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MnGCA
Minnesota Geocaching Association
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tomslusher
Geocacher
Joined: 02 Jan 2003
Posts: 182
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 Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 6:56 pm Post subject: |
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| I had to wait almost a full hour to get "Rummaged" approved |
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| 4+ days. Time before that was 5+ days. |
I wonder if there is some type of corrolation here. Let's see, Moe treats mtn-man decent and doesn't openly bash him and he gets his caches approved rather quickly. I wonder if that would work, or at least help?
Funny how things work out, isn't it?
I'm sure mtn-man will never admit that this is the case, but it just makes a guy go "hmmmmm".
Just a thought randomly jumping around the old melon,
tomslusher |
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JT
Past MnGCA President
Joined: 31 Jul 2003
Posts: 395
Location: Bloomington, MN
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| Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 9:02 am Post subject: |
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| tomslusher wrote: |
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| I had to wait almost a full hour to get "Rummaged" approved |
| Quote: |
| 4+ days. Time before that was 5+ days. |
I wonder if there is some type of corrolation here. Let's see, Moe treats mtn-man decent and doesn't openly bash him and he gets his caches approved rather quickly. I wonder if that would work, or at least help?
Funny how things work out, isn't it?
I'm sure mtn-man will never admit that this is the case, but it just makes a guy go "hmmmmm".
Just a thought randomly jumping around the old melon,
tomslusher |
I highly doubt Mtn-man plays favorites with how quickly he approves caches. Whether it is an hour, a day, a week, or a month to get one of my caches approved, I am just happy someone takes the time to make sure they fit into the scope of the laws and the rules and regs of the GAME. Afterall, I too was new to the game once and Mtn-man quickly advised me that one of my caches was a little too close to some train tracks. I want to personally thank Mtn-man for all his hard work in the past and the hard work yet to come in the future.
-JT |
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spinowner
Geocacher
Joined: 25 Nov 2004
Posts: 561
Location: Plymouth, MN
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eagleyes
Geocacher
Joined: 03 Jun 2003
Posts: 742
Location: NE & E CENTRAL, MN
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| Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 4:43 pm Post subject: |
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MT.M and I have long settled our differences- He is a volunteer and has a life and does a good job.
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LIFE IS GOOD;CABIN LIFE IS GREAT |
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King Boreas
Geocacher
Joined: 16 Dec 2002
Posts: 2352
Location: Exploring Minnesota
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| Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 3:03 am Post subject: |
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| from my private forum: |
Ian - Nov 3, 2005 9:19 pm (#667 Total: 673)
Posts: 414
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| seven new caches submitted |
Ian - Nov 3, 2005 9:50 pm (#668 Total: 673)
Posts: 414
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mtn-man kicks A$$ !
seven caches approved !
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31 minutes !
_________________
Joined: 16 Dec 2002
arrive...raise heck...leave (SCSA) |
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mtn-man
Geocacher
Joined: 13 Aug 2003
Posts: 70
Location: Not in MN. . . well, sometimes
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| Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 11:24 pm Post subject: |
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mtn-man,
Several questions: On average, how much time per week do you spend on everything necessary to approve caches in Minnesota? Do you cover other states? Does anyone else approve caches in Minnesota? Do approvers have the flexibility to hand off part of their workload to other approvers when a backlog piles up? Is there anything that would prevent a Minnesotan from handling this responsibility? |
This has been an interesting topic to watch, indeed. I guess some bio info would not hurt.
I typically spend about an hour or so a day looking at caches. More on the weekend, less during the week. The need here has not been great enough for one reviewer, which is why I still cover MN and other areas. I exclusively cover Minnesota, Louisiana, Mississippi and the District of Columbia. I share Alabama, Georgia, Alaska, and Hawaii. I also work British Columbia in Canada exclusively, mainly in an effort to try to calm the unrest with the local reviewer up there. I've been doing BC for quite some time now. Ironically, they have welcomed me and I am even helping them a little as they negotiate with their provincial parks. In stark contrast to MN, the people throughout Canada are working openly in their forums soliciting as much input as they can get as they get ready to present their case to the regional park departments and to Parks Canada. My main interest has been in Parks Canada and BC Parks.
I am a founding member of our local group, the GGA. We were the first geocaching organization to form and I helped plan the first meeting by finding the location. I have been on the Steering Committee (SC) since it was formed and was re-elected a couple of years ago. We have 6 members on our SC and change 2 of them each year for continuity sake. We have no president or officers of that sort, no bylaws, none of that. I manage our web site and our forums, though I do have another SC member who helps from time to time with the forum technical management. I designed our forums, including the little GPS Icons. I have been a moderator in the Groundspeak Forums for quite a while as well. Recently, I joined Keystone as a global moderator. In GA, I helped negotiate with the Forest Service to put a hold on a total ban in all National Forests. We are about to gain permission once again and will have a statewide permit sponsored by the GGA. We successfully negotiated with the NPS along the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area to keep existing caches intact, though they will not allow new caches and they removed a few that were in sensitive areas. We got a ban lifted on caches in our State Parks as well, but we are heavily restricted (park manager's discretion). I have a cache in a State Park as well as an NPS area. I help ClayJar manage his official chat as well.
