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July/August Souvenir Question


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Just like with Federal Reserve Notes, the more you print, the less they are worth. Please do not cheapen souvenirs with this souvenir QE.

 

I often think of souvenirs like coin or stamp collecting. A coin collector will typically seek out rare and hard to find coins for their collection. The 31 days in August souvenirs is like someone dumping their penny jar full of U.S. pennies all minted in the last 10 years into ones collection.

 

 

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Just like with Federal Reserve Notes, the more you print, the less they are worth. Please do not cheapen souvenirs with this souvenir QE.

 

I often think of souvenirs like coin or stamp collecting. A coin collector will typically seek out rare and hard to find coins for their collection. The 31 days in August souvenirs is like someone dumping their penny jar full of U.S. pennies all minted in the last 10 years into ones collection.

these

 

Any time sensitive souvenir will be rarer than those that aren't so as long as they don't do this every August these will be rare and having them all even rarer.

 

Can't wait for the 366 days of geocaching :lol:

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Just like with Federal Reserve Notes, the more you print, the less they are worth. Please do not cheapen souvenirs with this souvenir QE.

 

I often think of souvenirs like coin or stamp collecting. A coin collector will typically seek out rare and hard to find coins for their collection. The 31 days in August souvenirs is like someone dumping their penny jar full of U.S. pennies all minted in the last 10 years into ones collection.

 

You asked for more souvenirs to be released, and now we are getting more souvenirs but you still are not happy?

 

A bit like a kid crying because they got a Snickers bar when they wanted an Almond Joy, isn't it? :P

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Just like with Federal Reserve Notes, the more you print, the less they are worth. Please do not cheapen souvenirs with this souvenir QE.

 

I often think of souvenirs like coin or stamp collecting. A coin collector will typically seek out rare and hard to find coins for their collection. The 31 days in August souvenirs is like someone dumping their penny jar full of U.S. pennies all minted in the last 10 years into ones collection.

these

 

Any time sensitive souvenir will be rarer than those that aren't so as long as they don't do this every August these will be rare and having them all even rarer.

 

Can't wait for the 366 days of geocaching :lol:

 

Do you think I could get away with a challenge cache requiring all 31 of these souvenirs? :lol:

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Another option would be to post Note logs instead of a Found It log on every cache found during the Month of August. The, on Sept. 1st, change all the logs to Found Its.

Sorry, that's a no go. They fixed that. From the release notes of May 30, 2013:

Souvenirs are now correctly awarded when a log is edited, not just on initial posting.

I mentioned earlier that you really only have two options if you don't want the August souvenirs:

1. Don't find any caches in August.

2. Find caches in August, then ask Groundspeak to remove the unwanted souvenirs.

(3.) I guess another option is to log any August finds with a non-August date, but I don't personally consider that an option.

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Ha Ha Ha, this is good joke from Groundspeak. They do not have enough people to do country souvenirs, but probably they have enough people to do useless 31 august souvenirs.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I am definitely not surprised, it is Groundspeak with all its suprises. :lol: So what is next? 24 souvenirs for caching each hour in a day? :lol:

 

Nonetheless, it is still game, so I do not see any problem with this. ;)

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Another option would be to post Note logs instead of a Found It log on every cache found during the Month of August. The, on Sept. 1st, change all the logs to Found Its.

Sorry, that's a no go. They fixed that. From the release notes of May 30, 2013:

Souvenirs are now correctly awarded when a log is edited, not just on initial posting.

I mentioned earlier that you really only have two options if you don't want the August souvenirs:

1. Don't find any caches in August.

2. Find caches in August, then ask Groundspeak to remove the unwanted souvenirs.

(3.) I guess another option is to log any August finds with a non-August date, but I don't personally consider that an option.

 

Souvenirs are another one of gc.com's newer ideas that i have no interest in. They don't enhance my geocaching experience in any way. On the otherhand, i don't care that they are on my profile page. They're under a tab that i am never forced to click on. Because i feel this way,, i thought i'd offer up a 4th option.

 

4. Ignore them.

 

Actually, i figure most of the complaints about these souvenirs are coming from cachers who really DO want them but either don't want to put out the effort (or fuel costs), or who don't have time, or who don't have 31 caches conveniently located nearby to find. Honestly, what other reasons could there be for complaining about them? :unsure:

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Just like with Federal Reserve Notes, the more you print, the less they are worth. Please do not cheapen souvenirs with this souvenir QE.

 

I often think of souvenirs like coin or stamp collecting. A coin collector will typically seek out rare and hard to find coins for their collection. The 31 days in August souvenirs is like someone dumping their penny jar full of U.S. pennies all minted in the last 10 years into ones collection.

 

You asked for more souvenirs to be released, and now we are getting more souvenirs but you still are not happy?

 

A bit like a kid crying because they got a Snickers bar when they wanted an Almond Joy, isn't it? :P

 

I asked for the continuation of country based souvenirs (and quite a few people have supported the idea) and they're giving us a different kind of souvenir.

 

It's more a bit like geocachers asking for the return of virtual caches and getting Gecaching Challenges instead.

 

 

 

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Another option would be to post Note logs instead of a Found It log on every cache found during the Month of August. The, on Sept. 1st, change all the logs to Found Its.

Sorry, that's a no go. They fixed that. From the release notes of May 30, 2013:

 

 

By "change all the logs" I meant that I'd post a note log (so that I could keep track of what I'd found) then, in Sept. delete the note and post a found it.

 

 

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Another option would be to post Note logs instead of a Found It log on every cache found during the Month of August. The, on Sept. 1st, change all the logs to Found Its.

Sorry, that's a no go. They fixed that. From the release notes of May 30, 2013:

Souvenirs are now correctly awarded when a log is edited, not just on initial posting.

I mentioned earlier that you really only have two options if you don't want the August souvenirs:

1. Don't find any caches in August.

2. Find caches in August, then ask Groundspeak to remove the unwanted souvenirs.

(3.) I guess another option is to log any August finds with a non-August date, but I don't personally consider that an option.

