MnGCA

[Millah]

***** See the March 1st, 2011 post below by msteffel for the updated nomination guidelines ****

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to drop a note to introduce myself and thank the membership for their continued support in the COTM process. I started actively caching in July of 2007 and became a member of the MnGCA shortly thereafter. By no means would I be considered a prolific poster to the forums but I do keep up on happenings on a regular basis. In the past year and a half, I've enjoyed meeting many of the membership at events and look forward to meeting more of you as the organization grows. I volunteered to moderate the COTM thread as creative, unique caches are one of the things that keep me (and presumably others) interested in this activity and I am glad to be able to help in the recognition and promotion of such caches.

To nominate a cache, you may

1) Post a nomination in the current "Accepting Cache Of The Month Nominations" thread.

2) send me AND msteffel a PM through MnGCA.org.

3) e-mail BOTH millahmn@gmail.com and marksteffel@gmail.com.

When nominating a cache please include the cache name, waypoint, owner, and a brief description of why you are nominating the cache for COTM honors. Your description should explain why you feel this cache is worthy of recognition – WITHOUT SPOILERS! A few guidelines to remember:

· A member may only nominate one cache per month.

· Self-nomination is not allowed.

· No cache may be nominated in two consecutive months.

· Temporarily unavailable and archived caches are not eligible for nomination.

· Duplicate nominations will be listed as a single nomination with each nominator's description included.

· The MnGCA board, webmasters, and moderators reserve the right to reject nominations based on content as well as to edit the text of the nomination for spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Timeframes:

Caches nominated in the current month will be included in the poll for the following month. As an example, any caches nominated in the month of January will be included in the poll for the February COTM. This will give the membership time enough, if they so desire, to visit the nominated caches prior to voting. Finding the cache is not a prerequisite to voting.

Voting for COTM will open on the 20th of each month. This will give me a hard date to remember (rather than 1 week prior to the end of the month) and the membership ample time to cast their votes.

In the event that there are no nominees for the current month, the runner-up from the previous month will automatically be selected for the that month's COTM honors.

Thanks to the board for their confidence and to the membership as your nominations and voting are what drives the COTM process!

Tim (Millah)

[Updated by msteffel to add his email address & pm]

[Jam3s]

I just noticed that the COTM nominations thread was locked after two days for the month of March. I am just wondering the why nominations are only allowed to be made for the first two days of the month but then we vote on them after the 20th of the month?

I am just wondering what the policy is for the nomination length for the program as I have not found this in the current policy and I think that it should be longer than two days.
_________________
~~ I was told all I needed was a GPS. I wanted everything else. ~~

[Pear Head]

[Jam3s]

[Millah]

[AerosmithPA]

This is a response to 15Tango and bflentje's comments in the December voting thread. I think that discussion is better served here.

I think the time frame for voting is fine the way it is. The way I read it the voting is to open on the 20th of each month, giving a usual 10 day window for voting. Nominations are closed a full 20 days prior to that. If a cache is nominated early and voting is done later, there is nearly a two month window open to find the cache prior to voting. At a minimum, there is about 4 weeks between closing of nominations and closing of voting to search out the caches.

If the voting were to open on the 20th of the month, as specified, that would be proper notice for all who care to vote to remember to log on at some point during the final week plus of each month.

I do not see a problem with this rule of COTM, the problem we have is with follow through of the rules.

[bflentje]

[ArcherDragoon]

I take no offense to the discussion...it is all just a matter of what people do and get used to...

My two cents...I would be in agreement with AerosmithPA...

Though, as long as it (Cache of the Month) is done with consistency, I really wouldn't care either way...a long nomination and review and a short vote or a split nomination/review and voting...

I am just partial to how or was done a little over a year ago...but I could be a little biased
_________________
You may only be young once...but I will be immature forever!!!

[msteffel]

What I've posted for time frames for the February CotM is my interpretation of the existing guidelines. While I think some tweaking might help, until the board has their meeting and reports back, I plan to follow the guidelines that are in place (though some catching up is needed for previous months). I'd want to discuss any tweaking with a co-moderator first anyway(if that's the direction the board decides to go) with some discussion on here as well.

As others have stated, and I agree with, it's the consistency/follow through/execution that will make the biggest difference. If people know what to expect [nominations are open x though y, voting is available a through b] and that happens - they can make arrangements. Sadly, there are other things in life than geocaching and I'm sure we all understand these things come up (especially the big unplanned ones), but I/we will do our best. I've got alerts in my calendars so my fingers are crossed.

FYI, I may [if/as I figure out this whole moderator thing] move the discussion of what modifications to the guidelines people would like to see in another thread and keep this topic to just what the current guidelines are (don't want someone to have to read through pages of posts to figure out what what they need to do nominate a cache).

[msteffel]

***** UPDATED Cache of the Month Nomination Guidelines *****

To nominate a cache, you may

1) Post a nomination in the current "Accepting <month> <year> Cache Of The Month Nominations" thread.

2) send me a PM through MnGCA.org.

3) e-mail marksteffel@gmail.com.

When nominating a cache please include the cache name, waypoint, owner, and a brief description of why you are nominating the cache for COTM honors. Your description should explain why you feel this cache is worthy of recognition – WITHOUT SPOILERS! A few guidelines to remember:

· A member may only nominate one cache per month.

· Self-nomination is not allowed.

· No cache may be nominated in two consecutive months.

· Temporarily unavailable and archived caches are not eligible for nomination.

· Duplicate nominations will be listed as a single nomination with each nominator's description included.

· The MnGCA board, webmasters, and moderators reserve the right to reject nominations based on content as well as to edit the text of the nomination for spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Timeframes:

Caches nominated in the current month will be included in the poll for the following month. As an example, any caches nominated in the month of January will be included in the poll for the February COTM. This will give the membership time enough, if they so desire, to visit the nominated caches prior to voting. Finding the cache is not a prerequisite to voting.

Voting for COTM will open at the beginning of each month. This will give the membership ample time to cast their votes.

In the event that there are no nominees for the current month, the runner-up from the previous month will automatically be selected for the that month's COTM honors.

Thanks to the board for their confidence and to the membership as your nominations and voting are what drives the COTM process! Remember nominate early and nominate often!

[msteffel]

For those of you paying close attention, you may have noticed that a name has returned as a moderator to the CotM forum.

Welcome back to ArcherDragoon, who will be co-moderating CotM with me. This way there is some backup and will hopefully allow more time to work on some of the CotM related projects.

More details will follow.

[ArcherDragoon]

[ArcherDragoon]

This is purely in draft form...but we have been brainstorming ways in which two people will be able to work together for CotM...

So, at this time, we would like you all to take a look at the following link and input some "dummy" information. Give us your feedback and we will make additions/corrections as needed. Data entered into this form is for testing only, caches submitted via the link below will not be added to current cache of the month nominations...again, we are just testing the possibilities.

Thank you,
ArcherDragoon

https://spreadsheets.google.com/embeddedform?formkey=dG93ZS1jMUpvRzB1ODBiMUtYWGFhS3c6MQ
_________________
You may only be young once...but I will be immature forever!!!

[King Boreas]

[ArcherDragoon]