Upcoming changes to Geocaching Forums - March 15, 2022

[+Geocaching HQ]

Upcoming changes to Geocaching Forums - March 15, 2022

 

On March 21, 2022, we will introduce more streamlined structure to the Geocaching Forums. We wish to provide advance notice of the changes.

 

The forum structure has remained largely the same for many years, despite significant shifts in user traffic and declining usage of several sub-forums. We have added a few new forums when appropriate (most recently for Adventure Lab and Experimental features), but have left many forums in place that are simply not used very much. The resulting experience can be confusing and difficult to navigate.

 

After examining forum usage data and consulting with the volunteer moderator community, the new forum structure will be as follows (parent forums in bold, sub-forums are bulleted):

 

Geocaching HQ communications:

• Announcements and release notes (merging two existing forums)

 
General geocaching discussions:

• How do I....?  (merging existing How do I…? forum with Getting Started forum)
• General geocaching topics (existing Geocaching topics forum will incorporate content from Event Caches, Photography, and Design forums)
• Trackables (merging Travel Bugs and Geocoins)

 
Geocache types and additional GPS-based gameplay:

• EarthCaches (no change)
• Wherigo (merging four existing Wherigo forums)
• Waymarking
  • General Waymarking topics (merging three existing Waymarking forums)
  • Recruiting and category proposals (no change)
• GeoTours and reward geotrails (no change)
• Benchmarking (no change)

 

Adventure Lab discussions: (no change)

• Play Adventure Lab
• Create an Adventure Lab

 
Bug reports and feature discussions:

• Website bugs and feature suggestions (no change)
• Official Geocaching® apps - bugs and feature suggestions (merging existing iPhone and Android forums). Tags will be enabled in this forum. Posters can tag their threads as Android or iPhone and/or mention the platform in your thread title. We will tag many recent existing threads before merging the forums.
• Authorized Developer Applications (API) (renamed API forum which is currently nested under GPS/API/technology)
• Experimental features (no change)

 
Community (no imminent changes to country/regional discussion forums)

 

Geocaching and…:

• GPS technology and devices (merging GPS and GPS Garage Sale forums)

 

Content from these forums will merge into other forums:

• Event Caches (merging into General geocaching topics)
• Photography (merging into General geocaching topics)
• Design (merging into General geocaching topics)

 

The following forums will close and be available as read-only for at least one year:

• Ham radio
• Education
• Hiking and backpacking
• Off Topic

 

We understand some may be disappointed by the closing of the Off Topic forum. Besides a significant reduction in traffic to that forum in recent years, it has also become more difficult to moderate due to the subjective nature of content that often conflicts with agenda-related forum guidelines. When the Off Topic forum was created in 2005, fewer online options existed for geocachers to connect about non-geocaching topics. That is not the case today. For those reasons, we have decided to close that forum.

 

We will take the forums down for several hours on March 21 to implement the changes. We hope to complete the work that day with no need for additional downtime. Thanks for your patience during the process!

 

Chris (Rock Chalk) is watching this thread to answer questions whenever possible.

 

Any posts in this thread should relate to features in this release. Comments unrelated to the release may be removed. Please direct unrelated comments to other appropriate threads. Thanks!

[+mustakorppi]

What about Bugcrowd testing sandbox? 

[+ChriBli]

I guess it was just a matter of time before the Off Topic forum would be closed, given the way it has turned out lately. Still, it's sad.

[+Max and 99]

No improvement to the unreadable text on dark background?

These forum changes will take some time getting used to. I remember when the Waymarking forums merged here and that took some time to get used to.

[+Viajero Perdido]

Most popular forums:

 

Geocaching Topics: 1.3m posts

Off Topic: 1.3m posts

 

Your move is surprising. 

[+Tungstène]

Hi!

 

10 hours ago, Geocaching HQ said:

Community (no imminent changes to country/regional discussion forums)

 

Maybe a revamp of certain sub-forums titles could be interesting, though?