 

Souvenirs are another one of gc.com's newer ideas that i have no interest in. They don't enhance my geocaching experience in any way. On the otherhand, i don't care that they are on my profile page. They're under a tab that i am never forced to click on. Because i feel this way,, i thought i'd offer up a 4th option.

 

4. Ignore them.

 

Actually, i figure most of the complaints about these souvenirs are coming from cachers who really DO want them but either don't want to put out the effort (or fuel costs), or who don't have time, or who don't have 31 caches conveniently located nearby to find. Honestly, what other reasons could there be for complaining about them? :unsure:

 

From my perspective, they were something that I was interested in, but after they get watered down next month, I'll be taking your option #4. It's just sad to see all of the wasted opportunities of what the could have become.

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Here's a link to IowaAdmin's geocaching blog - http://iowaadmin.blogspot.com/

 

August 1 - 31: 31 Days of Geocaching

.... Each day geocachers will have the opportunity to earn a unique calendar styled souvenir representing the date, by logging a Found it or Attended for a geocache.

 

WOW!

It's really true!

 

I guess I can take that challenge requiring a donkey-load of souvenirs off my ignore list! :D

 

A souvenir for each day in August when you've found a cache? What ever happened to "make better mistakes"?

 

As mistakes go I'd say this is a pretty good one. Maybe they could have multiple souvenirs for people who find more than one cache on any given day.

 

I'm probably going to be in St. Louis in August and will want to find a cache there as I have not yet found a cache in Missouri. I'd like to get the Missouri souvenir added to my page, but will probably not log any finds any finds I make until September to avoid having these absurd one a day souvenirs cluttering up my page. I got an International Geocaching Day souvenir a couple of years ago so I'll probably avoid logging any caches on Aug. 17th as well.

 

I'm tempted to go and mop up all the soggy film pots that have appeared near me, and just log one every day to see if anybody notices which dates are real and which are not. Maybe it's a silly side game of a side game, I'm just curious.

Edited by team tisri
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Another option would be to post Note logs instead of a Found It log on every cache found during the Month of August. The, on Sept. 1st, change all the logs to Found Its.

Sorry, that's a no go. They fixed that. From the release notes of May 30, 2013:

Souvenirs are now correctly awarded when a log is edited, not just on initial posting.

I mentioned earlier that you really only have two options if you don't want the August souvenirs:

1. Don't find any caches in August.

2. Find caches in August, then ask Groundspeak to remove the unwanted souvenirs.

(3.) I guess another option is to log any August finds with a non-August date, but I don't personally consider that an option.

 

Souvenirs are another one of gc.com's newer ideas that i have no interest in. They don't enhance my geocaching experience in any way. On the otherhand, i don't care that they are on my profile page. They're under a tab that i am never forced to click on. Because i feel this way,, i thought i'd offer up a 4th option.

 

4. Ignore them.

 

Actually, i figure most of the complaints about these souvenirs are coming from cachers who really DO want them but either don't want to put out the effort (or fuel costs), or who don't have time, or who don't have 31 caches conveniently located nearby to find. Honestly, what other reasons could there be for complaining about them? :unsure:

 

From my perspective, they were something that I was interested in, but after they get watered down next month, I'll be taking your option #4. It's just sad to see all of the wasted opportunities of what the could have become.

 

I guess i see your point. It might have been better if gc.com made it so that a person got one souvenir when they found the 31 caches. Possibly making it to where a person could get it any one month that this streak was accomplished.

 

One thing i can see happening with this. There are a few challenge caches out there which require a certain number of souvenirs. This'll certainly make it easier to complete those!

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Another option would be to post Note logs instead of a Found It log on every cache found during the Month of August. The, on Sept. 1st, change all the logs to Found Its.

Sorry, that's a no go. They fixed that. From the release notes of May 30, 2013:

Souvenirs are now correctly awarded when a log is edited, not just on initial posting.

I mentioned earlier that you really only have two options if you don't want the August souvenirs:

1. Don't find any caches in August.

2. Find caches in August, then ask Groundspeak to remove the unwanted souvenirs.

(3.) I guess another option is to log any August finds with a non-August date, but I don't personally consider that an option.

 

Souvenirs are another one of gc.com's newer ideas that i have no interest in. They don't enhance my geocaching experience in any way. On the otherhand, i don't care that they are on my profile page. They're under a tab that i am never forced to click on. Because i feel this way,, i thought i'd offer up a 4th option.

 

4. Ignore them.

 

Actually, i figure most of the complaints about these souvenirs are coming from cachers who really DO want them but either don't want to put out the effort (or fuel costs), or who don't have time, or who don't have 31 caches conveniently located nearby to find. Honestly, what other reasons could there be for complaining about them? :unsure:

 

From my perspective, they were something that I was interested in, but after they get watered down next month, I'll be taking your option #4. It's just sad to see all of the wasted opportunities of what the could have become.

 

I guess i see your point. It might have been better if gc.com made it so that a person got one souvenir when they found the 31 caches. Possibly making it to where a person could get it any one month that this streak was accomplished.

 

One thing i can see happening with this. There are a few challenge caches out there which require a certain number of souvenirs. This'll certainly make it easier to complete those!

 

I wouldn't have any objection to a single souvenir that one could earn by finding a cache every day in the month of August, or any other month (I wonder why August was chosen). That's actually a worthy accomplishment and getting a souvenir for it would be meaningful. Getting a souvenir for any day that a cache is logged during the Month of August...not so much.

 

I've never seen a challenge cache based on collecting some number of souvenirs. However, challenge caches are almost non-existent where I live.

 

 

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Souvenirs are awarded when a user posts a Found log. (Sure for some of the country based souvenirs the ran a script that when and award them retroactively, but this is not the ordinary mechanism). So to award a single souvenir for caching all 31 days of August would have required special code. Each time someone log a cache with a date found in August 2013, the system would have to look at all that users logs and see if all the dates in August 2013 have been logged. It the could award a souvenir. This may have been deemed to be more effort that it was worth for this promotion.

