geocaching.com site update

[GSVNoFixedAbode]

From the Latitude 47 blog: Preview of Geocaching.com May 4th Website Release

[rediguana]

It lives

Detail of changes here

[Kiwi Moose]

It's slooooooowwwww......

[Guwapo]

Defaults to Beta maps and old maps have no personalisation. So much for it being a performance issue.

[ratherbecaching]

Some nice changes, and some really really awful ones...

Fixed width on cache pages and transparency through to the background image - wow that makes some cache pages look disgusting, ranging from unreadable description text to horrifically mangled html/tables.

Also, expect a few puzzle caches to be archived as soon as their owners realise that Groundspeak has ruined the puzzle by revealing hidden text, etc...

Not sure what to think about it...

[Guwapo]

Geocaching.com The developers are currently working as quickly and carefully as possible to return the site for your geocaching adventure... We'll keep you posted. Geocaching.com will be back up as soon as possible!
13 minutes ago

[Graeme.N]

Some nice changes, and some really really awful ones...

Fixed width on cache pages and transparency through to the background image - wow that makes some cache pages look disgusting, ranging from unreadable description text to horrifically mangled html/tables.

Also, expect a few puzzle caches to be archived as soon as their owners realise that Groundspeak has ruined the puzzle by revealing hidden text, etc...

Not sure what to think about it...

Apparently the page transparency has now been fixed.

[radionut50]

I wonder how many got this by email:

Planned → Completed
We have now implemented the option to change your date format preference in your account details at http://www.geocaching.com/account/Manag ... ences.aspx. Please enter any feedback or issues that you encounter with this new feature as a new thread.
Thank you!

It was in response to a feedback request for international date formats.

I have made the change in my profile, and it gives many options, which all look good!

[Guwapo]

I wonder how many got this by email:

Planned → Completed
We have now implemented the option to change your date format preference in your account details at http://www.geocaching.com/account/Manag ... ences.aspx. Please enter any feedback or issues that you encounter with this new feature as a new thread.
Thank you!

It was in response to a feedback request for international date formats.

I have made the change in my profile, and it gives many options, which all look good!

I made this change yesterday not long after the site went live - but it wasn't without confusion.

They don't provide an option like DD/MM/YYYY or MM/DD/YYYY but instead show the current date in various formats.

Yesterday it was 05/05/2011 so you can understand the problem.

In case your wondering the only provide the American format MM/DD/YYYY so if you want a format with the date first you have to choose one of the other formats like 06/May/2011

[Geckoh]

In case your wondering the only provide the American format MM/DD/YYYY so if you want a format with the date first you have to choose one of the other formats like 06/May/2011

Have just updated the date format yesterday and found a glitch when trying to list a cache this morning, the 08/May/2011 date when pushing the cache through came back with: Please shorten this text to 10 characters or less (you are currently using 11 characters).

so changed it to the 08/may/11 format.

[-gonefishing-]

The new gc.com site update looks nice enough - cache logs now show the cacher's avatar. But what happened to the log dates? Now is all "about 3 days ago" or "about 1 month ago"???

[rediguana]

But what happened to the log dates? Now is all "about 3 days ago" or "about 1 month ago"???

That will be a small step towards the increasing privacy protections that are being implemented, I guess. There are quite a few requests on feedback.gc.com to give greater privacy protection. The parallel is perhaps that gc.com can best be considered like a public Twitter account currently where everything is public, and I expect that over time, things will move more towards a Facebook approach where only friends and owners of caches you log will see your details, logs etc - unless you explicitly mark them as public (vs friends+owners only).

And don't think that geostalking doesn't happen here, I can still remember our first case of geostalking in NZ back in late 2003, and it was based on following cache logs and tracking down who the cachers were. The result - some very keen new geocachers gave up caching after just a couple of months because of the undue interest shown in them.

Get used to it, increased privacy protections are sadly required in this day and age.

I for one fully support increased privacy protection, as I'm sure a number of others here do based on their past comments.

[-gonefishing-]

That is too much of a Nanny State for me. There are still plenty of ways someone could protect their privacy by managing the information flow.

For example, if they don't want their boss to know they cached on a work day, they could a)rigorously keep their caching identity separated from real life identity (no self portraits, no names etc etc) b)log online with different dates c)not log online at all d)there is no time stamp on logs so who knows if it was posted before, during or after work, or indeed when the cache was found.

Just the same as Facebook - some people choose to tell the world they are about to go away on holiday , but you only need to give away as much personal info as you are comfortable with.

[rediguana]

Just the same as Facebook - some people choose to tell the world they are about to go away on holiday , but you only need to give away as much personal info as you are comfortable with.

It's all about choice. That is one solution - but it is often a 'hack' for a system that isn't developed to support privacy. This is also recognising the international divide between the US that traditionally has little respect for privacy, and the European approach to privacy that is much much stronger - and make no mistakes, New Zealand is far closer to European concepts of privacy.

Europeans are far more protective of their privacy than UK-USA westerners - but this is a global game, and Groundspeak has to respect the need for privacy, otherwise you'll see fragmentation as European users flock to a new geocaching directory that supports better privacy protections.

It is going to be tricky to balance, but Groundspeak is going to have to deal with the privacy issue as they play in a global market, and we'll increasingly see updates that incorporate more features with privacy in mind.

That is too much of a Nanny State for me.

It's got nothing to do with the state. It is entirely about each individuals right to control how much information about them is shared publicly. We've had past discussions on these forums about gc.com statistics, and the ability to turn those on/off publicly is just another privacy tool.

Privacy is very much pro-personal choice and giving each individual the personal choice to choose how much information is, or is not, shared about them. It is completely the opposite of a Nanny State, as this places all the power in the individual - where it should be.

I'm all for tools being added, and giving the individual the right to choose how they want to share their information publicly.

[Guwapo]

But what happened to the log dates? Now is all "about 3 days ago" or "about 1 month ago"???

where only friends and owners of caches you log will see your details, logs etc - unless you explicitly mark them as public (vs friends+owners only).

Nope, that doesn't seem to be the case. A quick review of my caches shows that the logs are the same "about" type. This is a backward step for cache owners. Knowing exactly what dates were logged is important in terms of following up possible muggles, damage, missing TB, etc. Managing activity on your caches is an important part of cache maintenance. Groundspeak, catering to (imho) a minority interest group, have just removed one of tools to do that.