Feature request: longer text limit for earthcache hints

[+hzoi]

I'm in the process of creating an earthcache.  This is my first since the cache submission page was redone, and I'm running into an issue with the new truncated limit on hints.

Since earthcaches have to teach an earth science lesson, geocachers have to demonstrate that they have learned it by answering logging questions.  I've found that one way to keep the questions from getting lost in the text is to repeat them, unencrypted, in the hint (example).

So far, using the new cache submission page, I've been unable to type out a hint anywhere near the length I used to be able to.  I can neither paste in the questions I've already written, nor can I retype them - I'm not sure what the limit is for lines or characters, but whatever it is, I'm apparently exceeding it.

It remains to be seen whether, after submission, I'll be able to update the page and then create a longer hint to duplicate the logging questions.

tl;dr: I'd like a longer hint section for earthcaches again, please, because it made it easier for geocachers to find the logging questions.

[+Mineral2]

That's not what hints are for. If the questions are getting lost in the description, maybe format the description so that the questions stand out.

[+arisoft]

You can add a link to the question section using a fragment identifier. If you put the link at the beginning and the end of the description the question section should be easy enough to find with a single click.

Edited March 27, 2018 by arisoft

[Moun10Bike]

I have to agree with Mineral2. We recently downgraded the size of hints so that users in the field are not being overwhelmed with massive hints that sometimes need decrypting, and that cause issues with display on mobile devices.

[+dprovan]

Your request is, of course, a reasonable one. If they cut down the size of a legal hint for the new submission page, they should fix that problem.

As to the other reactions about long hints, they have a point, although I also understand and appreciate what you're doing. I have found it very useful when earthcache COs make the questions available through the hint because otherwise they're way down at the end of the description. Questions at the end of the description can be a big problem for me because my GPSr truncates the description at some point, so more than once I've gotten to an earthcache only to discover that I can't see the questions.

So, yes, it should be fixed, and yes, you should be able to do that. Having said that, I wouldn't mind some other alternatives, like putting only the questions and leaving out all the verbiage about having to answer them -- perhaps you already tried that and the questions alone still don't fit -- and I also appreciate it when COs put the questions at the top of the description, before the lesson, although I understand why many are reluctant to do that.