Check who had solved puzzle

[+Doc_musketeers]

I’m betting This has been discussed and I’m just not finding the right search phrase:

is there a way with the “new” native solution Checker for a CO to see activity? Attempts,  solved, etc? I know this is possible with some 3rd party Checkers, and as players we enjoyed being able to look at who else had solved a mystery/puzzle cache and how long ago. Now as CO’s it would be informative to see that data on our puzzle caches. 

[+niraD]

Yes, third party checkers can do this. And yes, it was suggested when Groundspeak introduced their built-in checker. But their built-in checker cannot do it.

[+arisoft]

No statistics is available. Is it good or bad? The answer depends on situation. This kind of entry level checker is enough for many situations. In some cases there would be no checker at all without this option. But when you need anything else than a geochecker itselft, you are welcome to add any 3rd party checkers as usually.

[+Doc_musketeers]

20 minutes ago, arisoft said:

But when you need anything else than a geochecker itselft, you are welcome to add any 3rd party checkers as usually.

 

28 minutes ago, niraD said:

Yes, third party checkers can do this. And yes, it was suggested when Groundspeak introduced their built-in checker. But their built-in checker cannot do it.

Hmm ... I’d love to have the data so I can assess the difficulty levels we assign, whether our puzzle is a challenge rather than an annoyance, etc. I might change over for that reason. Thanks for the info!

 

 

[+NYPaddleCacher]

10 hours ago, Doc_musketeers said:

 

Hmm ... I’d love to have the data so I can assess the difficulty levels we assign, whether our puzzle is a challenge rather than an annoyance, etc. I might change over for that reason. Thanks for the info!

 

 

I have a used a coordinate checker on some of my puzzle caches that will display the failed attempt (and show the coordinates that were entered) and it can tell me which of the digits in the coordinates some may be having difficulty with.  However, it doesn't tell me who is making the guesses or even how many attempts are coming from a specific user.  I think that most puzzle cache owners want others to solve the puzzle and find the cache and to be able to see who is attempting it and how close their guesses are would be an opportunity for a CO to write a message such as "I see that you're trying to solve my puzzle cache.  You have the lat coordinates correct but have 2 incorrect digits in the longitude".  I would all a CO to reach out to those trying to solve their puzzle rather than have them use a PAF network or use one of the many sites that offer "help" in solving puzzles.  

[+Doc_musketeers]

4 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

I have a used a coordinate checker on some of my puzzle caches that will display the failed attempt (and show the coordinates that were entered) and it can tell me which of the digits in the coordinates some may be having difficulty with.  However, it doesn't tell me who is making the guesses or even how many attempts are coming from a specific user.  I think that most puzzle cache owners want others to solve the puzzle and find the cache and to be able to see who is attempting it and how close their guesses are would be an opportunity for a CO to write a message such as "I see that you're trying to solve my puzzle cache.  You have the lat coordinates correct but have 2 incorrect digits in the longitude".  I would all a CO to reach out to those trying to solve their puzzle rather than have them use a PAF network or use one of the many sites that offer "help" in solving puzzles.  

Yep. That’s our desire exactly. We just set up our first puzzle cache and I had made an error transposing information for the clue on one digit of the final  coordinates. Thankfully a player messaged me because they were pretty sure they’d figured out the method to the puzzle but the solver was showing it incorrect. When they sent me their guess, and I saw it only had the one incorrect digit, I knew the problem was on my end. If that hadn’t happened, and with no way to see what players were guessing, I don’t know how long it would have taken me to realize my mistake.

[+cerberus1]

15 hours ago, Doc_musketeers said:

is there a way with the “new” native solution Checker for a CO to see activity? Attempts,  solved, etc? I know this is possible with some 3rd party Checkers, and as players we enjoyed being able to look at who else had solved a mystery/puzzle cache and how long ago. Now as CO’s it would be informative to see that data on our puzzle caches. 

15 hours ago, niraD said:

Yes, third party checkers can do this. And yes, it was suggested when Groundspeak introduced their built-in checker. But their built-in checker cannot do it.

Learned something new today.  Wasn't aware that that others could see what puzzles we tried to solve (though on most this dyslexic old fart  never needed a checker to solve).  Figured folks knew simply by logging it found.   Like the cache "watch" (hopefully eventually the audit), I'm kinda glad that at least here I can maintain some privacy. 

