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Jonas
Past MnGCA Board
Joined: 30 Nov 2005
Posts: 672
Location: Chaska, MN
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 Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 8:47 pm Post subject: Suggestion for a new forum area - Recommended caches |
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When you browse through our forums you can at times get the perception that we use the forums to comment on negative caching experiences or discuss mainly the negative aspects of geocaching. If you were completely new to geocaching you could come away from our website with a bad impression of geocaching.
If we create a new forum called Recommended caches or Share your caching experiences or similar, we could invite for more posts about the great experiences we all know geocaching provides. The general forum is probably ok for this purpose but it appears that this forum does not invite for these type of posts.
It would be nice to have a location in the forums to read about others experiences outside of what we post in GC.com logs.
-Jonas |
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Jam3s
Geocacher
Joined: 26 Oct 2008
Posts: 842
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| Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 8:50 pm Post subject: |
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I love the idea! Could we tie that with COTM? I think that the COTM nominees would all fit in there!
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~~ I was told all I needed was a GPS. I wanted everything else. ~~ |
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Pear Head
Past MnGCA President
Joined: 04 Apr 2004
Posts: 5594
Location: north of Duluth
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| Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 9:15 pm Post subject: |
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I'm curious on what other users think on this, good or bad.
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Hmm... |
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Dances With Beehives
Geocacher
Joined: 12 Sep 2003
Posts: 671
Location: Chaska
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| Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 9:27 pm Post subject: |
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I like the idea. People may not nominate caches for COTM for various reasons, but might like to suggest one or more in a non-competitive area.
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...formerly 'dachebo'. |
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Jonas
Past MnGCA Board
Joined: 30 Nov 2005
Posts: 672
Location: Chaska, MN
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| Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 9:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Jam3s wrote: |
| Could we tie that with COTM? |
The way I was thinking it would not be a regulated forum but would be used to highlight single caches but also groups of caches or caching experiences.
For example, I was recently caching in St.Paul and found a group of caches (Land of the Lost by KB). I would not individually nominate those as CotM. However, I had a great time hiking around that area searching for these caches and I am sure others would too.
If we had a designated area on our website in which we share our positive experiences it could help give guidance when one is planning a caching trip.
-Jonas |
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Jam3s
Geocacher
Joined: 26 Oct 2008
Posts: 842
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| Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 9:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Jonas wrote: |
| Jam3s wrote: |
| Could we tie that with COTM? |
The way I was thinking it would not be a regulated forum but would be used to highlight single caches but also groups of caches or caching experiences.
For example, I was recently caching in St.Paul and found a group of caches (Land of the Lost by KB). I would not individually nominate those as CotM. However, I had a great time hiking around that area searching for these caches and I am sure others would too.
If we had a designated area on our website in which we share our positive experiences it could help give guidance when you are planning caching trips.
-Jonas |
I loved those caches and I hiked the 8 miles without driving all over the place! Had some fun!
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~~ I was told all I needed was a GPS. I wanted everything else. ~~ |
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Sharknose Bunnies
Geocacher
Joined: 29 Jun 2009
Posts: 297
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| Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 11:48 pm Post subject: |
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I think this is a wonderful idea.
My kids and I been geocaching for a little over a month now, and one of the more time-consuming aspects of the hobby has been figuring out where to go to find caches that work well with kids. My daughter is five and my son is seven, so at first I was looking for West Metro cache runs that involve a two- to three-mile hike and relatively easy difficulty and terrain.
Now I'm looking for three- to eight-mile bike trails with caches on the way for my son and me. But when I go myself I like to take on some of the harder terrain/difficulty ratings. And all of us all like unique, creative hides. With no "seeker-driven cache rating system" on geocaching.com, finding the best caches pretty much involves traipsing through the user logs for us.
To be honest, I actually enjoy trying to figure out routes and caching experiences that fit what we're looking for. But I'm sure that I'm missing tons of good geocaching experiences in the Twin Cities, and I'm sure that other geocachers have found very fun caching routes that work for all sorts of situations. As much as I like the planning, it'd be nice to have a forum that was a resource for this information.
I can imagine all sorts of threads/categories...
Hardest Minnesota Caches
Most Creative Caches
Memorable Caching Experiences
Family Cache Hikes
Fun Puzzles
Cool Bike/Geocaching Runs
Best Caches to Introduce Newbies to Geocaching |
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spinowner
Geocacher
Joined: 25 Nov 2004
Posts: 559
Location: Plymouth, MN
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 5:57 am Post subject: |
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While I like the idea I see one potential problem: It would have to be understood that this would only be for caches that were HIGHLY recommended. If it was simply caches that we liked we could wind up with people submitting so many caches that it would defeat the purpose of the list.
As an aside, it may not be appropriate for this forum, but I would be interested to read about caches people didn't like. Potential examples could include caches where the risk of injury is high or caches in undesirable locations such as areas with a lot of trash.
In either case, reading the logs is the best way to see what cachers think of a cache. That said, it would be nice to have a central place to find out about great caches.
