Congratulation Threads...

[Deego]

looking like there is no easy fix for this. (there is a shocker)

[+Simply Paul]

I have decided to only post on congrats threads dedicated to someone I know or have interacted with and thus consider friends.

Makes perfect sense to me.

 

Here's a wild idea. Each thread can have an icon dedicated to it by the starter. Perhaps we should use a convention to highlight congrats threads as such, if people are struggling to identify them (perhaps on small screens). Perhaps the heart symbol (see above) could be adopted? Or perhaps the arrow?

 

SP

[+Brenin Tegeingl]

Playing devils advocate , maybe Deego could look into a congratulations section on G:UK, with each topic locked after a month, anyone wishing to post a congrats thread is pointed there. G:UK is set up into sections, and that makes it easier to filter out what you don't want to read.

 

Dave

[Deego]

Playing devils advocate , maybe Deego could look into a congratulations section on G:UK,

There is one GUK congrats

 

But dont think the majority of people read both forums. So don’t think that will solve it.

[NickPick]

I'll add my 2p worth, which is to agree with a lot of people:

 

I think it's nice that people do congratulate others on significant milestones. It must be warming to see that someone has noticed your efforts (although mine seem meek in comparison to some!)

 

Granted, there were a lot of threads this morning when I logged on, but they're usually easy enough to filter through when reading the list.

 

I'd agree with the point that I'd only tend to congratulate someone I know / e-know (there's a phrase I've never heard before, like it!)

 

I also consider that this forum is remarkably free from 'spam'. The signal/noise ratio is very high here.

 

So, I'd like to see congrats threads continue as they are currently. So long as they're clearly labelled as such, I don't see it being a huge problem to browse past them if you don't know the person or want to read the thread.

[+thunderbird30]

I agree with Sue & Bernie too.....the congratulations posts should be placed in the correct forum!

[+Pengy&Tigger]

Granted, there were a lot of threads this morning when I logged on

That might be because a lot of them we're bumped up on purpose by someone trying to prove a point.

[+JollyJax]

I am not a regular poster here but like to keep an eye on things <wink>

 

I send congrats in the main forum when a cacher I know acheives a milestone and I happen to see the post. I never read posts that have the words PDA or Palm in their title because they are not of interest to me.

 

Presumably, everyone has the choice of looking at a thread or ignoring it? So whats the problem? Thank goodness that everyone is differrent, the world would be a sadder place if we were all the same, wouldnt it?

 

I like the idea of the heart perhaps to highlight the thread ... thanks for that Paul and I had sympathy with those that felt an immediate lock on the thread could promote off board emails whilst still noting acheivement, but I dont like the pinned area at all and often dont bother to read anything there unless my search highlights something of interest.

 

If there was a bandwidth or security issue with seperate threads I am sure that the moderators would point this out and issue a directive for a pinned thread only. Since they havent, lets assume we can all read and be selective .. and leave well alone

 

(Am back in my shell if anyone wants me)

[+lordelph]

I voted for "separate threads", but I have to agree there seem to have been a rash of them recently (EDIT - I just noticed that's because they all got bumped, so what follows is almost certainly overkill. never mind), so let me suggest an entirely technological solution:

 

Introducing the Auto-Congratulator!

It sounds like a sex-aid, but rather less exciting. Every week, it would automagically check the found stats of every UK cacher, and compare it with the previous week.

 

Anyone crossing a "congratulatory threshold" (100,200, whatever) is added to a single message.

 

This single message is then posted on the forums (either manually or automatically), perhaps with a summary of the users involved in the topic e.g.

 

TOPIC HEADER

Congratulations this week....

...to jubjub,frumious and bandersnatch

 

TOPIC BODY

Put your hands together for these hardworking cachers...

jubjub: 100 finds

frumios: 200 finds

bandersnatch: 1000 finds

 

Sounds great doesn't it? One "congratulations" post per week, clearly marked with the people being applauded.

 

I could tackle this, but I'd need the permission of Groundspeak to scrape the stats of UK cachers. This could be something the geocacheuk.com database could handle perhaps, since they already have such permission.

 

That said, you may think this is a crap idea

Edited March 29, 2005 by lordelph

[+Simply Paul]

...to Jubjub, Frumious and Bandersnatch

You just named my first three children!

 

A very satisfactory solution, if it can be made to work - technically. Thanks to Lordelph for the suggestion.

 

SP

[+Flackadder]

I much prefer individual congrats, rather than 'pinned' thread.

[+DomHeknows]

as a recipient of a congrat post this weekend i'd say keep em :-)

There are a lot of posts granted, but if you don't like em, just ignore them. I don't think a seperate section would be any good as people wouldn't look at them - i know I don't look at the pinned thread as it "gets boring" and too complicated.

Personally i try and personalise my congrat rather than keeping a boilertemplate but it is hard to think of something witty to say after the 100th post - AND you have to deal with the flood control so you can't post them all at once but have to wait.

 

As to the milestones, well 100 is just a great achievement, 200 makes an entry onto the hall of fame, 300 is the first step UP the hall of fame and you feel better....400 is a nice half way goal to the big 500....600-800 are just too far away for me to contemplate, 900 is almost there and 1000 is the true sign that you are addicted.

[+Flyfishermanbob]

I find the congrats about as sincere as a door to door salesman....and the bog standard pre formatted ones are gross !

 

If you genuinely wish to congratulate a friend or acquaintance .... why not send them a personal message ? or is it just another opportunity to get your name and glitzy message to everyones attention ...?

Edited March 29, 2005 by Flyfishermanbob

[+Bekandian]

One question I do have on this subject is, what harm are these individual topics actually doing?

[+Flyfishermanbob]

One question I do have on this subject is, what harm are these individual topics actually doing?

You forgot to add ......apart from filling the site with drivel?

[+Sue and Bernie]

Ease Springs FFB!

 

It is clear that people either love 'em or hate 'em (second one for me obviously).

 

It is also unfortunate that the lovers are clearly not content to do their thing in private, either out-of-site (geddit?) or in a quiet corner on their own.

 

I am not much bothered by the contents of these threads - I never read them. It is the fact that they bump everyone else and everything else off into the distance that gets my gander. It's a bit like having bullies constantly pushing into the school dinner queue! Yes! you could ignore them too...but in this case they just keep going around and around and around...

 

I have a similar disinterest in the CoTM thread - but that is a nice single thread that is easily avoided. Brilliant! - everyone is happy. So there is a solution out there somewhere.

 

The suggestion by Lordelph would seem to be a happy medium but I fear that it would not, like the doomed pinned thread, satisfy the need to display.

 

DomHeKnow has unwittingly put his finger right on what irks with the incessant, unending circular rolls of honour swamping the forum. It does very much remind me of when my children were collecting their graduation scrolls from university, the first few were fresh, interesting and had novelty value.....