Recent change on how Drafts are handled?

July 12, 2023

For the last several days, I've noticed that when uploading drafts from my GPSMAP 64sx, the website no longer ignores drafts that were previously uploaded and logged. The only way I could stop it from doing this was to delete the "geocache_visits.txt" file from the GPS. But I would have to do this every time after uploading Drafts. Is anyone else seeing this? Or did I do something to cause it to behave this way? I never had this problem before.

11.7k · July 13, 2023

5 minutes ago, LostSparky said:

The only way I could stop it from doing this was to delete the "geocache_visits.txt" file from the GPS. But I would have to do this every time after uploading Drafts.

That's basically the way I handle that file. I move it to the Windows Desktop from the GPS, upload Drafts and complete the logs, then delete the file once I'm sure all goes well.

And I do that because of the many problems with Field Notes/Drafts over the years, similar to what you mentioned and many more.

1.4k · July 14, 2023

On 7/13/2023 at 1:55 AM, LostSparky said:

For the last several days, I've noticed that when uploading drafts from my GPSMAP 64sx, the website no longer ignores drafts that were previously uploaded and logged. The only way I could stop it from doing this was to delete the "geocache_visits.txt" file from the GPS. But I would have to do this every time after uploading Drafts. Is anyone else seeing this? Or did I do something to cause it to behave this way? I never had this problem before.

I saw the same last weekend, and had hoped it was a one-time glitch, maybe only on my system. But from what you say, it's really a new, permanent bug.

In a way, I got used to the fact, that GS regularly breaks a part of the software, when they are rolling out an "upgrade". But now they also break things, which have worked since forever (like the handling of drafts) without any visible upgrade whatsoever ... *sigh* .

7.8k · July 15, 2023

Oh good, it isn't just me. I started seeing this sometime in the last week or two. Like LostSparky, I tried deleting the visits file, but the issue is continuing with the new one. The two caches from my previous upload showed up again tonight.

9.1k · July 17, 2023

Perhaps edit the subject to indicate there's a bug? Then they can respond officially as to whether it's intended or is a bug to fix (and hopefully fix it)

July 17, 2023

I was looking at my streak list, and I noticed one I found a few days ago is a blue exclamation point instead of a smiley. In research, this indicates the site thinks I have an unfinished draft. I have looked both in the app and on GC.com, and I do not have any drafts. I have been using the following workflow for years, and the site seems to just now starting to do this. It is very very annoying to have a streak bookmark list, and not have smileys next to all my finds. My workflow is:

1. Download data via PQ and load into GSAK, then send database to my GPSR (Garmin GPSMAP 66sr)

2. Find and mark the geocache as found on the GPSR

3. Connect the GPSR to the computer and upload geocache_visits.txt

4. Click on each listed draft, and submit the log from the log page linked from that draft

I have tried some possible workarounds such as uploading another draft, then deleting it but that darn exclamation point is still there. Please fix this bug!

July 17, 2023

Note this is a different issue than the other topic "Recent change on how Drafts are handled" as every time I upload, I delete the geocache_visits.txt file every time I upload. I'm also going to do research on when this might have started, though I can only comment back through March as that's when I got back into caching.

July 17, 2023

Hello,

Our engineers are aware of this issue and hope to have a resolution soon. Thanks for your patience in the meantime!

July 17, 2023

I had the same problem after uploading field notes from a Garmin MAP62.

I had already logged the older caches but didn't delete field notes.

The fix was to edit my logs for all caches showing an exclamation point. First change them to Write Note and then back to Found.

July 17, 2023

Merged two threads about the same issue.

July 17, 2023

I have the same bug since 07.07.2023, that old entries appear again with the next upload.

I determined an additional bug behavior.

For every draft entry there is a special icon on the search result list and on the search map (a blue circle with "!" ).

When I wrote the log the draft entry was deleted and the blue circle is replaced by a yellow smile.

