories which deal with topics historical.

 

Keith

 

Yes, my category is a perfect example. I would rather have it locked and let someone recreate it. I don't see anything wrong with that.

 

Hopefully we can get the attention of a site admin to weigh in on locking categories to help with this problem of people no longer interested in the game of Waymarking and leaving their stuff behind to stagnate.

 

On a side note, I'm happy this was you-know-who's idea and not mine. :D I would have been lynched by the WM Mob here in the forums. :laughing:

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Cave Entrances (Artificial)

 

I have a post awaiting review at that waymark category since November 14, 2016 3:12 PM.

 

I did look at the category, and there seems at least to be a few recent officer logins. Have you tried cancelling your waymark and make a slight change and resubmit, somethings this works.

 

I hope this works.

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Yes, my category is a perfect example. I would rather have it locked and let someone recreate it. I don't see anything wrong with that.

:laughing:

 

I do, for two reasons:

1. It just doesn't seem logical to "lock" a category only to have it then reincarnated. Why not just make me an officer, then bid your adieus if you're so intent on leaving?

2. We do not yet know what might become of the existing waymarks. Do they remain extant, visible and visitable?

 

On a side note, I'm happy this was you-know-who's idea and not mine. I would have been lynched by the WM Mob here in the forums.

 

Naw.. From what I've heard they only lynch people in Virginia any more. :o

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Yes, my category is a perfect example. I would rather have it locked and let someone recreate it. I don't see anything wrong with that.

:laughing:

 

I do, for two reasons:

1. It just doesn't seem logical to "lock" a category only to have it then reincarnated. Why not just make me an officer, then bid your adieus if you're so intent on leaving?

2. We do not yet know what might become of the existing waymarks. Do they remain extant, visible and visitable?

 

On a side note, I'm happy this was you-know-who's idea and not mine. I would have been lynched by the WM Mob here in the forums.

 

Naw.. From what I've heard they only lynch people in Virginia any more. :o

 

1. I don't like you.

 

2. I don't care.

 

Well, maybe they do still hang people here in Virginia. But only Waymarkers and Northerners. :laughing:

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We really like the historic upping stones category. We have almost 50 waymarks posted there. It's a super fun category, almost like a treasure hunt for invisible horse-and-buggy-era era infrastructure things. We would be very sad to see it locked.

 

Like B-K Hunters, I fail to see the logic in locking, then re-creating a duplicate category. Waymarking categories do not seem to me to be like geocaches, where the cache creator is the owner and can move, disable, archives or recreate his cache at will and without consultation with the wider caching community. Waymarking is and always was designed to be different - thus the requirement for group management, and for a community vote on a new category, which are not requirements for placing a geocache.

 

Allowing locking and then recreating of categories is redundant and confusing to me. How could a new poster be expected to know the difference between Historic Upping Stones 1 and Historic Upping Stones 2? That's assuming the duplicate category keeps the same name... which it might not.

 

It makes much more sense to me to keep the category open and simply promote new officers to keep it going, if the old officers want to walk away. A cool category they contributed to the community would be their legacy, and for those of us who enjoy Waymarking in it, it would be a positive one.

 

For the historic upping stones category, I would be willing to join and be an officer, but open enrollment is off.

Edited by Benchmark Blasterz
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Well, we have "1" thing we agree on then, don't we?

 

Well, yes. Too bad you did'nt play nice with me or I would have invited you and made you an officer or leader.

 

I'm guessing that many of us has felt the same way, but they don't post in the forums, they just leave things to stagnate.

 

I'm sure that if a category is locked, you still get to keep your stats, just no new comments/visits, ect. Then you can go and recreate a similar category and publish all those WM's of yours that I have rejected. I see this as a winning idea, so hopefully the person that suggested it can use his influence here. He was one of the very first Waymarkers. :P

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Leaders can't lock a category. A few times categories had been retracted because they had been approved (automatically) even if the peer review result was against the category. So if the Waymarking admin noticed that a few days later and Waymarkers already posted some Waymarks they all disappeared. This happened only a few times.

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Yes, my category is a perfect example. I would rather have it locked and let someone recreate it.

 

I think there's a missing part of this statement. I would rather have it locked and let someone recreate it THAN .......

