[Ragfoot]

WizCreations, on 18 August 2011 - 01:10 PM, said:

ATTENTION Half of you that post in this thread:

OpinioNate, on 18 August 2011 - 10:07 AM, said:

OK I'm pursuaded to return the date to the log. I'm not sure yet if this will be in addition to or in place of the timeago display. Thanks for that feedback guys.

Please stop asking! Your wish has already been granted (perhaps at the next website update).

Alan White, on 18 August 2011 - 11:44 AM, said:

doug_hollyNKC, on 18 August 2011 - 11:37 AM, said:

Are you serious Groundspeak? Are you guys looking at some of the so called challenges people are posting?

Hug Your Dog
Take a photo of a beer
Take a photo of a sleeping animal

BOOOOO Challenges

Agreed. So much for bringing back virtuals without bringing back their problems. What's this got to do with geocaching? Please move it to another site like Waymarking.

Virtuals are great. They actually involve you going somewhere specific and learning something you would otherwise miss.


Challenges are not "bringing back virtuals" but rather bringing back Locationless caches, which, let's face it, sucked. The new "Challenges" feature on geocaching brings back exactly the problem that was solved when the Waymarking website was created. I completely agree that in their current state Challenges need to be moved to Waymarking.com.

HOWEVER, I have actually completed one of the older challenge caches and have started attempts on a few others. I think Challenges are great, if performed correctly. The "Hug Your Dog" challenge is not performed correctly.

Of course, the old rules on posting a Challenge cache specifically directed the poster to create something challenging (go figure), the new feature does not have any real rules in the FAQ. This can be solved by directing all those Premium Members to the proper resources before allowing them to submit a new Challenge:

Quote

A challenge cache is a variation of a puzzle cache. This will typically require the cacher to meet a reasonable Geocaching-, Waymarking- or Wherigo-related qualification. An example is finding a cache in each county of your state. If you are thinking of creating such a cache, be sure to do your research first.

Everyone should be required to read this info on Challenge Caches

So... Using groundspeaks example of "Kiss a Frog", I think that we can safely forget about any requirements of making it a "challenge".

[dps_gps]

dfx, on 18 August 2011 - 11:21 AM, said:

Here's the ABP rule to take out the facebook/twitter/etc icons:

geocaching.com#p(class=SocialMediaIcons NoBottomSpacing right)

Thanks for that works great!

[WizCreations]

mamoreb, on 18 August 2011 - 01:19 PM, said:

OK, but everyone should also be aware that "challenge caches" and "challenges" are not the same thing:
Challenges FAQ

I am well aware that Challenge Caches and Challenges are two separate entities. My intent was to draw attention to the fact that challenge caches are far more stringent (and better!) than this new "challenges" feature and that the new feature is basically the exact same thing as Waymarking, or perhaps worse. "Go somewhere, do something" is a joke. Seriously.

Here's an example:
Go somewhere: your bathroom
Do something: flush the toilet
Congratulations! Almost every geocacher in the world successfully completes this "challenge" every day.

[sniffadogz]

Sorry chaps but you've made it worse this time.

Can we have the actula log dates back please - the 'about xxx days/months/years ago' is pretty useless.

What is the point of the avatars?

[Frank Broughton]

Corfman Clan, on 18 August 2011 - 09:40 AM, said:

OpinioNate, on 18 August 2011 - 08:49 AM, said:

Cache logs update (note the breakdown of finds/completions on hover):

So the log date is no longer going to be displayed? Just some ambiguous time span such as "about 6 months ago".

Please bring the date back!

YES PLEASE BRING BACK THE DATE!

It just took me way too long to scroll through to find a certain log on a cache I was looking for. I knew that date. Really, this one HAS to get changed back please!

Edit..... opps should have read the rest of the forum.