 

In additiont the point is to get people find caches on as many days in August as possible. Some people will certainly miss some days. TPTB don't want some to stop caching in August just because they missed a day early on. Nor would they want some who knows there will be a day later in the month they will miss to not participate at all. Giving a souvenir for each day seems to be the way to encourage the most people to find caches each day they can. Of course someone with all 31 will have the bragging rights that they completed a streak.

 

What I don't understand is why getting a souvenir for caching on 10/10/10 is a good thing but getting one for caching on 08/12/13 isn't. Each is a souvenir for caching on a particular day. I personally don't get emotional just because the month, day, and year on the Gregorian calendar are all the same. Whenever I've complained that souvenirs were hokey in the past, I get all these people saying how wonderful it was to get one for caching on 2/29/2012. Well, if was wonderful to get one on that day, wouldn't it be 31 times as wonderful to get a souvenir for each day in August?

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Well, those people who have souvenir challenges are going to have a lot more qualifiers now. 32 individual day souvenirs in the next 1 2/3 months? I think its kinda silly and will clutter the souvenir page, but will do it. May never look at my souvenir tab again, but will do it. Have already started skipping local new caches so I do not have to drive far every day.

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Just like with Federal Reserve Notes, the more you print, the less they are worth. Please do not cheapen souvenirs with this souvenir QE.

 

I often think of souvenirs like coin or stamp collecting. A coin collector will typically seek out rare and hard to find coins for their collection. The 31 days in August souvenirs is like someone dumping their penny jar full of U.S. pennies all minted in the last 10 years into ones collection.

 

You asked for more souvenirs to be released, and now we are getting more souvenirs but you still are not happy?

 

A bit like a kid crying because they got a Snickers bar when they wanted an Almond Joy, isn't it? :P

 

I asked for the continuation of country based souvenirs (and quite a few people have supported the idea) and they're giving us a different kind of souvenir.

 

It's more a bit like geocachers asking for the return of virtual caches and getting Gecaching Challenges instead.

 

I see your point.

Apparently Groundspeak did not. :(

I would much rather Groundspeak had finished hoeing the row they were working on before moving to a whole different field, but that seems to be how they operate. :mad:

 

I wouldn't be surprised if these calendar-based souvenirs suddenly stop getting distributed in the third week of August. :rolleyes:

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Well, those people who have souvenir challenges are going to have a lot more qualifiers now. 32 individual day souvenirs in the next 1 2/3 months? I think its kinda silly and will clutter the souvenir page, but will do it. May never look at my souvenir tab again, but will do it. Have already started skipping local new caches so I do not have to drive far every day.

 

With three threads devoted to the topic I can't find the particular post that I am looking for, but someone said that they will be comparing total logs for July to August and expected a drop in August. I expect the opposite and think that if you compare July this year to July of last year, you'll see a drop as people simply stop caching in July in order to save available caches for August. The blog pretty much told people to do that.

 

In this respect, I totally agree with Toz. Encouraging people to change their habits and only cache on particular days does not sound healthy to the sport in general and only serves to manipulate the overall logging data.

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Another option would be to post Note logs instead of a Found It log on every cache found during the Month of August. The, on Sept. 1st, change all the logs to Found Its.

Sorry, that's a no go. They fixed that. From the release notes of May 30, 2013:

By "change all the logs" I meant that I'd post a note log (so that I could keep track of what I'd found) then, in Sept. delete the note and post a found it.

You mean you'd log them during the month of September, but back-date them to the correct dates in August? They fixed that, too. I think it was in the lead-up to CITO Day earlier this year. There's no longer a finite period in which you need to submit your log. If the log qualifies you for a souvenir, you get it, regardless of when you submitted your log.

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Another option would be to post Note logs instead of a Found It log on every cache found during the Month of August. The, on Sept. 1st, change all the logs to Found Its.

Sorry, that's a no go. They fixed that. From the release notes of May 30, 2013:

By "change all the logs" I meant that I'd post a note log (so that I could keep track of what I'd found) then, in Sept. delete the note and post a found it.

You mean you'd log them during the month of September, but back-date them to the correct dates in August? They fixed that, too. I think it was in the lead-up to CITO Day earlier this year. There's no longer a finite period in which you need to submit your log. If the log qualifies you for a souvenir, you get it, regardless of when you submitted your log.

 

What if you submit with the wrong date and then edit it to the correct date? Did they fix that? In the past, one would have to delete their log and resubmit it with the correct date in order to get the souvenir.

 

At any rate, I'm not going to any sleep over this. I'll just cache along as normal and never look at mine or anyone elses souvenir tab again.

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Souvenirs are awarded when a user posts a Found log. (Sure for some of the country based souvenirs the ran a script that when and award them retroactively, but this is not the ordinary mechanism). So to award a single souvenir for caching all 31 days of August would have required special code. Each time someone log a cache with a date found in August 2013, the system would have to look at all that users logs and see if all the dates in August 2013 have been logged. It the could award a souvenir. This may have been deemed to be more effort that it was worth for this promotion.

 

I don't know how the database is constructed but based on what I can see on a few pages it's fairly obvious that the find date is recorded. So instead of iterating over every user log, they could run a query which returns a count of the logs which match each day of the month, for example:

 

SELECT count(llogid) FROM userlogs where logDate = "20130801" and logtype = 'found' would return the number of found logs that a user posted on August 1, 2013. if it returns a value greater than zero, the user found a cache that day. Iterate over the days of the month and if the query ever returns a zero, break out of the loop and go onto the next users. If the the loop completes to the end of the month, the user would have 1 or more vinds each day of the month and the system would award a souvenir. Yes, that's more effort but it's hardly rocket science.

 

 

What I don't understand is why getting a souvenir for caching on 10/10/10 is a good thing but getting one for caching on 08/12/13 isn't. Each is a souvenir for caching on a particular day. I personally don't get emotional just because the month, day, and year on the Gregorian calendar are all the same. Whenever I've complained that souvenirs were hokey in the past, I get all these people saying how wonderful it was to get one for caching on 2/29/2012. Well, if was wonderful to get one on that day, wouldn't it be 31 times as wonderful to get a souvenir for each day in August?

