Release Notes (Website: Links now point to new search results) - April 20, 2021

April 21, 2021

Can you add the last found column to the search results. I use that info all the time.

April 21, 2021

58 minutes ago, Goldenwattle said:

Don't like it, as one of my favourite features is not there. When I look at someone's found list I like to be able to see if I have found that cache.

This is still there. Just presented differently. When looking at your friends list of found caches there is a smiley over the type icon indicating if you've already found it. However, there is no indication you are looking at someone else's list unless you look in the URL. This should be displayed in the list header.

What I will miss is the column "Last Found". I like to look at my list of geocache finds and then see if anyone has found the cache since I've been there. This cannot be done on this new list view. Can you please add this column to the "All Geocache Finds" list? As mentioned previously, it would be great if the end user could choose which columns they would like displayed and in what order then save the view. Also, add a filter box for Found Date (similar to Placed Date filter) so you could jump to a section in the list.

April 21, 2021

How about a link to the old search on profile page. This search gave me all my unfound caches 50 miles from my home coordinates. Plus it didn't show my hides or my finds.

This is the link I clicked on that said (filter out finds). This is my used function. New search is a waste of my time.

April 21, 2021

5 hours ago, JimJinks said:

https://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?ul=nykkole

@nykkole Is this going away some time soon? Project-GC links directly to this view so you don't even need to know "secret" URLs or anything.

April 21, 2021

Oh the wailing and gnashing of teeth seen in the posts! "W h y must you make the cross-platform-experience better Groundspeak? Why-hy-hy-hyyyyy???"

I have a simple post nykkole: Thank you, Groundspeak for providing improvements across the platforms. Thanks for bringing functionalities back when the furor becomes too much (it does happen, and sincere thanks).

Off direct topic - can you bring back links in the Messages as we can do here in Forums?? ?

April 21, 2021

Like the others I'm not happy with this update. Shows only 1000 caches. Impossible to locate a found between more than 42.000 founds. Please turn it back.

2.1k · April 21, 2021

I use this functionality to see when someone found which cache and in which order. Helps with solving mysteries and gives an indication that a cache might be gone but isn’t logged.

April 21, 2021

Why sorted from nearest to farthest?
This only makes sense when searching for a particular location.

Now, in most cases, you have to create the result list three times:
- Default -> Nearest to farthest
- Click on 'Found on' -> Oldest to newest
- Another click on 'Found on' -> Newest to Oldest

Poor hamsters...

1.8k · April 21, 2021

6 hours ago, JimJinks said:

The old search is still available if you use a bookmarked link

https://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?ul=nykkole

Insert your own profile name at the end of the link

THANK YOU for this! I wonder how long the link will work? For now, it's perfect - gives me back the old format, and it;s simple enough to sub in another player's name to get their list. Thank you, again, @JimJinks

9.1k · April 21, 2021

4 hours ago, IceColdUK said:

Generally, I don't have a problem with the switch - maybe I just don't use this functionality as much as some? - but one thing I do miss is the two 'Found On' dates: one for me, one for the filtered account.

heh, those values kept confusing me, trying to remember which was which But yes, seeing those was helpful. GCLH's script that moves the green dates to a separate column is quite helpful.

Here are some essential links I'd recommend bookmarking relevant to this update (I have a folder of so many direct links for easy access it's not event funny =))

All my Found It logs (though one single enormous web page download) - http://www.geocaching.com/my/logs.aspx?s=1&lt=2
All my Attended logs - http://www.geocaching.com/my/logs.aspx?s=1&lt=10
All my Webcam Photo Taken logs - https://www.geocaching.com/my/logs.aspx?s=1&lt=11
Old finds list for a user (still available for now) - https://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?ul=<username>
My Owned/unpublished listings (all, including archived unpublished, in the sidebar) - https://www.geocaching.com/my/geocaches.aspx?archived=y
All my owned caches (including archived, by most recently found) - https://www.geocaching.com/my/owned.aspx?sortdir=desc&sort=lastfound

The "All" links are only useful as a reference since the table isn't sortable or filterable and the page is huge, and only available for your own listings. But at least it's still possible to see ALL matches (not just the first 1000, regardless of sorting). Those links aren't solutions, but they address some changes. At least for now.

April 21, 2021

2 hours ago, brendan714 said:

There is a serious issue with white space in this new update. As a result, the pages now have significantly less efficiency and functionality.

-------------------------

The result and side-by-side comparison is almost laughably bad to see the loss of features and information in the new search!

