Cache Qualifications

[+Keith Watson]

This is nothing to do with the approvers, I think they do a great job with the restrictions gc.com puts on them. In fact their job must really suck sometimes when it comes to telling users that the cache they have created by following the posted guidelines cannot be approved because the posted guidelines are not what the approvers seem to use.

 

I have just recently had a cache rejected because of this. I spent quite a lot of research in creating the page, going out and visiting the location to make sure everything was just right. Then I get an email telling me the guidelines have been recently tightened and my cache cannot be approved. The approver was very helpful in relaying to me what I have to do, but the bottom line is I wasted my time.

 

I know gc.com has the right to change the rules as they see fit, but could they at least relay these new rules onto the masses so others like me don’t was our time, or the time of the approvers who have to reject caches because gc.com changed the rules.

[koz]

please let us know what the new restrictions were so we can avoid the problem

[Keystone]

I see that your recent webcam submission was archived. The relevant guidelines for webcam caches are found here and they say the following:

 

WebCam Caches

 

These are caches that use existing web cameras placed by individuals or agencies that monitor various areas like parks or road conditions. The idea is to get yourself in front of the camera to log your visit. The camera must provide a photo detailed enough to identify the cacher.  The cameras must update at reliable intervals so geocachers can log their visit.

 

Note:  When submitting a webcam cache you must submit a photo of yourself taken by the webcam used for the listing as an example to show that the images will be identifiable.  If you request that the geocacher hold their GPS up overhead when the photo is taken, then please have your GPS held over your head in the example photo. 

 

I see from your cache page that only a very distant view is possible with this particular webcam.

 

The Guidelines have read this way since November of 2003. Perhaps it is time for the reviewers to update our form letters so that they no longer include the word "recently." There have been no changes to this particular guideline in 11 months.

 

As I often say, I would encourage all cache hiders to read the Guidelines before submitting a cache.

[+Mopar]

Isn't there a check box on the cache submission page that you have to agree that you read and understood the guidelines before you can submit your cache? If you are going to digitally "sign your name" that you read something, you should at the very least actually read it. Then you would see the new (year old) changes.

[+Keith Watson]

I read the guidelines. In fact I read them several times. I looked at other webcam cache pages. I wanted to get a feeling for what others have done, and wanted to make sure I conformed to the guidelines.

 

This thread is not about weather people can read, or bother to read the guidelines. It is about being surprised to be informed that the rules have changed.

 

Since Keystone Approver has brought up my cache I will now include the response I got from the approver about my cache. I am however leaving the identity of the approver out. This thread is not meant to bash any individual person.

 

"I am sorry but the webcam you have submitted does not have the picture quality for listing. Recently the guidelines have been tightened on webcam submissions, the following are recent submissions that have been rejected."

 

This type of response would leave me to believe that the guidelines have recently changed. And as you point out, the website has not been altered in a year. What are the users supposed to think when they see such a message?

[+Mopar]

I read the guidelines. In fact I read them several times. I looked at other webcam cache pages. I wanted to get a feeling for what others have done, and wanted to make sure I conformed to the guidelines.

 

This thread is not about weather people can read, or bother to read the guidelines. It is about being surprised to be informed that the rules have changed.

If you read the guidelines like you check off that you do, you should not be surprised by any changes. You say you read them many times, so you read the very first line line that says "Guidelines last updated 11/05/03" right?

 

You also read the line about webcam caches that says "The camera must provide a photo detailed enough to identify the cacher." So where is the new guideline, and where is the surprise that was sprung on you?

The only thing is, since you say you did read read the guidelines several times before submitting the cache, one can only assume you felt it did meet those guidelines. So, can we see the webcam that is "detailed enough to identify the cacher" yet was still declined? Since you already supplied a pic of yourself at the webcam (like the guidelines have said to do for the last year) maybe you could just link us to that picture.

Edited October 5, 2004 by Mopar

[+Renegade Knight]

... I looked at other webcam cache pages. I wanted to get a feeling for what others have done, ...

That's where you screwed up. Somewhere else in the guidelines is another rule that says in essence "no past cache can be used as a justification for a current cache submittal"

 

As for the webcam guidelines to begin with. It's a bad one off the get go. What's wrong with wearing yellow, or putting up your arms like a fieldgoal, spelling your name on a banner? Nothing. The limitation to a mug shot that CSI would be proud of is a just a limitation to the game. However in the end, this site, this sites rules.

 

Try Navicache or gpsgames.org for your webcam if you are set on getting that one listed.

[+Keith Watson]

My point is not with the cache, or the guidelines. Only the fact I was told the guidelines had recently changed causing myself and an approver to waste our time.

 

As Keystone Approver said “Perhaps it is time for the reviewers to update our form letters so that they no longer include the word "recently."” Pretty well sums it up. That in it self would help resolve some problems user may be having when they have a cache disallowed.

 

I am closing this thread.