Let's Register more caches on GCA

[Papa Bear_Left]

One comment: if you're listing on GCA, remember that the first other person who'll see your listing is a fellow cacher who'll be trying to find it.

So get it right!

There's no reviewer to catch your typos or to tell you why this spot is a Bad Idea or point out that we use WGS84 datum or whatever. Your dumb errors will be out there for the world to see!

[Journeyman]

Do you think one of the reasons for the different is the ground speak app? I know that I only found my first gca cache by accident (I was trying to hide a gc cache). Anyway before this I didnt know that gca caches existed because I was exclusively using the groundspeak app. I am happy to say that now I hide and find gca caches equally with gc caches.

I really appreciate the gca web site, I look at it daily!

I tried to get exposure for geocaching Australia on the U.S. forum but as I said, the comment
never made it past the moderator.
The layout and navigation of the OZ site is second to none.
Hats off to those who go looking for gca caches as well.
Cheers, Journeyman53.

[Journeyman]

One comment: if you're listing on GCA, remember that the first other person who'll see your listing is a fellow cacher who'll be trying to find it.

So get it right!

There's no reviewer to catch your typos or to tell you why this spot is a Bad Idea or point out that we use WGS84 datum or whatever. Your dumb errors will be out there for the world to see!

I am not sure if that is a general comment or pointed at me.
Having said that, I am sure we are grown up enough to re-read our draft publications,
check our plots and make sure we are using the right datum. For typos you
can use a spell check.
As you say, if you make a dumb mistake, it's there for the world to see, but
an incorrect plot should be obvious as a map appears on your review screen.

My main reason for starting this thread is that I would like more Aussies
to use GCA as their listing site. It is fast, efficient and second to none.
How we get people searching for caches in Australia to be aware of GCA is another story.

Cheers, Journeynan53

[Zalgariath]

How we get people searching for caches in Australia to be aware of GCA is another story.

Cheers, Journeynan53

I put a link to the forum on all my GC cache pages... that gets people introduced to the fact there is a place they can come chat to other local cachers. From there Im sure most would realise there is the listing side of things here too.

From time to time I may accidentally leave cards/notes in my GC caches pointing the finders to the co-ords of nearby GCA caches... When I log a cache, if there is a cool GCA cache nearby I often make reference to them

Not sure how kosher that sort of thing is... but I dont see it as a problem as Im not getting anything from it, mearly letting people know there is more out there then meets the geo-eye

[caughtatwork]

One comment: if you're listing on GCA, remember that the first other person who'll see your listing is a fellow cacher who'll be trying to find it.

So get it right!

There's no reviewer to catch your typos or to tell you why this spot is a Bad Idea or point out that we use WGS84 datum or whatever. Your dumb errors will be out there for the world to see!

I am not sure if that is a general comment or pointed at me.
Having said that, I am sure we are grown up enough to re-read our draft publications,
check our plots and make sure we are using the right datum. For typos you
can use a spell check.
As you say, if you make a dumb mistake, it's there for the world to see, but
an incorrect plot should be obvious as a map appears on your review screen.

My main reason for starting this thread is that I would like more Aussies
to use GCA as their listing site. It is fast, efficient and second to none.
How we get people searching for caches in Australia to be aware of GCA is another story.

Cheers, Journeynan53

I wouldn't say directed at you, no.
I used to drive theUMP crazy with my use of meter / metre, color / colour, utilize / utilise
Then I started listing at GCA and the WYSIWYG editor started to highlight (in conjunction with Firefox and the Australian dictionary) my spelling errors.

Sometimes people are very anxious to get their first listing out there and so their presentation fails them, ending up with a listing that is not quite what a good standard would set. On the other hand GC and GCA caches both suffer the same issue as ther reviewers at GC can encourage change, but don't change the listings. They leave that to the hider.

[caughtatwork]

Do you think one of the reasons for the different is the ground speak app? I know that I only found my first gca cache by accident (I was trying to hide a gc cache). Anyway before this I didnt know that gca caches existed because I was exclusively using the groundspeak app. I am happy to say that now I hide and find gca caches equally with gc caches.

I really appreciate the gca web site, I look at it daily!

I tried to get exposure for geocaching Australia on the U.S. forum but as I said, the comment
never made it past the moderator.
The layout and navigation of the OZ site is second to none.
Hats off to those who go looking for gca caches as well.
Cheers, Journeyman53.

GC encourage discussion about other sites, buit not when it is done in a "comparison" model. There a big thread (or two) about opencaching.com which still exists. It's kind of like entrering the Apple forums, bashing the iPhone and praising Android. Probable trolling and it gets moderated before it gets out of control.

So saying that GCA is easier, better, faster, less restrictive, whatever, will get moderated under the "comparison" mode of behaviour. I have no issue with that.

[gmj3191]

Whether to develop on iPhone or Android is an interesting question.
Android has already overtaken iPhone sales (last year) but in terms of numbers there would still be more iPhones out there for a while. Android is the only smartphone OS increasing market share.