As someone who only has access to the internet via their phone this right here hits the nail on the head

April 21, 2021

Wow. This change has RUINED the search function for me. In fact, it is almost useless for my needs. I had already been using the OLD search as the first set of changes did not meet my needs.

Not everyone uses a smart phone for geocaching. Not all of us geocache by randomly driving around then stopping to see what caches are in the area !

April 21, 2021

Just 'No', a search and view now involves endless scrolling. At least give us the choice of the old compact version.

Edited April 21, 2021 by THE CASTOFFS

April 21, 2021

Do Not Like. I thought I had accidentally agreed to a "new" version of something. Not nearly as useful as the older way.

When using a map-based view of caches nearby, say, a frustrating DNF or a challenge I can finally claim, it means an extra click to browse instead of being limited by the "new" view.

When reviewing my finds, it is useless without pagination, and with the limit of 1000. Luckily, all of my finds are still sorted by date found at https://www.geocaching.com/my/logs.aspx?s=1&lt=2 , but that does not allow me to filter by type except for events ("attended" logs vs. "found" logs).

The recently viewed list is similar to the way my "All geocache finds" list used to look, but way too short for seeing who may have found a geocache after me, and what their experience was. Using the new search results for "All geocache finds" from my profile does allow me to sort by the date I found it, but does not let me see if anyone has found a cache after me.

Edited April 21, 2021 by msrubble
Correction

2.1k · April 21, 2021

A question to developers: why would a dev team decide to reduce functionality and make changes completely contrary to what people need? Why add so much bloody whitespace? It's the same with every improvement of this site again and again: people lose functionality and the layout is messed, information available without scrolling reduced. I really wonder why the team doesn't learn from previous backlash.

11.4k · April 21, 2021

I don't know what you're thinking, Groundspeak. This is bad. Very bad.

6.2k · April 21, 2021

This is yet another appalling change.

1.3k · April 21, 2021

I usually a casual enough user that most changes don't affect me enough to bother me, but this one...yikes. It does seem like at times, Groundspeak will send out a survey to 10,000 users and 5,000 of them will scream for X change, 4,000 want X, the other 1,000 don't respond and GS will implement something they assume the 1,000 non-responders must've wanted. Groundspeaks logic baffles me sometimes.

April 21, 2021

Just curious... do the folks who put together these "improvements" actually even geocache?

Not impressed to find my closest (archived) find from 10 years ago listed as #1....

Another example of trying to fix something that wasn't broken? Thought April Fools was three weeks ago.

Give your heads a collective shake.

April 21, 2021

This useless update totally sucks. I have no idea what it may be useful for. When open the list of finds from another user, I want to see his finds he made on given date. And also comparison with my finds was much better earlier. Please, I want old design back !!!

Edited April 21, 2021 by darkMS

9.1k · April 21, 2021

That default sort order to match the old list really needs to be the first hotfix to assuage much of the reflex response here. And be fixed so it still works after scrolling...

April 21, 2021

I'm not sure, maybe you're working on it right now, because clicking on "Found On" doesn't do anything (BM). Will it do anything? Or are all the accounts of other people from the families (for example - dad logs right away, his son according to his findings the next day) on the way among the unwanted players?

April 21, 2021

43 minutes ago, thebruce0 said:

That default sort order to match the old list really needs to be the first hotfix to assuage much of the reflex response here. And be fixed so it still works after scrolling...

And be fixed so it still works after scrolling... (!!)

April 21, 2021

We dont like this bad update, please bring back the old one. This is not funny

22.1k · April 21, 2021

1 hour ago, jiggs11 said:

Just curious... do the folks who put together these "improvements" actually even geocache?

Not impressed to find my closest (archived) find from 10 years ago listed as #1....

Another example of trying to fix something that wasn't broken? Thought April Fools was three weeks ago.

Give your heads a collective shake.

I will reply to your question since I believe it was asked in good faith. Yes, Lackeys are also geocachers - some more than others. For example, nykkole is the Lackey monitoring this thread, and she has logged 3,855 finds. I looked at her account along with six other Lackeys who have been active in the Forums lately. These seven accounts have an average of 12,430 finds as of today.

Not *all* Lackeys have high find counts - many are hired for their technical or other specialized skills. The culture at Geocaching HQ encourages all Lackeys to have fun geocaching, and it is even part of their employee benefit incentives. And, it's part of the job description for certain Lackeys who are experienced geocachers to act as advocates for the geocaching community when working with developers.