 

Here is an example: dutch speaking people are provided with a sub forum aptly named "Dutch-Speaking Forum (Nederlandstalig Forum)". The same is true for german-speaking people (there is a "German-Speaking Forum (Deutschsprachiges Forum)"). But other non-english languages aren't easily recognisable by non-english readers. For example, the "French-speaking" sub-forum could be renamed "French-Speaking Forum (Forum Francophone)".

[+Hynz]

13 hours ago, Geocaching HQ said:

The following forums will close and be available as read-only for at least one year:

I have no problem with reconfiguring structures and even closing certain sub-forums.

But I consider it frustrating when postings, threads or even complete sub-forums are scraped into oblivion. So why should eg "Hiking and Backpacking" not be viewable (and searchable) anymore?

 

And especially I hope it will not happen what happened in the past by reconfiguring the German Speaking Forum:

There was only one forum and by creating a number of sub-forums you deleted *all* past threads. Years of discussions where gone 

[+niraD]

14 hours ago, Geocaching HQ said:

• General geocaching topics (existing Geocaching topics forum will incorporate content from Event Caches, Photography, and Design forums)

It will be nice to get those discussions back in the "Geocaching topics" forum, and out of whatever unknown ghetto those posts keep getting moved to. I've seen a number of discussions get interesting, and then >POOF!< they get moved somewhere else because they touch one of these topics. 
 

14 hours ago, Geocaching HQ said:

• Official Geocaching® apps - bugs and feature suggestions (merging existing iPhone and Android forums). Tags will be enabled in this forum. Posters can tag their threads as Android or iPhone and/or mention the platform in your thread title. We will tag many recent existing threads before merging the forums.

Thank you. There have been a couple times where something was common knowledge in the iPhone app forum, but since I don't have an iPhone and don't follow the iPhone app forum, I was unaware of it.

 

14 hours ago, Geocaching HQ said:

The following forums will close and be available as read-only for at least one year:

• Ham radio
• Education
• Hiking and backpacking
• Off Topic

Well, that's a shame.

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

The following forums will close and be available as read-only for at least one year:

• Ham radio
• Education
• Hiking and backpacking
• Off Topic

 

I agree that's a shame. I have been reading and posting a long time in the off topic and will miss it dearly. It seems as though the older crowd is now dwindling down and thus not worthy of your supporting it, but I for one, beg you to reconsider this happening. People have come into the Off Topic and leave but only to have new people show up once more. I do not go anywhere else nor do I have any other places I go first thing in the mornings to see what is new and keep in touch with the other people who post in this forum. I feel safe here, I don't want this to happen. Can we do something to change your minds on this?  

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

I would like you to look at the Christmas thread, please. It shows how much this forum is loved and we all will miss this forum that is unlike any others throughout the whole of the digital world that I know of... I am 72 years old now and have been in off topic almost since the beginning and now am actually crying due to having just found this out, you are taking away the one main way of my staying in touch with the people I have come to call friends...

 

If you take this from me and the others, I will kindly ask for my subscription to not be renewed. 

[+cerberus1]

17 hours ago, Geocaching HQ said:

The following forums will close and be available as read-only for at least one year:

• Ham radio
• Education
• Hiking and backpacking
• Off Topic

 

Never really understood why "Education" was there anyway...  The idea this hobby was going to be a norm in school was wishful at best, and seemed (to me) most were people asking to help them with private projects anyway.

I'm really gonna miss "Hiking and Backpacking", as distance hides is what I enjoy most about this hobby.

 - It hasn't received much lately, but it's only a couple months outta mask time with the virus, and mid '20 to-date show it was still being used time-to-time... 

I understand a business in one of the most liberal cities in America can be upset how "off-topic" has veered, but just like the occasional firearms threads, when things get stupid just shut them down if the company is that fragile. 

There's a lot of retirees that enjoy off-topic, many not able to cache anymore, yet they still remain premium members (for off-topic).

Harry Dolphin's and some other's photos for Shirley of a day out in the woods alone is worth a peek.