This post has been edited by Frank Broughton: 18 August 2011 - 01:34 PM

[pstray]

Alan White, on 18 August 2011 - 11:34 AM, said:

Please remove the avatars on logs - a waste of space and bandwidth.
Please put back the date on logs - I need to know exactly when the find/DNF/etc was made. You should be adding information to logs - the time - not removing it

+1

I would really like time on the logs too... and seriously, who thought those about-ago was a smart change? not showing the exact date is possibly the worst change to date.

[Frank Broughton]

Viajero Perdido, on 18 August 2011 - 10:09 AM, said:

Just click View Log if you want to see the exact date.

I like the changes, especially the avatars on logs.

Speaking of Avatars seems mine is no long showing? It does here at the top of the forum though. It also shows on a cache page by my log.

[Frank Broughton]

Biggi_H, on 18 August 2011 - 10:12 AM, said:

Cache logs update (note the breakdown of finds/completions on hover):



What a waste of
time (loading all the picture)
traffic (loading from mobile device)
space (seeing nothing of interest)
and paper (printing the useless pictures form our friends ever and ever )

Please make to switch it off !!!

For sure the avatars are too much on the log page as all the reason stated above!

[edscott]

t4e, on 18 August 2011 - 11:42 AM, said:

edscott, on 18 August 2011 - 11:35 AM, said:

t4e, on 18 August 2011 - 11:08 AM, said:

Mario McTavish, on 18 August 2011 - 11:01 AM, said:

And the Avatars on each log? I know some people print the cache page off, it'll take up a lot more ink/paper now

have you actually looked to see what the page looks like if you want to print it?...i say no, otherwise you wouldn't make that comment

I just did and the avatars are there unless you get rid of the logs altogether. I find it interesting that printing avatars on a page are important but having the aerial photos are not. Guess my priorities are all wrong.

you see them because you use the wrong "print" function, that of your browser...you should use the printing function of the cache listing,which is set as "printer friendly" version so avatars don't show

It must have been changed since earlier today. I was trying to get logs with no pictures using the icon you circled right after it came out and it didn't work.. Now a few hours later it it does.

This post has been edited by edscott: 18 August 2011 - 01:51 PM

[edscott]

WizCreations, on 18 August 2011 - 01:32 PM, said:

mamoreb, on 18 August 2011 - 01:19 PM, said:

OK, but everyone should also be aware that "challenge caches" and "challenges" are not the same thing:
Challenges FAQ

I am well aware that Challenge Caches and Challenges are two separate entities. My intent was to draw attention to the fact that challenge caches are far more stringent (and better!) than this new "challenges" feature and that the new feature is basically the exact same thing as Waymarking, or perhaps worse. "Go somewhere, do something" is a joke. Seriously.

Here's an example:
Go somewhere: your bathroom
Do something: flush the toilet
Congratulations! Almost every geocacher in the world successfully completes this "challenge" every day.

Makes a 365 day streak much easier.

[Dgwphotos]

Frank Broughton, on 18 August 2011 - 01:45 PM, said:

Viajero Perdido, on 18 August 2011 - 10:09 AM, said:

Just click View Log if you want to see the exact date.

I like the changes, especially the avatars on logs.

Speaking of Avatars seems mine is no long showing? It does here at the top of the forum though. It also shows on a cache page by my log.

I just noticed the same thing, and it was there earlier.

[Yellow ants]

Love the new avatars! And who cares about the exact dates?






























Just kidding; this might be one of the most inane updates ever. I now maintain no less than 12 ABP rules to keep the worst cruft off the gc.com pages.

[dfx]

Frank Broughton, on 18 August 2011 - 01:45 PM, said:

Viajero Perdido, on 18 August 2011 - 10:09 AM, said:

Just click View Log if you want to see the exact date.

I like the changes, especially the avatars on logs.

Speaking of Avatars seems mine is no long showing? It does here at the top of the forum though. It also shows on a cache page by my log.

Mine's been doing that for months. Comes and goes by itself.

[Birdie.NL]

What stupidity has gone into Groundspeak to remove the exact date?
Please reset this error.

And next time finally make an announcement with the exact LOCAL time as
we have specified in our account. There are a lot of geocachers who do not live in the USA.

