Some thoughts on GCA...

[Dik:]

Omg I still have not worked out how to use Facebook so I've given up

[CraigRat]

It's been resolved for now.

[Laighside Legends]

I know that comment is incredibly vague and really doesn't help anyone but I hear comments like that about GCA all the time - both on fb and in person at events. I'm yet to work out what the best response is... (and for the record, in the case above CR explained a part of the site to her that I never knew existed)

I think (and this is just a guess - it may be wrong) they just see the front page and get a bit "bewildered" by it all. If you simply want to find caches near your house and view them on a map (which I think is what the person of fb was trying to do) how do you do this from the front page? (keeping in mind that they don't want to sit around and wait for the map to load up every cache in the state)

[Laighside Legends]

(keeping in mind that they don't want to sit around and wait for the map to load up every cache in the state)

Which through http://geocaching.com.au/caches/available/au/sa.gmap doesn't actually work anyway - it only loads about 1000 that are nearest to the centre of the state which is mostly a heap of trig points in the middle of nowhere...

[CraigRat]

Zoom in and pan to where you need to look. It only returns a maximum 1000 based on the center of the screen. Anything more and the server cries tears of blood.

[CraigRat]

GCA *IS* complex and a bit baffling to new cacher.

It has thousands of features and we TRY to cater for all, but making it simple, while still exposing the advanced features is a very very tricky act.

You want caches, go to the caches tab, you want stats, go to the stats tab, you want help, go to the help tab.
You are not sure of a feature, usually there is a ? icon taking you to the wiki.

It's all there, but yes, we don't spoon-feed people. In the beginning geocaching was (in my opinion) performed by more technical minded people who seemed to be able to manage to use the site just fine, whereas the community is now...well.. how can I put it... a bit broader in abilities than before....

People seem to want it complex, yet simple ; user friendly yet advanced.... you can see our problem here.

Open to suggestions about how to improve it. Mockups, screenshots would be good.

[nutwood]

I know that comment is incredibly vague and really doesn't help anyone but I hear comments like that about GCA all the time - both on fb and in person at events. I'm yet to work out what the best response is... (and for the record, in the case above CR explained a part of the site to her that I never knew existed)

I think (and this is just a guess - it may be wrong) they just see the front page and get a bit "bewildered" by it all. If you simply want to find caches near your house and view them on a map (which I think is what the person of fb was trying to do) how do you do this from the front page? (keeping in mind that they don't want to sit around and wait for the map to load up every cache in the state)

Surely you just type your postcode into "search" and after a brief wait a list of all the caches within that area will pop up? The list will have GC and GCA caches. If you want a map, select a GCA cache at random and then click on the map that comes up on the cache page. That map will show all the caches in the area of the one you selected and you can happily pan about or zoom out to locate more.

Alternatively, use the GCA Cacher app on a smart phone and press "list". The fifty (depending on settings) nearest GCA caches are listed.

I'm struggling to see how it could be simpler?

[LouiseAnn]

mind you, she hasn't learnt about punctuation of capitals, so I think we don't want her anyway....

[Laighside Legends]

It's all there, but yes, we don't spoon-feed people. In the beginning geocaching was (in my opinion) performed by more technical minded people who seemed to be abwhereas the community is ...well.. how can I put it... a bit broader in abilities than before....

That is spot on. The demographics of caching are certainly changing whether we like it or not...

[J_&_J]

Omg I still have not worked out how to use Facebook so I've given up

So it's not just me then!?

[nutwood]

Omg I still have not worked out how to use Facebook so I've given up

So it's not just me then!?

You're not alone! I don't want to work out how to use Facebook.

[biggles1024]

Omg I still have not worked out how to use Facebook so I've given up

I can use FB but loathe doing so. I rid myself of Twitter a fortnight ago and I'm sorely tempted to ditch FB completely too.

[gmj3191]

I've been thinking about this, and this is my cold hard unemotional conclusion.

I rarely come to GCA now.
I'm trying to figure out why, and I think the answer is, it no longer fills any needs.

