Geocaching Favorites!

[TheBalks]

@3 Hawks wrote:

@TheBalks wrote:

@3 Hawks wrote:

I don’t see how this popularity contest is going to be of any real value.

BTW…..my “favorites” may be purchased for the low cost of one ice cold beer for one vote. A dozen freshly baked cookies could even get you two votes.

I think its awesome, because if I am going to a city I have never been to and have a limited time to cache, I can hit ones other people think are good caches. Pretty much the same thing as going on the local cachers forums and asking for suggestions, except you get a bigger sample size.

That all sounds fine and dandy. However, the votes only have real meaning when taken in their proper context. Unfortunately, that requires knowing the motivation of each voter.

I will go out on a limb here……I predict that we will quickly see this new system turn into a popularity contest that has nothing to do with cache quality. Those cachers who have a “posse” of followers will garner large totals for even the most average of caches simply because it is expected. Others will vote for a cache simply to gain acceptance in a local caching community.

I understand the intent of the system. I understand how it could be useful if used properly. However, I’ve been caching long enough to know that many cachers don’t follow accepted guidelines with regards to cache placement. New cachers see bad placements an think they are clever. They then hide their own cache that is technically against established caching policy.

Case in point…how many cachers know that it is against the “rules” to bury a cache in the ground? How many actually know the definition of a buried cache? Many cachers think you can dig a hole in the ground, place a 5 gallon bucked in the hole, and backfill around the hole with only the top exposed. They think this is not a buried cache because the top of the cache is not covered by dirt. They are wrong. Simply review the cache placement guidelines or talk to one of he friendly reviewers.

I would not think such a cache has any value even if 100 cachers had it on their favorite list. There are hundreds of caches just in the great state of Wisconsin that are placed in any number of fashions that technically violate the placement guidelines. In many situations, the cache owners know they are breaking the rules. They simply don’t care or they intentionally break the rules to increase the difficulty. They want to play the game their way. They do not care about the consequences. A good many of the finders know such caches violate the rules, but they don’t want to say anything because they could get “black listed.” Do such caches deserve any votes regardless of any other factors which would otherwise make them exceptional?

You see, a vote only has meaning if you know the cache hider, the placement styles of the area, the people who vote for the cache, and their personal motivation. If you do not know these variables, the arbitrary “favorite” system is almost meaningless.

Sample size???? The size of the sample does not mean there is value in the result.

😯 I hope you are pleasantly surprised by how the favorite lists end up.

[3 Hawks]

Ding, ding, ding!!! It has already begun.

Oh well, I’ve said my part. I can go back to avoiding the Forums for another 5 or 6 months.

In any event, Merry Christmas to those not offended by such a comment. Happy Holidays to the rest!!!

[RSplash40]

Just like basically every other aspect of this activity, people will play the favorites how they want and its not going to make some people happy.

[Braid Beards Gang]

If my caches don’t have at least 10% of the finders say it is their favorite, am I required to archive it?

I thought it was interesting. I only went back one year to flag some of my favorites and realized what is the point?

[gotta run]

@3 Hawks wrote:

Ding, ding, ding!!! It has already begun.

Oh well, I’ve said my part. I can go back to avoiding the Forums for another 5 or 6 months.

Boy, I don’t see anything argumentative in this thread, unless you’re referring to something going on elsewhere.

I agree with your assessment that the system is going to be skewed toward cache owners with a posse of followers.

However, the community has been asking for some sort of evaluation system for a while. No matter what type of rating system you put in place, you are going to have ballot-box stuffing. The interesting twist to this system is that you have a limited # of favorites, although I think 1:10 is way too high. I know there’s no way I’m going back through our found list to tag 190 or so caches as favorites.

Look on the positive side: If the system ultimately has no value to you, you just ignore it. Or you learn to ignore “favorites” associated with cache-owners whose MO you don’t like. (Not as useful for out-of-area visits of course.) But if the system has value, that’s great.

So, the only down side has no real consequence, and there is a potential upside of usefulness. This makes the favorites system a good idea to implement IMO.

On the Left Side of the Road...

