Time to bring back the Block Party?

[+mrcanoehead224]

With a successful summer of attending my first Giga (GeoWoodstock XVIII) in Abbotsford where I also increased my count on the GPS Maze and Locationless caches, My attention turned to that sole icon I have yet to claim.

 

The Block Party was held from 2011 to 2015. I had opportunity to go to most of them as it's an easy two day drive for me. However, there were extenuating circumstances from vehicle failure part way there to getting married (somehow I couldn't convince my snuggle muggle to honeymoon in Seattle in 2015).

 

Beyond my own selfish desire to complete my set of icons (I do love icons!), imagine how many new cachers there are since 2015 that never had the chance. It may be a long shot but I'd love the chance to come back to Seattle (was there for GW 8) for a Block Party. If not Seattle, maybe they could be held in other parts of the world too so many others would have the chance to get that elusive icon.

[+cerberus1]

10 hours ago, mrcanoehead224 said:

With a successful summer of attending my first Giga (GeoWoodstock XVIII) in Abbotsford where I also increased my count on the GPS Maze and Locationless caches, My attention turned to that sole icon I have yet to claim.

Beyond my own selfish desire to complete my set of icons (I do love icons!), imagine how many new cachers there are since 2015 that never had the chance. It may be a long shot but I'd love the chance to come back to Seattle (was there for GW 8) for a Block Party.

If not Seattle, maybe they could be held in other parts of the world too so many others would have the chance to get that elusive icon.

 

Well, at least you're honest...   

Like the locationless caches (that aren't, really...) that were released because a ton of people whined, I feel this should stop.

There's third-party apps that stay in business because so many people like to compete.  IMO competition turns this hobby into a game.

In a game there's winners and losers.  I feel being allowed to "make up" rare icons ruined the stats for others who claimed them legitimately.

[+Jayeffel]

What is the Block Party you refer to?

[Keystone]

A primary reason why the Block Party was discontinued was the tremendous burden placed on HQ staff to plan and run the big event in Seattle.  Most recently, we saw the effort needed for the 20th Anniversary Celebration in August.  That's a main reason why there is no Geocaching International Film Festival this year.  The staff who would need to organize a Block Party are the same people whose day job is to keep the hamsters running the servers, fix bugs, deploy feature improvements, process subscriptions and gear purchases, answer questions from the community, coordinate the volunteer team, etc.

[+Wet Pancake Touring Club]

Here's a thought. What about partnering with the Washington State Geocaching Association (WSGA) for a Block Party? HQ provides the location, and pays for some of the expenses. WSGA provides a bunch of volunteers and does most of the organizing. From what I've seen of the WSGA, they are really good at organizing and getting things done.

 

[+mrcanoehead224]

1 hour ago, Jayeffel said:

What is the Block Party you refer to?

Right, sorry. You are one of the people I mention that would have never had the chance to attend one.

 

A block party was held near HQ on International Geocaching Day. Here's the list of the 5 times it happened.

https://www.geocaching.com/play/results/?ct=4738&sa=1&hb=Geocaching+HQ&asc=false&sort=placeDate

[+mrcanoehead224]

1 hour ago, Wet Pancake Touring Club said:

Here's a thought. What about partnering with the Washington State Geocaching Association (WSGA) for a Block Party? HQ provides the location, and pays for some of the expenses. WSGA provides a bunch of volunteers and does most of the organizing. From what I've seen of the WSGA, they are really good at organizing and getting things done.

 

To piggyback on that, invite your neighbours to the north to help out too. The British Columbia Geocaching Association had a few members who just pulled off a Giga recently (not that I'm volunteering them specifically) so we know it could be done with enough volunteers. I'd help out for sure if I could.

[+mrcanoehead224]

2 hours ago, cerberus1 said:

 

Well, at least you're honest...   

Like the locationless caches (that aren't, really...) that were released because a ton of people whined, I feel this should stop.

There's third-party apps that stay in business because so many people like to compete.  IMO competition turns this hobby into a game.

In a game there's winners and losers.  I feel being allowed to "make up" rare icons ruined the stats for others who claimed them legitimately.

 

Yup, I would honestly love to get one more icon.

Geocaching is a hobby, it is also a game. It can be played many different ways, that's part of what makes it so great. The way I like to play is to try to get as many icons as I can. I do it for me, not to compete with anyone else.There's satisfaction in achieving a goal for no other reason than to say to myself, "I did it." I'm sure there are others out there who feel the same, or don't, and would still like to complete their set of icons.

I also don't think that me ("legitimately" because they are available) claiming a locationless cache in 2022 in any way diminishes the achievement of a charter member for instance who got one prior to 2005.

[+Hügh]

I was thinking they might do HQ Celebrations for anniversaries ending in 0 and Block Parties for anniversaries ending in 5.