Ten or so years ago I came, mainly because it was the only source of contact and discussion with other cachers.
Now FB or direct messaging fills that need much more responsively, and much more efficiently, and the very frequent events we have now have built a very strong face to face community. We do things together more now.

I used to look at the stats.
Now GSAK and Project-GC do that, and much better in the areas I'm interested in.

I used to do some GCA caches,
but they are few and far between now and don't count in my stats which is important to me.

I used to like the summer competitions,
but the angels lost me and I haven't come back. Perhaps it had become too much of a good thing.

The site can be a bit hard to use, particularly finding something in the wiki unless the exact words are right in your mind.

The numbers here seem to be dwindling and I would be very surprised if many new people are joining, and I know many of the oldies no longer come here.

It's sad because, for me, GCA was a wonderful place to be in the mid naughties, when caching was relatively new and we were on a learning curve on software, hardware, tools and techniques.

But for me now, there is no real reason to come here other than to see how it's thriving, and there seems to be a very low level of activity now compared to the "old" days. Sometimes weeks with only one or two new threads.

It would be sad if c@w and CraigRat put in a lot of time to improve the operation of the site, and new hardware was purchased, and things continued to decline.

Perhaps it might be just time to say that GCA filled a void at a time when it was needed, but things have moved on and it's an opportunity to phase out and do something else, before it becomes a millstone around your necks.
They say it's always best to go out while you're on top and in control.

I'll be eternally grateful to the people who have worked so hard over the years to keep GCA rolling, but you need an opportunity to review what you want to do moving forward, and if more of the same with potentially more work and less satisfaction is what you want to do, I'd understand because you've put so much into it and have so much skin in the game.

But hey, you deserve this opportunity to consider what you want to do with your free time in the future, at a point where a decision on further funding and commitment needs to be made.

[Richary]

I do 2 things on GCA. 1) Check the forums though they have become a lot quieter since regional facebook groups were set up. 2) Use it for stats as it combines my finds on both sites and my one ever opencaching find.

The maps can be useful, but I can do that on the phone with Geosphere on the fly, so don't look at them as often. I think it's a great community we built here, but as gmj3191 said it seems to be getting less use than it used to. Which is a shame.

I always found the forums the most valuable part of the site, and since people have gone to fb in areas I am not near so don't see I miss a lot of good discussion that used to be here. Don't know if there is an answer to that one as forums all over seem to be less popular these days.

GCA has it's uses for those of us who want to find trigs, I personally found the moveable races a bit of fun for a while but then becoming a bit of a chore, especially the Bingo where it became obvious you could not complete a card here in NSW. But still it bumped the numbers a bit. Still it is a resource I would be sad to see go, and I value the contact with the others here. I find Project-GC to be out of date in terms of finds at times, so it doesn't meet my needs, even if I am prepared to ignore the many GCA finds I have.

[Tuena]

I do several things on GCA. The two mentioned by Richary, plan caching runs as I can see both sites' caches & hide caches, either my own or Trigs, CORS in particular last year. I don't use FB altho I have an account. I prefer the stats GCA provide & indeed don't look at mine on Groundspeak & don't display my stats on that site. Until this discussion hadn't heard of Project-GC.

I find the Map on GCA cluggy (if I click on a cache identifier the map freezes then the cache opens) but I use a plugin device for internet access & its slow. I only use the GCA app.

I've noticed a decline in forum use & that seems to be a general trend. I also Waymark & that forum can be pretty quiet.

Although I hide GCA traditionals they very seldom get any visitors. I'd like to see more physical caches hidden across the board by any & all but I still check for Locationless every day & enjoy the challenge there. Occasionally I attend an event (there is one held each year in the Illawarra but seldom any down this way) & when I mention GCA the reaction varies from outright hostility, to never heard of it, to slight interest. The main reason seems to be based around stats apart from the hostility aspect which is deep seated.

I like the inclusive nature of GCA & will continue to support it.