 

Did someone say that getting a 10/10/10 souvenir was a good thing because I didn't see it. IMHO, the 10/10/10 souvenir is just as worthless as a souvenir for each day in August, because it was essentially awarded to everyone. A souvenir for a find on 2/29/2012 is different simply because leap day only happen once every four years. I don't know if you're doing this intentionally, but you don't appear to be making any distinction whatsoever between different souvenirs. Those that are objecting to the 31 days in August souvenirs seem to be able to make a distinction between receiving a souvenir for finding a cache in a country thousands of miles away, or traveling thousands of miles to log the cache at Groundspeak HQ and getting a souvenir for driving a half mile down the road to the walmart parking lot and lifting a lamp post skirt. Receiving a souvenir for accomplishing something one deems to be significant is just not the same as receiving one for doing something hundreds of thousands of geocachers are doing the same day.

 

 

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Another option would be to post Note logs instead of a Found It log on every cache found during the Month of August. The, on Sept. 1st, change all the logs to Found Its.

Sorry, that's a no go. They fixed that. From the release notes of May 30, 2013:

By "change all the logs" I meant that I'd post a note log (so that I could keep track of what I'd found) then, in Sept. delete the note and post a found it.

You mean you'd log them during the month of September, but back-date them to the correct dates in August? They fixed that, too. I think it was in the lead-up to CITO Day earlier this year. There's no longer a finite period in which you need to submit your log. If the log qualifies you for a souvenir, you get it, regardless of when you submitted your log.

What if you submit with the wrong date and then edit it to the correct date? Did they fix that? In the past, one would have to delete their log and resubmit it with the correct date in order to get the souvenir.

That's what the link points to in the earliest quote above. In the May 30 site update, they fixed what you describe. I'll re-quote from the release notes since it's been snipped in the quote train above:

Souvenirs are now correctly awarded when a log is edited, not just on initial posting.
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Souvenirs are awarded when a user posts a Found log. (Sure for some of the country based souvenirs the ran a script that when and award them retroactively, but this is not the ordinary mechanism). So to award a single souvenir for caching all 31 days of August would have required special code. Each time someone log a cache with a date found in August 2013, the system would have to look at all that users logs and see if all the dates in August 2013 have been logged. It the could award a souvenir. This may have been deemed to be more effort that it was worth for this promotion.

 

I don't know how the database is constructed but based on what I can see on a few pages it's fairly obvious that the find date is recorded. So instead of iterating over every user log, they could run a query which returns a count of the logs which match each day of the month, for example:

 

SELECT count(llogid) FROM userlogs where logDate = "20130801" and logtype = 'found' would return the number of found logs that a user posted on August 1, 2013. if it returns a value greater than zero, the user found a cache that day. Iterate over the days of the month and if the query ever returns a zero, break out of the loop and go onto the next users. If the the loop completes to the end of the month, the user would have 1 or more vinds each day of the month and the system would award a souvenir. Yes, that's more effort but it's hardly rocket science.

 

 

What I don't understand is why getting a souvenir for caching on 10/10/10 is a good thing but getting one for caching on 08/12/13 isn't. Each is a souvenir for caching on a particular day. I personally don't get emotional just because the month, day, and year on the Gregorian calendar are all the same. Whenever I've complained that souvenirs were hokey in the past, I get all these people saying how wonderful it was to get one for caching on 2/29/2012. Well, if was wonderful to get one on that day, wouldn't it be 31 times as wonderful to get a souvenir for each day in August?

 

Did someone say that getting a 10/10/10 souvenir was a good thing because I didn't see it. IMHO, the 10/10/10 souvenir is just as worthless as a souvenir for each day in August, because it was essentially awarded to everyone. A souvenir for a find on 2/29/2012 is different simply because leap day only happen once every four years. I don't know if you're doing this intentionally, but you don't appear to be making any distinction whatsoever between different souvenirs. Those that are objecting to the 31 days in August souvenirs seem to be able to make a distinction between receiving a souvenir for finding a cache in a country thousands of miles away, or traveling thousands of miles to log the cache at Groundspeak HQ and getting a souvenir for driving a half mile down the road to the walmart parking lot and lifting a lamp post skirt. Receiving a souvenir for accomplishing something one deems to be significant is just not the same as receiving one for doing something hundreds of thousands of geocachers are doing the same day.

 

Wouldn't the date 10/10/10 be about 25 times as unique as 2/29? I expect to see quite a few more 2/29s before I'm gone. I'm not counting on being around and logging a cache on 10/10/2110.

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Souvenirs are awarded when a user posts a Found log. (Sure for some of the country based souvenirs the ran a script that when and award them retroactively, but this is not the ordinary mechanism). So to award a single souvenir for caching all 31 days of August would have required special code. Each time someone log a cache with a date found in August 2013, the system would have to look at all that users logs and see if all the dates in August 2013 have been logged. It the could award a souvenir. This may have been deemed to be more effort that it was worth for this promotion.

 

I don't know how the database is constructed but based on what I can see on a few pages it's fairly obvious that the find date is recorded. So instead of iterating over every user log, they could run a query which returns a count of the logs which match each day of the month, for example:

 

SELECT count(llogid) FROM userlogs where logDate = "20130801" and logtype = 'found' would return the number of found logs that a user posted on August 1, 2013. if it returns a value greater than zero, the user found a cache that day. Iterate over the days of the month and if the query ever returns a zero, break out of the loop and go onto the next users. If the the loop completes to the end of the month, the user would have 1 or more vinds each day of the month and the system would award a souvenir. Yes, that's more effort but it's hardly rocket science.

You have to assume that some people log out of order and we know that some people delay logging caches for months (or go back and relog cache when the change their accounts). That means the from now on, any time a user logs a cache the system needs to check if the found date is set to a day in August 2013, and if so then would have to execute the procedure you outline above to a see if this was date the person needed to get the souvenir. That is far more complicated than just checking if the Found date or the country/state when the cache is located qualifies the user for any souvenirs. Sure, the computer doesn't care if it has to run a more complicated procedure, and perhaps there is enough spare bandwidth on the Groundspeak servers to handle this. But someone has to write this code. Maybe it's a few lines of SQL or maybe it isn't, but it is extra effort for the programmers. Keeping the souvenirs for either a specific date or country/state probably is just adding a line to a table with that information. The code to award these souvenirs exists.

