Jump to content

Hello, is it me you're looking for?


Max and 99

Recommended Posts

I received a funny Valentine's email from Groundspeak, encouraging me to find a recent DNF and turn the frown upside down. But I've already found that cache!  I'm guessing they didn't take into account that since my DNF on that cache (not even my most recent DNF), I've returned to find the cache. Funny email, though.

Hello.png

Edited by Max and 99
Adding image
Link to comment

I received one of these (from a previous DNF) too.

Is GC offering a FREE "Found it" as a Valentine's gift?

The email contains a link marked "FIND ME" that links to the cache web page, presumably so I can log the find.

As I'm not the only one who has DNFd the cache, I have no intention of actually re-visiting the GZ until the CO (who hasn't logged-on or shown any signs of activity  since December of last year) verifies that the cache is there.  On the other hand, if the email allows a FREE FIND ..............

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment

Where can I unsubscribe this feature? I do not need a random reminder for some DNFs. For me it is just spam.

I wrote some DNFs the last couple of days and received a reminder for one today. Well, the DNF took place 2 days ago and the location is 100km away. Do you really think that I jump into the car and try to make a find based on the mail? If I like a reminder I will run a PQ.

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment

I definitely had a good laugh with my own mail of this sort :D!

Not only was it reminding me of a DNF at a cache, which I had since found, the mail also said:

Quote

I'm GC*****. I like hosting trackables, ...

Well, the cache is a micro, and as such does not and will never host any trackables. So apart from checking for finds after the DNF, the algorithm should also have checked the cache size :P .

Then, it continued with...

Quote

...  reading heartfelt logs about cachers finding me, ...

Ok, this was impossible for any algorithm to see, but the cache did indeed get some "heartfelt logs" ... however, not entirely friendly ones :rolleyes:. It's a multi, and when published, the listing had numerous issues, which made finding it the "regular" way (i.e. following the stages) all but impossible.

Anyway, as I said, I liked the "mail from the cache". Maybe not for the intended reasons... ;)

 

Link to comment
1 hour ago, AudderPop said:

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, looks like geocachers are better at resolving their DNFs than we expected! We will take this back to our team and have this course corrected for next time. Happy geocaching!

Please, no next time.

I am perfectly capable of deciding whether or not I want to try again.  

  • Upvote 6
Link to comment

This was a cute idea, but poorly executed.  Many people received a "valentine" for caches with many DNFs and no recent finds.  Two other people I know got a "valentine" from a cache that they DNFed and subsequently found.  Someone else, who lives in California, was asked to revisit a cache in Denmark.

It would have worked better to pick only nearby caches whose must recent log is a "Found it".  Perhaps if it's done again, that can be taken into consideration.

 

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment

I got one of this morning.

Hello colleda,

I'm GC5JN82. I like hosting trackables, reading heartfelt logs about cachers finding me, and staying hidden from muggles.

You’ve recently DNF'd me and I'm excited at the thought of you trying to find me again! This Valentine's Day, let's turn that frown upside down.

This was a perfect example of a vacation cache, with no maintenance plan, that I DNF'd last month. I also NM'd it and in the NM I mentioned it was not suitable for hosting trackables.

Yep, good idea poorly executed.

Link to comment
1 hour ago, not2b said:

This was a cute idea, but poorly executed.

Agreed. Like the poorly-executed Mary Hyde promotion last year, it doesn't seem like much thought went into this. The algorithm could have been configured to return caches that had a DNF from the member, didn't have a subsequent find from that member, and has a find in the last week or two and since the member's DNF. That would return much better candidate caches. The email function also seems to be only partially-working again, because I haven't received one of these emails despite having lots of DNF logs.

"Let's make better mistakes tomorrow."

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
5 hours ago, Harry Dolphin said:

I found it strange that they chose a DNF at random(?) for this.  Mine is over a hundred miles away!  Is there a souvenir for finding it?