[Keystone]

14 hours ago, Viajero Perdido said:

Most popular forums:

 

Geocaching Topics: 1.3m posts

Off Topic: 1.3m posts

 

Your move is surprising. 

 

4 hours ago, 2oldfarts (the rockhounders) said:

I have been reading and posting a long time in the off topic and will miss it dearly. It seems as though the older crowd is now dwindling down and thus not worthy of your supporting it, but I for one, beg you to reconsider this happening. People have come into the Off Topic and leave but only to have new people show up once more. I do not go anywhere else nor do I have any other places I go first thing in the mornings to see what is new and keep in touch with the other people who post in this forum. I feel safe here, I don't want this to happen. Can we do something to change your minds on this?  

 

As a former daily participant in Off Topic, the upcoming closure of that forum does trigger some sentimental memories.  The decision was not taken lightly.  It's important to focus on current statistics, not on total activity since way back in the heyday of Off Topic more than a decade ago.  We analyzed activity over a period of five or six months, and found that the same core group of about 20 posters were responsible for the vast majority of posts to Off Topic.  Providing and supporting that feature, unrelated to the core missions of Geocaching HQ's products, no longer made sense for such a small group.  I would recommend creating a closed Facebook group for that core group, and continuing your discussions and close online personal relationships there.  There is precedent for this, when other tight-knit groups moved to other online platforms.

[+thebruce0]

Considering the value of the older discussions, perhaps consider leaving them available perpetually, even locked as read only. They are historic discussions, many likely with high reference value. It's always sad when information gets wiped off the internet. Unless there's a dire reason to recover the space that would be gained by deleting that content, it would only be beneficial to keep available for viewing as long as the forum allows.

[Keystone]

4 hours ago, cerberus1 said:

I'm really gonna miss "Hiking and Backpacking", as distance hides is what I enjoy most about this hobby.

 - It hasn't received much lately, but it's only a couple months outta mask time with the virus, and mid '20 to-date show it was still being used time-to-time... 

 

There has not been an on-topic post to this forum section in nearly a year.  Noting the impact of the pandemic, one can look back further and see that fewer than 20 on-topic threads in this forum have been active since January 2019.  These volumes do not justify a separate forum section, which was relatively hard to find after scrolling past 18 other high-level forum sections.

 

In addition, please know that this forum section is a particularly attractive target for spammer accounts, which the moderating team works diligently to screen out from public view.  Removing the forum, and others like it, should lighten our workload.

 

The good news is that all the discussion threads will remain active once the Hiking and Backpacking forum is merged into the Geocaching Topics forum.  If there are discussions you particularly enjoy, consider "following" them so you can easily find those threads in the future.  Feel free to post to those threads, or to start new discussions as part of the Geocaching Topics forum.  As another poster noted above, it will be easier to decide which forum section to post in, without running the risk of having your thread swept away to some dusty corner of the forums that didn't get much traffic.

[Keystone]

5 minutes ago, thebruce0 said:

Considering the value of the older discussions, perhaps consider leaving them available perpetually, even locked as read only. They are historic discussions, many likely with high reference value. It's always sad when information gets wiped off the internet. Unless there's a dire reason to recover the space that would be gained by deleting that content, it would only be beneficial to keep available for viewing as long as the forum allows.

I agree, which is why the closed forum sections will remain available in read-only mode for at least one year.  At that time, usage statistics can be analyzed to see if people are still looking at those older discussions as a reference.

[+thebruce0]

12 minutes ago, Keystone said:

I agree, which is why the closed forum sections will remain available in read-only mode for at least one year.  At that time, usage statistics can be analyzed to see if people are still looking at those older discussions as a reference.

 

...enh. Wayback keeps content available regardless of 'popularity'. The point to keeping content for perpetuity is so that it is there if it's ever needed, not only there as long as it's referenced arbitrarily regularly.

But, the purpose of the wayback machine is different than the forum... I'd say if the internet archive has a record of all the old forums, then at least the content is recorded somewhere for perpetuity.