I do not know yet whether to appreciate challenges or ignore them.

[Frank Broughton]

Avatars look sloppy (note white background of avatar) if they do not have a transparent background, like ST's below:

This post has been edited by Frank Broughton: 18 August 2011 - 02:18 PM

[Two Tykes]

What is geocaching?

Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.



Need I say more?

GS has foisted a load of garbage on us this time. I have deleted my avatar from my personal profile. When I can't find a cache I look at past logs to see when people found it last in order to judge whether anyone might remember it to give me a nudge. Not now!

Very Unhappy....
Keith

[Backdraft007]

Seperate the challenge count from the normal count. It is very confusing. In the other statistics the challenges are not counting, Why in the total finds?

[Joshism]

When I create a Challenge, I seem to be limited to only adding one photo. I don't see why I shouldn't be able to add more.

For the Action Challenge I just created, I really wanted to have 2 photos to show how the area looks depending on which direction you're coming from.

[cliff_hanger]

Seriously, get rid of the wasted space avatars on the cache page logs and bring back specific dates. What were you thinking?

[Frank Broughton]

Joshism, on 18 August 2011 - 02:31 PM, said:

When I create a Challenge, I seem to be limited to only adding one photo. I don't see why I shouldn't be able to add more.

For the Action Challenge I just created, I really wanted to have 2 photos to show how the area looks depending on which direction you're coming from.

Especially when it says Images (plural):

[Delta68]

cliff_hanger, on 18 August 2011 - 02:40 PM, said:

Seriously, get rid of the wasted space avatars on the cache page logs and bring back specific dates. What were you thinking?

Too right!!

This is quite simply THE WORST site update EVER!!

[dfx]

Delta68, on 18 August 2011 - 02:44 PM, said:

cliff_hanger, on 18 August 2011 - 02:40 PM, said:

Seriously, get rid of the wasted space avatars on the cache page logs and bring back specific dates. What were you thinking?

Too right!!

This is quite simply THE WORST site update EVER!!

I think that's what they say every time

[robnzh]

I don't think the date issue should wait "till the next update"- it needs a special update immediately. (I guess this is a somewhat misguided attempt to compensate for the fact that it can be Monday in some parts of the world when it is Tuesday in others.)

Among other things there are several "challenge caches" (not to be confused with the new challenges) which require you to have logged other caches after a specific date, or on specific days of the year.

And how about the fact that online logs need to correspond with what is in the written log?- makes it difficult for the cache owner to verify finds in any cases of doubt.

And re the new challenges- who will have the doubtful distinction of suffering personal injury or worse from accepting and carrying out a badly thought out challenge?

[dragon flyer]

Pup Patrol, on 18 August 2011 - 11:06 AM, said:

dbox, on 18 August 2011 - 10:27 AM, said:

What was the reason to delete the exact date? I cannot remember that there was a hot feedback topic from the cachers to do this! Please bring back the exact dates. Only reading "about two years ago" is horrible!
And who wanted to have the avatars in the logs? Complete waste of space, espacially here on my ipad, and useless!

You should better use your time for the hot feedback topics. Why did you postpone to include the favourite points in the gpx files, for instance. THAT is what the geocacher want to have....

dbox.

Agree.

Please remove the avatars from the cache pages and return the correct actual dates.

[DanPan]

After the update the www.geocaching.com site is VERY SLOW.

Example: loading the gallery of the "Kiss a Frog" challenge took ages and >200MB of RAM to display...

[berserker100]

Hi,

a few words to this site update.

As the geocaching.com servers are not the fastes one ;-) why did you put the user pictures into the logs?
Then you talk about the smartphone apps. This kind of geocache-equip need small and fast websites (with less graphics on it)!

But a reason to go back to last backup is that: Everybody can see the Avatar Pictues that stand byside the logs! Last week you need to log in to get any information about a user. Today, you get his picture without sign in.
And it's no problem to for google-search to make a face-detection over all the pictures.

This only to think about.

