aciandella Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 As a new member of the geocashing community I am appalled by many of the posts I have read. Negative posts use language that is very critical, condescending, and unpleasant. Let's promote positive feedback, appreciation and pleasant encouragement: to those who take the time and effort to set out a geocash. Try to direct any specific issues via email messages rather than over public forums. Expect kindness to be reciprocated and negativity to be deleted. Quote Link to comment
+cerberus1 Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Tough to decipher your post when you speak of time and effort with geocaches, then mention forums. Are you speaking of feedback on cache pages, or these forums? If it's cache pages and the cache is a piece of carp, I'd appreciate someone telling me on the cache page, so I don't waste my time going out for it. A hide behind a porta potty or alley dumpster isn't gonna get too much positive feedback and surely little encouragement for more... Been doing this awhile and it seems those that provide a good experience do get appreciative responses. With the other forums I belong, this is the most moderated. Quote Link to comment
+dprovan Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Condescending and unpleasant are inexcusable. I've heard of such things, but haven't seen much of it myself in the geocaching world. Perhaps there's more venom per square geocacher in your area than in mine. Factual observations are fine, even if they cast a negative light on something. As cerberus1 says, if it's carp, it's OK to call it carp, but it's better to talk about what could be better rather than what's wrong. A 3rd party will get the message, either way. Opinions are OK, but harder to be nice about. My best advice to you is to assume the best intentions. If someone's unpleasant, read it as someone that's really sucky at being helpful. If you imagine the best of intentions despite poor results, you'll typically be right. And the few times you're wrong, you'll still feel better by imagining the best of intentions instead of dwelling about someone that's going out of their way to be hurtful. There's really no reason to give a second thought to anyone that's trying to be hurtful, so don't waste your time or effort. (By the way, geocaching isn't mentioned anywhere in this paragraph.) Oh, and by the way, arguing in the forums is something else. When people disagree vehemently, it can sometimes read as more condescending and unpleasant than it really is. Quote Link to comment
Mr.Yuck Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Tough to decipher your post when you speak of time and effort with geocaches, then mention forums. Are you speaking of feedback on cache pages, or these forums? If it's cache pages and the cache is a piece of carp, I'd appreciate someone telling me on the cache page, so I don't waste my time going out for it. A hide behind a porta potty or alley dumpster isn't gonna get too much positive feedback and surely little encouragement for more... Been doing this awhile and it seems those that provide a good experience do get appreciative responses. With the other forums I belong, this is the most moderated. Good point! After carefully re-reading the OP, I'm not so sure he's necessarily talking about these forums, but rather a "public forum" such as cache pages. Well, maybe all those TFTC loggers are on to something after all, no drama there! If aciandella is in fact talking about these forums, eh, I've seen much, much worse. Pretty tame and highly moderated more than most, in my opinion. My 4 or 5 temporary bans and dozens of deleted posts will attest to that. Also, when talking about these forums, I find this particular sub-forum, and "how do I?" to be extremely tame, with angst almost non-existent, and a lot of helpful people out there. Quote Link to comment
+Walts Hunting Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 I'm pretty sure he is talking about here since it describes many of the posts. Most I find kind of funny and laugh off. It is pretty much part of the culture here and is not going to go away. My guess is that GS will update the Pocket Query (snark, condensending) before they get around to bringing the walls of allowable comments in. Best thing is a thick skin and follow my signature. Quote Link to comment
+MountainWoods Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Yeah, I've had posts deleted on this forum when they were definitely not worded in a condescending or belittling way. I sometimes play the class clown and have posted some (perhaps off-topic) responses to try to get the original poster of those threads to think in a different direction. Not harshly. Just friendly. But my posts were deleted for who knows what reason. So yes, these forums are a bit over moderated. Quote Link to comment
+Touchstone Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 As a new member of the geocashing community I am appalled by many of the posts I have read. Negative posts use language that is very critical, condescending, and unpleasant. Let's promote positive feedback, appreciation and pleasant encouragement: to those who take the time and effort to set out a geocash. Try to direct any specific issues via email messages rather than over public forums. Expect kindness to be reciprocated and negativity to be deleted. Well said. Keep up the good work Quote Link to comment
+tozainamboku Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 I supposed there are occasions when a comment on a cache page appears to belittle the cache owner. Most commonly it's something like "Why would anyone hide a cache here." Often people are providing their opinions of the cache but it comes across as an opinion of the cache owner. I agree that something like "Not my favorite location for a cache" would be better than the statement above. But I'm sure that some cache owner, hoping for a "Thank You", would just as likely be offended by this. While it is understandable that cache owners take pride in the caches they've hidden, I would think that part of being a cache owner would be the ability to take criticism without taking offense. The OP doesn't appear to own any cache or have logged any finds since a few in 2003. It isn't clear what stake he has in log etiquette or why he brings up the topic. If he is refering to comments in the forum, it is often the nature of internet fora to have different views expressed. The Getting Started section is well moderated to keep things on track. Even in the general section is well moderated though a bit more vigorous debate is allowed. All parts of the forum have a 'Report' button for each post, so anyone can let the moderators know when someone is out of line. The Groundspeak Terms Of Use are clear on the matter. Posts that are that are harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, profane, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, embarrassing, harmful to minors, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable to any other person or entity are prohibited. They should be reported to Groundspeak who may take action that may include banning the offender from using Groundspeak services. If the post occurs on a cache page, the cache owner may delete it. Quote Link to comment
+The_Incredibles_ Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 I agree. The complaining should stop. Especially the complaining about the complaining. Quote Link to comment
+wmpastor Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 I agree. The complaining should stop. Especially the complaining about the complaining. Also the complaining about the complaining about the complaining! Quote Link to comment
aciandella Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 (edited) Thanks for your time and responses. Get out there. Have fun and geo cash on. Edited January 23, 2015 by aciandella Quote Link to comment
+GeoLog81 Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 As a new person, you simply don't have much experience, hopefully those negative too. This is, unfortunatelly, naive, that priv always works. As you will (unfortunatelly) quickly find out, there are many caches placed in inappropriate places - near junkyards, where the junkies and clochards meet etc. The owners are so proud of themselves they ignore any critic, or are simply kids who've thrown one or few caches after school and forget about it. Negative comments in logs are to warn other cachers and stay clear for future owners that such things are badly received in the community. So no, please don't sweep anything into the carpet. Please write honest logs and honest posts. Please write what you like and what you dislike. Because pretending that everything is perfect never makes anything better, it almost always makes anything wrong. Quote Link to comment
+popokiiti Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 I think one can be honest, but nice at the same time. I always try and read my post before submitting it, to see if the way I have said something may cause upset. Same with online logs for caches. I try my best - not saying I always make it, but contrary to opinion, I am human. Quote Link to comment
+KatnissRue Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Do positive posts include sharing successes in the Geocaching world? I have a few, and I'm sure others do as well Quote Link to comment
+KatnissRue Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 (edited) + Now there's a positive post! I like mine better though, Edited February 18, 2015 by KaRue Quote Link to comment
+Team Microdot Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Thanks for your time and responses. Get out there. Have fun and geo cash on. I think you'd be well served by investing more time in following your own advice Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Do positive posts include sharing successes in the Geocaching world? I have a few, and I'm sure others do as well I do, but some times the failures are more interesting. Quote Link to comment
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