Now I determine that for all uploaded drafts since 09.07.2023 until 15.07.2023 the blue circle remains on the map and in the search result list although these GCs are marked as found with log. The blue circle with "!" remains although I deleted the entries manually from the draft list.

Edited July 17, 2023 by teddy.66

July 23, 2023

I've been having the same problem for about 2 weeks now. I plug my Montana 680 into my laptop and upload the visits file and then all the old geocaches I've found before are in the drafts again. Very annoying! I hope it gets resolved soon!

July 28, 2023

When I used to download drafts from my Montana (geocache_visits.txt) they would only download once and the next download would only pick up anything new. Now, all of my drafts since 20 July upload again every time I attempt to download a new day of caching, even though I've already downloaded and logged the previous drafts back to 20 Jul. What has changed or is there a setting I need to adjust to have it only download new drafts and not repeat drafts I've already downloaded?

22.1k · July 28, 2023

The above post was originally a separate thread. I merged it into this one.

August 5, 2023

Same problem here.

At first it loaded additional caches we found a week ago.

Bit now it loads the complete geocache_visits.txt

New drafts page is missing the indication (even without the option to select or not) of the date it will start from.

Having that, temporary, would make it possible for users to assist in tracing this bug (telling what time/date is indicated).

Edited August 5, 2023 by carianne.vh

August 18, 2023

This bug description is acknowledged a month ago.

A lot of users have this annoying problem.

What about a status message from the engineers ?

2.2k · August 22, 2023

Commenting here as another user experiencing this problem. I thought it was something i had done to corrupt the geocache_visits.txt file or something. Will follow the topic so I am aware of a resolution when one comes up, although I am worried that after working fine for years that it now has been over a month with no update on this bug.

August 27, 2023

On 8/18/2023 at 12:48 PM, teddy.66 said:

This bug description is acknowledged a month ago.

A lot of users have this annoying problem.

What about a status message from the engineers ?

On 7/14/2023 at 3:42 PM, baer2006 said:

I saw the same last weekend, and had hoped it was a one-time glitch, maybe only on my system. But from what you say, it's really a new, permanent bug.

In a way, I got used to the fact, that GS regularly breaks a part of the software, when they are rolling out an "upgrade". But now they also break things, which have worked since forever (like the handling of drafts) without any visible upgrade whatsoever ... *sigh* .

These are both common problems. I've been waiting over a month for this issue to be fixed. And naturally we're kept waiting without an update.

August 27, 2023

I am having the same problem with my Garmin 64ST. The caches aren't marked as Drafts but they post with an Exclamation!!!! Any updates on when this will be fixed??

August 30, 2023

Hello all,

We apologize for any delay with this fix. We are working to address several bugs with drafts that appeared in quick succession, some of which have been trickier to figure out than others. Your patience in the meantime is very much appreciated. Thank you.

September 15, 2023

Hi there,

I'm having the same general problem of downloading only the new drafts from the visits file on my Garmin Etrex30 GPS. I was hoping that it could have been a simple code mistake on some update of the application but after more then a month I now realize that it is a more complex BUG.

I don't want to question your hard work on maintaining this hobby, but could it be possible to put a little more effort on finding a fix for this annoying BUG? it is supposed things got better not worse...

5.7k · September 19, 2023

On 8/30/2023 at 2:41 PM, worrellsquirrel said:

Hello all,

We apologize for any delay with this fix. We are working to address several bugs with drafts that appeared in quick succession, some of which have been trickier to figure out than others. Your patience in the meantime is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Might have a regression there, Squirrel. Last week, I had the older logs showing up as others have mentioned.

Today, no old logs appeared, but the website code completely reversed the order of the content of the geocache_visits.txt file. The first one in the *.txt list was at the bottom of the online 'drafts' list, and the last in the list was at the top.

Edited September 19, 2023 by ecanderson

September 20, 2023

The bug is still there after two months.