 

 

What I don't understand is why getting a souvenir for caching on 10/10/10 is a good thing but getting one for caching on 08/12/13 isn't. Each is a souvenir for caching on a particular day. I personally don't get emotional just because the month, day, and year on the Gregorian calendar are all the same. Whenever I've complained that souvenirs were hokey in the past, I get all these people saying how wonderful it was to get one for caching on 2/29/2012. Well, if was wonderful to get one on that day, wouldn't it be 31 times as wonderful to get a souvenir for each day in August?

 

Did someone say that getting a 10/10/10 souvenir was a good thing because I didn't see it. IMHO, the 10/10/10 souvenir is just as worthless as a souvenir for each day in August, because it was essentially awarded to everyone. A souvenir for a find on 2/29/2012 is different simply because leap day only happen once every four years. I don't know if you're doing this intentionally, but you don't appear to be making any distinction whatsoever between different souvenirs. Those that are objecting to the 31 days in August souvenirs seem to be able to make a distinction between receiving a souvenir for finding a cache in a country thousands of miles away, or traveling thousands of miles to log the cache at Groundspeak HQ and getting a souvenir for driving a half mile down the road to the walmart parking lot and lifting a lamp post skirt. Receiving a souvenir for accomplishing something one deems to be significant is just not the same as receiving one for doing something hundreds of thousands of geocachers are doing the same day.

Are you suggesting that country/state souvenirs should only be given to people who live thousands of miles away? You get a souvenir if you find one cache in your home state/country, just like if you find one halfway around the world.

 

You seem to be giving souvenirs some value they don't have by claiming that some were harder for you to get. Perhaps filling in the map by getting all the states or all the countries in Europe would take some effort. But most people can pick one cache - perhaps a virtual near the airport - to log when visiting a country on work or vacation. It really isn't that big of a deal.

 

Since I don't like challenge caches, I have suggested that something like souvenirs be given for accomplishing geocaching challenges. But that isn't what souvenirs are now. Like a find count, there are just something that Groundspeak adds to your account for doing what you would do anyhow. Before souvenirs people ran all sort of statistics programs to post which states and countries they had found cache in, or what their longest streak of caching was, or even how many FTFs they had. If you want recognition for something you think is a worthy accomplishment, you can post it on your profile and crow all you want. Don't expect souvenirs to do that for you. They never did.

Edited by tozainamboku
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In additiont the point is to get people find caches on as many days in August as possible.

 

Not something I appreciate. The 31 days souvenir action reminds me of Munzee like activities.

 

I even less appreciate recommendations like the one to find a cache on day X in the last hour and on day X+1 in the first hour of the day as for many caches it is a bad idea to visit them at night and in particular of many people are doing so. Right now it already happens in connection with FTF hunts that cachers ignore the wishes of cache owners, but I'm really disappointed that Groundspeak officially posts recommendations that are very egocentric and do not take the cache, the environment and other aspects into account.

 

Motivating someone to drive each day 20km to find a further cache of a series of 30 caches where a single drive of 20km would allow to find all 30 caches is a really bad idea in my eyes. (Yes, I know in many areas of North America this is not considered to be an issue, and the only aspect is whether the cachers can/want to afford the required gas.)

 

You might now argue that there exist challenge caches where one needs to have a streak of 31 days (or a longer one), but they do not exist in my area.

 

What I don't understand is why getting a souvenir for caching on 10/10/10 is a good thing but getting one for caching on 08/12/13 isn't. Each is a souvenir for caching on a particular day. I personally don't get emotional just because the month, day, and year on the Gregorian calendar are all the same. Whenever I've complained that souvenirs were hokey in the past, I get all these people saying how wonderful it was to get one for caching on 2/29/2012. Well, if was wonderful to get one on that day, wouldn't it be 31 times as wonderful to get a souvenir for each day in August?

 

There is a large difference for me between awarding a souvenir for a single isolated day and awarding one for each day during a month. The latter will change the caching behaviour of many people much more and will have more negative effects on both the caches that are hidden during this period (e.g. many simple ones that do not show anything and are just there to provide further finds in the vicinity for the friends of the owner) and on the found rates of those which have been there before.

 

Personally, I do not care about souvenirs. If I got awarded some of them by chance, I did not mind that much as I did not feel to support something wrong in my mind. With the 31 days souvenirs it feels differently for me.

 

Cezanne

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I have on my back car window souvenir stickers from Machu Picchu, The Great Pyramids, The Great Wall of China, and Stonehenge. During my visit to Jellystone Campgrounds they pasted thirty of their stickers on there too. Should I care?

 

Just don't click on the tab on your car window and you won't see those Jellystone souvi's!

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I have on my back car window souvenir stickers from Machu Picchu, The Great Pyramids, The Great Wall of China, and Stonehenge. During my visit to Jellystone Campgrounds they pasted thirty of their stickers on there too. Should I care?

 

Would you want to cheapen your car with 31 more stickers? "This car drove on August 1!" "This car drove on August 2!" "This car drove on August 3!" "This car drove on August 4!" "This car drove on August 5!" "This car drove on August 6!" "This car drove on August 7!" "This car drove on August 8!" "This car drove on August 9!" "This car drove on August 10!" Etc...

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Just going to comment on this..

 

What I don't understand is why getting a souvenir for caching on 10/10/10 is a good thing but getting one for caching on 08/12/13 isn't. Each is a souvenir for caching on a particular day. I personally don't get emotional just because the month, day, and year on the Gregorian calendar are all the same. Whenever I've complained that souvenirs were hokey in the past, I get all these people saying how wonderful it was to get one for caching on 2/29/2012. Well, if was wonderful to get one on that day, wouldn't it be 31 times as wonderful to get a souvenir for each day in August?