Same here. Except I live in The Netherlands and the DNF was logged on holiday more than 500 miles away in Czech Republic. Now I'm happy to go back to that cache as I love my Valentine and love their invite. But it would help if they would provide some budget for fuel, hotel and food. Love is expensive, you know ❤️

Link to comment
5 hours ago, AudderPop said:

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, looks like geocachers are better at resolving their DNFs than we expected! We will take this back to our team and have this course corrected for next time. Happy geocaching!

I hope that you can draw more general lessons from this experience.  You are sending a mail asking for someone to do something.  There are several questions that should naturally arise:

  • Is the request feasible?  Are you asking them to travel a thousand miles from home?
  • Are you asking them to waste their time? Is the cache findable? Did they find it already?
  • Have you asked someone who actually plays the game for love for feedback before going live?
  • How can you take advantage of the data you already have to provide a better experience. You have a measure of "cache health" now.  You have records of owner maintenance.

Doing all these things right makes people happy, and makes them more eager to pay you again when the year of membership is up. Doing it poorly just stokes resentment.

 

Link to comment
15 minutes ago, not2b said:

Doing it poorly just stokes resentment.

Resentment? Sounds a bit harsh - like smacking a kid in the head for dropping their pencil.

I'll admit to being a little disappointed that a cute idea with some cool graphics was let down by a lack of basic attention to detail. Maybe it was an experiment that ended up being rushed out because someone key was off sick for a day or two...

Link to comment
19 minutes ago, Team Microdot said:

Resentment? Sounds a bit harsh - like smacking a kid in the head for dropping their pencil.

I'll admit to being a little disappointed that a cute idea with some cool graphics was let down by a lack of basic attention to detail. Maybe it was an experiment that ended up being rushed out because someone key was off sick for a day or two...

Felt like I got smacked in the head for DNFing that cache a hundred miles a way.  Or just a nasty taunt for DNFing a cache?    

Link to comment
2 hours ago, colleda said:

I got one of this morning.

Hello colleda,

I'm GC5JN82. I like hosting trackables, reading heartfelt logs about cachers finding me, and staying hidden from muggles.

You’ve recently DNF'd me and I'm excited at the thought of you trying to find me again! This Valentine's Day, let's turn that frown upside down.

This was a perfect example of a vacation cache, with no maintenance plan, that I DNF'd last month. I also NM'd it and in the NM I mentioned it was not suitable for hosting trackables.

Yep, good idea poorly executed.

This one is 2000klm from home.

Link to comment
6 hours ago, TommyGator said:

I received one of these (from a previous DNF) too.

Is GC offering a FREE "Found it" as a Valentine's gift?

The email contains a link marked "FIND ME" that links to the cache web page, presumably so I can log the find.

As I'm not the only one who has DNFd the cache, I have no intention of actually re-visiting the GZ until the CO (who hasn't logged-on or shown any signs of activity  since December of last year) verifies that the cache is there.  On the other hand, if the email allows a FREE FIND ..............

 

That is exactly how I used mine. :D

Link to comment
4 hours ago, dprovan said:

 

7 hours ago, Humulus said:

Where can I unsubscribe this feature? I do not need a random reminder for some DNFs. For me it is just spam.

I didn't get one, so I assume it was sent only to people that are signed up to get the newsletter or promotions. I consider those spam, too.

 

I'm subscribed to both, but I didn't get a DNF email from Groundspeak today.

Link to comment
11 hours ago, Max and 99 said:

I received a funny Valentine's email from Groundspeak, encouraging me to find a recent DNF and turn the frown upside down. But I've already found that cache!  I'm guessing they didn't take into account that since my DNF on that cache (not even my most recent DNF), I've returned to find the cache. Funny email, though.

Hello.png

Me too ... DNF with a subsequent find and still got the notification.  Quick find the coder

Link to comment
9 hours ago, sloth96 said:

It would have been nice if there was a find or maintenance completed log on the one they sent me.  The last log is my dnf.

