Many Features of the Website Don't Work

[+RuckerMC]

I'm fairly new to Geocaching, but from the very beginning have been frustrated with the website.  Many of the pages won't open.  Are others having similar issues?

Edited March 2, 2022 by RuckerMC

[+Max and 99]

58 minutes ago, RuckerMC said:

I'm fairly new to Geocaching, but from the very beginning have been frustrated with the website.  Many of the pages won't open.  Are others having similar issues?

Could you be a little more specific?

[+RuckerMC]

3 minutes ago, Max and 99 said:

Could you be a little more specific?

On the home page none of the Quick Searches will load, the map doesn't load when I click on "go to map"

On my dashboard My Lists won't load

There have been other issues, but these are the ones that make the website almost useless

[+kunarion]

18 minutes ago, RuckerMC said:

On the home page none of the Quick Searches will load, the map doesn't load when I click on "go to map"

On my dashboard My Lists won't load

There have been other issues, but these are the ones that make the website almost useless

 

What operating system and which web browser(s)?  What have you tried so far (clearing browser cache, etc.)?

[+abl973]

Same issues for me ... macOS Monterey 12.2.1, safari 15.3

- doesn't load map, messages without constant manual refreshing

- closed safari and restarted

- rebooted MacBook 

- cache cleared and worked for a while

 

geocaching website works with chrome on same MacBook. No I don't want to use chrome all the time although Chrome appears quicker at loading geocaching webpages than Safari. 

 

I've not made any recent changes to safari.

 

Also have similar issue using iOS (15.3.1) and safari.

 

 

 

 

[+RuckerMC]

38 minutes ago, kunarion said:

 

What operating system and which web browser(s)?  What have you tried so far (clearing browser cache, etc.)?

Windows 10 using Chrome and Firefox. Have cleared browser cache and restarted computer.  Since no one has answered my question, and only asking what I'm doing, I'm guessing no one else is having issues with the website.

[+kunarion]

Just now, RuckerMC said:

Windows 10 using Chrome and Firefox. Have cleared browser cache and restarted computer.  Since no one has answered my question, and only asking what I'm doing, I'm guessing no one else is having issues with the website.

Not usually as bad as you mention, as an ongoing thing.  

Although you weren’t asking for help, I thought I’d chip in anyway. When some major problem develops, I prefer to fix it, not simply count people. 

[+RuckerMC]

4 minutes ago, kunarion said:

Not usually as bad as you mention, as an ongoing thing.  

Although you weren’t asking for help, I thought I’d chip in anyway. When some major problem develops, I prefer to fix it, not simply count people. 

Was just trying to find out if it's an issue on my end or Groundspeak's.  Sounds like it's on my end.

[+harbhippo]

I can't log in to the website if I'm using a VPN. IT kept refusing my password, and I wasted most of this afternoon trying to figure out why.

I also couldn't send the help email, because it requires that you check the "I'm not a robot" capcha, which won't even display if I'm on a VPN.

I'm posting this in case somebody else has a similar experience, but it seems to me that the website ought to at least add a line to the effect that you need to turn off the VPN if you can't get in, somewhere on the same page where it reports your password is incorrect (which of course it isn't).

Ideally, it shouldn't refuse your password just because you're using a Virtual Private Network.

[+Viajero Perdido]

No VPN problems for me, and I keep changing gateways to various cities around the planet.

 

If you're using a free VPN, maybe those gateways are recognized as "bad IPs" due to bad actors using the same gateways.  I've rarely seen a CAPTCHA when using a paid VPN.  Maybe it keeps out the riff-raff.

[+AlmondEyes]

It’s not just you.  It’s been worse for me a few weeks now.  

 

I’ll go to Messages and get a white screen where my messages should be.  I have to refresh to get it to load now.  I’ll be in the middle of typing a message to someone and the screen freezes.  Have to get off the page and get back on it in order to finish typing.  Other times I go back to finish typing to find all I’ve typed was deleted so I have to start over again.  Trying to open up the Event listing doesn’t always work properly.  And sometimes I get a message that’s some sort of error message I cannot X out of, nor can I hit the back button or swipe right in order to go backward.  That error message (it says something about a cache listing went wrong but I can’t recall exactly what it says) just won’t allow me to do anything.  I have to X off the website and go back in again.  Haven’t done anything different on my end.  Seems to work better in DuckDuckGo vs Safari.  

[+KRON family]

I've also noticed some problems lately. If I click on Wonders od World in the Dashboard, blank page.

 

Edited March 7, 2022 by KRON family

[+RuckerMC]

Issue has been resolved on my end

[+AlmondEyes]

Finally got the error message to happen again.  Here’s a screen shot.  Seems to happen when I want to view an archived listing mostly. But not always; sometimes the listing pops up with no problems.

[+kunarion]

27 minutes ago, AlmondEyes said:

Finally got the error message to happen again.  Here’s a screen shot.  Seems to happen when I want to view an archived listing mostly. But not always; sometimes the listing pops up with no problems.

 

Isn't the system designed to not show archived caches from a Search result?  It used to slap you into your Home Location map with no cache icon.  It's pobably better to pop up a Sorry window, than display a map of not where the cache is.

 

Bear in mind, when I'm poking around for archived caches, I would rather have a map and info as if it was any active cache.  I wish I could do that.  I can handle it.  It once worked exactly that way.  Guess it at best causes confusion, and at worst, creates a big problem (many caches were archived for being where the public must not go).  And yeah, I know there are ways to place an archived cache icon on a map.

