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Adopt A Newbie Scheme? Include In Getting Started?


davester

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Everyone has an opinion to what the easiest way would be. So here's mine. Let us check off a box on our profile page saying we would like to help others out, mentor. On the homepage of GC.com make a box where newbies can search by zip code to who the mentors in their area are. Let the newbie email the mentor and let them arrange time, place, location, and everything else on their own. No schedules on here since they are too subject to change. No listing of what caches you are willing to do or not do. Communicate with the other person and make it personal. This will show them how friendly the game is. Not worth discussing the whole paperless area since this is about basics. Although i dont think i could ever go back to paper caching full time, we don't want to overload anyone and make them feel this is too far over their heads. That would have taken the fun out of it for me. I am not real big on the idea of creating the mentor cache as that will clutter the cache pages for others while making it harder to search for the newbie. Something on the front page to simply type in your zip code(not lat/long since many don't even have a GPSr yet) would be easiest i would think. Just my thoughts on this. I know i would sign up to help which is what i think everyone else is trying to do also. We just need to get this implemented. Hopefully it happens before the spring rush.

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Everyone has an opinion to what the easiest way would be. So here's mine. Let us check off a box on our profile page saying we would like to help others out, mentor. On the homepage of GC.com make a box where newbies can search by zip code to who the mentors in their area are. Let the newbie email the mentor and let them arrange time, place, location, and everything else on their own. No schedules on here since they are too subject to change. No listing of what caches you are willing to do or not do. Communicate with the other person and make it personal. This will show them how friendly the game is. Not worth discussing the whole paperless area since this is about basics. Although i dont think i could ever go back to paper caching full time, we don't want to overload anyone and make them feel this is too far over their heads. That would have taken the fun out of it for me. I am not real big on the idea of creating the mentor cache as that will clutter the cache pages for others while making it harder to search for the newbie. Something on the front page to simply type in your zip code(not lat/long since many don't even have a GPSr yet) would be easiest i would think. Just my thoughts on this. I know i would sign up to help which is what i think everyone else is trying to do also. We just need to get this implemented. Hopefully it happens before the spring rush.

This is pretty much what I was thinking about when I suggested that you search for mentors by location.

 

If you want to be a mentor - volunteer.

 

IF you want to look for one, then you put in a location and search. The profiles for the nearest mentors show up in list form, with a distance from your location.

 

Then, you send them an email via their profile.

 

sd

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I did something similar to this for a couple of local cachers whom were getting frustrated with finding caches. I also lent my MeriPlat to one whom had only a wrist GPS and let her get a feel for it while searching out two nearby caches.

 

I let them search for a few minutes to get a feel for their technique then made minor suggestions to hone their skills. One cache had a great signal but was well camoflauged, the other had a crappy signal, but easy to find if you knew what to look for. I then taught them the non-destructive way of looking for a cache without overthinking the hide. These two cachers are now very enthusiastic and have surpassed me in finds.

 

My experience:

It started with a simple suggestion by someone in the thread that I lived nearby one cache the cacher was looking for and suggested I could help out. A quick 1/2 dozen e-mails and I not only had a day and time set up, but the second cacher saw the suggestion and asked if they could join. We coordinated our times, the two caches we would look for in the area, and I gave them an expectation of how long this could take. I printed off the pages, had the caches loaded in my GPS, and had my PDA available with the pages loaded there too, more for my quick reference than to talk about paperless caching.

 

I like the keep it simple method with the least amount of required ticks as possible to make the mentor available and located. Allow the flexibility of the mentor and the student to coordinate together. If the mentor chooses to maintain a bookmark of favored caches, let that be a personal choice based on their membership as an additional tool they can use.

 

I would like to add one more feature to this mentorship idea. Add a pinned topic to each regional forum so the announcement that there is one about to commence can be posted and easily noticed. This method of communication still attracts newbies whom are just lurking and may draw them out enough to announce an interest to join on the education.

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This is pretty much what I was thinking about when I suggested that you search for mentors by location.

 

If you want to be a mentor - volunteer.

 

IF you want to look for one, then you put in a location and search.  The profiles for the nearest mentors show up in list form, with a distance from your location.

 

Then, you send them an email via their profile.

 

sd

I agree and saw your post. I think our ideas are very similiar, they just started to get lost in the thread. It appeared to me to be a little too much thinking going into it rather than make it as easy for the newbie as possible. For that matter lets make it as easy for everyone involved. I don't think it would be too hard to set this up from GC.com's standpoint, but than again i don't write code. I just would like to see this get fast tracked since once the weather breaks the forums will be flooded with "i can't find this cache" and "where do i get help". If nothing else this makes a great network to meet others locally in your area that you wouldn't otherwise get a chance to.