[+The A-Team]

22 hours ago, Geocaching HQ said:

• Waymarking
  • General Waymarking topics (merging three existing Waymarking forums)
  • Recruiting and category proposals (no change)

 

I really don't have any issue with most of the proposed changes, but one thing that I'd like to see reconsidered is the merging of the "Waymarking.com Features & Functions" sub-forum into "General Waymarking Topics". That sub-forum is meant for bug reports and discussions, and it would be best if those were kept separate from more general discussions, similarly to how the analogous website and app sub-forums are their own separate entities.

[+CAVinoGal]

Thank you for the detailed list of the upcoming changes - I printed it out and will be ready with answers when we get the inevitable "Where did the XXXX forum go?"  "Why can't I find.....?", or simply for myself when I get frustrated trying to find my favorite threads!

 

People (me included!) get used to seeing things a particular way...it becomes habit to go to favorite areas of the forum, and I realize things need to be re-organized now and then.  Some of the changes do make a lot of sense to me.

 

Nearly every forum I've been a part of has had some sort of "Off-Topic" area - where people that "meet" through the forum and prefer that type of interaction rather than social media (ie, facebook, Twitter, etc) can kick back and discuss whatever... I agree with the comments that it's sad to see that section go away.  Granted, I don't participate much at all in that area of the forum, but I do read through the posts now and then, and I will miss that.

[+Max and 99]

28 minutes ago, The A-Team said:

 

I really don't have any issue with most of the proposed changes, but one thing that I'd like to see reconsidered is the merging of the "Waymarking.com Features & Functions" sub-forum into "General Waymarking Topics". That sub-forum is meant for bug reports and discussions, and it would be best if those were kept separate from more general discussions, similarly to how the analogous website and app sub-forums are their own separate entities.

I was thinking the same thing. I'm worried that any bug reports will get lost in the shuffle.

[Rock Chalk]

On 3/15/2022 at 3:03 PM, mustakorppi said:

What about Bugcrowd testing sandbox? 

 

For a variety of boring reasons, we've had to leave that visible. I would personally like to see it gone and hopefully we can make that happen sooner than later.

[Rock Chalk]

23 hours ago, Max and 99 said:

No improvement to the unreadable text on dark background?

These forum changes will take some time getting used to. I remember when the Waymarking forums merged here and that took some time to get used to.

 

All I can say is the contrast issues are well known and on the map to be addressed. I wish it could be done sooner, but the web developers' project list is lengthy.

[+Gill & Tony]

I will miss the Off Topic forum.  Not the politics and the Covid/vaccine discussions, but the fun things like face It, Spot the Cat, photos for Shirley.  Things which make me smile, or even laugh out loud.  Sometime we need something like that.

 

I am a member of a number of forums which have something equivalent to Off Topic, but they ban certain broad areas, mainly Politics and Medicine.  One fourm has completely closed its Current Affairs and Serious Discussion area.

 

I was hoping that there may be some way thet Groundspeak could do something similar.

 

The moderators would not be required to make the decision that a post is unacceptable, although that option would be available for blatant breaches.  Rather, it would be up to the community to decide what is not acceptable, via the report procedure.

 

I do hope that Groundspeak will consider making space available for fun things which are not strictly geocaching.

[+ChriBli]

9 hours ago, Gill &amp; Tony said:

The moderators would not be required to make the decision that a post is unacceptable, although that option would be available for blatant breaches.  Rather, it would be up to the community to decide what is not acceptable, via the report procedure.

Unfortunately some people just can't stop themselves from hijacking any forum and any topic to spread misinformation and conspiracy theories. And I don't envy the moderator that has to sit and watch through the drivel from these outlets that gets posted. Agreed that banning broad areas could make that job easier.

[+Gill & Tony]

The way it works on other forums is that a first occurrence gets a warning, second and subsequent offences get posting bans of increasing lengths.

 

The moderators don't have to monitor every post.  The community reports offending posts.  The moderators react to reports as now.  Obviously, if a moderator happens upon a post which they would report, they can deal with it immediately.

 

A couple of one month posting bans tends to cure people of breaking the rules.