 

I am curious to know why someone would rather lock a category they were no longer interested in than let someone else who was take it over?. For me this would create unnecessary redundancies.

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If given the opportunity, I would lock down the four categories I founded at the launch of Waymarking.com: Irish-American Historic Places, Iron Furnace Ruins, Landlocked Lighthouses and Pennsylvania Historical Markers. These categories pre-dated the group management requirement. And, I am the founder/leader in "Names from the Bible," and would also seek to have that locked -- but only after consulting with the active group members because the category was created after the institution of group management.

 

Then, I could resign as an officer in the three remaining groups where I've stayed active as a favor to a friend who is the category leader, and where I've not previously been driven to resign after one of the many public shaming threads over the years.

 

At that point, I could make a clean break from Waymarking! Those still active in the hobby would then have five fewer "Stagnate Categories" to worry about. They'd be free to re-establish new categories with their own requirements about the same subject matter.

 

As I posted previously, I'm sorry but I just don't get this. Why would you not just bow out and let someone who was interested just take over? It seems like you are overly complicating the process. Is it some sort of matter of pride?

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Yes, my category is a perfect example. I would rather have it locked and let someone recreate it. I don't see anything wrong with that.

 

Hopefully we can get the attention of a site admin to weigh in on locking categories to help with this problem of people no longer interested in the game of Waymarking and leaving their stuff behind to stagnate.

 

On a side note, I'm happy this was you-know-who's idea and not mine. :D I would have been lynched by the WM Mob here in the forums. :laughing:

 

May be you are focusing too much on the dark side of the force.

 

Try to imagine a different way of thinking :

Ok guys, i want to give up Waymarking because i do no want any conflicts with you anymore as i do not share your opinions and what Waymarking is becoming.

But i am really proud of what i have done and i will be happy to give leadership to someone else

 

Are we obliged to destroy everything when we are no longer in agreement with the others ?

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Then by your own admission, this thread is a duplicate and should be closed. A shame, too, because the original topic you posted has provoked some useful suggestions, including "recruit new officers," "replace dormant leadership" and my idea to allow categories to be locked in order for their founders to make a graceful exit.

 

I don't understand why you need to have a category locked in order to make a "graceful exit." If you want to make a graceful exit, why don't you just hand the category over to a willing officer?

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Yes, my category is a perfect example. I would rather have it locked and let someone recreate it.

 

I think there's a missing part of this statement. I would rather have it locked and let someone recreate it THAN .......

 

 

..... give it to some a** clowns that will not hold it to my standards or silly people that I can't stand. <_<

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Then you can go and recreate a similar category and publish all those WM's of yours that I have rejected.

 

I don't recall your having rejected any of my WMs. But then again, there are a lot of things I don't recall. What were we talking about?

 

Oh yeah:

We really like the historic upping stones category. We have almost 50 waymarks posted there. It's a super fun category, almost like a treasure hunt for invisible horse-and-buggy-era era infrastructure things. We would be very sad to see it locked.

 

For the historic upping stones category, I would be willing to join and be an officer, but open enrollment is off.

 

There - you have another genuine offer, this one from a Texan with high standards. You don't dislike Texans, too, do you?

 

Keith

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Leaders can't lock a category.

 

What I am asking is for a site admin to assist me in locking a category that I created. I'm not asking that leaders be able to lock their categories without the help of a site admin.

 

So who would be the site admin that I should contact?

This will never happen. You created a category for the Waymarking community, not just for yourself. So if you stop playing the game, just leave and let others continue.

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Leaders can't lock a category.

 

What I am asking is for a site admin to assist me in locking a category that I created. I'm not asking that leaders be able to lock their categories without the help of a site admin.

 

So who would be the site admin that I should contact?

This will never happen. You created a category for the Waymarking community, not just for yourself. So if you stop playing the game, just leave and let others continue.

 

I can just stop accepting new ones and let the category stagnate.

 

You don't have the official answer lumbricus, so stop pretending that you are in charge here.

 

Remember, this was not my idea, but I liked the idea and I'm supporting it.

Edited by Manville Possum
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Perhaps those of you who "just don't understand" have not yet experienced a hostile takeover of a category in which they are an active officer, or even worse, are part of the hostile takeover gang.

