Caches with future publication date and time

[+i.mas]

It would be an option worth considering, to be able to have a deferred publication, where each geocacher can decide when a cache is published.
It could be in a future period of between 1 and 2 months.
The task of the reviewer would be exactly the same, review, and send it to publish (future publication) and block to prevent modification of the cache in question.

Example:
I hide a series of caches, 25 caches. Today is 28/12/2023 and I want them to be published on 1/2/2024 at 2:00 p.m.
It would be to add a field to put the future date of publication, or leave it blank, for the volunteer reviewers to decide.

In case of putting a date, the reviewer should do their usual work, and lock the cache (currently it can be done), and mark the future publication date (also it can be done).

What do you think of Groundspeak?

[+arisoft]

Caches may be missing after one or two month waiting!

 

Anyway, there is scheduled publishing system already that works exactly how you explained, including locking before publishing.

 

The field for publishing time wish is the Reviewer note you fill before posting the cache for reviewing.

[+chase99g]

That would be nice, I would say that the thing that might happen with that is, reviews volunteer to do their job, they may forget the date they have to publish your caches, have something else happening, etc.

 

One thing that I have wanted reviewers to accept is holding a spot for placing a cache in the future, I have a spot I know and want to hide 4-6 caches but the reviewer doesn’t allow me to do so.

[+arisoft]

Just now, chase99g said:

One thing that I have wanted reviewers to accept is holding a spot for placing a cache in the future, I have a spot I know and want to hide 4-6 caches but the reviewer doesn’t allow me to do so.

 

This feature is already available. What do you mean by saying "the reviewer doesn’t allow me to do so"? Maybe the spot is not available?

[+chase99g]

The reviewer in my area didn’t allow me to hold a spot for a future cache of mine.

Edited December 28, 2023 by chase99g

[+arisoft]

9 minutes ago, chase99g said:

the reviewer in my area didn’t allow me to hold a spot for a future cache of mine.

Did you follow the procedure explained in the guidelines?

Ask a reviewer to check coordinates

If you’re still unsure if your location is available, ask a local reviewer to confirm.

Tip: It’s a good idea to do this before you place your geocache.

1. Create a cache page with a title like "Coordinate Check".
2. Add locations as waypoints if you'd like the reviewer to check more than one location. This is similar to adding stages for a Multi-Cache.
3. Add a Reviewer Note to make sure that the reviewer does not publish the cache page. For example, “Do not publish, this is a coordinate check."
4. Submit your cache page for review and wait for your reviewer to reply.

 

[+chase99g]

I first asked the reviewer if that area is completely open, they said yes, then I asked if they could hold that spot for a future cache of mine, they said that they can not do that and said no more. 

[Keystone]

@chase99g, I checked all ten of the cache pages your account has created, and I don't see any timed publication requests or "works in progress" that were denied for that reason. 

 

There is an established process for "reserving a spot."  See the post by @arisoft just above.  There is also an established process that Reviewers follow for "timed publication" requests.  Our instructions on these subjects run for many paragraphs.

 

Back on topic to the OP, the only thing "new" about the request is the ability to specify the future publication date in the "date placed" field at the time of submission.  Note that the CO can edit the "date placed" field once the cache is published, to match the publication date if desired.

[+chase99g]

I never created a cache page, in work or anything like that due too the fact that I emailed the reviewer In my area seeing if the spot was open, they said you can place a cache there as the area is open, I went on to ask if they could hold that area for me if I made a cache page, they said they can not hold a spot. I ended up not even bothering at that point to hide the caches as it is winter now and would wait till spring to place them. Should I email again asking if I made a cache page, if they could hold the area?

[+arisoft]

16 minutes ago, chase99g said:

Should I email again asking if I made a cache page, if they could hold the area?

 

You should do what I copied from the guidelines above. Reviewer can not hold area but an unpublished cache can.

Edited December 28, 2023 by arisoft

[+barefootjeff]

19 minutes ago, chase99g said:

I never created a cache page, in work or anything like that due too the fact that I emailed the reviewer In my area seeing if the spot was open, they said you can place a cache there as the area is open, I went on to ask if they could hold that area for me if I made a cache page, they said they can not hold a spot. I ended up not even bothering at that point to hide the caches as it is winter now and would wait till spring to place them. Should I email again asking if I made a cache page, if they could hold the area?

 

Our reviewer explained all this in a recent podcast. From the moment you create a new cache page, that location is effectively reserved, insofar as the reviewer will see a saturation violation if someone else submits a cache near that location. This is part of the reason why unpublished listings are automatically archived after ten months.

