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Congratulation Threads...

Sue and Bernie
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Sue and Bernie

+Sue and Bernie

Posted
Posted

Guys and Gals,

 

Here goes, inserting the cat into the bag of pidgeons....

 

I know that congratulatory threads are all meant as a postive things but don't y'all think the congrats threads are effectively becoming just spam? The forum, and the other more conventional threads sink under the weight of these as everyone in the circle adds their bit. The forum is being swamped!

 

Everyone interested in these threads seems to ignore the pinned one that I thought the moderators put up for this exact purpose. This appears to have become a seemingly futile attempt to collect them all in one neat corner for those who enjoy them. Like spammers (or graffitte artists) the "congratulators" are insistant in putting their "markers" out for us all to see.

 

I note today that Longfram Kev had to place a posting on a thread to bring it up out of the mire for a newbie. "Bumping" has become the norm because of the spam! Does that say it all?

 

Now I know that many will take umbrage because I do not share this aspect of the game but I have silently railed against them for ages - particularly the ones that word the title to conceal the contents - and today, on seeing the latest Easter rush, just felt the need to share with you.

 

Congratulators and fans, please, pretty please, pretty please with ribbons on - try to make more use the pinned thread like the nice moderators suggested....

 

....there! I feel better now. Steel helmet donned - Carry on!

 

B

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The Gecko's

+The Gecko's

Posted
Posted

Bernie

 

Couldn’t agree more. However if posting of congratulation threads is permitted in the main forum then they will continue. Even I will post them :) Not only that but the people who are expecting to receive them may be a bit miffed if they are made in the pinned topic section.

 

I know this has been voted on before and the decision was to allow them back into the main forum but perhaps this should be like government referendums where if the wrong answer is voted for then you get a second and third vote until the "right" decision is made :D

 

Shoot me down :rolleyes:

 

Dave - The Gecko's

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rutson

+rutson

Posted
Posted (edited)

I seem to remember having a vote on whether to have separate congrats thread or individual ones. I also seem to remember that the vote was close, but in favour of separate. The combined thread was left for those who want to use it.

 

Aha, found it.

 

40/32 in favour of separate threads.

Edited by rutson
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Stuey

+Stuey

Posted
Posted
but don't y'all think the congrats threads are effectively becoming just spam?

Nope. You've perhaps never seen a forum that has been affected by serious spam? This is all on topic, and well meant. It's a good forum, and the recent vote on the congrats thread means it is democratic as well.

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Lactodorum

Lactodorum

Posted
Posted

I originally thought it would be a good idea to gather all congratulations together in a pinned thread. That way, general geocaching discussions would form the bulk of the UK thread as was originally intended. However the majority of people who expressed an opinion wanted lots of individual threads.

 

I have to say that while it's nice for those concerned to see their "name in lights" in the subject line, it does seem to be filling up the UK forum. As more and more cachers join the sport there will inevitably be more and more of these threads. This will lead to a "swamping" of the forum.

 

I'm minded to ask for congrats to be posted in the pinned thread provided but it's your forum, not mine, so I'll be watching the replies to this discussion to see if there's a strong feeling towards keeping the multiple thread system.

 

If there isn't a substantial majority in favour of the status quo (no not the group;)) we'll go to the single thread system.

 

Over to you .......... :rolleyes:

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Stuey

+Stuey

Posted
Posted
so I'll be watching the replies to this discussion to see if there's a strong feeling towards keeping the multiple thread system.

 

If there isn't a substantial majority in favour of the status quo (no not the group;)) we'll go to the single thread system.

 

Over to you .......... :rolleyes:

So then, what the Gecko's say is correct: "I know this has been voted on before and the decision was to allow them back into the main forum but perhaps this should be like government referendums where if the wrong answer is voted for then you get a second and third vote until the "right" decision is made".

 

How about asking for a separate UK Congrats forum instead?

 

So, just in case anyone is counting: I say Keep multiple threads and educate people on how to use the search facility.

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Bekandian

+Bekandian

Posted
Posted

We find the single thread too confusing, it's difficult to tell who is congratulating who on what, especially when you have a situation like the past few weeks with a lot of people hitting milestones.

 

The ideal solution whould be to have a separate forum/area for congrats posts, but then that would be down to Groundspeak ultimately.

