Recent change on how Drafts are handled?

[+LostSparky]

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.

[+kunarion]

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.

[+baer2006]

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* .

[+The A-Team]

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.

[+thebruce0]

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)

[+jadefalcon]

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!

[+jadefalcon]

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.

[worrellsquirrel]

Hello,

 

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

[+gworol]

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.

[worrellsquirrel]

Merged two threads about the same issue.

[+teddy.66]

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 by teddy.66

[+Hi-Bye]

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!

[+AF BEE]

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?

[Keystone]

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

[+carianne.vh]

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 by carianne.vh

[+teddy.66]

This bug description is acknowledged a month ago.

A lot of users have this annoying problem.

What about a status message from the engineers ?

 

[+DanOCan]

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.

[+Rustynails]

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. 

[+GC_LostNFound]

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??

[worrellsquirrel]

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.

[+Explorador do Oeste]

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...

[+ecanderson]

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 by ecanderson

[+behami]

The bug is still there after two months.

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

[+The Vikings]

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