[+mrcanoehead224]

2 hours ago, Hügh said:

I was thinking they might do HQ Celebrations for anniversaries ending in 0 and Block Parties for anniversaries ending in 5.

I'd be ok with that. It would give people lots of time to plan.

[+Gill & Tony]

So, can I host a block party on my street in NSW and claim the icon?

 

Why are block parties only in Seattle?  Seems unfair to the rest of the world.

 

/sarcasm

[+TeamRabbitRun]

On 11/8/2022 at 12:18 PM, Wet Pancake Touring Club said:

Here's a thought. What about partnering with the Washington State Geocaching Association (WSGA) for a Block Party? HQ provides the location, and pays for some of the expenses. WSGA provides a bunch of volunteers and does most of the organizing. From what I've seen of the WSGA, they are really good at organizing and getting things done.

 

 

First of all, I know nothing about the WSGA, and none of this is directed at them in any way. This is an absolutely generic rant.

 

GS is a commercial endeavor with a very specific set of rules governing participation in its activities.

 

It also has a LARGE customer/user base that doesn't always abide by those rules, largely unenforceably promoted as 'guidelines'.

 

Those guidelines exist (largely) to keep the hobby in its current state and slow down the devolution into anarchy endemic in ANY 'system' while staying true to some core principles and doctrine.

 

Tough job. Requires the complicity of the vast majority of customers/users to 'play by the rules'.

 

Absolutely necessary to this effort is the ability to 'control the message'. If you made Cap'n Crunch cereal, would you allow just any customer to produce and air TV commercials for you?

 

So, for GS to 'partner' with some other entity such as a local geocaching club to the extent that GS pays for it and the club 'produces' it, they'd be giving up control of the 'message'. The 'message' about geocaching at this event would be whatever the club wanted to tell the attendees about geocaching: what it is, how to play, and even which guidelines are 'the important ones'.

 

So, of course GS would have supervisory control and approval over the event, right? Given the degree of detail that would be required for such supervision and the staff time they'd have to dedicate, they might as well just do it themselves.

 

And, what point would be the 'red line' at which they pull out if things don't go the way they want? Minor disagreements between GS and the producing agency would come in a spectrum.

 

Maybe they don't argue about the text of the flyers, but maybe they do. Minor, you say? What if one party wants to promote this hobby as a "MEGA-TREASURE HUNT FOR KIDDIES" complete with candy-in-caches, and won't back down?

 

Oy.

 

 

[+mrcanoehead224]

5 hours ago, TeamRabbitRun said:

So, for GS to 'partner' with some other entity such as a local geocaching club to the extent that GS pays for it and the club 'produces' it, they'd be giving up control of the 'message'. The 'message' about geocaching at this event would be whatever the club wanted to tell the attendees about geocaching: what it is, how to play, and even which guidelines are 'the important ones'.

Sounds pretty much like GeoWoodstock to me. They've done it pretty successfully about 18 times with volunteer organizations. GS probably does sponsor them to an extent and the organizers have to meet strict requirements I'm sure. So there is a proven track record of volunteer organizations (sometimes only a few individuals) organizing and executing (with help of many volunteers) a large event that would attract thousands of geocachers.

[+TeamRabbitRun]

4 hours ago, mrcanoehead224 said:

Sounds pretty much like GeoWoodstock to me. They've done it pretty successfully about 18 times with volunteer organizations. GS probably does sponsor them to an extent and the organizers have to meet strict requirements I'm sure. So there is a proven track record of volunteer organizations (sometimes only a few individuals) organizing and executing (with help of many volunteers) a large event that would attract thousands of geocachers.

 

Well, that may be all true, and I'm glad for it, but that doesn't change the validity of the gamble I presented.

 

[+ChriBli]

On 11/8/2022 at 6:07 PM, Keystone said:

A primary reason why the Block Party was discontinued was the tremendous burden placed on HQ staff to plan and run the big event in Seattle.  Most recently, we saw the effort needed for the 20th Anniversary Celebration in August.  That's a main reason why there is no Geocaching International Film Festival this year.  The staff who would need to organize a Block Party are the same people whose day job is to keep the hamsters running the servers, fix bugs, deploy feature improvements, process subscriptions and gear purchases, answer questions from the community, coordinate the volunteer team, etc.

Yet they were held for five consecutive years. Even the last one's descriptions starts with "Each year we invite". Maybe it was the unusually large turnout for that one that made them think "never again"? I can fully understand that one would not like to have x0th Anniversary Celebration and Block Party the same year though.

 

Not that these things matter to me or the majority of the world's cachers who are never going to visit Seattle. This discussion just illustrates the perceived (by those who care) unfairness of having special icons for things that are only available to those who are suitably positioned in space and time. To me it seems that if you make the rash decision to have a special icon for an annual event you kind of take on the responsibility to keep it up.