[+SamLowrey]

14 hours ago, Gill &amp; Tony said:

I will miss the Off Topic forum.  Not the politics and the Covid/vaccine discussions, but the fun things like face It, Spot the Cat, photos for Shirley.  Things which make me smile, or even laugh out loud.  Sometime we need something like that.

 

I am a member of a number of forums which have something equivalent to Off Topic, but they ban certain broad areas, mainly Politics and Medicine.  One fourm has completely closed its Current Affairs and Serious Discussion area.

 

I was hoping that there may be some way thet Groundspeak could do something similar.

 

The moderators would not be required to make the decision that a post is unacceptable, although that option would be available for blatant breaches.  Rather, it would be up to the community to decide what is not acceptable, via the report procedure.

 

I do hope that Groundspeak will consider making space available for fun things which are not strictly geocaching.

 

Yes, dissent must be silenced!

[+niraD]

34 minutes ago, SamLowrey said:

Yes, dissent must be silenced!

This forum really needs a ''Sad'' response.

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

1 hour ago, niraD said:

This forum really needs a ''Sad'' response.

 

Agreed~~~ And we need a person like Snoogans to fight for us once more.... We need this little crying Signal to express how we are feeling...

[+Gill & Tony]

5 hours ago, SamLowrey said:

 

Yes, dissent must be silenced!

No, not dIssent.  A geocaching forum is not the place for any politics, nor is a place for medical advice,

.

It would be nice, however, if there was a place for jokes, and things which make us feel good.

[+Corp Of Discovery]

Sorry in advance for the disjointed thoughts.

 

I started here before OT existed and have visited the forums almost every day since I've been a geocacher (Jan., 2003). I've never been a power poster and generally keep my opinions to myself by and large.

 

Closing Off Topic is just the latest in a long line of bad decisions as I see it. Not just as far as the forums are concerned, but overall.

 

OT has pretty much always had a core group of posters, the members of which has changed over the years. The general forums seem to me to also have a core group who feel the need to post on every topic that comes up. Sure, others do post there more often, but soon after come the regulars to put their 2 cents (usually the same 2 cents as always) in.

 

OT is a place away from the drama that erupts from time to time and is a good reminder that this thing we all do is, in the end, a rather silly little pastime.

 

Facebook sucks in so many ways that there's not enough time in the world to cover it all. It's been the death of more forums than I care to think about and to actively encourage loyal users of these forums to go there is... Well, there are certain words I could use but they would lead to a bannination of undetermined length.

 

The GC forums will be a diminished and less fun place without OT and I for one will visit more infrequently as a result.

 

I'll finish by leaving some quotes/sayings/paraphrasings that further reflect my feelings on the subject and the history thereof:

 

There were giants in the earth in those days...

 

The geocaching world will little note, nor long remember what we say here...

 

STAND BACK! Be silent! Be still!... That's it... and look upon those posts. Savor them! Rejoice with great gladness! Great gladness! Remember them always, for we are joined by them. We are One, under the stars. Remember it well, then... this forum, this sweet sorrow. So that in the years ahead, you can say, 'I was there , in Off Topic!' For it is the doom of men that they forget.

 

And the band played on...as the world crumbled about them...

 

This post will self destruct in

10...

9...

8...

7...

6...

 

 

Edit- forgot one:

Did you ever dream about a place you never really recall being to before? A place that maybe only exists in your imagination? Some place far away, half remembered when you wake up. When you were there, though, you knew the language. You knew your way around. *That* was Off Topic.

 

Edited March 18, 2022 by Corp Of Discovery

[+SamLowrey]

^ Well said.

[+PISA-caching]

On 3/16/2022 at 9:33 PM, The A-Team said:

I really don't have any issue with most of the proposed changes, but one thing that I'd like to see reconsidered is the merging of the "Waymarking.com Features & Functions" sub-forum into "General Waymarking Topics". That sub-forum is meant for bug reports and discussions, and it would be best if those were kept separate from more general discussions, similarly to how the analogous website and app sub-forums are their own separate entities.