 

I've seen this firsthand and I do not want the categories I founded to get transformed into something different than what they are today. I'd like them preserved the way that I envisioned them. Today, that means stubbornly remaining as a category leader or officer in an activity I've lost interest in because of what it's grown into.

 

When I create a geocache, I select the location and the container and the cache description. When I no longer want to own that cache at that spot, I archive it. People can still read the page and see their logs. The "community" does NOT own my cache. They cannot take it over and then decide to change an ammo box to a film canister, or to move it from a tree stump to a guardrail. But, another community member is welcome to place their own cache in the same area.

 

All I am asking for is the same concept for a Waymarking category. I do not want for existing waymarks to disappear, or for visits to disappear. I just want for the category to be locked to new submissions.

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Then you can go and recreate a similar category and publish all those WM's of yours that I have rejected.

 

I don't recall your having rejected any of my WMs. But then again, there are a lot of things I don't recall. What were we talking about?

 

Oh yeah:

We really like the historic upping stones category. We have almost 50 waymarks posted there. It's a super fun category, almost like a treasure hunt for invisible horse-and-buggy-era era infrastructure things. We would be very sad to see it locked.

 

For the historic upping stones category, I would be willing to join and be an officer, but open enrollment is off.

 

There - you have another genuine offer, this one from a Texan with high standards. You don't dislike Texans, too, do you?

 

Keith

 

It's just that I don't like badgered by people and Waymarking has became more of a PITA than it is fun. :(

 

Highly likely it breaks on it's own soon and will not be repaired, so problems solved and the company can focus on geocaching. :D

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Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.

~ Abraham Lincoln

 

I read this somewhere recently.

Congratulations for finding a way to pull Lincoln's criticism of Jefferson as a slave owner into a discussion of a hobby website. Under the category of "right back at ya," permit me to invoke Godwin's law by analogizing to Winston Churchill's rallying cry to resist Hitler's storm troopers:

 

We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.
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Leaders can't lock a category.

 

What I am asking is for a site admin to assist me in locking a category that I created. I'm not asking that leaders be able to lock their categories without the help of a site admin.

 

So who would be the site admin that I should contact?

This will never happen. You created a category for the Waymarking community, not just for yourself. So if you stop playing the game, just leave and let others continue.

 

I can just stop accepting new ones and let the category stagnate.

 

You don't have the official answer lumbricus, so stop pretending that you are in charge here.

 

Remember, this was not my idea, but I liked the idea and I'm supporting it.

 

We would hope that you would not delete waymarks we created, that we spent our time, effort, and creativity on in order to spread knowledge and preserve the history of a place we found interesting.

 

We hope that you would not start ignoring the category just because you dislike people in the community. That does not hurt the people you dislike, only yourself (by keeping you stuck in a place of anger and resentment)and waymarkers who have found an interesting carriage block or horse trough in their travels, which is invisible to others.

 

We also hope that you will accept genuine, positive, and kind offers to assist to keep this category functioning.

 

We are clearly not talking about a graceful exit here. This is an extended middle finger, and there are ways to do that directly to parties who have offended you, and not bash folks who do not deserve this treatment.

 

I am sorry that Waymarking seems to have become such a toxic place for you. When anything becomes toxic, it is time to go. But there is no reason to burn down not only a category you created but also the work of many good waymarkers who posted waymarks there. This attitude of "it's mine, so since I'm tired of it I'm going to kill it" is really angry. That sounds like a very dark place to be.

 

You obviously love history, so why not be proud of your contributions to local history, and say, "I did mine, it's time to retire." Surely there are waymarkers here that you don't deeply dislike, and that you could trust to run the category. Some may already be officers with you :)

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Perhaps those of you who "just don't understand" have not yet experienced a hostile takeover of a category in which they are an active officer, or even worse, are part of the hostile takeover gang.

 

I've seen this firsthand and I do not want the categories I founded to get transformed into something different than what they are today. I'd like them preserved the way that I envisioned them. Today, that means stubbornly remaining as a category leader or officer in an activity I've lost interest in because of what it's grown into.

 

When I create a geocache, I select the location and the container and the cache description. When I no longer want to own that cache at that spot, I archive it. People can still read the page and see their logs. The "community" does NOT own my cache. They cannot take it over and then decide to change an ammo box to a film canister, or to move it from a tree stump to a guardrail. But, another community member is welcome to place their own cache in the same area.