Kind regards
Berserker100

(excuse my simple english)

[Delta68]

dfx, on 18 August 2011 - 02:45 PM, said:

Delta68, on 18 August 2011 - 02:44 PM, said:

cliff_hanger, on 18 August 2011 - 02:40 PM, said:

Seriously, get rid of the wasted space avatars on the cache page logs and bring back specific dates. What were you thinking?

Too right!!

This is quite simply THE WORST site update EVER!!

I think that's what they say every time

Oh I don't know; I thought the addition of the menu a few months back was great!

(Even if I did have to customise it with a GreaseMonkey script)



Mark

This post has been edited by Delta68: 18 August 2011 - 09:43 PM

[dragon flyer]

Sheesh! It always throws me for a loop when things show up out of the blue on updates, like avatars on logs, and vague dates... The avatars I don't see the point of, and the vague dates are a step backwards; maybe there's an explanation somewhere, but I haven't come across it. I'd have thought it would make sense to focus on the things cachers have indicated they care about...

[paleolith]

Avatars: I don't know what ABP is, but the CSS rule to disable them is

.logOwnerAvatar {display:none}

AFAIK all browsers have the ability to install user style sheets. Just add this to the user style sheet for gc.com. I'm not sure if this will avoid the download, and it won't restore all the lost space, but it helps a lot. I don't know if anyone outside GS HQ actually wanted these -- it looks like just another of those trendy things dreamed up to sell higher speeds of Internet connectivity. But if a couple of people at GSHQ really want it, at least make it a user option!

Log dates: yeah, I know OpinioNate has promised to bring them back. What disturbs me is that such a bone-headed idea made it into release. For goodness sake, there's no shortage of people who would have been willing to answer the question of "do you need exact dates". That the question wasn't asked indicates acute problems in the development process at Groundspeak. It really looks like another example of following fashion.

Challenges: I'll reserve judgment on the design, but calling the new thing Challenges was another pretty bone-headed idea. Not in the same class with removing log dates, but bad. Telling people "this word means what I say it does, not what you use it for" never works. NEVER!!! Ten years from now, one of the most frequently started threads will involve the confusion. Calling them Baba Yaga would have been better -- like "challenges" it doesn't mean anything, but at least it's not confused with anything in the geocaching world.

Edward

[Hurricane Luke]

Groundspeak, please read:
When users start customizing style sheets and writing their own scripts to change your layout and design, something is terribly wrong.

I'm not really sure how disorganized the web dev team is, or whether it's a communication issue between PR and development, but I think they need a lesson in web design 101 again. Adding things for the sake of adding things and changing things for the sake of changing things is not progress. All your going to accomplish is aggravating your precious (well I assume, with today's update, I'm not so sure...) user base.

Revert, revert, revert.

[palmetto]

On cache pages, all the reviewer publish logs are somewhat malformed. Or at least differently formed then any other logs. Looking at more cache pages, this isn't a problem limited to publish logs. Shorter logs tend to have this "run on" problem, as the log type and log text arent' below the avatar.




I like the log format, as way the find count is somewhat de-emphasized. Dates back, please.

On the other hand I really don't like the big Found, Trackables, Challenges top front on everyone's public profile page.

Firefox 4.0.1 Windows 2000 professional

This post has been edited by palmetto: 18 August 2011 - 03:46 PM

[knowschad]

Corfman Clan, on 18 August 2011 - 09:40 AM, said:

OpinioNate, on 18 August 2011 - 08:49 AM, said:

Cache logs update (note the breakdown of finds/completions on hover):

So the log date is no longer going to be displayed? Just some ambiguous time span such as "about 6 months ago".

Please bring the date back!

oops!

That's a MAGOR bug!!

[knowschad]

michaelnel, on 18 August 2011 - 09:45 AM, said:

Groundspeak has to be the only business in the world who repeatedly schedules server updates in the middle of the day on a weekday. What's up with that?

The middle of who's day?

[billrow]

!!!!! I have two puzzle caches that depend on being able to look at specific dates of logs to get info. It would be MUCH too tedious to click on every log entry to see the dates. I guess I'll archive them now!