Exactly the same in my case.  I saw the email, thought to myself "Oh, they've done the maintenance and now I CAN go find the cache!".  Nope.  The last log on the cache that the email highlighted was my DNF, and there are several DNF's before mine, and no OM or anything after my log on 1/2/2018.  Nothing changed on that cache to make me want to try it again (only a couple of miles from my home) - I was just plain puzzled about the email and why I got it and why that particular cache was chosen out of several I have logged as DNF.  

11 hours ago, AudderPop said:

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, looks like geocachers are better at resolving their DNFs than we expected! We will take this back to our team and have this course corrected for next time. Happy geocaching!

I agree with several posters who added suggestions that would make this seemingly random algorithm more useful - caches DNF'ed that have had recent finds or recent OM done, for example.  Or ones closer to "home" that you are more likely to re-visit if they are now in play...

Link to comment
1 hour ago, NLBokkie said:

Then again, I'm sure all this was done to bring a bit of humour or fun to your day. Not many people in these forums seem to see that. Come on, don't you recognise that?

In these years I have been in this hobby, I have seen geocachers to take things very seriously :)

I did not get this email. I am curious which DNF the algorithm would have chosen for me.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment

I think it's great.   I also see another benefit to it.   I think many caches that have a dnf or tow on it get passed over by other cachers which makes it had to determine if there's a possible issue with it or not.  More visits hopefully means more log and more logs helps everyone involved understand the condition of the cache.  

It also sounds like a challenge to get back out there and give it another shot.     

Link to comment
7 hours ago, NLBokkie said:

Then again, I'm sure all this was done to bring a bit of humour or fun to your day. Not many people in these forums seem to see that. Come on, don't you recognise that?

I tend to agree with you, although to a large extent, I'm seeing the comments in this thread as extending the humor since so much of it was funny in ways GS didn't intend. Well, at least I like to think that the "outrage" being expressed in this thread is feigned.

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
7 hours ago, NLBokkie said:

Then again, I'm sure all this was done to bring a bit of humour or fun to your day. Not many people in these forums seem to see that. Come on, don't you recognise that?

Sure, I'd bet most do.       

But many (most?)  were such awful examples picked, and shown (here) by others.  A "DNF" note on caches already found, still had issues, or hundreds of miles away ...  that was the humor in it (for me).     :)

Edited by cerberus1
  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
1 hour ago, dprovan said:

Those people are hard for me to take seriously.

In other words, "it's not a probably for me so it's not a problem to be taken seriously".   Note that theBruce0 said *legitimately* bothered or upset.  I didn't get the lovely valentines day gift but I was kind hoping that I would have for a cache that I DNFd in Singapore (about 9400 miles from home).

Link to comment
3 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

In other words, "it's not a probably for me so it's not a problem to be taken seriously".   Note that theBruce0 said *legitimately* bothered or upset.  I didn't get the lovely valentines day gift but I was kind hoping that I would have for a cache that I DNFd in Singapore (about 9400 miles from home).

Whatever. I stand by my position: I'm not going to take someone seriously that's upset about a random message from GS regardless of how legitimate they consider their grief. And my point isn't that it's not a problem for me. My point is that it's such as silly position, I'm going to assume they're joking about it.

Link to comment
4 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

Note that theBruce0 said *legitimately* bothered or upset.

Well, don't take that literally. Or..figuratively..literally. Language is stupid these days. I meant legitimately as in truly, really, actually, very. Not "with good objective reason". Because I personally don't believe there is a good objective reason to be truly, really, actually, very upset.

Link to comment
8 hours ago, thebruce0 said:
13 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

Note that theBruce0 said *legitimately* bothered or upset.

Well, don't take that literally. Or..figuratively..literally. Language is stupid these days. I meant legitimately as in truly, really, actually, very. Not "with good objective reason".

Didn't your forum signature used to include a line about precise use of language?

Did precise mean making up word meanings as we go along? :P

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...