 

Are you saying you sometimes do get an archive cache listing as a search result?

 

 

Edited March 8, 2022 by kunarion

[+ChriBli]

30 minutes ago, AlmondEyes said:

Finally got the error message to happen again.  Here’s a screen shot.  Seems to happen when I want to view an archived listing mostly. But not always; sometimes the listing pops up with no problems.

This happens when you try to map an empty search result. Most commonly because you did "view larger map" from and archived cache's listing, which will open the search map. See 

 

[+AlmondEyes]

On 3/8/2022 at 12:40 PM, kunarion said:

Isn't the system designed to not show archived caches from a Search result?  It used to slap you into your Home Location map with no cache icon.  It's pobably better to pop up a Sorry window, than display a map of not where the cache is.

I don’t know what it’s supposed to do, but it does open many of them.  I only get that pop up sometimes.  It is a pain because you can’t just X out of it or hit the back button…. it doesn’t go away.  I have to get off the website and get back on to continue doing something else.

[+AlmondEyes]

On 3/8/2022 at 12:56 PM, ChriBli said:

his happens when you try to map an empty search result. Most commonly because you did "view larger map" from and archived cache's listing, which will open the search map. See 

I don’t know what “mapping an empty search result” means.  But, for instance, in the photo I posted, I was looking at all archived caches.  All I did was click on one of them so I could read the cache listing and that pop up popped up.  It doesn’t always pop up…. many times I am able to click on an archived cache’s name and the page opens up so I can look at the write up the same way you’d open up and be able to read an active cache’s write up.

[+ChriBli]

3 hours ago, AlmondEyes said:

I don’t know what “mapping an empty search result” means.  But, for instance, in the photo I posted, I was looking at all archived caches.  All I did was click on one of them so I could read the cache listing and that pop up popped up.  It doesn’t always pop up…. many times I am able to click on an archived cache’s name and the page opens up so I can look at the write up the same way you’d open up and be able to read an active cache’s write up.

I can see the search map behind the pop-up in your photo. So how did you end up there? You say you were looking at all archived caches, what do you mean by that? It is not possible to list archived caches with the new search unless it is your own finds, and even then you can not filter for only the archived ones or sort on that property. Or map them.

[+barefootjeff]

54 minutes ago, ChriBli said:

It is not possible to list archived caches with the new search unless it is your own finds, and even then you can not filter for only the archived ones or sort on that property. Or map them.

 

Strangely, though, it's now possible to map your own archived hides:

 

[+ChriBli]

21 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

Strangely, though, it's now possible to map your own archived hides:

Even stranger, you can also list and map others' archived hides. And you can filter for them (by selecting the "disabled" filter). This seems to be what AlmondEyes did.

 

I thought it should be impossible to search for and list archived caches, to prevent you from trying to find any physical containers that were left behind. Of course that doesn't apply to the ones you have already found or your own hides, but others' archived finds and hides you could potentially go after. Being able to list other players' hides and finds including archived is of course a step in the right direction (if it was ever not possible), but I can't understand why reviewer-archived caches are not just locked for online logging so that searching for archived listings could be unrestricted. Not many would bother searching for caches they can't log online.

 

Back to AlmondEyes' problem: If I make a list of someone's archived hides, I can click the caches in that list to bring up the listing. I can also map the list, but if I from the search map click one of the caches in the list I get the pop-up that can't be dismissed. Just like when I click "view larger map" from an archived cache listing. If I map my own archived caches (only one), I can click it and open the listing without problems.

[+barefootjeff]

8 minutes ago, ChriBli said:

I thought it should be impossible to search for and list archived caches, to prevent you from trying to find any physical containers that were left behind. Of course that doesn't apply to the ones you have already found or your own hides, but others' archived finds and hides you could potentially go after. Being able to list other players' hides and finds including archived is of course a step in the right direction (if it was ever not possible), but I can't understand why reviewer-archived caches are not just locked for online logging so that searching for archived listings could be unrestricted. Not many would bother searching for caches they can't log online.

 

As far as I recall, a search on caches owned by a particular CO always included their archived caches but the search map didn't show them. Around here at least, most reviewer-archived caches get to that point because the container has been long missing, it's rare for a reviewer to archive a cache that's still there and getting legitimate find logs. There are also many reasons why someone might legitimately want to post an online find on an archived cache, such as catching up on their logging from caches they found some time ago, a challenge cache that they'd previously signed the physical log but have only just qualified for, or a family account that's being split into separate accounts. Locking archived caches the moment they're archived I'm sure would cause a lot more problems than it solves.

[+ChriBli]

14 minutes ago, barefootjeff said:

Locking archived caches the moment they're archived I'm sure would cause a lot more problems than it solves.

Yet it is sometimes done, when a reviewer archives caches because they are suddenly found to be in an unsuitable location where you don't want people going looking for them. Typically because the land owner complained. Caches that get archived because the container is missing are not a problem, no one will go looking for those and it wouldn't matter if they did.

 

Challenges can be handled by a write note that is later converted to a find, the lock only prevents new logs and not editing existing ones. Backlog can be handled by short "more later" logs. These can even be auto-generated, or so I've heard.

 

I realize this will not happen. But I can think of many reasons to search for archived cache listings, so I think i's a pity that that should be prohibited just because of this rare case.