Swaggies! [closed]

Lt. Sniper · Post by **Lt. Sniper** » 10 January 05 9:06 pm

What's the deal, Can I start to distribute swaggies amongst my caches?

Is a swaggie going to have a tag that you have to buy, or can it be as simple as a small laminated square with a little bit of detail and a number.

Is it any 6 numbers that I have to email in?

riblit · Post by **riblit** » 10 January 05 10:13 pm

Lt. Sniper wrote:WhatÃ‚â€™s the deal, Can I start to distribute swaggies amongst my caches?

Is a swaggie going to have a tag that you have to buy, or can it be as simple as a small laminated square with a little bit of detail and a number.

Is it any 6 numbers that I have to email in?

A swaggie can have a tag if you wish, but you don't have to purchase it. This is not a money making exercise.
It can be a laminated square with a bit of detail and a number, however I'm sure a person of your ingenuity can come up with something more appropiate.

Best to check with i! about the numbering specifics but I would expect something along the lines of:
Enter the details, name, task etc on a web page
software adds data to database, returns unique ID
unique ID used as tracking number and added to Swaggie description.

That's a rough idea.

Post by **caughtatwork** » 10 January 05 10:25 pm

One additional step.

In order to thwart swaggie collectors who only log swaggies (without finding them), two numbers are required.

One for track the swaggie which is public and anyone can look up a swaggie.

One to prove that you found the swaggie by having a unique number which is entered on the site before your log is accepted.

This may be a red-tape process, but will cut down on the swaggie-stats-whores (if there is such a thing).

Given a number of the cachers out there may not know about this site and therefore what a swaggie is, is it possible to have a standard blurb that could be attached to the swaggie so people know what to do with it?

riblit · Post by **riblit** » 11 January 05 12:11 am

caughtatwork wrote:One additional step.

In order to thwart swaggie collectors who only log swaggies (without finding them), two numbers are required.

One for track the swaggie which is public and anyone can look up a swaggie.

One to prove that you found the swaggie by having a unique number which is entered on the site before your log is accepted.

This may be a red-tape process, but will cut down on the swaggie-stats-whores (if there is such a thing).

Given a number of the cachers out there may not know about this site and therefore what a swaggie is, is it possible to have a standard blurb that could be attached to the swaggie so people know what to do with it?

I knew I left a step out somewhere.

Standard blurb - sounds good, are you volunteering a draft?

Lt. Sniper · Post by **Lt. Sniper** » 11 January 05 12:32 am

I would prefer to know the standard here so others can get started on their creatures as well.

?????? - 6 chars - Swaggie Public Numbers/Letters/Both, user decides
#### - 4 numbers - Private number, user decides.

Is it going to be something like that?

riblit · Post by **riblit** » 11 January 05 9:14 am

Lt. Sniper wrote:I would prefer to know the standard here so others can get started on their creatures as well.

?????? - 6 chars - Swaggie Public Numbers/Letters/Both, user decides
#### - 4 numbers - Private number, user decides.

Is it going to be something like that?

Are all penquins this impatient?
i! are in a better position to tell you about the numbering as they are doing the coding. 
Idle curiousity - Have you done databases yet?

Post by **caughtatwork** » 11 January 05 9:29 am

Draft blurb:

Congratulations you have found an uniquely Australian travel bug called a Swaggie.
This Swaggie is a special item that has been released into the wild along with special instructions on what the Swaggie owner would like to achieve with their Swaggie.
Swaggies are not a regular trade item.
If you remove a Swaggie from a cache you must be willing within a reasonable amount of time to log that you removed it and then place it into another cache.
When you place it into the next cache you must log it again with where you left it.
Swaggies are identified by a special tag attached to them.
This tag at a minimum will have a unique tracking number and a website to go to log and track it. Swaggies can be logged at http://www.geocaching.com.au/
You need to make a note of this number and the tracking website before placing it into the next cache in order to log it on the website.

ideology · Post by **ideology** » 11 January 05 10:35 am

we haven't done anything on swaggies since the launch of the test swaggie at http://geocaching.com.au/swaggie/test

we' like swaggies to be called by a one-word name which would be easier to remember than the numbers. for example, the current one is called "test". one problem with that is that some people will launch swaggies with offensive names. not sure what to do about that.

caughtatwork: we were thinking of the password but then thought that caches don't have a password, so why should a swaggie have one. then we realised that caches have a logbook which stops fraudulent logs, so maybe we do need on.

Post by **caughtatwork** » 11 January 05 10:52 am

This is not meant to be snippy, please don't read it that way, please.

i! has identified a key point of why moderation / approval for things may need to be in place (without actually saying it).

Offensive words (either as Swaggies or Caches) should probably not be released into the wild. Would you like your child to pick up a Swaggie called 'Uncle F***er'?

There are technological means to thwart some of the possible bad words (banned word lists are one example), but that doesn't stop the insertion of other lettes or symbols to obfuscate the hidden offensive words. This is also, obviously, censorship albeit by machine rather than man.

I appreciate that hitchhikers which do not get logged / tracked can also have unsavoury names and there's nothing that can be done about that.

By releasing Swaggies (or Caches) without review (I use review rather than approve) there is a small possibility that offensive names get into play.

Responsible cachers probably won't do that, but how do you stop rogue cachers from releasing Swaggies / Caches that are only put out there to see how offensive they can get?

Again, stuck between a rock and a hard place.

No review -> Offensive Names.
Review -> Rules / Guidelines.

Lt. Sniper · Post by **Lt. Sniper** » 11 January 05 6:53 pm

Caughtatwork or Ideology care to confirm on the password standard?

Post by **caughtatwork** » 11 January 05 7:32 pm

Sorry I can't comment of what the end result will be. This is not my site and I don't control the code, so I don't know what ultimate plans i! have for the Swaggies.

ideology · Post by **ideology** » 11 January 05 7:43 pm

we guess a password of letters and characters of say 25 characters should do. that would allow most simple words or numbers. it doesn't need to be super-strong: just enough to prove that someone was there. for simplicity we'd make it case insensitive.

sniper, we know you are itching to create some swaggies but we are spending most of our geo-time talking about cache listings at the moment so we don't have a lot of time to devote to swaggies at the moment

Team Red Devil · Post by **Team Red Devil** » 11 January 05 8:22 pm

I know I'm a newbie, but I have a solution- why not have a reviewer for swaggies? (I nominate myself). I would be willing to do it- I have plenty of time. If I! and the others involved can come up with the standards (numbers/passwords/etc) etc, I will gladly review the swaggies so that offensive ones are not released. 
 
Marie.

Lt. Sniper · Post by **Lt. Sniper** » 11 January 05 8:28 pm

I only brought this subject up because I thought it might remind some people about some of the cool new features this sites going to host and take their minds of some of the negatives that are being thrown around.

The system will be ready, when its ready

ideology · Post by **ideology** » 11 January 05 8:39 pm

cool thanks sniper. sorry, we didn't mean to sound brusque

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Swaggies! [closed]

Swaggies! [closed]

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