Missing Waymarks

[+m0bean]

I have started to dip my toe into the Waymarking world, coming mostly from a Geocaching background.  I am a little unclear on the etiquette surrounding missing waymarks.  For example, if a historic plaque is no longer at the listed location.  From what I understand, it is not as common to archive waymarks as geocaches.  There also seems to be the idea that even if the waymark isn't there now, it was there, so the listing is still valid.  So what would normally be done in that case:

    1) Do nothing.  Nothing to visit, nothing to log.

    2) Add a note indicating that the waymark is no longer there

    3) Take a picture at the current location to document the current situation and log a visit

    4) Some other action???

Also, does it depend on the category?  I would think that knowing that something was at a particular location before might be of greater or lesser interest depending on the category.

[+Max and 99]

18 minutes ago, m0bean said:

I have started to dip my toe into the Waymarking world, coming mostly from a Geocaching background.  I am a little unclear on the etiquette surrounding missing waymarks.  For example, if a historic plaque is no longer at the listed location.  From what I understand, it is not as common to archive waymarks as geocaches.  There also seems to be the idea that even if the waymark isn't there now, it was there, so the listing is still valid.  So what would normally be done in that case:

    1) Do nothing.  Nothing to visit, nothing to log.

    2) Add a note indicating that the waymark is no longer there

    3) Take a picture at the current location to document the current situation and log a visit

    4) Some other action???

Also, does it depend on the category?  I would think that knowing that something was at a particular location before might be of greater or lesser interest depending on the category.

First, contact the owner of the waymark and let them know the item is missing.

In my opinion, if you don't hear back after 2 weeks, I would suggest an edit which is then reviewed by the category officers. 

 

There are various reasons why some people will still visit waymarks that are gone. I did it once because it was part of a scavenger hunt and a big one at that. If you miss even one waymark the entire hunt  doesn't get completed! So I reported it missing and logged it. Some people do it because they want to clear the waymarks in their area. 

 

Keep in mind that waymarks, unlike geocaches, are often done on vacation. It may be at a place you never get back to, so unless someone lets you know that there's a problem you won't know. I think too often geocachers who start Waymarking don't understand that it's not something that needs to be checked and maintained like a geocache. 

 

I personally would take a picture. I would log a comment on the waymark to alert the wmo. Unfortunately you can't add photos to comments. There's nothing wrong with logging a visit and including a photo to show that it's not there. But I would check back to make sure the wmo edits the title to indicate it is gone. 

[+m0bean]

Thank you for this very very helpful response.  I didn't even realize I could edit an existing waymark, and that the edit would be reviewed.  Interesting to understand how all this works.

[+Bear and Ragged]

5 hours ago, m0bean said:

Thank you for this very very helpful response.  I didn't even realize I could edit an existing waymark, and that the edit would be reviewed.  Interesting to understand how all this works.

 

You can't actually edit the Waymark page, but there is a way to suggest edits.

Suggested edits are notified to the Waymark category officers, who can either accept or decline the edits.

(Strangely, photographs as part of a visit would help if a major part of the Waymark was missing or changed!)

[+ScroogieII]

We've suffered the loss of quite a few of our Waymarked sites over the years, most notably almost all of those in Lytton, BC, on June 30th of this year.

See these Waymarks to learn how we handled the lost Waymarks.

Waymarks such as these should never be archived, as they may well be the last extant records of the Waymarked sites.

 

The above explanations are essentially correct, with regard to dealing with the lost Waymarks of others, so there's no need to elucidate further.

 

WELCOME TO Waymarking, m0bean!! 

 

Keith

Edited November 30, 2021 by ScroogieII

[Becktracker]

What actually happens when you archive a waymark? Is it put in an archive forever, or deleted?

[+fi67]

2 hours ago, Becktracker said:

What actually happens when you archive a waymark? Is it put in an archive forever, or deleted?

The waymark does not appear anymore in public searches, but if you know the WM code you can still access it when you open a page with this URL. You can still search and see your own archived waymarks. They still count in your statistic, also the visits to those waymarks are still counted. This state is permanent, it is not deleted at all.

I don't know what happens if you try to unarchive an archived waymark (there is a button for it). Probably it is re-evaluated by an officer of that group, but that is only a guess.

[+ScroogieII]

On 12/1/2021 at 8:58 AM, Becktracker said:

What actually happens when you archive a waymark? Is it put in an archive forever, or deleted?

 

I can say that the  fi guy is correct. Also, archived Waymarks will be in your "Archived" folder, should you want, or need, to retrieve them.

However, as for unarchiving, I once archived several Waymarks, then needed to unarchive them. They simply became normal Waymarks again, with no outside intervention required.

Keith

 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2021 by ScroogieII

[+PISA-caching]

On 11/29/2021 at 10:47 PM, m0bean said:

Also, does it depend on the category?

 

As far as I can see, this question has not yet been answered, so I will post my opinion. In general, I would say, that it does not. However, the waymark of an old church that burned down has a much higher value for me, than a WM of f.e. a branch of McDonald's restaurants, that has been closed. That however, doesn't mean that I would do something different, if I learn that a McDonald's restaurant isn't there anymore.

[+ScroogieII]

On 11/29/2021 at 1:47 PM, m0bean said:

Also, does it depend on the category?

 

I'm pretty sure that it does not.