(Ever hear the old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."?)

[knowschad]

OpinioNate, on 18 August 2011 - 10:07 AM, said:

OK I'm pursuaded to return the date to the log. I'm not sure yet if this will be in addition to or in place of the timeago display. Thanks for that feedback guys.

Huh?!? That was a DELIBERATE decision?!? That was a terrible idea! That is far more important information than that silly little icon showing the number of finds and number of challenges! Thanks for giving in. The exact date is the only part that is important. Who cares about the "timeago" display?

[bearinggirl]

lodgebarn, on 18 August 2011 - 11:48 AM, said:

JJnTJ, on 18 August 2011 - 11:42 AM, said:

Problems like the PQ maps are STILL unfixed, yet you have time to implement new features that few (if anyone) asked for! Are you TRYING to infuriate us?

People asked Virtuals, but you implemented something completely different.

Says it all for me

Me too!

[knowschad]

Viajero Perdido, on 18 August 2011 - 10:09 AM, said:

Just click View Log if you want to see the exact date.

I like the changes, especially the avatars on logs.

That's fine if you only need to check one.

Where are all the "too much white space" folks today?

[BBWolf+3Pigs]

WizCreations, on 18 August 2011 - 01:32 PM, said:

Here's an example:
Go somewhere: your bathroom
Do something: flush the toilet
Congratulations! Almost every geocacher in the world successfully completes this "challenge" every day.

I accept that challenge! And can I log it every time I complete it?

[knowschad]

dfx, on 18 August 2011 - 02:45 PM, said:

Delta68, on 18 August 2011 - 02:44 PM, said:

cliff_hanger, on 18 August 2011 - 02:40 PM, said:

Seriously, get rid of the wasted space avatars on the cache page logs and bring back specific dates. What were you thinking?

Too right!!

This is quite simply THE WORST site update EVER!!

I think that's what they say every time

And it is probably always true.

[Mr. 0]

OpinioNate, on 18 August 2011 - 08:49 AM, said:

Challenges is a work in progress! We are planing several hotfixes in the next couple weeks to address bugs and feature requests. Some ideas for the next phases include:

• Highly rated Challenges displayed in geocache search results

If this hotfix is put into place, will it be possible to check a box somewhere to hide, or somehow ignore all challenges from showing up in cache search results? Please?

As it is right now it's pretty easy to pretend the challenges don't exist, but if they start showing up in my search results it'll get irritating pretty quickly.

[edscott]

Mr. 0, on 18 August 2011 - 04:15 PM, said:

OpinioNate, on 18 August 2011 - 08:49 AM, said:

Challenges is a work in progress! We are planing several hotfixes in the next couple weeks to address bugs and feature requests. Some ideas for the next phases include:

• Highly rated Challenges displayed in geocache search results

If this hotfix is put into place, will it be possible to check a box somewhere to hide, or somehow ignore all challenges from showing up in cache search results? Please?

As it is right now it's pretty easy to pretend the challenges don't exist, but if they start showing up in my search results it'll get irritating pretty quickly.

Yes, unless there is a drastic change in the direction of these "challenges" I want the option of permanently and completely removing them from my geocaching experience.

[Fangsoki]

As mentioned previously and numerous times before - for the love of all thats good and holy - PUT THE DATE BACK IN THE LOGS. I can't fathom on what planet the vague, wish-washy "about a month ago" was a great idea. Avatars are not annoying me.... yet.

I do like the challenges thing - that it is spearate from your cache count. I don't care if people put "hug your dog" challenges. I think for the most part I will be ignoring them. Geocaching Australia has been doing it for years and I live quite happily without doing them. Wait till someone puts "Nude-up for a Smiley" as a challenge (yes there is one of those on geocaching.com.au)

[GeoBlank]

knowschad, on 18 August 2011 - 03:32 PM, said:

michaelnel, on 18 August 2011 - 09:45 AM, said:

Groundspeak has to be the only business in the world who repeatedly schedules server updates in the middle of the day on a weekday. What's up with that?