 

Did someone say that getting a 10/10/10 souvenir was a good thing because I didn't see it. IMHO, the 10/10/10 souvenir is just as worthless as a souvenir for each day in August, because it was essentially awarded to everyone. A souvenir for a find on 2/29/2012 is different simply because leap day only happen once every four years. I don't know if you're doing this intentionally, but you don't appear to be making any distinction whatsoever between different souvenirs. Those that are objecting to the 31 days in August souvenirs seem to be able to make a distinction between receiving a souvenir for finding a cache in a country thousands of miles away, or traveling thousands of miles to log the cache at Groundspeak HQ and getting a souvenir for driving a half mile down the road to the walmart parking lot and lifting a lamp post skirt. Receiving a souvenir for accomplishing something one deems to be significant is just not the same as receiving one for doing something hundreds of thousands of geocachers are doing the same day.

Are you suggesting that country/state souvenirs should only be given to people who live thousands of miles away? You get a souvenir if you find one cache in your home state/country, just like if you find one halfway around the world.

 

No, I"m not suggestion that they should be only be awarded if one has traveled a long distance. I'm saying that, for me, and apparently for others that seem to be able to make the distinction, some accomplishments have more significance than others. Yes, both the NY souvenir and the souvenir for South Africa were awarded for finding a cache but I attribute more value to the South Africa souvenir because it took a lot more effort to get it. Someone that lives in South Africa that has also found a cache in NY, might attribute more value to the NY souvenir than the South Africa souvenir. For me, a souvenir for finding a cache on August 3rd has no more value than finding a cache on August 4th or find a cache on August 23rds. There's nothing special about finding a cache on August 7th. It's something that hundreds of thousand of geocachers would do anyway.

 

 

You seem to be giving souvenirs some value they don't have by claiming that some were harder for you to get. Perhaps filling in the map by getting all the states or all the countries in Europe would take some effort. But most people can pick one cache - perhaps a virtual near the airport - to log when visiting a country on work or vacation. It really isn't that big of a deal.

 

Sorry, you don't get to decide what the value is for souvenirs, or any souvenir is, for me. Since value in this context is not monetary it is entirely subjective. Most definitions that I can find of "souvenir" boil down to something like "a token of remembrance". Outside the context of geocaching one might purchase or bring home a souvenir while attending an event (i.e. keeping the ticket stub after attending the Superbowl) or visiting some location that that an individual has deemed to be worth remembering. For some, traveling to other states or countries and finding a cache, or attending a mega-event is worth remembering. Finding a cache on August 10th, 12th, and 17th,....not so much. You seem to be able to understand a difference in the value of a virtual cache near an airport and some other cache such as an elaborate multi, so why is the value of certain types of souvenirs to some individuals so hard to understand? You're right about the virtual near the airport thing though. The souvenir I got from Hessen, Germany was for finding a virtual *in* the airport, and I do see it as less significant in my profile. I'm hoping to get back to Germany some day so that I can find a few caches worthy of the souvenir.

 

 

 

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Another option would be to post Note logs instead of a Found It log on every cache found during the Month of August. The, on Sept. 1st, change all the logs to Found Its.

Sorry, that's a no go. They fixed that. From the release notes of May 30, 2013:

Souvenirs are now correctly awarded when a log is edited, not just on initial posting.

I mentioned earlier that you really only have two options if you don't want the August souvenirs:

1. Don't find any caches in August.

2. Find caches in August, then ask Groundspeak to remove the unwanted souvenirs.

(3.) I guess another option is to log any August finds with a non-August date, but I don't personally consider that an option.

 

Souvenirs are another one of gc.com's newer ideas that i have no interest in. They don't enhance my geocaching experience in any way. On the otherhand, i don't care that they are on my profile page. They're under a tab that i am never forced to click on. Because i feel this way,, i thought i'd offer up a 4th option.

 

4. Ignore them.

 

Actually, i figure most of the complaints about these souvenirs are coming from cachers who really DO want them but either don't want to put out the effort (or fuel costs), or who don't have time, or who don't have 31 caches conveniently located nearby to find. Honestly, what other reasons could there be for complaining about them? :unsure:

 

From my perspective, they were something that I was interested in, but after they get watered down next month, I'll be taking your option #4. It's just sad to see all of the wasted opportunities of what the could have become.

 

I guess i see your point. It might have been better if gc.com made it so that a person got one souvenir when they found the 31 caches. Possibly making it to where a person could get it any one month that this streak was accomplished.

 

One thing i can see happening with this. There are a few challenge caches out there which require a certain number of souvenirs. This'll certainly make it easier to complete those!

 

I wouldn't have any objection to a single souvenir that one could earn by finding a cache every day in the month of August, or any other month (I wonder why August was chosen). That's actually a worthy accomplishment and getting a souvenir for it would be meaningful. Getting a souvenir for any day that a cache is logged during the Month of August...not so much.

 

I've never seen a challenge cache based on collecting some number of souvenirs. However, challenge caches are almost non-existent where I live.

 

Not sure this link will work right but if so, here are a few that i found when i typed in the words, "souvenir challenge".

 

A few souvenir challenges

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Sorry, you don't get to decide what the value is for souvenirs, or any souvenir is, for me. Since value in this context is not monetary it is entirely subjective. Most definitions that I can find of "souvenir" boil down to something like "a token of remembrance". Outside the context of geocaching one might purchase or bring home a souvenir while attending an event (i.e. keeping the ticket stub after attending the Superbowl) or visiting some location that that an individual has deemed to be worth remembering. For some, traveling to other states or countries and finding a cache, or attending a mega-event is worth remembering. Finding a cache on August 10th, 12th, and 17th,....not so much.

About 15 feet from where I sit right now, I have several shelves containing physical souvenirs I picked up on various long-distance vacations. There are jade carvings from China and Namibia, a jar of Dijon mustard purchased in Dijon, France, an onyx chess set from Mexico, and a number of other items from various other places around the world. I place value on these items, even if some of them have little or no monetary value or would have no meaning to others. Nowhere on those shelves will you see an item I purchased simply because the date was August 19th.