 

I would like to add, that I think that "Getting Started with Waymarking" is also a separate subforum for good reason. Users, who are new to Waymarking, can find lots of beginners questions and the according answers there. If these "1.2k posts" will be merged with the "11.7k posts" of the "General Waymarking Topics" subforum (and the "3.8k posts" from the "Waymarking.com Features & Functions" subforum), it will be much more difficult for them to find those beginners questions.

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

Heads up, I posted this in Off Topic just a few minutes ago, I am telling you this as you can ban me right now if you want to because I feel so strongly that this is unfair due to you not asking for our opinion about all of this before deciding without the people that pay to use this site. It is unfair... 

 

 

Posted in the Goodbye Thread in Off Topic:

 

You know I have been thinking, if this Off Topic forum had been open to everyone coming to the forums or even been allowed to be seen and told that if you pay, you could play with the OT forum, we would have had more people posting here than any of the other forums!!! This whole thing in not fair at all, in my humble 72 year old opinion. 

 

But, I know I cannot fight the fight alone, I don't have that long to live now, life has been mostly good. It is just a shame that they couldn't give us more of a heads up or even told us that we would have to pay more to play here or started charging everyone, as I think most all would agree to pay to play, as we have all these years, if they are having money issues. This just doesn't make any sense to me at all.... Just saying. I just should have dyed back in 2019 instead of having that darn heart surgery, then I wouldn't have to go through seeing this happen without our input!

 

Sincerely, Shirley Bloomfield, 2oldfarts (the rockhounders)

[+Max and 99]

4 hours ago, PISA-caching said:

 

I would like to add, that I think that "Getting Started with Waymarking" is also a separate subforum for good reason. Users, who are new to Waymarking, can find lots of beginners questions and the according answers there. If these "1.2k posts" will be merged with the "11.7k posts" of the "General Waymarking Topics" subforum (and the "3.8k posts" from the "Waymarking.com Features & Functions" subforum), it will be much more difficult for them to find those beginners questions.

A very good point!

[+igator210]

I've never posted in the Off Topics forum and even I think its a bad idea to take it away.

[+Viajero Perdido]

1 hour ago, 2oldfarts (the rockhounders) said:

pay more to play

 

Private blogs exist, sometimes quite expensive, where people pay to read the blogger's posts, but also to participate in the comments which can run into the hundreds of posts per week.  Some of these are essentially private Off Topic forums.  If you wonder where I went, that's where I'll be.

 

I wouldn't underestimate the perceived value of - and willingness to pay for - a place to discuss things freely.

 

(Did somebody really suggest Facebook?!?!?)

[+Harry Dolphin]

I'm very sorry to see Off Topic be archived.  It is a great place for many discussions with friends.  The political and vaxxing discussions should have been handled earlier, rather than leaving them as a reason to archive the forum.  If geocaching wants to eliminate annoying discussions, archive the Happy Easter/Christmas Mision.  

I'll miss you Shirley!

[+SamLowrey]

27 minutes ago, Harry Dolphin said:

... rather than leaving them as a reason to archive the forum. ...

 

Reason or excuse?  Seems like the most important topics affecting our lives could be discussed like adults.

[+Jennifer&Dean]

OT! I haven't been in the forums regularly for about 10 years.  I popped in a few months back and the Cheers thread was 2 or 3 pages down.

 

This decision is reasonable, I'm always surprised the Forums survived the age of social media.

 

But without OT I wouldn't have met some amazing people over the years.  Cheers!

 

Thank you to geocaching.com for the years I spent hanging out and making connections with amazing people in and out of OT.  

 

-Jennifer

 

(Something something Ringbone)

[+Jennifer&Dean]

Any chance OT can be made non-premium for a day or so? Many of the old timers don't have premium memberships anymore.

[+paleolith]

Those who say oh, just moderate it differently and it'll be easy ... probably have never tried to moderate an open group. The offenders who want to rant can be extremely vitriolic toward moderators, and defining limits is a fool's game because those same offenders will warp logic to claim their "right" to post whatever they want. Group moderation is hard.