Under the Forum Guidelines, posts which attack or criticize a person are not permitted - they are considered disrespectful. Criticize ideas, not people. For an example of a very critical post that is within the Forum Guidelines, please see terratin's post to this thread, a few posts up from this one. Note that terratin's post has received six upvotes as of this moment. In contrast, disrespectful posts can result in the post being hidden from view, as well as other consequences explained in the Forum Guidelines and the website Terms of Use.

April 21, 2021

I'm sorry, but this time Groundspeak you have well and truly "jumped the shark".

Edited April 21, 2021 by Mermaid.Man

April 21, 2021

4 minutes ago, Keystone said:

I will reply to your question since I believe it was asked in good faith. Yes, Lackeys are also geocachers - some more than others. For example, nykkole is the Lackey monitoring this thread, and she has logged 3,855 finds. I looked at her account along with six other Lackeys who have been active in the Forums lately. These seven accounts have an average of 12,430 finds as of today.

I am not a software developer, but, similar to Geocaching HQ, I am in an industry in which I provide a service to my clients. In general, when I plan to do something new, I first go and ask my client what they want me to do. My client then tells me their highest priority item. I then work on this, and after I make some progress, I provide a "working copy" to my client for review and ask "what do you think about what I've done here so far?" There are ALWAYS some changes that come out of this preliminary review. But we are both happy because the client knows they will get exactly what they want, and I am happy because I know I am making my client happy. Then I can finish my product and know that everybody is aligned.

What boggles my mind is that, instead of the above, the strategy here appears to be: 1) Release a large unwanted change to your entire clientele; 2) Receive immediate negative feedback on several valid technical points; 3) Your clients now have to live with an inferior product, while you 4) Frantically fix one or two (but not all) of these problems, leaving a flawed product, before soon moving on to the next project.

Given a website update like this that seems to have received an overwhelming negative response, I have to wonder why there isn't a small volunteer team of experienced geocachers (not too many, maybe 20-30?) who could test the update and provide comments BEFORE it goes live to everybody? Doing this kind of review early on before going in too deep can save a LOT of re-work (re-work = $$$).

Although I'm sure an internal software review does occur, I would argue (based on my observations on this particular update, and, to be honest, with most others) that the development team alone does not have sufficient geocaching experience to understand the functionality expected by an experienced geocacher.

As an experienced geocacher myself, I would happily volunteer some of my time to beta test some of the future website updates before they go live. To qualify myself, my constructive comments on this thread seem to be well received by my peers. My virtual door is open.

April 21, 2021

The search funktion are missing now We are more friends there normal can search for date of finds but this release gives only a search from my home base
I do not see why this should be good
Can we have the old search function back again or shall we upload this in a database out site GC.com to get the function back?

April 21, 2021

Total disaster I am afraid. Please show my recent finds exactly the same as before. I use this feature to see if I have left the cache ok and do this by seeing that someone has found it after me. Now I get the list sorted by distance from home. No I need my most recent and including when the cache was last found and when I found it just as for the last 15 years. I really do not care what I found 10 years ago. I have no idea how a feature like this can pass any review.

April 21, 2021

Oh boy. Just when you thought it couldn't get worse you're slammed with this. The degradations of the site are really coming at a high rate now. I just can't fathom why this is done, and no one even bothers to try to explain. I have just started to experience the impact of this, and I'm afraid I'll find more catastrophic consequences as I go along. For now, this means I will not be able to solve mystery caches based on another player's find history? I will not even be able to see my OWN find history more than 1,000 caches back? And even than after scrolling like a madman. What was wrong with having a paginated list with 20 per page?

April 21, 2021

I miss the option to highlight "beginner caches"

This was a good marker for Caches to search for with newbies.

And think about, that newbies with quick and easy first finds soon want more and will become premium members.

April 21, 2021

I challenge anyone to find a single thing that is better with the new format in brendan714's side-by-side comparisons above. The old format is more compact, it has graphics that accentuates important details, it doesn't BOTH have a traditional icon AND the text "traditional". Oh my god, I just realized the new format doesn't even have the column with cache status and trackables! It does however have a column with as-the-crow-flies distances from some arbitrary point. And I have to click twice EVERY TIME I view my own or someone elses find history to get it sorted in the natural order.

April 21, 2021

Two functions I haven't seen in the thread that I would really like to have:

1. Numbering of the ordering. I like to look at how many caches we have found with 100 or more favorite points - it's impossible to count the wall of text. I would consider being able to easily see which find is the 100th furthest from home to be an interesting new feature.