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Sorry, you don't get to decide what the value is for souvenirs, or any souvenir is, for me. Since value in this context is not monetary it is entirely subjective. Most definitions that I can find of "souvenir" boil down to something like "a token of remembrance". Outside the context of geocaching one might purchase or bring home a souvenir while attending an event (i.e. keeping the ticket stub after attending the Superbowl) or visiting some location that that an individual has deemed to be worth remembering. For some, traveling to other states or countries and finding a cache, or attending a mega-event is worth remembering. Finding a cache on August 10th, 12th, and 17th,....not so much.

About 15 feet from where I sit right now, I have several shelves containing physical souvenirs I picked up on various long-distance vacations. There are jade carvings from China and Namibia, a jar of Dijon mustard purchased in Dijon, France, an onyx chess set from Mexico, and a number of other items from various other places around the world. I place value on these items, even if some of them have little or no monetary value or would have no meaning to others. Nowhere on those shelves will you see an item I purchased simply because the date was August 19th.

I'm happy for you that when you travel or celebrate an event you get to decide what if anything you will buy as a keepsake to remember that trip or event. And perhaps this explains why the thread suggesting a feature to allow you to hide the souvenirs you don't want.

 

When I travel I don't buy a lot of souvenirs. Certainly no banners or snow globes. If I buy something, it's something I can use like a t-shirt I can wear (and eventually wear out). I may take photos as memories; these are something far more personal than a sticker to put on my car.

 

Sometimes a person I am visiting will give me a small gift. I don't question the gift, even if it something I have no need for. The Grounspeak souvenirs are more like these gifts. You might not like if you visit your Grandma and she gives you a sticker for each day you come visit; but you're not going to tell Grandma you don't want her gifts. Of course you are free to dump Grandmas gifts in the trash when you get home, but short of a Greasemonkey script, you can't do much about Groundspeak souvies.

 

When I have posted in the past that I didn't want a particular souvenir, I mostly get ridiculed for making a fuss about something so trivial. It might not be the same people who are complaining of the 31 days of August souvenirs, but I get told that if I don't want that souvenir, I should ignore it. I finally realized that the souvenir is not really the same as buying a snow globe. It's more like Grandma's gift. I may not want it but I take anyhow. And it certainly doesn't change the fact that I love Grandma or that I really liked the gift she gave me for my birthday.

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Sometimes a person I am visiting will give me a small gift. I don't question the gift, even if it something I have no need for. The Grounspeak souvenirs are more like these gifts. You might not like if you visit your Grandma and she gives you a sticker for each day you come visit; but you're not going to tell Grandma you don't want her gifts. Of course you are free to dump Grandmas gifts in the trash when you get home, but short of a Greasemonkey script, you can't do much about Groundspeak souvies.

 

I agree that we can't do anything about Groundspeak's decision. I do not expect them to change their policy just because others including myself are not happy with it. I would not compare Groundspeak with my grandmother, however. If my grandmother prepared a dish that I disliked I did not tell her because I thought that she might feel badly if I told her. I need to admit that I'm not concerned about the feelings of a company in the same manner and moreover, a company will always have to expect that some people do not appreciate all of their actions.

 

As the grandmother example is regarded, let's change it to a setting a bit more fitting to the point I'm trying to make. Say a grandmother buys dangerous toys (maybe containing some poisonous stuff) at a regular basis for her beloved grandchild. Then I see it as task of the parents to explain to the grandmother why these toys are not a good idea. Just throwing them away or disposing them will not make any change.

 

A souvenir for the international geocaching day is as absurd from my point of view as a souvenir for August 9, 2013. By their offensive streak advertising Groundspeak this time goes much further than just offering an insignificant souvenir. They make a further step into actively supporting the numbers game side of geocaching. I'm worried that further steps into that direction will follow. Of course I cannot stop them.

 

Cezanne

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To help commemorate the tacky 31 August souvenirs I decided to create a tacky cache named August Souvenir. To go along with the tacky theme I will be logging my own cache (tacky), logging it 31 times (tacky) and making it a 5/5 cache so I can really boost my numbers (tacky).

 

I hear the next big souvenir thing is getting a souvenir for each find on the ET highway.

B)

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why do you all sound so negative ?

if you dont like what souvenirs are or do, then just dont click on that page,

how I see this :

They add something, remove something, try this and that, at least they actually do something,

this show me they do care, they do try to make it more fun or apealing or more for the stats or for a graphic souvenir

what ever :-)

it is the 12th today, right ?

so where is the darn thing..

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why do you all sound so negative ?

if you dont like what souvenirs are or do, then just dont click on that page,

how I see this :

They add something, remove something, try this and that, at least they actually do something,

this show me they do care, they do try to make it more fun or apealing or more for the stats or for a graphic souvenir

what ever :-)

it is the 12th today, right ?

so where is the darn thing..

There's your problem. The souvenir is for the 12th of never, today is the 12th of July.

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why do you all sound so negative ?

if you dont like what souvenirs are or do, then just dont click on that page,

 

 

Why is it so hard to understand that some geocachers make a distinction between "good" souvenirs and the absurd 31 souvenirs available just for finding a cache in August? Not clicking on the souvenir tab is *not* an option for those that still want to see the souvenirs they've previously acquired and other souvenirs they might acquire during the month of August.

 

I've mentioned this before but I will likely be visiting three U.S. States in August in which I have not previously found a cache, and for which souvenirs are available. I would like to get those souvenirs when I log finds on caches in those states but have no interest whatsoever in seeing a souvenir that indicates that I found a cache on a certain day in August.

 

Perhaps the best solution here is to just let GS award the souvenirs that many geocachers have stated they have no interest in receiving and see what happens when the email messages start pouring in from users asking them to be removed.

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some are worth alot, some less, and some nothing,

you get them, you keep them, but I just dont see why 31 useless to you, makes you want to email people until they delete them..

 

I also agree with the thing, some of them are of quite high value to me,

I will be happy to drive a whole day, just to get one extra contry,

those I value due to me efford, time and money spend into getting them,

but I will not hate getting some "worthless" like just get them for free, for just find one random cache,

since that dont mean a darn thing at all.