This was from the following article a couple of days ago.
http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Phones/Industry/G2B6R6Q6

[Papa Bear_Left]

One comment: if you're listing on GCA, remember that the first other person who'll see your listing is a fellow cacher who'll be trying to find it.
So get it right!
There's no reviewer to catch your typos or to tell you why this spot is a Bad Idea or point out that we use WGS84 datum or whatever. Your dumb errors will be out there for the world to see!

I am not sure if that is a general comment or pointed at me.
Having said that, I am sure we are grown up enough to re-read our draft publications,
check our plots and make sure we are using the right datum. For typos you
can use a spell check.
As you say, if you make a dumb mistake, it's there for the world to see, but
an incorrect plot should be obvious as a map appears on your review screen.

Oh, very much a general comment; I had examples in mind, of course, but not from any one person in particular.

As theUMP, I see about half of the Oz GC cache submissions, and every week there's one or two with silly coords (in the middle of the ocean, or the Outback for an urban description, etc.), or no description, or the coords of the cache that the owner found while placing this new one, or listed as the owner's home State instead of the actual location, or... you get the idea.

Just silly, careless errors that won't get picked up here until the FTF hounds start phoning you to get the real coords!

(There's a map on the GC page as well, but not everyone seems to look at it. And spell-checkers, as well as being completely unknown to some cachers, donut always get things write!)

[Yurt]

Journeyman,

You probably should have let the US site publish the cache.

I am currently living in Townsville. I have 4 GCA caches listed around Townsville. When listing them I was Looking for an Active GCA finder who lives in or visits Townsville and likes a bit of a bushwalk and I can tell you there are none(so far). God knows how you are going to go in Bowen. I am sure you and I would have had more takers on the US site.

2 of the caches are coming up to 12 months without any find. The other 2 were found by my brother when he came to visit from Perth nearly 10 months ago.

There is a geocoin in 1 of them as a gift to the first finder. I will persist and leave the caches on GCA as its got to start somewhere. Good luck.

I'm in Townsville pretty often and have found the few GCA caches in the metro area apart from one that was muggled last time I looked. I have plans to look for your caches but need a 4WD to get there and more time than I normally have on a work trip. Will let you know when I plan on making the attempt!

Hardly any new GC caches in the last few months, Townsville seems to have a few active finders who also place them and the rest appear to be visitors.

[danozz]

Mmm donuts

[belken]

Journeyman,

You probably should have let the US site publish the cache.

I am currently living in Townsville. I have 4 GCA caches listed around Townsville. When listing them I was Looking for an Active GCA finder who lives in or visits Townsville and likes a bit of a bushwalk and I can tell you there are none(so far). God knows how you are going to go in Bowen. I am sure you and I would have had more takers on the US site.

2 of the caches are coming up to 12 months without any find. The other 2 were found by my brother when he came to visit from Perth nearly 10 months ago.

There is a geocoin in 1 of them as a gift to the first finder. I will persist and leave the caches on GCA as its got to start somewhere. Good luck.

I'm in Townsville pretty often and have found the few GCA caches in the metro area apart from one that was muggled last time I looked. I have plans to look for your caches but need a 4WD to get there and more time than I normally have on a work trip. Will let you know when I plan on making the attempt!

Hardly any new GC caches in the last few months, Townsville seems to have a few active finders who also place them and the rest appear to be visitors.

Let me know and I will take you myself.

[blossom*]

Let me know and I will take you myself.

Do you work? ie if anyone came up mid-week, would you be able to take a day off for a 4WD trip? Or does it need to be the weekend? Just asking in case I can find a spare few days to visit my favourite city in Oz

[noikmeister]

I didn't want to sound like I was complaining about the U.S. site because I have no idea of the work load
of the reviewers over there. It was just that I listed a cache for publication and after quite a few days it was still
in limbo, so I removed it from review. I came to The OZ site and it was published instantly as was a swaggie
that I have yet to release. Most people in OZ rely on the U.S. site for publication of there caches in Australia.
I was just hoping that perhaps more people in OZ, might take advantage of this excellent board and start
listing here. A reply I submitted on the the U.S. site has not made it past a reviewer yet.
If all Aussies listed their caches on GCA, it would relieve the publishing pressure on the U.S. site.
As I said before, just a thunk.
Cheers, Journeyman53.

When you say "the US site" you are really talking about the worldwide site. Yes it is based in the US and tends to be US-centric in some of what it does, but if you want to find caches outside Australia and you want visitors to our country the find your caches when they come here then you need a world-wide site. If GCA wanted this site to be it, then it would have to take on GC head-on, rather than fulfilling the gaps that GC leaves behind when it decides not to do moveables etc. and makes such a hash of Waymarking.com (not that that is all it does).

[noikmeister]

I put a link to the forum on all my GC cache pages...

Not sure how you get away with that. I just got one knocked back for linking to a user's GCA profile in the description.

[theUMP]

I put a link to the forum on all my GC cache pages...

Not sure how you get away with that. I just got one knocked back for linking to a user's GCA profile in the description

I bend a little to allow links directly to the forum, but cacher pages and explicit mention or links to GCA as an alternative listing site won't be allowed in GC listings.

As I've said before, you'll never see a Pepsi can in a Coke commercial.

(BTW, apropos of nothing; Diet Coke is now the world's second most popular fizzy drink, behind Coke and ahead of Pepsi!)