 

All I am asking for is the same concept for a Waymarking category. I do not want for existing waymarks to disappear, or for visits to disappear. I just want for the category to be locked to new submissions.

 

Categories with active officers are not taken over. And active officers mean that the submissions are reviewed with in the three days that Groundspeak mentions in the receipt emails. I know that you have expressed several times that once a month is good enough for you, but this idea does not have any support from any really active member.

 

When you create a Waymark and when you do no longer want to own that Waymark, you can archive it just like a cache. A waymark, not a category. A category is something different and cannot be compared to a cache. I know that some of the first categories were created from locationless caches in the beginning, but this is many years ago and does not reflect their current function within Waymarking, neither does it mean you can handle them like a cache.

 

Officers do have a duty. They can do their job or they can leave it to someone else. When someone wants to stay an officer and do nothing, the best solution is to replace this person.

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We would hope that you would not delete waymarks we created, that we spent our time, effort, and creativity on in order to spread knowledge and preserve the history of a place we found interesting.

 

Maybe now would be a good time to quit badgering me then, because yours will be the first to go. :laughing:

 

Really, this is why I'm interested in this new idea. It's a civil way out, and no one gets to stage a coup in a year or so and take over a category that I created.

 

Yes, I have first hand experience of this too. :ph34r:

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Perhaps those of you who "just don't understand" have not yet experienced a hostile takeover of a category in which they are an active officer, or even worse, are part of the hostile takeover gang.

 

I've seen this firsthand and I do not want the categories I founded to get transformed into something different than what they are today. I'd like them preserved the way that I envisioned them. Today, that means stubbornly remaining as a category leader or officer in an activity I've lost interest in because of what it's grown into.

 

When I create a geocache, I select the location and the container and the cache description. When I no longer want to own that cache at that spot, I archive it. People can still read the page and see their logs. The "community" does NOT own my cache. They cannot take it over and then decide to change an ammo box to a film canister, or to move it from a tree stump to a guardrail. But, another community member is welcome to place their own cache in the same area.

 

All I am asking for is the same concept for a Waymarking category. I do not want for existing waymarks to disappear, or for visits to disappear. I just want for the category to be locked to new submissions.

 

I totally understand the bolded part of your post - I REALLY do. It's frustrating to see others water down your ideas, whether it's for a category or a municipal policy, or a room design ... anything someone has invested their passion or creativity into to make it perfect, then someone else comes in and wants to change it.

 

But I disagree with you respectfully that a Waymarking category should be like a geocache, with an owner who can essentially archive it at his own solo discretion.

 

I think Waymarking was always designed to be different, in that WM not only asks for community input to the category, not just through a visit, but through a created waymark from the poster' own photos, research, and creativity .

 

Also WM not only requires community management of categories (through category officers and members), but also asks for approval of other waymarkers before a new category can be created.

 

I think thisvariety of community input (which is unique to Waymarking) means that the waymark category is not the personal game property of the category creator or leader, but belongs to the wider Waymarking community as a whole.

 

We are cache owners, and we are waymarkers. We see these as two completely different creations. When Groundspeak said they were doing away with virtual caches (which we LOVE) in favor of Waymarking, and that Waymarking would be completely different from virtual caches, (which have an owner who can archive them anytime), we think this community aspect of shared responsibility and input is what they meant.

 

My waymark text I created and the photos I took and submitted to make a waymark in categories you created are not yours, and are not fully mine - they now belong to Groundspeak, which can use my waymarks and images however they want to. I think that's different from the geocaching terms of use, but with 8 days to Christmas and girls waking up, I don't have time to research that right now. Sorry!

 

I also am sorry that WMing has become a negative space for you, small Frog in a hamster suit. I still enjoy this hobby, and appreciate your categories.

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"Maybe now would be a good time to quit badgering me then, because yours will be the first to go. :laughing:

 

Really, this is why I'm interested in this new idea. It's a civil way out, and no one gets to stage a coup in a year or so and take over a category that I created.

 

Yes, I have first hand experience of this too." Manville Possum

 

If you start deleting other Waymarks than your own ones, you will end up as a locked member. Promise!

Edited by lumbricus
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