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Upcoming changes to Geocaching Forums - March 15, 2022


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2 hours ago, Rock Chalk said:

 

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

Not trying to be funny here, but wouldn't have been better to remove content which violated forum guidelines when it appeared, rather than leaving it on display until the situation got so bad you had to delete whole threads, rather than individual posts?

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On 3/16/2022 at 10:40 AM, 2oldfarts (the rockhounders) said:

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...

 

A lot of forums don't allow off-topic posts at all. It's just not worth the headache for the moderators.

 

Even if Facebook is not a desirable choice for some folks there are other options for setting up private online discussions among friends.

 

One could even argue that geocaching, which is all about getting people outside, should not have an online hangout spot unless it facilitates getting people outside.

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13 hours ago, JL_HSTRE said:

 

A lot of forums don't allow off-topic posts at all. It's just not worth the headache for the moderators.

 

Even if Facebook is not a desirable choice for some folks there are other options for setting up private online discussions among friends.

 

One could even argue that geocaching, which is all about getting people outside, should not have an online hangout spot unless it facilitates getting people outside.

I have completed many mystery cache puzzles that took longer inside to solve than they did outside to find. At least half the events I have attended have been inside. Most of the conversations I have at events are not about geocaching. They are more likely to be about the things that people "talked" about in the "Cheers" topic in Off Topic: jokes, family, travel personal triumphs and travails, hopes, fears and dreams. Private groups get new members by invitation. For Off Topic all you needed was the cost of a GS membership and the curiosity to click on that forum.

As for moderating, I will leave that for another post in the future. I have yet to frame my comments adequately regarding the historical moderating of that forum (at least since 2007)

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13 hours ago, JL_HSTRE said:

One could even argue that geocaching, which is all about getting people outside, should not have an online hangout spot unless it facilitates getting people outside.

 

With a summer that was raining more often than not and an autumn that's shaping up to be even rainier, the forums and the local FB caching groups have been a good way to stay involved in the game without turning into a drowned rat. In any case, pretty much all the caching I do these days has to be a planned trip as new local caches are a rare treat (there have been four this year including one of mine) and that planning is generally done indoors, often involving teaming up with other cachers in an online hangout spot.

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On 3/17/2022 at 8:08 PM, Corp Of Discovery said:

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.

 

 

I feel this post of a fellow Off Topic poster is just how I feel and we (my husband, John who is now dead)

Joined on 03/13/2003. So Corp of Discovery joined just a few months before we did. And it is true what he says... with age comes wisdom. Being serious all of the time will kill this site. It was meant--developed to be a fun sport with laughter and love (bunches of love) involved. It was Jeremy who started this wonderful adventure, and he had a great sense of humor. I remember that. Now, everyone is sooo serious about everything. I even remember a few Off Topic people who would come invade the regular forums and it would cause the mods to go crazy. I love seeing that because it was fun seeing the reaction of the people who didn't have a paid subscription or know about Off Topic. Maybe, just maybe that is why Off Topic died because the people who did that were no longer here. I guess that maybe my fault? I didn't go into the regular forums and cause Fun to be seen?

 

Hmmmmm? What fun is there to geocaching anymore??? I don't see much... And this makes me very sad. I say to everyone, rethink things and see that people need more laughter and friends in their lives. Not so much seriousness and control and sadness and not enough L-O -V -E for your customers. Be more like Jeremy, have fun.

Just thoughts of a silly, old lady that goes by many names, Shirley, Granny, half of the oldfarts (the rockhounders)... and now mainly gone.

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On 3/23/2022 at 1:31 PM, Max and 99 said:

Do we really need the two M3 pinned threads in geocaching topics? They are half of the pinned threads and I see no use for them anymore. Removing them would mean less scrolling to the current threads. 

 

In planning for the forum structure changes, the moderating team identified pinned threads as an area for cleanup.  I think we've gotten to all of them by now, but if you see a pinned thread that doesn't seem relevant and timely, let us know by posting here or using the "Report this Post" tool.

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1 minute ago, Keystone said:

 

In planning for the forum structure changes, the moderating team identified pinned threads as an area for cleanup.  I think we've gotten to all of them by now, but if you see a pinned thread that doesn't seem relevant and timely, let us know by posting here or using the "Report this Post" tool.

That's much better. Thanks!

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IDLE FINGERS

 

My IDLE FINGERS here at home can oft' cause me to make,
A statement I'll regret and rue that it's even been said.
While IDLE FINGERS at this site can oft' cause it to break,
Creating changes ill conceived and some we'll even dread.

 

For ten years now I'm comforted with Forums that I knew,
The Forums that, for many years, I treated with respect.
A place to which I came to know your treatised points of view
A venue which I'd nearly always daily come and checked.

 

Today I find this place of conversation so germane,
Has been upended, promptly turned upon its quirky head.
To what ends do these changes hap', with each one to my bane?
Is there a ruse behind the scenes, that Waymarks should be shed?

 

In light of world conditions now, uncertainty ahead,
A thing that we could use might well be calming and serene.
Today, though, what we've seen is truly backward in its stead,
And not the type of weekly/monthly changes henceforth seen.

 

Though this may be the way down our new Waymarked path instead,
I'll stay in place, remaining here, all stalwart, stout and steady
I'll not go off to pastures green as others so have fled,
It's here I'll stay and daily flay, with IDLE FINGERS ready.

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46 minutes ago, ScroogieII said:

To what ends do these changes hap', with each one to my bane?
Is there a ruse behind the scenes, that Waymarks should be shed?

 

Please read the opening post for a summary of the reasoning.  With respect to the Waymarking forums, the new structure was approved specifically by the forum moderator for that section.  Much thought and debate went into the decision-making process.

 

47 minutes ago, ScroogieII said:

Today, though, what we've seen is truly backward in its stead,
And not the type of weekly/monthly changes henceforth seen.

 

It's been several years since the structure of the Geocaching Forums underwent significant changes.  In the past, most of the changes were additive.  This change was a significant reduction in the complexity of the structure.  Thanks for your feedback.

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