 

(In case individual congats threads are outlawed... Congats to Deego on your pending 300 :rolleyes: )

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Kitty Hawk

+Kitty Hawk

Posted
Posted

Why just give them a lifespan of say, 7 days and then have a convention that the thread gets locks at this time.

 

Most people who are likely to read them will do so in that time. If they don't, they could send a congratulatory e-mail to the milestoner.

 

This should limit the number of active congratulations threads to 2 or 3 at any one time, which would be bearable to everyone.

 

Adrian

 

- or post the thread and immediately lock it - anyone who really wants to send congratulations will have been alerted and can send an e-mail.

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sTeamTraen

+sTeamTraen

Posted
Posted

Something I've noticed is that many of the congrats messages seem to be exactly the same, as if their authors have a macro to insert them or something. That starts to get like sending people electronic Christmas cards - you kind of know they haven't put much effort into it (especially if you're on a CC list of 100 people).

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stu_and_sarah

+stu_and_sarah

Posted
Posted

Another question could be "What milestones require congratulation?"

 

I would suggest 100, 250, 500, 1000 and all thousands after that.

 

But hey... I don't want to knock anyone's achievements, or others' appreciation of that, so carry on as you were.

 

Oh... and being a mini driver, I'd like to see 848, 998 and 1275 on the list :rolleyes:

 

Cheers,

 

Stu

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Bill D (wwh)

+Bill D (wwh)

Posted
Posted

I far prefer multiple threads. As Bekandian said, the pinned single thread can become quite confusing sometimes. I also felt that if I joined in the congrats to anyone in the single thread then I really ought to be congratulating everyone who'd been mentioned there. With multiple threads I mostly only post when I know the people concerned.

 

Anyone who looks at my stats can see how long it's taken me to reach my present find count, so I think it's pretty obvious that I'm not a numbers cacher, but I still enjoy my own congrats threads on the extremely infrequent occasions that they happen.

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SlytherinAlex

SlytherinAlex

Posted
Posted

Bearing in mind how close the vote was in the first place, how many new cachers we have since then and how easy it is these days to knock up 100 caches perhaps another vote in a few months time?

 

I'm with Lacto in support of the pinned thread but if not then stu_and_sarah's suggestion is a very good compromise.

 

-

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rutson

+rutson

Posted
Posted

OK, here's the deal from my POV. As it happens I was in two minds before the vote, I voted for multiple threads. That was when I was a daily reader of the forums. (OK, OK, for 'daily' read 'hourly').

 

Having had a spell away and had to catch up, I thought I'd changed my mind.

There were just so many congrats thread to catch up on.

 

As it stands now, I dunno. BUT we had a vote, we decided, we should stick to it for say six months (?) in my opinion.

 

The next time we descide, I really think that some lines need drawing as per suggestions already made. We need to know which are milestones in the present climate.

 

Here's my initial thoughts; 100 should DEFINATLY stay. It may be 'easy' to knock up 100 caches 'these days', but getting in to triple figures still feels great and IS still an achievment. Stu and Sarahs idea seems OK, but the distance from 500 to 1000 is huge so maybe add a 750 in there?

 

Evry 1000 after that? Well the five UK cacher in the '1000 club' have a long wait, don't they!

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Simply Paul

+Simply Paul

Posted
Posted
However the majority of people who expressed an opinion wanted lots of individual threads...

 

If there isn't a substantial majority in favour of the status quo (no not the group;)) we'll go to the single thread system.

 

Over to you .......... :P

I have to pull Lacto up on a couple of points.

 

The previous vote indicated the majority wanted individual congratulations threads. The 'lots of' element is a temporary situation, caused in part by the long Easter weekend, and recent(ish) decent weather. The glut will pass and congrats will become an occasional treat, rather than a staple diet again.

 

Define 'a substantial majority'. Is substantial two-thirds? If not, what is substantial? And why substantial at all? If it's not 'just' a plain majority, the minority will get their way, and historically minority rule doesn't work.

 

It's the UK Geocaching forum and I'd say that was just the right place for congratulations. They tend to stay on topic much better than the average thread too! While I'm not a fan of the 'one congratulations fits all' approach, I appreciate people don't always have time to get all creative. I like to make a more personal congratulation, but like gifts, it's the thought that counts.

