Shouldn't you be notified when someone upvotes one of your logs?

[quiqeu]

If the goal of the "Great Story" and "Useful" buttons is to encourage better logs (as mentioned in this blog post), shouldn't you be notified when they are clicked? Otherwise, most people simply won't care.

 

All social networks notify users about these kinds of interactions for a reason. Why wouldn't Geocaching?

[+arisoft]

19 hours ago, quiqeu said:

All social networks notify users about these kinds of interactions for a reason. Why wouldn't Geocaching?

 

You are right. This seems to be a mistake in the feedback process. It is pretty worthless this way. It should go away or get fixed.

 

I predict that it will go away because logs are not supposed to work like a chat platform.

 

Instead, every cache could have own page for chatting about the cache with all the bells and whitles.

[+cerberus1]

21 hours ago, quiqeu said:

If the goal of the "Great Story" and "Useful" buttons is to encourage better logs (as mentioned in this blog post), shouldn't you be notified when they are clicked? Otherwise, most people simply won't care.

All social networks notify users about these kinds of interactions for a reason. Why wouldn't Geocaching?

Okay... I don't mean to be the wet blanket...

Notifications will only message the Cache Owner and anyone "watching" that cache when someone leaves a log, so I'm not sure how the "social" aspect is even a thing.

We've seen enough gag "TFTC" logs elsewhere with great story that it means nada to us.  Same with useful simply meaning it's a spoiler.

Most cachers pretty-much don't bother with that here. Fed up with Too-long nonsensical logs added for third-party site's word stats probably the reason.

Seems silly (to me) anyway.  It's supposed to show thanks for the CO.  A good log does that, and a CO receives those thanks in notifications.

I don't believe anyone really believes an "upvote" would make those who leave "TFTC" logs 'correct' themselves...

 

[quiqeu]

7 minutes ago, cerberus1 said:

Okay... I don't mean to be the wet blanket...

Notifications will only message the Cache Owner and anyone "watching" that cache when someone leaves a log, so I'm not sure how the "social" aspect is even a thing.

We've seen enough gag "TFTC" logs elsewhere with great story that it means nada to us.  Same with useful simply meaning it's a spoiler.

Most cachers pretty-much don't bother with that here. Fed up with Too-long nonsensical logs added for third-party site's word stats probably the reason.

Seems silly (to me) anyway.  It's supposed to show thanks for the CO.  A good log does that, and a CO receives those thanks in notifications.

I don't believe anyone really believes an "upvote" would make those who leave "TFTC" logs 'correct' themselves...

 

I think part of the reason so many people just make 'TFTC' logs is that the site never encouraged otherwise. You are right that the issue is more complex and won't be fixed overnight with just this change, but I'm trying to suggest the simplest first step I could think of here  

[+Geo_Brain]

The notification the CO or anyone watching receives is a separate issue, not connected to this suggestion. I agree with the OP, the introduction of these 'voting' buttons on logs was a good idea, but I don't believe they will work to improve the quality of logs unless the poster of the log receives a 'Your log on <cache name> was liked/found useful" notification.

I always try to post interesting logs, sometimes saying something about the state of the cache and if I did any maintenance, other times just saying how and why I've enjoyed the cache. I always try to be positive, even with poor caches or on DNFs!  Logs are a finder's chance to encourage hiders & other finders or CO's to maintain if needed and it would be nice to know when my efforts have been appreciated.  I have no idea if any of my past logs have ever been appreciated, except for the few where the CO has sent me a thank you mesage.

I agree there is probably nothing that will encourage the TFTC logger to say more, but there are probably many cachers who would be encouraged to say a bit more if they were notified when it was appreciated.

 

There is another side to this suggestion and that is I would click on these voting buttons more often if I knew the writer of the log would be notified.  For that to work best of all, they would need to be available in the app as out and about is when I read most past logs.  One step at a time perhaps - we can still use the website, which is where I usually turn my drafts into logs.

[+kunarion]

On 6/7/2024 at 6:15 PM, quiqeu said:

If the goal of the "Great Story" and "Useful" buttons is to encourage better logs (as mentioned in this blog post), shouldn't you be notified when they are clicked? Otherwise, most people simply won't care.

 

99.9% of the time when I've clicked "Great Story", it's been by mistake while I was trying to do something else.  I have clicked Great Story at times, but there just plain are not a lot of what I may consider are great stories.  And I don't log a lot of great stories.  Many of my logs are attempts to be encouraging, or at least say something nice, after an underwhelming a typical cache find.

 

If there was a way to compile all the "Great Story" and "Helpful" clicks, I might look at them sometime.  I personally don't need an instant notice.  But I would suggest that the system make such a list for both the clicker and the clickee.  If the idea is to cause better logs, the person rating the logs should have positive feedback, as well as the person receiving the praise.

 

One other thing I would suggest is, there should be more official information that one may edit one's previous logs into Great-ness.  I started Geocaching by typing only "TFTC", but edited them all to actual logs.  I hardly ever include something like "TFTC" anymore.  And this was way before any clicks became available.

[quiqeu]

4 hours ago, Geo_Brain said:

There is another side to this suggestion and that is I would click on these voting buttons more often if I knew the writer of the log would be notified.

Yes, absolutely! That's a valid point for those who claim that the buttons are not used often. Of course they aren't being used much at the moment. What motivation would you have to click them if there aren't any notifications involved? Not much. It is like a vicious circle.

[+kunarion]

39 minutes ago, quiqeu said:

Yes, absolutely! That's a valid point for those who claim that the buttons are not used often. Of course they aren't being used much at the moment. What motivation would you have to click them if there aren't any notifications involved? Not much. It is like a vicious circle.

 

Will there be a way to turn off the notifications?  It will become annoying to be "notified" every time someone clicks a button.

[quiqeu]

On 6/10/2024 at 9:58 PM, kunarion said:

 

Will there be a way to turn off the notifications?  It will become annoying to be "notified" every time someone clicks a button.

It could be, but do you really get annoyed when someone likes a Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter post of yours? I think that doesn't happen frequently enough to be annoying (unless you are a star, in which case, I retract my statement 😅), and I don't see why it should happen more frequently here. In any case, we are venturing into the realm of theories :). The notifications could even be sent as a daily summary if there were any.

 

My point is that there should be some kind of notification; otherwise, the buttons don’t make much sense right now. The exact way it should be implemented is more subjective.