One would think that getting an Event cache published would not be that hard.
It should be as easy as filling in the blanks and hitting submit.
Not so quick I have found out.
Back in September I tried to get an Event Published for the Mount Seymour Fish Hatchery Open house that happens once a year.
In the past the BCGA has been involved and this year because of the Forest Fire rating the event was not posted until about 2.5 weeks before it happened.
The idea is a shuttle bus is provided from the parking lot to the hatchery (non-profit) 11 km up the mountain. This would allow cachers to visit the hatchery but also walk down a very nice trail to pick up the caches beside the trail on the way down.
The Event was turned down for a reason I was surprised at which was I was holding an event alongside another event. The Hatchey was considered commercial despite what the website said. There was nothing I could do except appeal it which I did and have not heard back as I write this. The event date is long passed.
The interesting thing was the very next day two Events were published that were being held along side other events in a park.
This past week I submitted another event which I thought (along with others) thought would be a slam dunk. The event was for the December 31 Say Good-bye 2015, Hello 2016 events which Groundspeak is sponsoring.
I live near a great location which has lots of parking a covered area and bathrooms. This appears to now be a requirement of hosting an event.
I submitted the time as 9:00 AM and because it is a work day I listed it as a 4 Difficulty explaining that I wanted this rating because it was a work day. I have done other events like this at 8:00 AM and listed them as a 5 Difficulty and called on by the reviewer and once explained my rating has been allowed despite what the rules suggest.
I then added a Scuba Attribute to the cache page. I do this for my fellow cachers who are working on Challenge Caches who need this Attribute to complete a challenge. I have a couple of caches with this on it today. I have had many emails from cachers thanking me for this as they were able to complete a challenge as a result.
If one looks at the many power trails in the desert they have this attribute on them. I have never heard of a problem or had a problem doing this until now.
I submit the cache once done and it is rejected for 3 reasons.
-Parking coordinates are incorrect.
-The cache is a Difficulty 4 and should be reduced to a 1 due to the guidelines in the rules for events.
-I have incorrectly placed a Scuba Attribute and this should be corrected.
The parking coordinates were correctly submitted but were entered in the wrong box which I thought were connected to the cache location. I have not used the “new” cache page much and stayed with the old page until I was forced to use it. This caused me the problem and I corrected it.
I explained the Scuba Attribute along with lowering the Difficulty to 1.5.
Yep rejected again because none of this allowed even with an explanation.
I have to say this about the Reviewer I am dealing with and that is we have some history that caused me some problems a few years back. I had to submit all my caches to Headquarters for a period of time and didn’t have any problems. I then am placed back into the regular reviewer pool and this reviewer has yet to allow any of my caches.
One of the reasons sure had the WTF moment and then the appeal to groundspeak had everyone who has read it including Canada Customs going really, but this is for another post.
I have held Events in other places in the world and not one problem. I have placed caches in other parts of the world and not one problem, yet try and do it here and I get rejected.
This may not appear so bad but almost all my known Geocaching friends that have tried to place caches have been subject to major scrutiny. One of these friends has been told the reason is because who you associate with.
I don’t mind there being a problem, but being told exactly how I have to publish a cache with no latitude allowed (which has been allowed before for both myself and others) is what bothers me. If Events are now only allowed to be a 1/1 then only allow the event page to show that. It is a simple script change.
Even more frustrating is the fun is being sucked out of the game. I suspect that the many problems I have experienced and heard of recently is why many are saying no more premium membership (as we are not being treated as customers) and Munzee here we come.
There is more to say on this and stay tuned.