Geocaching Research Study

[+Max and 99]

First of all, is this legit? 

Second, if it IS legit, then I am really ticked off at Groundspeak for sharing my personal email address with 499 other people.  NOT OK!

I suspect this email is NOT from Groundspeak, though, since it's unlikely they would share my email address.

Anyone else get this email?  The screen shot at the bottom of this  post only shows the first part of the Interview attachment.

__________________________________________________________________

 

Hello!

 

You are receiving this email because you qualify for a Geocaching research study. If you participate, you will be compensated with a $25 Amazon gift card.

 

We will only need 45 minutes of your time. The study will take place from May 9th-11th via Google Hangouts.  

 

If you are interested in participating, please fill out this form by Thursday, May 3,12:00 PM PST: XXXX

 

Time slots are first come, first served. If you are unable to book a time, the study is full.

Looking forward to meeting you.

 

Cheers,

Kristen and Nate

 

 

 

Edited May 1, 2018 by Max and 99

[+BulldogBlitz]

I see no such email.

[+janiv]

I got this exact same email and came here to double check. I'm also pretty upset about them exposing 500 private emails by including everyone in the to: field instead of using a BCC.

[+Voltgloss]

As I said in the map survey thread, I saw a prompt during the map survey asking if I was interested to participate in something that sounds very much like this (especially the $25 gift and the Google group).

I clicked "yes" as I was interested at the time.  But I don't recall seeing anything in the survey that cautioned "by clicking yes you agree to our sharing your e-mail address with everyone else invited to participate" (or anything to that effect).

I haven't received the e-mail.  Maybe I wasn't part of a randomly chosen 500 (out of those clicking "yes" during the survey) to get the e-mail.

 

[+janiv]

I wrote them and here's their reply:

Quote

Russell,

I want to deeply apologize for this. We’re using a new system to send emails and we made an incorrect assumption about the BCC line.

We want you to know that we sincerely respect your privacy and we’re mortified about this mistake. We’re working to minimize the impact and prevent this from ever happening again.

Once again, we apologize and want you to know that we take your privacy very seriously.

Sincerely,

Geocaching Research

 

Edited May 1, 2018 by janiv

[InspectorBananas]

Max and 99 and Janiv, I want to deeply apologize about this. This research study is very much real and so is my monumental mistake in using the To line instead of the BCC. This was my first time using this software for email. I am absolutely mortified about this and I want you to know that we really respect our player's privacy. The community is the most important part of my job and a mistake like this is unacceptable. I cannot apologize enough about this and I can promise you this will never happen again. 

 

[+humspuds]

36 minutes ago, InspectorBananas said:

Max and 99 and Janiv, I want to deeply apologize about this. This research study is very much real and so is my monumental mistake in using the To line instead of the BCC. This was my first time using this software for email. I am absolutely mortified about this and I want you to know that we really respect our player's privacy. The community is the most important part of my job and a mistake like this is unacceptable. I cannot apologize enough about this and I can promise you this will never happen again. 

 

Hmm, maybe a $50 Amazon gift certificate would offset this error in discretion

[+Max and 99]

52 minutes ago, Voltgloss said:

As I said in the map survey thread, I saw a prompt during the map survey asking if I was interested to participate in something that sounds very much like this (especially the $25 gift and the Google group).

I clicked "yes" as I was interested at the time.  But I don't recall seeing anything in the survey that cautioned "by clicking yes you agree to our sharing your e-mail address with everyone else invited to participate" (or anything to that effect).

I haven't received the e-mail.  Maybe I wasn't part of a randomly chosen 500 (out of those clicking "yes" during the survey) to get the e-mail.

 

I never got a map survey prompt, just the email. Just fyi, in that clarifies anything.

[+Max and 99]

40 minutes ago, InspectorBananas said:

Max and 99 and Janiv, I want to deeply apologize about this. This research study is very much real and so is my monumental mistake in using the To line instead of the BCC. This was my first time using this software for email. I am absolutely mortified about this and I want you to know that we really respect our player's privacy. The community is the most important part of my job and a mistake like this is unacceptable. I cannot apologize enough about this and I can promise you this will never happen again. 

 

Thank you. Apology accepted. Mistakes happen, and we learn from them. Thank you for letting us know what happened.

[+The A-Team]

I answered no to the interview offer at the end of the mini-survey on the map, but I'm regretting that now. I think I could have provided a lot of useful feedback. Oh well.

[+K13]

I received the email.  I wondered about the inclusion of addresses, but figured it was today's better mistake .

 

Thanks for the quick response, @InspectorBananas, and for the apology.

 

[+Viajero Perdido]

Sharing the link to the survey could mess up their attempts to choose a random selection of the caching crowd.  Assuming that's what they want.  Now they'll get a semi-random selection, with a few forum regulars added in.

I'd encourage people to not use that link to participate unless invited.

Heck, I could smother them in feedback, but I assume there's a flag on my file, don't ask this guy. 

[+Max and 99]

7 minutes ago, Viajero Perdido said:

Sharing the link to the survey could mess up their attempts to choose a random selection of the caching crowd.  Assuming that's what they want.  Now they'll get a semi-random selection, with a few forum regulars added in.

I'd encourage people to not use that link to participate unless invited.

Heck, I could smother them in feedback, but I assume there's a flag on my file, don't ask this guy. 

I thought of that and ran downstairs to edit my post, then saw your comment. You are correct!  I immediately deleted the link, and didn't even think of that when I posted. Thanks for pointing that out.

[+smokeycrew]

I got the invite email, checked here to see if it was the real deal.  Satisfied that it was I clicked the link, but now the survey is closed.  Bummer, I would have liked to have participated. 

[+mnloon]

Mark me down as another sadly disappointed person to have had my email posted out there to tons of people I do not know. I agree with the person who suggested an Amazon gift card to all of those impacted would be a good idea. 

[Frau Potter]

I can confirm that it’s a legitimate email from two staff at Geocaching HQ. One of them made a big mistake not to use “bcc” and understands this was wrong. We apologize for the mistake. We are serious about getting feedback from users. We hope that those who received the email will consider participating. 

[+on4bam]

If any of the recipients were in the EU it would make a nice case for GDPR compliance.

 

[+Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking]

Too bad the survey was closed by the time I saw the email a few hours ago. We could have used that amazon card during this time of being financially strapped.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

14 hours ago, Voltgloss said:

As I said in the map survey thread, I saw a prompt during the map survey asking if I was interested to participate in something that sounds very much like this (especially the $25 gift and the Google group).

I clicked "yes" as I was interested at the time.  But I don't recall seeing anything in the survey that cautioned "by clicking yes you agree to our sharing your e-mail address with everyone else invited to participate" (or anything to that effect).

I haven't received the e-mail.  Maybe I wasn't part of a randomly chosen 500 (out of those clicking "yes" during the survey) to get the e-mail.

 

I clicked "no" on participating in a survey but still got the email message.  I went ahead and filled it out though and will participate if selected.