How hard can it be to fix something, that worked before.

September 24, 2023

When will we get this extremely annoying error fixed? It is now more than two months since the bug was acknowledged by 'worrellsquirrel'.

September 30, 2023

30 september and we still get old drafts uploaded.

As for "how hard it is", i suppose it depends on if they did a major rework recently that made it har to reimplement. In any case, I would say three weeks should be plenty of time to implement something like this from scratch.

October 13, 2023

Happy birthday, little bug!
Three months... they grow up so fast... 😶‍🌫️

October 20, 2023

Yep, three plus months and they continue to ignore the problem. Also, last update August 30. What's going on or not?

22.1k · October 21, 2023

On 8/30/2023 at 4:41 PM, worrellsquirrel said:

Hello all,

We apologize for any delay with this fix. We are working to address several bugs with drafts that appeared in quick succession, some of which have been trickier to figure out than others. Your patience in the meantime is very much appreciated. Thank you.

I'm repeating the update from Geocaching HQ in response to the false claim that "they continue to ignore the problem."

As a reminder, posts in the bug reporting forum need to be constructive and helpful to the developers.

October 21, 2023

11 hours ago, Keystone said:

I'm repeating the update from Geocaching HQ in response to the false claim that "they continue to ignore the problem."

As a reminder, posts in the bug reporting forum need to be constructive and helpful to the developers.

Then please explain no updates in almost two months? Issue continues for three months.

November 12, 2023

First post on this subject July 12 making it's now 4 months later. No update for almost 2 1/2 months. Please tell me again this isn't being ignored?

December 16, 2023

Five months later! I almost forgot that the problem still exists... and uploaded my geocache_visits.txt without prior modification... 😒

Features and functions for offline caching seem to be pushed further and further back in the prioritization.

December 17, 2023

On 11/12/2023 at 9:56 AM, Rustynails said:

First post on this subject July 12 making it's now 4 months later. No update for almost 2 1/2 months. Please tell me again this isn't being ignored?

First post on this subject July 12 making it's now ~~4 months~~ 5 months later. No update for almost 3 1/2 months. Please tell me again this isn't being ignored?

December 28, 2023

I don't want to get anyone's hopes up, but I noticed today after uploading my drafts that I didn't see any previously uploaded & logged drafts. Just today's new ones.

7.8k · January 24

After seeing the last post, I decided to not delete the file after my last caching day to test this out. I just uploaded it after finding some more caches, and the old drafts still uploaded, so the issue hasn't been fixed yet. Or it was fixed and has since regressed.

January 25

I just knew it was too good to be true. It's bringing back some of my old drafts tonight. Not all of them though; of the 5 already logged drafts I had from today for example, only 1 of them is showing up again. And of the 3 finds I made and logged back on New Year's Eve, 2 of them are showing.

January 27

Six months and counting. No updates, nothing.

22.1k · January 27

On 10/20/2023 at 9:19 PM, Keystone said:

On 8/30/2023 at 4:41 PM, worrellsquirrel said:

Hello all,

We apologize for any delay with this fix. We are working to address several bugs with drafts that appeared in quick succession, some of which have been trickier to figure out than others. Your patience in the meantime is very much appreciated. Thank you.

I'm repeating the update from Geocaching HQ in response to the false claim that "they continue to ignore the problem."

As a reminder, posts in the bug reporting forum need to be constructive and helpful to the developers.

I'm repeating one of the two updates from Geocaching HQ in response to the false claim that there are no updates.

January 28

18 hours ago, Keystone said:

I'm repeating one of the two updates from Geocaching HQ in response to the false claim that there are no updates.

But there *are* no updates (for this problem)
It's just... silence...

Of couse, "posts in the bug reporting forum need to be constructive and helpful to the developers".
So what do you need to know? Is there anything *I* can do? Is there a workaround? Is there a timeline?

Talk to us!

