How long does it take?

[+Matekarlo]

Hello,

 

what are the criteria for choosing when to publish a geocache? I noticed that one's geocaches are published earlier, others later. As an example: yesterday a person sent a request to publish an event (today it was published), and the request to publish a geocache has been waiting for its confirmation for 6 days. I know the 7 day rule, but it's just very unusual that an event that was requested yesterday was published faster than the request to publish the geocache (the request was sent last Friday, still nothing).

 

 

Also, one geocacher said that he sent the geocache to be published, waited a week, and his wife sent it the day after and waited only a day.

 

 

Just don't think I'm writing out of anger or anything. It's just really interesting why some take a relatively long time, while others are published almost immediately. A bit of luck?

[+niraD]

49 minutes ago, Matekarlo said:

what are the criteria for choosing when to publish a geocache? I noticed that one's geocaches are published earlier, others later. As an example: yesterday a person sent a request to publish an event (today it was published), and the request to publish a geocache has been waiting for its confirmation for 6 days. I know the 7 day rule, but it's just very unusual that an event that was requested yesterday was published faster than the request to publish the geocache (the request was sent last Friday, still nothing).

 

Also, one geocacher said that he sent the geocache to be published, waited a week, and his wife sent it the day after and waited only a day.

 

Just don't think I'm writing out of anger or anything. It's just really interesting why some take a relatively long time, while others are published almost immediately. A bit of luck?

I am not a volunteer reviewer, and I don't even play one on TV, but based on the comments I've read/heard from actual volunteer reviewers...

 

Yes, sometimes it comes down to luck. Or at least, it comes down to the volunteer reviewers' schedules. They do have jobs, families, and all the other "distractions" of real life that keep them from spending every waking moment on their volunteer role as reviewers.

 

Other times, it comes down to the volunteer reviewers' workflow. For example, many focus on events first, because they are time sensitive, and because they don't have issues with cache saturation. (Yes, there is event stacking, but that isn't the same as cache saturation.) Also, many volunteer reviewers focus on easy caches with no issues, publishing them quickly, saving caches that are more work (e.g., those with possible cache saturation issues and other guideline issues) for later.

 

Other times, it comes down to user error on the part of the CO. For example, I've seen a number of complaints about caches that haven't been published yet, where a volunteer reviewer took a look and told the CO that the cache listing in question hadn't been submitted yet.

[+JL_HSTRE]

5 hours ago, niraD said:

Other times, it comes down to user error on the part of the CO. For example, I've seen a number of complaints about caches that haven't been published yet, where a volunteer reviewer took a look and told the CO that the cache listing in question hadn't been submitted yet.

 

Or the Reviewer had left a Reviewer Note about an issue which the CO either missed or didn't correctly respond.

[Keystone]

Reviewers are specifically instructed by HQ to review and publish Event Caches first, because of their time sensitivity.  If I only have 10 minutes free, and there are two events plus 10 physical geocaches, I will review just the two events and save the others until my next session.

[+Matekarlo]

4 hours ago, Keystone said:

Reviewers are specifically instructed by HQ to review and publish Event Caches first, because of their time sensitivity.  If I only have 10 minutes free, and there are two events plus 10 physical geocaches, I will review just the two events and save the others until my next session.

How long does a session usually take?

[+GerandKat]

2 hours ago, Matekarlo said:

How long does a session usually take?

The time we can spare, after our daily job, which takes approx 10-12h , after some sleep, which takes about 8-10h, after some household tasks like cooking, cleaning up, doing the laundry which takes about 3-4h, meeting friends which takes 1-2h a day, going caching which takes 1-2h a day, and all the other things that need to be done, before we can take some time to do the volunteer job...

Your 10 caches are waiting in the queue, last update on your caches was October 11th, so it's just day 2 of the 7 dayx expactation, which is just a expactation not a rule!
 

[+Matekarlo]

It is clear that nothing is clear. I'll wait as long as I have to, I won't change anything here.

And I'm certainly not questioning your personal lives. I fully understand that this is a voluntary activity, and we all have lives without a hobby.

I was just wondering why some geocaches (apart from events) are released earlier than others. I realize that there may be different difficulties, etc., but a queue is a queue.

Anyway, thanks for your replies, just waiting to see if mine takes 7 days or not.

[+niraD]

4 hours ago, Matekarlo said:

but a queue is a queue

Don't put too much emphasis on that. The volunteer reviewers often leave difficult listings for later, while publishing easier listings quickly, even though they were submitted after the difficult listings.

[Keystone]

All your pending caches ask for publication on October 21st at noon local time.  That's more than a week from now.  If I were busy, I would prioritize reviewing caches that are ready for immediate publication, and I'd review a series of ten after that.  Personally, I always try to complete the review more than seven days before the requested delayed publication date.  That way, if there are any issues, the cache owner will have time to make adjustments (including on a weekend).