BendSinister Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 (edited) My premium membership has lapsed today after several years and I just noticed that the personal notes on individual cache pages are now inaccessible. I had no particular intention of reinstating Premium status, at least not in any hurry, as in recent years I've found few caches (and very few PMO caches) and frankly I can't afford it any more. But I rely very heavily on the online notes that I've entered for perhaps 1600+ puzzles, multis, wherigos and letterboxes over about 4 years. Not least the complete worked solutions for my own caches (still very much online) which I'm in the habit of checking via my phone when solvers request confirmation of partial workings, etc. I can't see this listed anywhere as a premium feature, so this really should be made clearer. And I'm not sure how I feel about being locked in to paying some AUD50.00 annually to, effectively, just retain a feature that mostly helps me to be a responsive CO. Can anyone even assure me, before paying up, that such notes haven't been deleted? (I'm guessing not. But this would be quite the gamechanger if they have -- would seriously consider archiving everything and walking away.) Edited September 15, 2019 by BendSinister 1 Quote Link to comment
+cerberus1 Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 In the "differences of" page for Apps, it does show personal cache notes as a PM feature. 1 1 Quote Link to comment
+van der Decken Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, BendSinister said: Can anyone even assure me, before paying up, that such notes haven't been deleted? My experience was that they remained intact. Edited September 15, 2019 by van der Decken 2 Quote Link to comment
+frostengel Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 4 hours ago, BendSinister said: Can anyone even assure me, before paying up, that such notes haven't been deleted? I was "member" for some days lately. My premium membership ran out and I only renewed it several days later. In these days nothing has been deleted: none of my personal notes, none of my lists, none of my saved pocket queries... I just couldn't use them or I didn't try ;-) After reinstalling the premium membership everything was like before. Of course that was only for some days so I can't tell you if they store the information for years. They can't store everything forever, can they!? Not sure, it is only text!? But my personal experience says that it is still there NOW. To be sure what happens in five years probably only Groundspeak themselves can tell you. Perhaps you'll ask there to be absolutely sure? Jochen 1 Quote Link to comment
+VAVAPAM Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 3 hours ago, cerberus1 said: In the "differences of" page for Apps, it does show personal cache notes as a PM feature. But I'm not sure that's the case if using the website .... (Just like being able to see > 2/2 caches.) 1 Quote Link to comment
+cerberus1 Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 18 minutes ago, VAVAPAM said: But I'm not sure that's the case if using the website .... (Just like being able to see > 2/2 caches.) Last September, in a blog, it does say, "You can add and edit Personal cache notes both in the Geocaching® app and on Geocaching.com.", under "Personal cache notes (Premium feature)". 1 Quote Link to comment
+VAVAPAM Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 2 hours ago, cerberus1 said: Last September, in a blog, it does say, "You can add and edit Personal cache notes both in the Geocaching® app and on Geocaching.com.", under "Personal cache notes (Premium feature)". Missed that one - thanks! Quote Link to comment
BendSinister Posted September 16, 2019 Author Share Posted September 16, 2019 (edited) Thanks for the confirmation and reassurance people. Might have to probe your collective wisdom more often. I think that if one has to refer to a parenthetical note on a single blog post I can be forgiven for overlooking this. Definitely include it in the [non-app] FAQs and that Basic vs Premium checklist please Groundspeak! Amusingly, I wasn't even sure what those notes were called once they disappeared from my life. That was a lucky guess up there in the thread title. Thanks again. Edited September 16, 2019 by BendSinister Quote Link to comment
+cerberus1 Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 14 hours ago, BendSinister said: I think that if one has to refer to a parenthetical note on a single blog post I can be forgiven for overlooking this. Definitely include it in the [non-app] FAQs and that Basic vs Premium checklist please Groundspeak! Your first reply (mine on "the Apps" because of "checking via my phone...") came from the Help Center, not from a "single blog post". - So all you wanted to know has been included in information on the app and non-app for some time... I used that same blog just minutes earlier, so I only had to "paste" it again to answer another quickly. Quote Link to comment