 

OK I got it.. the first souvenir is tomorrow, jubii cant wait, I get them all :-)

Edited by OZ2CPU
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I suppose it's natural to consider some souvenirs more worthy than some other. But this comes across like rejecting Grandma's present of a sweater because you really wanted a bicycle.

 

Certainly not everyone is going to be pleased by every award that Groundspeak gives out. There is plenty of discussion of why one country gets a souvenir but not another, or which Mega-events or special dates should get an souvenir. Most people have at least one souvenir they didn't do anything "special" to get. Of course they have geocached in their home state, or perhaps they found a cache on February 29 not even realizing that it was a "special" day for which there was souvenir. May some of these people would like to hide these souvenirs, but I think for most people that thought doesn't even cross their mind. Grandma got them a sweater, and even if they never wear it, it is hanging in their closest.

 

Perhaps one thing for Groundspeak to consider in making "better" mistakes, is that people like to have control. Maybe the one distinction that can be made with the August souvenirs is that some people feel they have lost control. With other souvenirs, if they didn't want them to appear in their profile they had the option of not logging a find on that date or not finding any caches when visiting a country. Some people may feel that not finding or logging any caches for a whole month is not an option. They perceive Groundspeak as forcing something on them that they don't want. In another part of the forum there is suggestion that Groundspeak give users control over the souvenirs that are displayed in their profile on a case by case basis. Clearly some people want to have their their control restored.

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I suppose it's natural to consider some souvenirs more worthy than some other. But this comes across like rejecting Grandma's present of a sweater because you really wanted a bicycle.

 

Certainly not everyone is going to be pleased by every award that Groundspeak gives out. There is plenty of discussion of why one country gets a souvenir but not another, or which Mega-events or special dates should get an souvenir. Most people have at least one souvenir they didn't do anything "special" to get. Of course they have geocached in their home state, or perhaps they found a cache on February 29 not even realizing that it was a "special" day for which there was souvenir. May some of these people would like to hide these souvenirs, but I think for most people that thought doesn't even cross their mind. Grandma got them a sweater, and even if they never wear it, it is hanging in their closest.

 

Okay, let's use your sweater analogy. Suppose your closest has a few sweaters in it, perhaps one from Ireland, another from Greece, and brightly colored sweater from Peru that some think might be a bit guaudy you like it. Then grandma, whose eye sight is failing, learns how to knit and starts sending you a sweater every week. After awhile you've got 2-3 of your favorite sweaters and 30 or so sweaters you don't want to wear.

 

With a suggestion such you as recognize below, you could at least put grandmas sweaters in a box in the attic so that you can still find your favorite sweaters.

 

Perhaps one thing for Groundspeak to consider in making "better" mistakes, is that people like to have control. Maybe the one distinction that can be made with the August souvenirs is that some people feel they have lost control. With other souvenirs, if they didn't want them to appear in their profile they had the option of not logging a find on that date or not finding any caches when visiting a country. Some people may feel that not finding or logging any caches for a whole month is not an option. They perceive Groundspeak as forcing something on them that they don't want. In another part of the forum there is suggestion that Groundspeak give users control over the souvenirs that are displayed in their profile on a case by case basis. Clearly some people want to have their their control restored.

 

 

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To help commemorate the tacky 31 August souvenirs I decided to create a tacky cache named August Souvenir. To go along with the tacky theme I will be logging my own cache (tacky), logging it 31 times (tacky) and making it a 5/5 cache so I can really boost my numbers (tacky).

 

I hear the next big souvenir thing is getting a souvenir for each find on the ET highway.

B)

 

Can you post the GC code, make it a slightly more obscure D/T combination, and allow people to log it without actually visiting it? That would mean we could all share in the tack.

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With a suggestion such you as recognize below, you could at least put grandmas sweaters in a box in the attic so that you can still find your favorite sweaters.

 

Perhaps one thing for Groundspeak to consider in making "better" mistakes, is that people like to have control. Maybe the one distinction that can be made with the August souvenirs is that some people feel they have lost control. With other souvenirs, if they didn't want them to appear in their profile they had the option of not logging a find on that date or not finding any caches when visiting a country. Some people may feel that not finding or logging any caches for a whole month is not an option. They perceive Groundspeak as forcing something on them that they don't want. In another part of the forum there is suggestion that Groundspeak give users control over the souvenirs that are displayed in their profile on a case by case basis. Clearly some people want to have their their control restored.

The problem is that Grandma's sweaters are not the best analogy for souvenirs.

 

Instead imagine that Grandma has dedicated one wall in her house to each of her grandchildren. On each wall she posts pictures and other items to commemorate the achievements of each grandchild. When a grandchild visits she can see not only the achievements on her wall but also the walls of all the other grandchildren. One very bright grandchild who has pictures for achievements that few of the other grandchildren have, sees the Grandma has created a bunch of achievements that are easy enough for all the grandchildren to get at least a few of. The bright, but perhaps a little bratty, grandchild says, "Grandma, I don't want any of these achievements on my wall, please take them off".

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To help commemorate the tacky 31 August souvenirs I decided to create a tacky cache named August Souvenir. To go along with the tacky theme I will be logging my own cache (tacky), logging it 31 times (tacky) and making it a 5/5 cache so I can really boost my numbers (tacky).

 

I hear the next big souvenir thing is getting a souvenir for each find on the ET highway.

B)

 

Can you post the GC code, make it a slightly more obscure D/T combination, and allow people to log it without actually visiting it? That would mean we could all share in the tack.

 

I wasn't going to waste a log sheet in the cache or even a container, so sure sign away to your hearts content. I was going to "place" my cache in some remote area like Antarctica but figured the reviewer might get suspicious.

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I got my July souvenir at 0700 this morning myself. That wasn't the main reason, however, as I was just filling a calendar day.

 

As for the August ones, I don't care either way. I would prefer not to have one for each day, but it is what it is and my ability to ignore has gotten better the older I've become.

 

I certainly won't let it hinder my caching in August.

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