January 30

On 1/28/2024 at 11:04 AM, RCH65 said:

But there *are* no updates (for this problem)
It's just... silence...

Of couse, "posts in the bug reporting forum need to be constructive and helpful to the developers".
So what do you need to know? Is there anything *I* can do? Is there a workaround? Is there a timeline?

Talk to us!

They haven't spoken in five months (last update).

February 2

Being a software Product Owner, I know that they have 100 other things in their backlog and only so many resources to apply to those issues. It is a priorization game, and this isn't high enough priority for them to address. Hopefully it will be soon. Until they devote resources to fixing this, we won't hear anything.

On a side note, I have noted that eventually found caches will turn to smileys. I wonder if drafts expire or not.

February 9

Nothing has changed, still get entire list since June 2023 when I upload drafts. Things break and then take forever to fix. This is very annoying.

February 13

This makes one wonder if Groundspeak is out to eliminate us 'OG' cachers who still prefer to use quality technology over 'everybody got one' cell phones.

Pisses me off.

5.7k · February 18

On 2/2/2024 at 2:12 PM, jadefalcon said:

Being a software Product Owner, I know that they have 100 other things in their backlog and only so many resources to apply to those issues.

Being a software 'Product Owner' (and lead developer), I would mention the concept of "regression testing", but it probably wouldn't mean anything to anyone at gc.com who reads these threads.

If you do NOT apply resource to that task before you let a new release into the wild, you'll still likely have to do the same amount of work to deal with your bug, but now you've managed to piss people off in the interim. So why not do the work up front instead of annoying people by doing it after the fact?

February 20

Oh yeah I totally get it. Probably like at my workplace where the regression testing is basically nonexistant, and as a platform service, the consumers are the ones who find the bugs. And those consumers don't have good regression testing either, so end users find the bugs. Sounds familiar And as much as we want to work on testing, users are breathing down our throats to get new features out and fix bugs.

Hopefully they can get the site to a level pegging and work on their testing. But if it's like any other business, by the time stability is reached, corporate has new initiatives ready to go.

February 22

On 2/12/2024 at 10:36 PM, Zop said:

This makes one wonder if Groundspeak is out to eliminate us 'OG' cachers who still prefer to use quality technology over 'everybody got one' cell phones.

Pisses me off.

I wondered the same thing. If it was a phone problem it would probably get fixed right away. SEVEN months wait time is ridiculous.

April 1

Nine months and counting and counting .... No updates, nothing.

April 7

On 2/2/2024 at 1:12 PM, jadefalcon said:

Being a software Product Owner, I know that they have 100 other things in their backlog and only so many resources to apply to those issues. It is a priorization game, and this isn't high enough priority for them to address. Hopefully it will be soon. Until they devote resources to fixing this, we won't hear anything.

On a side note, I have noted that eventually found caches will turn to smileys. I wonder if drafts expire or not.

Being an IT Manager, if one of my team erroneously breaks a previously working function, I expect it to be resolved by the very next update if not immediately, regardless of queue.

April 8

Hello all,

We apologize for any frustration related to this drafts bug. As our engineering team continues to troubleshoot, we would greatly appreciate:

Screenshot(s) of the issue
Detailed steps to reproduce the issue

Thank you for your help and patience.

April 9

On 7/17/2023 at 7:13 PM, worrellsquirrel said:

Our engineers are aware of this issue and hope to have a resolution soon. Thanks for your patience in the meantime!

15 hours ago, worrellsquirrel said:

we would greatly appreciate:

Screenshot(s) of the issue

Detailed steps to reproduce the issue

Are you saying your engineers now can't reproduce the error which they acknowledged 9 month ago?

5k · April 9

4 minutes ago, Hynz said:

Are you saying your engineers now can't reproduce the error which they acknowledged 9 month ago?

For sure. Acknowledging something is not the same as being able to reproduce something.

Recent change on how Drafts are handled?

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