 

[+dprovan]

That's why most people in my area use that certain 3rd party checker than provides certainty or certification or certi-somthing-or-other: so COs and everyone else can see who solved it and when. To many around here, solving the puzzle is as big a part as finding the cache, so I think a lot of puzzle solvers in the SF bay area have a lot of puzzles solved that they may never actually find. The list of finders is often significantly smaller than the list of solvers.

[+Doc_musketeers]

1 hour ago, dprovan said:

That's why most people in my area use that certain 3rd party checker than provides certainty or certification or certi-somthing-or-other: so COs and everyone else can see who solved it and when. To many around here, solving the puzzle is as big a part as finding the cache, so I think a lot of puzzle solvers in the SF bay area have a lot of puzzles solved that they may never actually find. The list of finders is often significantly smaller than the list of solvers.

Yeah, even locally we have some solved puzzles that we haven’t gotten around to physically Finding. And they aren’t even that distant or difficult. And players who enjoy puzzle caches might run out of local caches and solve some in an ever-widening circle but not get to actually make the trip to find them all.

I believe Ceritude, at least, lets to submit solutions anonymously. Sure, as searchers, we like our team name on the “Solved” list, but as CO’s we are more interested on how many cachers try to solve the puzzle and how many of those succeeded. Who it was is less important.

Edited January 31, 2018 by Doc_musketeers
Typo and clarity

[+niraD]

1 hour ago, dprovan said:

That's why most people in my area use that certain 3rd party checker than provides certainty or certification or certi-somthing-or-other: so COs and everyone else can see who solved it and when. To many around here, solving the puzzle is as big a part as finding the cache, so I think a lot of puzzle solvers in the SF bay area have a lot of puzzles solved that they may never actually find. The list of finders is often significantly smaller than the list of solvers.

Note that Certitude is an authorized developer, so it is okay to refer to them by name.

[+Doc_musketeers]

I guess I might as well ask this now rather than start a new thread since it’s basically the next logical follow up and my likely target audience is already following this: 

For an existing puzzle cache, already using the native app, how easy is it to switch to Certitude? Do I just deselect the native checker while editing and then follow instructions on the Certitude webpage? Or add the Certitude Checker first? I just don’t want to do things in the wrong order and “blow up” my listing, lol

[+niraD]

14 minutes ago, Doc_musketeers said:

I guess I might as well ask this now rather than start a new thread since it’s basically the next logical follow up and my likely target audience is already following this: 

For an existing puzzle cache, already using the native app, how easy is it to switch to Certitude? Do I just deselect the native checker while editing and then follow instructions on the Certitude webpage? Or add the Certitude Checker first? I just don’t want to do things in the wrong order and “blow up” my listing, lol

I would add the Certitude checker, and then uncheck the checkbox for the built-in checker at the same time that I added the Certitude link to the cache description.

[+Doc_musketeers]

12 minutes ago, niraD said:

I would add the Certitude checker, and then uncheck the checkbox for the built-in checker at the same time that I added the Certitude link to the cache description.

Sounds great... in theory. I’ll give it a go! Thanks!

[+Doc_musketeers]

Woo-Hoo! Took a while to get it to look right on the page (I somehow dropped it in the wrong spot, managed to move it but had a few orphaned  “<>/p” HTML bits I cleaned up without erasing anything (apparently) important! Thanks again NiraD.

[+dprovan]

1 hour ago, niraD said:

Note that Certitude is an authorized developer, so it is okay to refer to them by name.

Honestly, I don't even bother to keep track of what upsets GS these days, so I figured better safe than sorry. Especially in this case where Certitude may be an authorized developer, but is also quite literally a competitor today. For all I know, GS revoked their status.

[+WarNinjas]

8 hours ago, Doc_musketeers said:

I guess I might as well ask this now rather than start a new thread since it’s basically the next logical follow up and my likely target audience is already following this: 

For an existing puzzle cache, already using the native app, how easy is it to switch to Certitude? Do I just deselect the native checker while editing and then follow instructions on the Certitude webpage? Or add the Certitude Checker first? I just don’t want to do things in the wrong order and “blow up” my listing, lol

I think you can have both checkers.  Guess that wouldn't help if you wanted to audit the log and some used the new checker. 