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Sig line? I don't need no stinking sig line! |
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bflentje
Geocacher
Joined: 29 May 2006
Posts: 3649
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 7:31 am Post subject: |
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| spinowner wrote: |
| While I like the idea I see one potential problem: It would have to be understood that this would only be for caches that were HIGHLY recommended. If it was simply caches that we liked we could wind up with people submitting so many caches that it would defeat the purpose of the list. |
The concept works on many other forums around the country. I like the idea but then I am not sure I want to read through 20 "I liked that one too" responses for every cache submitted. I think it needs to be kept simple.
| spinowner wrote: |
As an aside, it may not be appropriate for this forum, but I would be interested to read about caches people didn't like. Potential examples could include caches where the risk of injury is high or caches in undesirable locations such as areas with a lot of trash.
In either case, reading the logs is the best way to see what cachers think of a cache. That said, it would be nice to have a central place to find out about great caches. |
I think it is appropriate to bring up and I think it'd be a great idea.. (until one of my caches is listed)  |
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spinowner
Geocacher
Joined: 25 Nov 2004
Posts: 559
Location: Plymouth, MN
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 8:34 am Post subject: |
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| bflentje wrote: |
| The concept works on many other forums around the country. I like the idea but then I am not sure I want to read through 20 "I liked that one too" responses for every cache submitted. I think it needs to be kept simple. |
Perhaps there could be a poll-like arrangement on the thread where one could just click to endorse the recommendation. That way one wouldn't have to post a reply to endorse a cache already listed.
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Sig line? I don't need no stinking sig line! |
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bflentje
Geocacher
Joined: 29 May 2006
Posts: 3649
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 8:49 am Post subject: |
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| spinowner wrote: |
| bflentje wrote: |
| The concept works on many other forums around the country. I like the idea but then I am not sure I want to read through 20 "I liked that one too" responses for every cache submitted. I think it needs to be kept simple. |
Perhaps there could be a poll-like arrangement on the thread where one could just click to endorse the recommendation. That way one wouldn't have to post a reply to endorse a cache already listed. |
Sounds like a code change. I vote for keeping it even simpler.. using the free-for-all method but strictly enforce moderation. |
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Sharknose Bunnies
Geocacher
Joined: 29 Jun 2009
Posts: 297
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 1:26 pm Post subject: |
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| bflentje wrote: |
| spinowner wrote: |
| bflentje wrote: |
| The concept works on many other forums around the country. I like the idea but then I am not sure I want to read through 20 "I liked that one too" responses for every cache submitted. I think it needs to be kept simple. |
Perhaps there could be a poll-like arrangement on the thread where one could just click to endorse the recommendation. That way one wouldn't have to post a reply to endorse a cache already listed. |
Sounds like a code change. I vote for keeping it even simpler.. using the free-for-all method but strictly enforce moderation. |
I'd vote for keeping it even simpler: use the free-for-all method, then adjust if need be. I don't think it'd be a problem if a bunch of people add that they liked the cache as well, although it would be helpful if they would add something more to the conversation.
More voices strengthens the recommendation and it only takes a second or so to skim through a handful of posts.
It'd be more helpful to me to see a recommendation where ten people have chimed in with a "I liked that one, too!" rather than have one person's recommendation and nothing after that. |
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Pear Head
Past MnGCA President
Joined: 04 Apr 2004
Posts: 5594
Location: north of Duluth
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| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 8:42 pm Post subject: |
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The forum has been created and some guidelines for it's use have been posted:
http://mngca.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4831
Jonas will be moderating the forum along with the standard crew of moderators.
Thanks to Jonas and everyone for their input!
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Hmm... |
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Sharknose Bunnies
Geocacher
Joined: 29 Jun 2009
Posts: 297
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| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Pear Head wrote: |
The forum has been created and some guidelines for it's use have been posted:
http://mngca.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4831
Jonas will be moderating the forum along with the standard crew of moderators.
Thanks to Jonas and everyone for their input! |
Awesome. Over time I bet this could become a helpful source of information.
I have a question...
When I get to 100 caches, I was thinking of going back and picking ten or so that I really enjoyed. Would a post of that nature work? I could jot down a couple of sentences about why I liked each one, and link to them. |
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Jonas
Past MnGCA Board
Joined: 30 Nov 2005
Posts: 672
Location: Chaska, MN
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| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:39 pm Post subject: |
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| Sharknose Bunnies wrote: |
I have a question...
When I get to 100 caches, I was thinking of going back and picking ten or so that I really enjoyed. Would a post of that nature work? I could jot down a couple of sentences about why I liked each one, and link to them. |
Absolutely, but try to make them as separate posts one for each cache to make it easier for others to find them and read about them. Like the post Bflentje just did.
The way I think of it. If you are out and having a really good time hunting for a cache, use that forum to post about it and share your experience. I wouldn't myself try to aim for a certain number of posts. To me it would be if I had a great time hunting for a cache then I'd post about my experience so others get a chance to share in the fun. If all our active posters posted just one recommendation a year we'd have hundreds of recommendations in no time.
-Jonas |
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