 

(edited to clarify: too much thinking in some other posts not sd's)

Edited by pghlooking
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Has this idea died a quick death or are there items in the works to hook newbies up with some locals to show them the ropes? Thought that with summer and heavy caching season coming something would be put in place. Might also help eliminate the duplicate questions on the boards even.

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It is still a good idea, I guess it boils down to defining what we want and how to deal with it.

 

Since most cachers have home coordinates as well as goals, habits, preferences, etc, they sort of looked at as a cahe type. (OK, let's not get carried away with micro, small, large and jumbo, that's a whole different thread.)

 

Attributes for cacher's profile:

- Home Coordinates (as is for PQ's and such)

- Private (no info given if they desire this option)

- Alternate home coordinate (local park, favorite brew pub, whatever) This is what would be made avaiable to fellow cachers. It would indicate the general vicinity of the cacher.

- Available for mentoring

- caching style (pick all that apply)

-- urban

-- hiking

-- climbing

-- 4x4 / off road

 

- member of local caching organizations

list of websites and/or checkbox of recognized geocaching organizations.

 

And the list would continue, but that would be the concept. This could make cachers "searchable".

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Dont forget, Its newbies we are trying to help here, Nothing complicated is my opinion, and as for qualifications to misquote an old adage, 'In the land of the nofinds the onefind man is king', so anyone can help anyone why make it too regimented.

 

 

Just my twopenneth

You do realize this is an almost 2 year old thread that you just poked with a stick. It appears this idea has died quicker than the thread itself did. So much for mentoring I guess.

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These are two different sites in most people's eyes. I personally never go there and have found little in any use for it yet. I have barely enough time to do things on one site yet alone two. If someone is interested in Geocaching, then why would Groundspeak force them to go to Waymarking to get a mentor? Doesn't make sense to me and probably not them either. I see it as nothing more than a promotional tool being used to support Waymarking instead of helping out the new cacher. Adding more hoops only makes it more problematic and harder for the initial user to get what they are really after, a geocaching mentor. If GC wants to really help these newbies out and give them a useful tool, then they will implement it on GC not on Waymarking for gc.

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Even though it's an old thread, I still think it's a good idea. How about some CPR? By the way, should some system be implemented for this, it would be great if it's going to be coordinate based and not ZIP code based. A Zip code system will leave us non-Americans hanging :)

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It would be even better to have both options. Would cover just about everyone and would improve the game for all the newbies. Would enable them to start learning the game from people have had to learn the hard way. Might even make it easier for reviewers and such since new hiders would have someone they could actually put a face with to ask questions before submitting a cache.

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Just wanted to throw my two cents in there. I've known about Waymarking for the longest time and was a premium member when it first came out so i even had the jump start over non premium users. I set up a few waymarks and have only seen one log on my waymarks. I haven't been to the site in atleast 6 months, most likely longer. Waymarking may have spawned from Geocaching but the two are separate entities. If I'm new to caching, I'm not going to the Waymarking website, I'm going to gc.com.

 

I really thought there were some great ideas on how to implement this and honestly most of the code should already be done. Coordinates are tied to caches and I can quickly search for caches by giving my zip code (or country, coords, etc.). As long as the code to perform that search was written with reusability in mind then a new cacher should easily be able to search for those cachers who have indicated in their profile settings that they are willing to be a mentor.

 

Jared of AZBliss02

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Even though this thread is old, I like the idea. I can see it as a way to fix some of the problems that have come up recently with regards to inexperienced cachers hiding their first caches, like poor hiding places and choices of container and the like. I think of it as the geocaching version of the old adage about teaching a man to fish.

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I really like this idea, but I want to add my support for keeping it as simple as possible. I'm rather lazy by nature, and if I have to jump through lots of hoops just to mentor someone, I probably won't bother.

Here's how I see it working from a mentor's perspective. In my weekly cache cache e-mail I see information saying that gc.com is starting a mentoring program. To sign up, click here. I click through, and see a description of what a mentor is/does, and privacy waivers and what not then is says "Would you like to me a mentor? yes/no" I say yes, and think very little more about it.

A week or two later I get an e-mail from someone asking me to mentor them on their first cache. I e-mail back and suggest a local fertile caching area, and a good place to meet up, we sort out a time and what not as well of course. Before going out, I download all caches in the area found or not in to my GPSr (what take 15 seconds work?), and head out to meet them. Then we wander around for a while and chat about caching.

 

Easy right?

 

What he said!

Yep sounds good to me! :laughing::D:laughing::laughing:

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