There is flexibility to hand off other reviewers, yes. Minnesota is a very complex state, though, and with so many people jumping at the chance to point out any reviewer mistake, I generally do it by myself. That caused part of the problem with my recent family issues. It is hard for someone to get up to speed. It is easier for them to help in some of the other areas and leave MN for me. Currently, the local people who we think would be a good fit for Groundspeak have not wanted the reviewer position. Also, as I have said, the volume is not quite there.
I am personally offended by any insinuation of favoritism in any way. I don’t care if you slam me here in the forums or what. I only follow the guidelines and I list caches in the order they come into the queue. The only exception is in a “triage” instance where I am behind. In those cases I list traditional caches first since they are easy. I then work the multi and puzzle caches. If I have to research a cache because of the area I will hold it out as well.
One thing that has bothered me a bit is that no one from the MnGCA has ever contacted me when rules within the state have changed. I always have to find out on my own. I do look at the guidelines page on the MnGCA web site frequently, so at least the information is posted there. I think I was contacted once well after the fact, though it was not done in any official capacity. I've even been in contact with some of your local officials to clarify some issues.
I hope some bio info helps. I am glad I haven't given rickrich a reason to post in quite some time. None of the reviewers like having to wait to get caches listed. We are geocachers too. I do not review and list my own caches so I wait just like the rest of you do. I wish to give thanks to those who have offered kind words in this topic.
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mtn-man... (formerly) Keeping an eye on the King!  |
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Pear Head
Past MnGCA President
Joined: 04 Apr 2004
Posts: 5600
Location: north of Duluth
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| Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 11:31 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the info!
| mtn-man wrote: |
One thing that has bothered me a bit is that no one from the MnGCA has ever contacted me when rules within the state have changed. I always have to find out on my own. I do look at the guidelines page on the MnGCA web site frequently, so at least the information is posted there. I think I was contacted once well after the fact, though it was not done in any official capacity. I've even been in contact with some of your local officials to clarify some issues.
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This is something we will have to work at doing better at. The more you know about our existing policies, the better off we all are.
My personal assumption has been that you find out about a lot of the stuff the same time/way we do - through our forums. It's a mistake however as I doubt you read 99% of what is going on in the forums, so you're likely to miss a lot of the stuff. We'll try to do better.  |
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tomslusherwife
Geocacher
Joined: 08 Nov 2005
Posts: 16
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| Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 11:34 pm Post subject: |
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| mtn-man wrote: |
| In stark contrast to MN, the people throughout Canada are working openly in their forums soliciting as much input as they can get as they get ready to present their case to the regional park departments and to Parks Canada. |
Hmmm, others have noticed this too, not just the "vocal minority" that "my husband" belongs too.
| mtn-man wrote: |
| I am personally offended by any insinuation of favoritism in any way. |
I talked to "my husband" about this and he feels bad about making this statement, especially unprovoked. He asked me to appologize for him as he is banned from posting here for using words much less offensive than our distinguished president.
| mtn-man wrote: |
| One thing that has bothered me a bit is that no one from the MnGCA has ever contacted me when rules within the state have changed. |
Maybe your not "in the loop"
tom's wife |
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mtn-man
Geocacher
Joined: 13 Aug 2003
Posts: 70
Location: Not in MN. . . well, sometimes
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| Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 12:24 am Post subject: |
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Tell tomslusher no worries. It is not just him who has made such insinuations, either maliciously or unintentionally.
Pear head, I do get a good bit from the forums as well. I read quite often but rarely log in. It is more fun to lurk. I gotta' keep an eye on the King, after all.  
I forgot to mention that from January thru about August I was doing Maryland as well. It is even more complicated than MN, so I was happy we finally found a good geocacher to take it over. Quiggle also is now a forum moderator on the Groundspeak boards. Being one of the first reviewers, I tend to help Hydee in areas where she needs someone to assist temporarily. ~erik~ and I still do areas that are not covered by others, but he does most of that. There was a time when about 5 of us reviewed all caches around the world. Those were the days.
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mtn-man... (formerly) Keeping an eye on the King! |
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Rouster
Geocacher
Joined: 04 Jan 2004
Posts: 104
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| Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 1:02 am Post subject: |
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Thanks mtn-man, for all that you do.
I encourage all MN geocachers to post a simple Thank You. |
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KC0GRN
Past MnGCA Board
Joined: 22 Feb 2004
Posts: 1424
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| Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 1:12 am Post subject: |
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no need to encourage.
Thanks mtn-man! |
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King Boreas
Geocacher
Joined: 16 Dec 2002
Posts: 2352
Location: Exploring Minnesota
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| Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 3:56 am Post subject: |
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. I gotta' keep an eye on the King, after all.
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dang, I thought I'd slipped under the radar. |
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dmnrec
Geocacher
Joined: 17 Mar 2005
Posts: 480
Location: Duluth
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| Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 6:23 am Post subject: |
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Thanks mtn-man!!!  |
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Wayfarin Stranger
Geocacher
Joined: 01 Apr 2003
Posts: 122
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| Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 6:46 am Post subject: |
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mtn-man...I told you privately and now publically that you're doing great. Do not worry about what the riff raff have to say...  |
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jambro
Geocacher
Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 576
Location: Lino Lakes
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| Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 10:17 am Post subject: |
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| mtn-man, you do great work, thank you. I'm sorry you got caught up in the local flames. This is, after all, just a game... |
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