Archive Log - no longer verifies

[+dartymoor]

Filing an archive log now immediately Archives the cache permanently.

 

Previously, the site would sensibly ask "Are you sure?". Now it does not - goes straight to archive with no verification of intent.

 

Given how easy it would be to select the wrong Log type, I believe this is an essential feature that should be reinstated.

 

(Using new log form, not the depreciated "opt out" one. Unsure if this has always been present with the new form or a recent bug as I don't often archive my caches.)

[+Isonzo Karst]

Windows machine, Firefox

True of new logging, no warning about permanence of the archive.  New logging, there's faint gray on white text in the text pane:

Explain why you are archiving this geocache. Make sure to remove any physical containers if you haven't already! 

I guess the assumption is that cache owner knows what "archive" means. I wonder how long it's been this way? likely since new logging was introduced. I archived Nesting FSM, submitting the   "new logging" archive  to see if there was warning on submit, and no.

I'm not sure it's an issue  if it's been around as long as the "not so new" logging. I assume that avoiding errors may be why the archive log isn't available in the geocaching.com apps.

 

Images below, old logging message, new logging text box. 

Edited January 6, 2019 by Isonzo Karst

[+Viajero Perdido]

My eyes are in great shape, and yet this color of text really annoys me.  It's one reason I always hit the opt-out link the instant I see it.  And I'm seeing it more often nowadays - why?

 

The day you remove the opt-out option is a day you'll be drowned in feedback.

 

And out in the real world, yes, "Archive" can mean something else, like "make a backup copy".  We're too close to see the wider meaning.

 

(Can we archive this trendy design?)

[+searcherdog]

1 hour ago, Viajero Perdido said:

My eyes are in great shape, and yet this color of text really annoys me.  It's one reason I always hit the opt-out link the instant I see it.  And I'm seeing it more often nowadays - why?

 

My eyes are getting older but I definitely agree with Viajero Perdido. 

[+cerberus1]

10 hours ago, dartymoor said:

Filing an archive log now immediately Archives the cache permanently.

(Using new log form, not the depreciated "opt out" one. Unsure if this has always been present with the new form or a recent bug as I don't often archive my caches.)

 

I find the old form still much better than the new one  (not "depreciated" at all...), and I just recently archived a cache using that "old" form.

It asked if I was sure. 

[+Isonzo Karst]

I have no opinion on the loss of the warning on archive.  Has there been an uptick in requests for unarchive? my other account, a reviewer account, has not noticed it. Broadly, worldwide, I don't know.

 

I assume the faint gray is intended to let you know that "your text goes here" and that the existing text won't post.  On old logging has gray text as well.  I don't recall when this happened. It's the same suggestion for all cache types, from archive to owner maintenance (Share your story with the geocache owner and community. Try not to leave any spoilers! )

New logging it varies from one type to the next, mildly educational, mildly parental.

 

Cache owners: new logging maybe better than old logging for Update coords logs because the coords pane is at the top, not at the bottom below the fold line.  New logging, you cannot post the log without making some edit to those coords. No zero change logs.  Like new  Archive, no warning before you post.  (And what a lot of new cache owners actually use to change cache coords is the handy pencil thingy on the cache page, to the right of the posted coordinates that says, "correct these coordinates" - effecting a change that only they see).

 

Cache owners: for all other logging, new logging is worse, because instead of a choose a log type, there's a default, which is Owner Maintenance. There have always been logs which were not actual maintenance logged as OM, but now it's epidemic.  Odd that as one part of staff has worked to develop cache health tools, the efforts of another part has undercut that effort .

 

New logging doesn't offer formatting. I consider this an improvement, but hey, formatting! old logging offers a pop up on "how to format" which is no longer current.

Given that new logging has less function than old, no warnings on archive, or update coords, no formatting, surely it's new logging that's been depreciated?

Edited January 7, 2019 by Isonzo Karst

[+arisoft]

I know one cache which was accidentally archived recently  https://coord.info/GC2BD6W

The CO did not notice this until commented by other users.

[+Isonzo Karst]

GC2BD6W  -   I wonder if the CO knows that the unarchive leaves the cache in a disabled state?

it makes some sense that lack of warning on archive would be more an issue to non-English speakers (even in English, the way this site uses "archive" is unique).

Edited January 7, 2019 by Isonzo Karst

[+arisoft]

1 hour ago, Isonzo Karst said:

I wonder if the CO knows that the unarchive leaves the cache in a disabled state?

 

The CO originally tried to disable the cache because of winter. This is not an unique incident. I have occasionally seen similar cases where log type is archive but the message is about temporary disabling.

[+K13]

5 hours ago, Isonzo Karst said:

Odd that as one part of staff has worked to develop cache health tools, the efforts of another part has undercut that effort .

 

Truth.  One hand doesn't know what the other is doing, and sometimes it appears that neither is doing what the users want.

[+NanCycle]

8 hours ago, arisoft said:

 

The CO originally tried to disable the cache because of winter. This is not an unique incident. I have occasionally seen similar cases where log type is archive but the message is about temporary disabling.

And vice versa.  I've seen "Disable " logs where the message made it clear that it was not intended to be Temporary.   This was not a situation that needed to be made worse. 

[+Isonzo Karst]

@K13, I expect this has more to do with the law of unexpected consequences than ignorance.  All new logging has a default log now.  I assume this is somehow built into the logging module in a way that's hard/impossible to modify.  On owner logging, if there must be default, I'd go with Write Note. 

 

I also think that what the site does is aimed  at "what users want", though some of that is nuts and bolts of site function, such that it does function in the current internet environment, and with current devices.

[+dartymoor]

Sadly, nothing appears to have been done to address this issue.

 

GZ don't bother reading and responding to the forums any more, even when there's a forum specifically for reporting website issues?

[Keystone]

If by "GZ" you mean "Geocaching HQ," they read and follow the Forums on nearly a daily basis.  Not every thread gets a reply from HQ, however, although many do.  The current Geocaching Topics forum thread about the Mystery at the Museum promotion is a great example.