[Keystone]

25 minutes ago, chase99g said:

I never created a cache page, in work or anything like that due too the fact that I emailed the reviewer In my area seeing if the spot was open, they said you can place a cache there as the area is open, I went on to ask if they could hold that area for me if I made a cache page, they said they can not hold a spot. I ended up not even bothering at that point to hide the caches as it is winter now and would wait till spring to place them. Should I email again asking if I made a cache page, if they could hold the area?

 

If you had created a cache page, I'm sure your Reviewer would have followed procedure for reserving those coordinates.  Saying that your Reviewer "didn't allow me to hold a spot" is misleading.  Emails don't hold spots - draft cache pages hold spots. 

 

With the process having been explained, let's get this thread back on topic to the OP's suggestion.

[+chase99g]

Alright, I think I have gotten my question answered! Thank you all!

[+CAVinoGal]

5 hours ago, i.mas said:

It would be an option worth considering, to be able to have a deferred publication, where each geocacher can decide when a cache is published.
It could be in a future period of between 1 and 2 months.
The task of the reviewer would be exactly the same, review, and send it to publish (future publication) and block to prevent modification of the cache in question.

Example:
I hide a series of caches, 25 caches. Today is 28/12/2023 and I want them to be published on 1/2/2024 at 2:00 p.m.

 

4 hours ago, arisoft said:

Anyway, there is scheduled publishing system already that works exactly how you explained, including locking before publishing.

 

The field for publishing time wish is the Reviewer note you fill before posting the cache for reviewing.

 

4 hours ago, chase99g said:

That would be nice, I would say that the thing that might happen with that is, reviews volunteer to do their job, they may forget the date they have to publish your caches, have something else happening, etc.

 

Reviewers, I believe, (I am not a reviewer, but based on experience and communications with reveiwers) can set the publication time and it happens automagically at the time you specify.  They don't have to be sitting at their computer at say, 8:00 am the morning of February 1 to publish the cache at that time; their reveiwer toolbox allows them to set a publication date and time.  Your job is to request it in a Reviewer note on the cache page you have created and submitted. (this also "reserves" your spot, BTW).  if you don't request a specific publication date and time, it just gets published as it is approved.  But there's nothing to stop you from creating all your cache pages and submitting to be sure all is OK, ahead of the time you want things to go live.  All you need to do is include your request in a Reviewer note when you submit the cache.  Communication with your reviewer, via a cache page and reveiwer notes, is the way to do what you want.

 

We have requested publication of caches in conjunction with events, and they seem to be published like to the minute that we request, which leads me to believe there are tools, and it's not totally manually done.

[+Bear and Ragged]

18 hours ago, i.mas said:

 

Example:
I hide a series of caches, 25 caches. Today is 28/12/2023 and I want them to be published on 1/2/2024 at 2:00 p.m.
It would be to add a field to put the future date of publication, or leave it blank, for the volunteer reviewers to decide.

 

 

Part of the problem would be:

As has been found over the years, the Groundspeak servers work on Groundspeak time.

Do you want your caches published at 2.00 PM your local time, or 2.00 PM Groundspeak time? (Even Daylight Saving Time can come into play!)

[+JL_HSTRE]

I don't think Groundspeak wants to encourage people to be picky about their cache publication times.

 

If you submit 50 caches and want them to all publish the same morning your Reviewer will oblige if you provide reasonable lead time. Especially for a series or corresponding with an event.

 

If you submit 50 caches and want them published one per day at 3 AM local time your Reviewer will try to politely tell you no.

 

Edited January 1 by JL_HSTRE
Typo

[Keystone]

On 12/29/2023 at 7:59 AM, Bear and Ragged said:

 

Part of the problem would be:

As has been found over the years, the Groundspeak servers work on Groundspeak time.

Do you want your caches published at 2.00 PM your local time, or 2.00 PM Groundspeak time? (Even Daylight Saving Time can come into play!)

 

I wanted to post in order to confirm that this is not an issue.  Reviewers know to operate in the time zone where the cache is located.  This is supported by our toolset.

[+Bear and Ragged]

On 12/29/2023 at 12:59 PM, Bear and Ragged said:

 

Part of the problem would be:

As has been found over the years, the Groundspeak servers work on Groundspeak time.

Do you want your caches published at 2.00 PM your local time, or 2.00 PM Groundspeak time? (Even Daylight Saving Time can come into play!)

 

2 hours ago, Keystone said:

 

I wanted to post in order to confirm that this is not an issue.  Reviewers know to operate in the time zone where the cache is located.  This is supported by our toolset.

 

Not a problem for a Reviewer doing it locally, but may be a different matter if it was programmed/automated, once the cache had been reviewed, and then left to the system/servers?

[+arisoft]

1 hour ago, Bear and Ragged said:

Not a problem for a Reviewer doing it locally, but may be a different matter if it was programmed/automated, once the cache had been reviewed, and then left to the system/servers?

 

The timing has worked correctly. What makes you think that there may be an error?