2. When ordering on a metric to maintain the previous ordering for ties. For instance if I order by difficulty it would be nice if the 5 difficulty caches maintained the ordering based on the previous ordering rather than whatever tie breaker it is using now.

Edited April 21, 2021 by schmittfamily

April 21, 2021

Sorry , But I'm not happy with the latest up-dates

esp when searching for ( NEW ) unfound cache's

I used to be able to see very quickly ( NEW ) cache's as they were marked as NEW , and if older I could still see by clicking Last found twice ,

PLEASE reverse the up-date and return it to the old way of searching .

April 21, 2021

13 hours ago, JimJinks said:

The old search is still available if you use a bookmarked link

https://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?ul=nykkole

Insert your own profile name at the end of the link

This is a lifesaver! For as long as it works. Sad that such workarounds should be necessary though.

April 21, 2021

This upgrade is a realy big downgrade ... is someone happy with that? No. Please turn it back.

April 21, 2021

PM cannot even see their own founds! It shows only the first 1000 and even for that requires some long minutes scrolling down...

It was good that someone that uses theses pages are coordinating these changes and not only technical skilled people implementing it.

This can work from technical point of view, but not from usability.

P.S. By the way I don't think the correct way to force your implementation is deleting posts of Geocachers unhappy with this without even notificate them!

April 21, 2021

On 4/21/2021 at 8:19 AM, nykkole said:

Thank you (and others who have mentioned it) for the feedback of the default sort by "Found On" date when viewing someone's finds. This is on our list of possible future improvements.

I find it curious that obvious deficiencies in the “upgraded” webpage that have been raised by numerous posters here are only considered as POSSIBLE future improvements. I would have thought that with the feedback raised so far that the new version would be pulled all together and only implemented once the necessary changes are able to be made (whenever that might be), rather than lumping us with a wholly deficient new version for goodness knows how long.

April 21, 2021

This is my first post to this forum and like the vast majority who've already mentioned it, this is an incredibly boneheaded update. I loved to see what my friends found today or the previous days, but now it shows distance?

Who the hell in their right mind decided this is more convenient? I couldn't care less that the friend has found a cache .3 miles away from me. I want to see what they found sorted by date, newest to oldest.

As a premium member who extensively used the search feature, I am flabbergasted by this god awful decision.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

April 21, 2021

I guess the question that seems to sum up the obvious frustration in these posts (and many others for any recent “upgrade” to the website) is: when GCHQ makes the conscious decision to take away existing functionality from its users or make pages harder to read/use with excess white space, poor default sorting etc: what is the “gained advantage” metric that is being used to compare the obvious disadvantage (e.g. the loss of existing functionality / deterioration is usability) against? We keep seeing loss of functionality etc but never an explanation of why what is being gained by the users in exchange for this loss is more advantageous. When people feel the advantages, if any, are outweighed by the loss of functionality, of course they will tend to react badly.

I guess this links back to what I thought was a valid question as to whether the developers or those initiating these changes are geocachers. Do they actually recognise the disadvantages being caused and their significance to be able to make a valid comparison of the advantages (if any) being gained?

Edited April 21, 2021 by seffnjarah

April 21, 2021

16 minutes ago, seffnjarah said:

I guess the question that seems to sum up the obvious frustration in these posts (and many others for any recent “upgrade” to the website) is: when GCHQ makes the conscious decision to take away existing functionality from its users or make pages harder to read/use with excess white space, poor default sorting etc: what is the “gained advantage” metric that is being used to compare the obvious disadvantage (e.g. the loss of existing functionality / deterioration is usability) against? We keep seeing loss of functionality etc but never an explanation of why or what is being gained by the users in exchange for this loss. When people feel the advantages, if any, are outweighed by the loss of functionality, of course they will tend to react badly.

From this release note :

''Why did we make this update?
There are many different ways to search for geocaches on Geocaching.com. With this update, we are taking the first step towards retiring the old search, which has remained in place for six years since the current search was released in March 2015. The goal is to reduce the confusion from (and related cost of maintaining) multiple search experiences, but also to reduce website vulnerabilities. As a benefit, this update provides consistent filtering and sorting, the option to add caches to a List, and the increased option to map caches from the search results. ''

I am puzzled about which confusion they are writing about?