The middle of who's day?

Believe me.... better to have GC.com down during normal peoples working hours than on a friday through sunday.... GC.com does not have normal users...

[steben6]

Sadly, we are beginning to dread ANY site updates. And this one did not fail to confirm our dread. Just to add our two cents:

1. Bring back the found date.
2. Hate the avatars on the cache logs.
3. "Challenge Caches" is really confusing. Since there are already caches out there that are challenges, meaning you have to do something in order to log the cache, the "Challenge" name is what is confusing. So, are "real" challenge caches still allowed?
How about changing the name of the new thing to something like, oh, I don't know...virtual caches?????

Don't like to be negative because we usually appreciate all the hard work the GS folks do. We just don't understand why so many things are "fixed" in updates that nobody asked for and the things we ask to fix don't get fixed?

For example, we still can't get our Motorola Xoom to display caches on the beta maps. That would have been a nice fix.

Sigh......

[dfx]

steben6, on 18 August 2011 - 04:30 PM, said:

3. "Challenge Caches" is really confusing.

They're not challenge caches, they're not caches at all, argh!

[t4e]

berserker100, on 18 August 2011 - 03:07 PM, said:

Hi,

a few words to this site update.

As the geocaching.com servers are not the fastes one ;-) why did you put the user pictures into the logs?
Then you talk about the smartphone apps. This kind of geocache-equip need small and fast websites (with less graphics on it)!

But a reason to go back to last backup is that: Everybody can see the Avatar Pictues that stand byside the logs! Last week you need to log in to get any information about a user. Today, you get his picture without sign in.
And it's no problem to for google-search to make a face-detection over all the pictures.

This only to think about.

Kind regards
Berserker100

(excuse my simple english)

seriously, face recognition on an avatar?...most people have some random picture as avatar and if they have their own face on it they obviously don't feel like they need to hide anything and what exactly would you do with the results of that face recognition program?
besides the gallery n a cache page its always been viewable if you were not logged in, and if anything that's where people are most likely to post a picture of themselves

[GWRoss]

JJnTJ, on 18 August 2011 - 10:22 AM, said:

carlosguerrera, on 18 August 2011 - 10:19 AM, said:

Any one having trouble in Chrome where the log entries are not rendering correctly?

http://farm7.static...._860b686d87.jpg

They changed the stylesheet, so you will have to do a full reload (I think it is done in Chrome by holding down the Shift key and pressing reload). Otherwise, clear your browser cache and reload the page.

A simple F5 reload worked for me. (Actually, I did a Shift-F5, which didn't produce a visible change, followed by F5.) It looks much better now.

[j-he]

natterjacktoad, on 18 August 2011 - 11:50 AM, said:

PLEASE listen to what almost everyone is saying;

BRING BACK THE DATES - numerous PROPER challenges rely on caches being logged within certain time frames

LOSE THE AVATARS - unnecessary space-fillers

LOSE THE CHALLENGES - what on earth has this got to do with geocaching?????

I really agree with this.
Did you even think before making this update? IF so what did you think when making this update!??
There is only one proper solution: REVERT ASAP!

[Eartha]

I need the log date back, please, to be able to track down when a Trackable went missing and where it might have gone next. Log dates are very important.

[wesi]

natterjacktoad, on 18 August 2011 - 11:50 AM, said:

PLEASE listen to what almost everyone is saying;

BRING BACK THE DATES - numerous PROPER challenges rely on caches being logged within certain time frames

LOSE THE AVATARS - unnecessary space-fillers

LOSE THE CHALLENGES - what on earth has this got to do with geocaching?????

Fully agree. One of the most moronic site updates ever.

Bring back the dates -- I am perfectly able to count, and "August 16" is a lot more useful than "oh something like maybe two days ago"
Lose the avatars -- if I want to know, I can click on the cacher's name
Lose the challenges -- or hey, keep them, but kindly move them to armchair-geocaching.com, where they belong.

-wesi