BendSinister Posted September 17, 2019 Author Share Posted September 17, 2019 (edited) I read your links. And was grateful for them. And I upvoted your posts because they were helpful. And then I returned to the help centre in pursuit of information on system-wide benefits of premium membership. I still can't find it mentioned there outside the context of the app. And this is after knowing about the problem and actively searching with the correct terms. Something I never thought to do before premium ran out because the exclusivity of this feature is mentioned weirdly infrequently. Plus I was only ever a basic member for perhaps 10 days in the first place so can't trust my memory on such matters. I only use the Groundspeak app as a handy interface for the message centre thingy. So I certainly wouldn't have been fishing around in there for a summary on system-wide differences between Premium and Basic. I readily concede that no-one else is to blame and that I'm stupidest person on the face of the earth. I'm merely suggesting that Groundspeak might routinely list personal notes on their lists of the benefits of Premium membership so even their extremely stupid customers don't get a surprise. Besides, it's an excellent feature! And still the only Premium feature I've missed in my first 36 hours of restricted use. - - - EDIT: eg. here's the summary I'm presented with when clicking on the massive 'renew' link that appeared on my profile a month or so back. (Features available to basic members denoted by *.) The relative obscurity of a few of these almost makes the omission of a reference to cache notes seem like a deliberate strategy. FIND MORE GEOCACHES Basic geocaches* Advanced geocaches on mobile All geocache types on mobile Premium-only geocaches GET MORE FEATURES Messaging* Worldwide search* Advanced search Offline maps Award favourite points Lists More map types New geocache notifications Advanced statistics Caches along a route Pocket queries Send to Garmin Beyond Geocaching.com [third party apps stuff] Edited March 24, 2020 by BendSinister Quote Link to comment
+VAVAPAM Posted September 17, 2019 Share Posted September 17, 2019 Yes, of all the places one might find information on Premium vs. Basic Membership, the Renew/Sign Up page is where they need to have a complete and up-to-date list. I mean, we're talking forking over cash, here. 2 Quote Link to comment
+K13 Posted September 17, 2019 Share Posted September 17, 2019 Are people really upset that there are un-named benefits to Premium Membership? Please don't mention the secret PMO Forum. 1 2 Quote Link to comment
BendSinister Posted September 17, 2019 Author Share Posted September 17, 2019 ^ LOL. I'm starting to think I depend on these notes more than average. I just returned to premium again. Purely for this one feature. I mean, something like 60% of my finds have puzzle/waypoint-related notes on them. Plus a few hundred puzzles I never got around to signing. And my own caches. A lot of this isn't recorded elsewhere. It was crippling. (Though okay, yeah, I shouldn't been surprised. I've got the message already. I'm an idiot.) *scampers back out of the spotlight* Quote Link to comment
+The Jester Posted September 17, 2019 Share Posted September 17, 2019 25 minutes ago, BendSinister said: ^ LOL. I'm starting to think I depend on these notes more than average. I just returned to premium again. Purely for this one feature. I mean, something like 60% of my finds have puzzle/waypoint-related notes on them. Plus a few hundred puzzles I never got around to signing. And my own caches. A lot of this isn't recorded elsewhere. It was crippling. (Though okay, yeah, I shouldn't been surprised. I've got the message already. I'm an idiot.) *scampers back out of the spotlight* Keeping all the data in an offline database (I use GSAK) means you're independent of the website. 1 Quote Link to comment
+niraD Posted September 17, 2019 Share Posted September 17, 2019 47 minutes ago, The Jester said: Keeping all the data in an offline database (I use GSAK) means you're independent of the website. On the flip side, keeping all the data on the geocaching.com web site means you're independent of the specific computer/device/app that you happen to be using at the moment. 1 Quote Link to comment
BendSinister Posted September 17, 2019 Author Share Posted September 17, 2019 (edited) Device-independence *has* been very handy. eg. there are countless occasions where I've wondered on a whim whether a location might be suitable for a new cache. An internal monologue of this form typically ensues: "Wait, a dimly-remembered multi I completed with a different device in 2015 involved a waypoint in this valley... Best check the WP automatically regenerated by [APP NAME REDACTED] from ancient cache notes ... Oh, a good 220 metres away. Excellent then." Edited May 7, 2020 by BendSinister Quote Link to comment
+The A-Team Posted September 17, 2019 Share Posted September 17, 2019 9 hours ago, K13 said: Are people really upset that there are un-named benefits to Premium Membership? I think it's more a matter of not realizing that a benefit was actually a benefit, since the lack of documentation implies that it isn't a benefit. Quote Please don't mention the secret PMO Forum. Sigh. You just did, so now we have to kill you... 2 1 Quote Link to comment
+colleda Posted September 17, 2019 Share Posted September 17, 2019 5 minutes ago, The A-Team said: I think it's more a matter of not realizing that a benefit was actually a benefit, since the lack of documentation implies that it isn't a benefit. Sigh. You just did, so now we have to kill you... At least there was no mention of PMO being a stepping stone to Platinum Status. I didn't say that. 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment
+VAVAPAM Posted September 19, 2019 Share Posted September 19, 2019 (edited) On 9/17/2019 at 9:27 AM, K13 said: Are people really upset that there are un-named benefits to Premium Membership? Not upset. Searching for answers. Annoyed that invariably, whenever I'm looking for a quick answer I end up having to pick up crumbs of info from several different Help Pages before getting the complete answer. Whoever re-arranged the Help Pages doesn't think/organize the way I do. At least they have a Search function. Sure, it makes sense that app-specific benefits would be in the app section; site-specific benefits would be in the site-specific section; in the purchase-specific section, it makes most sense to include all the benefits. But hey, that's just the way I think. Edited September 19, 2019 by VAVAPAM , ; Mom is visiting and reading over my shoulder. She feels very strongly about punctuation heh heh 4 Quote Link to comment
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