[Lostby7]

I did go through mine and came up with a list of about 25 favorites…I’m sure I missed a few worthy one’s though. Now what to do with the extra 287 points?

[gotta run]

@Lostby7 wrote:

Now what to do with the extra 287 points?

eBay?

On the Left Side of the Road...

[Lostby7]

@gotta run wrote:

@Lostby7 wrote:

Now what to do with the extra 287 points?

eBay?

My .02 cents x 287 = $5.74 Now do I charge for shipping or a service fee?

Zuma can get almost $28 bucks for his….where oh where will we spend all this geoincome?

[TheBalks]

@Lostby7 wrote:

@gotta run wrote:

@Lostby7 wrote:

Now what to do with the extra 287 points?

eBay?

My .02 cents x 287 = $5.74 Now do I charge for shipping or a service fee?

Zuma can get almost $28 bucks for his….where oh where will we spend all this geoincome?

You need to think more like the infomercial guys. only 2 cents each, shipping is free, but each one has a 5$ handling fee!

[kungfuhippie]

@Lostby7 wrote:

@gotta run wrote:

@Lostby7 wrote:

Now what to do with the extra 287 points?

eBay?

My .02 cents x 287 = $5.74 Now do I charge for shipping or a service fee?

Zuma can get almost $28 bucks for his….where oh where will we spend all this geoincome?

Maybe I’ll auction off my souvenirs. 😉

I think I used about a dozen for my favorites, maybe I just need to get out more after good caches.

[Northwoods Tom]

Many of the posts I’ve read make good arguments about the negative possibility of the “favorite” feature. Yet in another post I commented on the fact that it helps a cacher identify a “special” cache they may want to locate for a milestone, or other reason. (When you have bored kids along, individuals that are tired of the park and grab, the list goes on)

This feature, if you look at some of the individuals who posted it as a “favorite”, can direct you to that persons log where you can find more valuable information and/or comments. I’ll give you a perfect example:

There is a cache in Door County I found a while back that brought you down a trail in a small park that went through a swampy wooded area. The walk was pleasant enough yet I can see a young child possibly being bored by the fact that “mom and dad are making them see more nature again.” When I got to the ammo can cache, I opened it up, and I have yet to see another cache so chocked full of goodies. Imagine the look now on that young kids face… I commented in my log how this is the best kid friendly stocked cache I have found. I think this makes the tool valuable for a cacher in that situation that reads my log. The Door County Challenge became a personal goal after I read the “logs” prior to the favorite feature being in place. As of today, it has a tally of four votes.

[TheBalks]

hehe Jeremy Irish posted that 170,000 favorites have been applied in less than 24 hrs. I think its a nice cool feature, regardless of how people decide to use it.

[Cachelovskys]

I don’t often write on the forums. But I would say that I LOVE the new favorite idea. I agree that 1:10 is a bit much as I have 155 votes. But I proudly put my first favorite to Pirate Pete and look forward to giving out more favorites.

It is just another possible way of sorting caches.

[Northwoods Tom]

I’m wondering just how high the total votes for “favorite” can go on an individual cache.

Instead of shoveling snow today on a day off, I’m checking caches for a favorite vote for a short trip after Christmas. I’m really enjoying the link that allows you to go to the finders comments.

[Team Deejay]

It is interesting to see how this is shaping up so far. What I see being favorited is:

a. Caches involving journeys to/through interesting terrain (multis, hikes, water caches, tree climbing, etc.)
b. Interesting containers / hides
c. Interesting puzzles
d. Historical/scientific/cultural sites
e. Collection type mystery caches (i.e. Battleship)

What I don’t see much of:

a. Power trail type caches
b. Extremely difficult puzzles
c. Extremely difficult hides (there are a few)
d. Urban micros
e. Cemetery hides (a few)
e. Caches hidden “en masse” (you all know what I mean; even when these are good, they are tough to remember)
f. People just favoriting their friend’s caches (I did see one example of this. There is a knucklehead in every crowd.)

Even as I stray down toward Chicago, I see basically the same thing. Nobody is wasting time putting a favorite tag on a parking lot or lamp post hide. Let’s hope folks can keep up their standards as more people find the feature.

[Author]

Posts