[+NYPaddleCacher]

14 hours ago, dprovan said:

Honestly, I don't even bother to keep track of what upsets GS these days, so I figured better safe than sorry. Especially in this case where Certitude may be an authorized developer, but is also quite literally a competitor today. For all I know, GS revoked their status.

Is it okay to mention geocheck.org or geochecker.org too?  

[+Isonzo Karst]

There's no requirement that you have a checker at all.

There's no requirement that you use the in-house checker.

Certitude, Geocheck.org   geochecker.org   are  fine.

(Sadly, Evince  is not only no longer functioning, but is now a spam source, following sale of the domain on the death of the original site owner )

 

[+noncentric]

On 1/31/2018 at 8:38 AM, cerberus1 said:

Learned something new today.  Wasn't aware that that others could see what puzzles we tried to solve (though on most this dyslexic old fart  never needed a checker to solve).  Figured folks knew simply by logging it found.   Like the cache "watch" (hopefully eventually the audit), I'm kinda glad that at least here I can maintain some privacy. 

On 1/31/2018 at 10:44 AM, dprovan said:

That's why most people in my area use that certain 3rd party checker than provides certainty or certification or certi-somthing-or-other: so COs and everyone else can see who solved it and when. To many around here, solving the puzzle is as big a part as finding the cache, so I think a lot of puzzle solvers in the SF bay area have a lot of puzzles solved that they may never actually find. The list of finders is often significantly smaller than the list of solvers.

Checkers that show which cachers have solved or tried to solve coordinates will only record the cacher's username if that cacher logs into the checker site. It's entirely possible to submit guesses without revealing your identity.

For example, with Certitude, if you login and "reveal yourself" to the checker site, then you'll be allowed to submit more guesses within a certain time period than if you remain anonymous.

 

On 1/31/2018 at 0:07 PM, Doc_musketeers said:

For an existing puzzle cache, already using the native app, how easy is it to switch to Certitude? Do I just deselect the native checker while editing and then follow instructions on the Certitude webpage? Or add the Certitude Checker first? I just don’t want to do things in the wrong order and “blow up” my listing, lol

In case you hadn't yet noticed. The native checker is not visible to cachers using the official app. App users will not even notice that the cache has a solution checker, unless they open the cache page in their browser. The 3rd party checker icon will show up on the official app. This is something that was mentioned a few times in the Release Notes thread about the solution checker.

I'd encourage CO's using the native checker to include text in the cache description that says something like:  "This cache has a Solution Checker. Open this cache in your phone's browser to confirm your coordinates."   They could then run the native checker via their phone's web browser, as long as they have data service.

[+Doc_musketeers]

3 hours ago, noncentric said:

In case you hadn't yet noticed. The native checker is not visible to cachers using the official app. App users will not even notice that the cache has a solution checker, unless they open the cache page in their browser. The 3rd party checker icon will show up on the official app. This is something that was mentioned a few times in the Release Notes thread about the solution checker.

I'd encourage CO's using the native checker to include text in the cache description that says something like:  "This cache has a Solution Checker. Open this cache in your phone's browser to confirm your coordinates."   They could then run the native checker via their phone's web browser, as long as they have data service.

I hadn’t noticed. I switched checkers on our cache right after publication, and we haven’t searched for any caches using the native Checker that I know of.

That’s cumbersome. Too bad. 

[+Team Microdot]

On 31/01/2018 at 6:44 PM, dprovan said:

so COs and everyone else can see who solved it and when

Well - CO's can see who entered the correct coordinates and when. As to who solved it - that's a whole 'nother ball of wax

[+dprovan]

8 hours ago, noncentric said:

Checkers that show which cachers have solved or tried to solve coordinates will only record the cacher's username if that cacher logs into the checker site. It's entirely possible to submit guesses without revealing your identity.

Yeah, that's the kind of feature I worry about the GS checker not having if they enhanced it to provide a list of solvers. You'd always have to be logged into geocaching.com to use the geocaching.com checker, so allowing someone to be anonymous would be an extra step that GS probably wouldn't consider.