The good practice of Groundspeak to interact with the community before releasing update from that article from March 2015 they quoted yesterday has been sadly lost :

''We’re excited to announce the launch of the new geocache search tool. It’s faster, easier to use and helps you find the exact adventure you want—and it’s all thanks to the geocaching community. We started the upgrade by asking geocachers what they wanted, then gave Geocaching Premium members a Sneak Peek at the new tool before launch.''

13.8k · April 21, 2021

It was so easy to skip a couple pages when looking for caches within a certain mileage at "Search (filter all finds), which I mostly use.

Helpful if you're not sure that notification you just got is on a pmo cache too (I try not to click on pmo). Now I have to scroll...and scroll...

Progress I guess...

Edited April 21, 2021 by cerberus1

April 21, 2021

Not to mention, the changes HQ felt necessary to make also make it harder to go back and see what we ourselves have found. I just can't find a justification for sorting things by distance versus found on date. It should be the other way around like it was before.

Here's a suggestion:

At the very least, allow us to set the sort by as default to what we choose.

Say I want to pull up my finds and see what I found in the last however many days from newest to oldest. Give me back that option and let me choose to keep that default.

I repeat what I said earlier: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

April 21, 2021

Lots of mentions as to why it benefits GCHQ but only minor mention of user benefits being gained and no mention of recognizing there is a loss of functionality.

April 21, 2021

2 minutes ago, tbbiker said:

I still don't understand this: If this was an update to the search feature, why has our Geocaches Found page been butchered? Nothing that has changed on it is any good and that is the one link on geocaching.com that I use the most. The way it is now, I have no use for it which means I will be logged onto the website less. Is this what they want?

Yes this is another thing I find curious. The website is where they are able to make money from advertising sponsors, but not from the app, yet the constant loss-of-functionality changes to the website are driving people away from the website. You may as well just use the app. Less website traffic, less advertising $. Makes no sense to me.

April 22, 2021

I'd prefer no only to reverse the last update but also switch the "new" search results design to the good old view that was used to show players finds/hides list. Thats fine that we have the "new" search engine, so we are able to filter search by D/T rating, name, cache types, attributes (there is however still field to improvement, eg. add possibiliy to filter by found date or by negative attributes), but the search results page design and the way the results are loaded is not what we expect. Old (lets say "classic") view, was more readable and more informative.

If you want to improve the presentation page, I propose to enhance the old view's pagination by enabling to choose number of caches per page (e.g. 20, 50 or 100).

April 22, 2021

Just my two cents on the update:

Personally, I think the new update was just haphazardly put together. I don't understand the reasoning to default the lists to display distances from your home coordinates. That said, it is a nice option to have if Groundspeak wishes to integrate both options into the old, better version.

I do not like having all of my finds (thousands of them) on one page. I like having them split into 20 caches per page. I dislike the fact that you can no longer see when the cache was last found by another user. If the old system isn't broke, why fix it? IMO, this does more harm than good. I can see what Groundspeak was trying to do, but it seemed like it didn't work as there wasn't anything to fix in the first place.

4.4k · April 22, 2021

11 hours ago, Twinklekitkat said:

This is still there. Just presented differently. When looking at your friends list of found caches there is a smiley over the type icon indicating if you've already found it. However, there is no indication you are looking at someone else's list unless you look in the URL. This should be displayed in the list header.

Thank you. The trouble was I was looking at someone else's list and not seeing any without that smiling face. I scrolled down some distance and finally found one without the face.

With no indication you are looking at someone else's list, caused me to write an entry here that was wrong. Suddenly realising it wasn't my list I was looking at, I rushed back here and deleted my comment.

I would also like to see when each cache was last found.

Not as practical or well laid out as the old one.

April 22, 2021

Many have already expressed the many things that are terrible with this update, so I won't repeat them except to say......this "upgrade" (ahem) does not get one of our coveted favorite points.

April 22, 2021

On 4/20/2021 at 11:16 AM, Geocaching HQ said:

Release Notes (Website: Links now point to new search results) - April 20, 2021

The following links are updated:

Links to finds and hides from the player profile

I would like this to be changed so that "most recently found" is the automatic default to the top of the list when I go to a player profile. When I go to the profile of someone on my Favorites List, I want to see where they just went caching. I don't want to see the cache they found that is nearest me ... every time I look at their profile.

This seems to be a change brought by folks who never use this site to see where their friends go caching. It's likely that they must be posting and looking at them all on other social media. Not all of us want to or have the time to do that.

Release Notes (Website: Links now point to new search results) - April 20, 2021

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