Return of virtuals on GC, well sot of

[iamapom]

Well it appears I was sort of incorrect / sort of wasn't. But the sky is not falling in.

If you look at Alansee's profile- http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid ... 022980490fit tells us that (not only is he legendary) but also:

Caches Found: 10305 Trackables Logged: 458 Challenges Completed: 1

Importantly:
- when you look at his stats page - it's only cache finds that are shown (10305 I added them up) not challenges. So challenges are NOT rolled into the cache find total.
- this is the information as that is what other players see about you (except on cache logs apparently - where that's a combined figure)

However - it looks like they are rolled into a the total you see yourself at the top right of every logged in page. I now see "977 Found/Completed" - which is clearly a combined number. Although I haven't done any challenges yet. I bet Alansee would see 10306 there now.

But, as these are broken down in your profile - geocache finds are geocache finds, hides are hides and challenges are challenges. This is quite separate. If I do 20 challenges tom'w - I'm still on 977 geocache finds as I am today.

To conclude, the sky is not, and has not fallen in. It just hasn't.

[iamapom]

They WILL count towards your geocache finds total. That's one of the things that are annoying.

Really, when ? They certainly do not now.

Geocache finds are geocaches only, challenges are challenges only, They ARE combined in the number you see about yourself. But not in the number others see about you.
Check out Alansee's profile - as he's actually completed one challenge. His 10305 is geocaches only, and he's done one challenge.

So when have you heard that this will change and why the plan to go backwards ?

[iamapom]

Ok - so I completed a challenge.

My profile shows:

Finds: 977 Exactly the number it was before I completed the challenge.
Hides: 33
Challenges: 1

I've rerun my geocaching.com built-in stats - I'm still on 977 total.

My stats bar at the top right of the html page (not app) shows a combined total of 978 Found/Completed - a combined total. But that's not the total others will see on my profile. 978 is also shown against my logs in cache listings. However, if you hover over that stat - the breakdown between cache finds and challenge finds is shown.

So. even though I've completed a challenge - I'm still on the same number of geocache "finds" as I was before. I'm still 977,

[Damo.]

Geocache finds are geocaches only, challenges are challenges only, They ARE combined in the number you see about yourself. But not in the number others see about you.

Well actually geocache find numbers are geocaches found AND events attended. This didn't used to be the case and events weren't counted in the total but TPTB changed it for some reason.

My stats bar at the top right of the html page (not app) shows a combined total of 978 Found/Completed - a combined total. But that's not the total others will see on my profile.

That combined number will also be shown under your avatar on every log you write.

[iamapom]

That combined number will also be shown under your avatar on every log you write.

Yes, which I don't really like. Although if you arrow over it you get the breakdown between geocaches (yes, yes and events ) and challenges. That's slightly weird. But kindof ok I guess.
At least challenges are still really quite separate. I've done a challenge now. I'm on 977 geocache finds and 1 challenge, as it states in my profile. My 1000 will be geocaches (yes yes and events ) only.

[lemmykc]

A bit off topic, but what is flagging challenge?

[noikmeister]

But to be honest I have for a long time shaken my head about how we as a community happily discuss in the forums how we are saddened by the low quality of caches being placed but continue to find them.

True, but it is human nature. I think a majority (perhaps slim) of active cachers (and I'm talking about people who cache on a monthly basis, minimum) are a touch obsessive by nature and will want to find everything. There is a kid around here that had done some pretty ordinary hides, but then lately he's done some really brilliant ones. With the more vigorous (and bravo for it) enforcement of maintenance I am waaaay less worried by crap hides and hiders. They'll go away and better ones will take their place (or worse )

[lemmykc]

Guess what? The first challenge they released 'Kiss a Frog' has already been archived

[caughtatwork]

Unintended consequence.

The latest fiasco at the opencaching.com site where the community voted down cache listings so theirs would have a better chance of taking a Garmin prize is an example.

The Groundspeak attempt, after seeing all of the angst they generate in their forums over the years, should surely have tipped them off to the implication that if they let the community unfettered access to creating stuff, some (lots?) will be used for unintended purposes.

The quality of coding doesn't seem terribly poor from what I see on the screen. I don't mind the layout (a little too much whitespace), but the "x days ago" is an abomination. That's not poor coding, that's design. More poor design is the lack of ability to verify logs and the lack of "ownership" of the listings.

I know we do that with TrigPoints and I can only hope our community is not quite as rabid otherwise we would have the same issue.

Still it appears from the latest blog at Latitude 47, they're seen the tsunami, they watched it wash over them, then they decided to build some retaining walls. A little late, but in the end, I hope, a positive outcome to a set of unintended consequences.

[lemmykc]

The quality of coding doesn't seem terribly poor from what I see on the screen. I don't mind the layout (a little too much whitespace), but the "x days ago" is an abomination. That's not poor coding, that's design. More poor design is the lack of ability to verify logs and the lack of "ownership" of the listings.

The dates have just been added back

[MADSTARS]

I think these challenges are a great idea.

Instead of spending an hour in the car to get to a cache on the weekend I can at least do some challenges around the local area.

Plus I hate it when you drive a couple of hours to get a cache and find out its wet, small, not well hidden and on the side of the highway in the open.

I just did a few challenges this morning with the kids while the wife was at work and it was heaps of fun.

I say anything to get us out of the house and adventuring is well worth doing.

[McAdies]

I've been caching for 7 years, haven't found a virtual, haven't found a locationless, haven't found a Earthcache, haven't found a Trigpoint. None of these match my way of playing, if others want to "find" them and "inflate" their "score", go for it.

In response to that statement, EarthCaches actually are harder to create and require maintenance for every person that logs a find.
They have taken us to some magic spots and are not an "inflation" in numbers as far as we are concerned.
Some of crappy physical caches we have found are certainly an inflation in numbers though

Anyway as you said anyone is able to find what they want in terms of Geocaches if they are physical or otherwise.

[Facitman]

I've been caching for 7 years, haven't found a virtual, haven't found a locationless, haven't found a Earthcache, haven't found a Trigpoint. None of these match my way of playing, if others want to "find" them and "inflate" their "score", go for it.

In response to that statement, EarthCaches actually are harder to create and require maintenance for every person that logs a find.
They have taken us to some magic spots and are not an "inflation" in numbers as far as we are concerned.
Some of crappy physical caches we have found are certainly an inflation in numbers though

Anyway as you said anyone is able to find what they want in terms of Geocaches if they are physical or otherwise.

Ohhh sorry, just read what I wrote and it doesn't sound right......
It wasn't my intention to have a go at these other types of caches, just that they weren't my thing. My "inflate" comment was responding to the outcry that lame challenges will allow people to achieve high find counts without much effort and somehow that is unfair to cachers. Given I don't do "non-physical" caches I could complain that my score is not comparable to others who do find them, but that's pointless, this whole activity is so varied that comparison of scores is meaningless.
I appreciate that Earthcaches take much effort to setup and hope that the Geological Society of America set a high standard for listing (I have seen a couple that really don't which is disappointing), I like them and have visited Earthcache locations, I just haven't necessarily tried to answer the questions or done the research and I haven't logged a find but this raises another problem for me, if I use an Earthcache to find a location but don't log a find am I insulting the owner??

[iamapom]

Looks like it's been changed - challenges don't appear to be shown as finds any more.....