 

I don't post to every congrats thread, preferring to stick to folks I've met or 'e-know', via these forums. To congratulate a total stranger seems a little odd to me, but again, each to their own. I suppose all these strangers hitting their 100's are friends I've just not met yet :rolleyes:

 

100 caches represents lots of work, and I'd like to see each celebrated. Particularly the first 100 as it's a hell of a big deal at the time. Also, once you're there you're likely to stay an active cacher for years to come. This is a good thing in my book. 'Odd' numbers, such as 250, are a minor milestone and perhaps shouldn't be made a big fuss of. I mean, who at 250 isn't thinking about 300, in their heart of hearts?

 

Personally, as a paper cacher with an etrex and a stout pair of walking boots, all the iPaq, memory map and other techno-caching threads are of little or no interest to me. However, they're all part of caching and it's in my power to just ignore them. Who knows, I might want to put my notebook and biro away one day and then they'll become of more interest. Until then, I can see their benefit to others and happily accept they're an appropriate use of these forums.

 

SP

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rutson

+rutson

Posted
Posted
I mean, who at 250 isn't thinking about 300, in their heart of hearts?

Quite; I timed my 400th to be at an event, but really it's just a stepping stone to 500. I did think about having a blitz this week to get to the half-thou, but descided I wouldn't enjoy it as much as a prolonged effort.

 

However, passing the 100 mark was a big thing for me, was just annoyed it had to wait for my second month :rolleyes:

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adrianjohn

adrianjohn

Posted
Posted
Why just give them a lifespan of say, 7 days and then have a convention that the thread gets locks at this time.

 

Most people who are likely to read them will do so in that time. If they don't, they could send a congratulatory e-mail to the milestoner.

 

This should limit the number of active congratulations threads to 2 or 3 at any one time, which would be bearable to everyone.

 

Adrian

- or post the thread and immediately lock it - anyone who really wants to send congratulations will have been alerted and can send an e-mail.

I'd like to go along with the suggestion that the thread should be posted and locked immediately.

Although I have posted to and been on the receiving end of congrats threads I dont even bother to look at them now. Each new thread is a carbon copy of the former. I find it hard to believe that some of the posts are even sincere when you see the same thing posted by the same persons in each thread, it takes little thought to cut and paste.

Lock the threads from the start, the title should say it all. Then they can sink out of sight in a couple of days.

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civilised

+civilised

Posted
Posted

Out of interest, how do the posters know when these milestones are reached ? As far as I can tell, it's usually another poster who intitiates the congratulations for the cachers concerned - do people keep an eye on profiles to monitor when significant events are coming up ?

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Pharisee

+Pharisee

Posted
Posted
Out of interest, how do the posters know when these milestones are reached ? As far as I can tell, it's usually another poster who intitiates the congratulations for the cachers concerned - do people keep an eye on profiles to monitor when significant events are coming up ?

Generally, they'll say in their cache log that it's a milestone cache for them. That log gets e-mailed to the cache owner who then (if he feels like it) can start a congratulatory topic.

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Boneychest & Catsuey

+Boneychest & Catsuey

Posted
Posted
Not only that but the people who are expecting to receive them may be a bit miffed if they are made in the pinned topic section.

Are people really that egotistic that they expect them?

 

I agree with Sue & Bernie. It really is a pain after a few days away from the forums, trying to filter through the mire to find the useful/interesting threads. Conversely, on the couple of occasions that I have been into the pinned topic (once to post) I have found it incredibly difficult to work out who is congratulating whom.

 

A separate sub-forum would be the best compromise but I suspect that they would still end up on here (with flashing red text if it could be done).

 

Actually, that's not a bad idea - easier to avoid them then!

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The Hokesters

+The Hokesters

Posted
Posted

I have noticed that the congrats threads seem to be coming more abundant but I guess that's as more people are coming to enjoy the sport. I was all for the single thread but democratically this was voted against - so to save posting the same thing on hundreds of separate threads I have decided to only post on congrats threads dedicated to someone I know or have interacted with and thus consider friends.

 

I know this is not perfect and I always welcome noobs but it keeps the posting down and the threads shorter.

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