 

BTW, I don't think Google Groups has been pointed out as an alternative. Yes, it's basic, but many see the lack of FB's flash as an advantage.

 

Edward

[+Viajero Perdido]

Random Sharing thread was closed early "in preparation for further review."

 

What's going on?

[+Gill & Tony]

7 hours ago, paleolith said:

Those who say oh, just moderate it differently and it'll be easy ... probably have never tried to moderate an open group. The offenders who want to rant can be extremely vitriolic toward moderators, and defining limits is a fool's game because those same offenders will warp logic to claim their "right" to post whatever they want. Group moderation is hard.

 

BTW, I don't think Google Groups has been pointed out as an alternative. Yes, it's basic, but many see the lack of FB's flash as an advantage.

 

Edward

My suggestion, of keeping Off Topic open, but banning politics and medicine would not need additional moderation, except for a probably short-term increase in reported posts.  Moderators would not be the ones who determine that a poster is pushing the boundaries, the community makes that determination by hitting (or not hitting) the report button.  There can be no blowback against the moderators because they are simply implementing the community's decision. (Of course, there will be blowback because whingers gotta whinge but they won't be doing it for the period of their ban).

Edited March 20, 2022 by Gill & Tony

[Keystone]

2 hours ago, Viajero Perdido said:

Random Sharing thread was closed early "in preparation for further review."

 

What's going on?

 

That thread, along with several others, have been closed since the announcement that the Off Topic forum would be locked on Monday.  You should not infer from the phrase "for further review" that the subject of locking the Off Topic forum would be revisited.  It won't be.

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

55 minutes ago, Keystone said:

 

That thread, along with several others, have been closed since the announcement that the Off Topic forum would be locked on Monday.  You should not infer from the phrase "for further review" that the subject of locking the Off Topic forum would be revisited.  It won't be.

I understand. Sorry that our hopes soared for a while. So, we have until around 9 am tomorrow to enjoy the Off Topic forum... Then you are kicking us off of GC mostly forever more. Okay then, I will say good bye right now to you Lep. It was a blast while it lasted. *Walks away with head held high, but crying inside...*

[+Michaelcycle]

On 3/16/2022 at 3:17 PM, Keystone said:

 

 

As a former daily participant in Off Topic, the upcoming closure of that forum does trigger some sentimental memories.  The decision was not taken lightly.  It's important to focus on current statistics, not on total activity since way back in the heyday of Off Topic more than a decade ago.  We analyzed activity over a period of five or six months, and found that the same core group of about 20 posters were responsible for the vast majority of posts to Off Topic.  Providing and supporting that feature, unrelated to the core missions of Geocaching HQ's products, no longer made sense for such a small group.  I would recommend creating a closed Facebook group for that core group, and continuing your discussions and close online personal relationships there.  There is precedent for this, when other tight-knit groups moved to other online platforms.

As I said on Cheers I will not allow Zuckerberg and his ilk to monetize my personal data. Even in a "closed" FB group they they still closely analyze everything that goes on there. Whatever else might be said about Groundspeak I don't think that degree of scrutiny occurred in Off Topic. 

[Rock Chalk]

On 3/15/2022 at 2:29 PM, Geocaching HQ said:

Upcoming changes to Geocaching Forums - March 15, 2022

 

On March 21, 2022, we will introduce more streamlined structure to the Geocaching Forums. We wish to provide advance notice of the changes.

 

 

This work is complete.

[+Viajero Perdido]

Some content was scrubbed.

 

Let it be known, I did try to help.  You're on your own now.

[+Max and 99]

I'm finding it so much harder to find certain discussions.

[Rock Chalk]

27 minutes ago, Viajero Perdido said:

Some content was scrubbed.

 

Any content that was removed from view (or will be removed) violates forum guidelines.

[+Goldilocks513]

Wanted to thank everyone for all of their hard work in revamping these forums. I’ve stayed off of them for years, but look forward to perusing a multitude of threads in the future. Thanks again to those who serve our fabulous community!