Ask A Reviewer A Question
If you have ever submitted a geocache to be listed, then you have had to deal with a reviewer. In most cases, the cache gets published and there’s not much more to it. But in some cases, you may have had to answer questions, or change your cache listings because of something the reviewer has done. We’ve all been there, and we’ve all wished we could sit down and ask the reviewers a question or two. Now is your chance.
On July 20th, Cache Up NB will be hosting it’s monthly podcast live from the Maritime Mega in Fredericton. We are happy to report that for that podcast, we will be joined by five special guests: Cache Viewer, Cache Shadow, Cache Witch, Cache Drone, and TAT; all geocache reviewers. Treehugger21 announced this recently on the MM2 website.
As mentioned in the previous podcast, we’re going to take random suggestions from folks for topics but given that we have now been given a full two hours to talk on the podcast with these guests, I thought it might be a good idea to put it out to our readers as to what you’d like to ask them.
So here’s how it goes. Post a comment with your topic or question of choice for the podcast. It can be a regular conversation topic, or a specific topic/question you have for the reviewers. All suggestions will be compiled together and we’ll try to get to as many of them as we can. We do want to include the ability for people at the live podcast to ask questions, and for a certain element of randomness so the podcast topics will be a mix of what’s submitted here, the audience, and pre-determined discussions. There’s also a post on the MM2 forum about this.
So go ahead and post your suggestions and we’ll see you at the mega in July.
This is a really fantastic initiative by the MEGA crew and CacheupNB.
I look forward to reading the questions and hearing the podcast.
I know there will be good questions posed and I am sure we will learn a lot. However if you ask for comments about reviewers, you may end up with some negative items raised about particular cases. This could especially be true in this situation where our own reviewers will not be part of the interview. I hope these situations are dealt with as friendly requests for clarification.
I don’t have any questions or suggestions, but only a simple comment. I have dealt with our local reviewers and the reviewers in the Ottawa/Gatineau area. I have always been impressed with the dedication of those volunteers and I hope that message is conveyed to them.
PAul
BTW It took this old guy a few seconds to figure out what MM2 meant
I have just recently found out that Cache-Tech and Cache Agent will be attending the mega, with Cache-tech volunteering to help out where he can. He will be assisting with the reviewer sessions in some capacity; however i am not sure if it will be at the morning meet the reviewer panel, or during the podcast. What I can confirm is that everyone will get a stab at him in the dunk tank!!!
That is great news. The last time we saw cache agent was 7 years ago in Campbellton.
I would love to see the program they used to check the submitted listing to make sure it complies with the guidelines. Is like something we see at NASA in the movies or something like I would make (think Pong).
I’ve been hoping for something like this for quite some time now. This is a great opportunity. Here are some questions/topics:
-How did you become a reviewer?
-What sort of time commitment has volunteering put on you? On average, how many caches do you think you review each week?
-What do you do if you know you’re going to be away for awhile, say on vacation? Do you cover for one another? Could you approve caches anywhere, or just in your designated region?
-What tools are reviewers provided by Groundspeak to review/approve caches?
-What are their favourite kinds of caches to review?
-Does Groundspeak seek input from reviewers on changes/updates to the guidelines?
-How important is anonymity to being a reviewer? (I would think very important)
-Geocaching is spreading far and wide geographically. Aside from getting more caches published (and more cachers), what do you think is in the future for caching? Munzee-type caches come to mind, as does some kind of resurrection of virtual/historically significant caches.
-What could cachers do to make your job easier?
-What do you think will happen to Wherigo?
-What is the most unique/memorable cache listing that you care to share?
Great list.
Re anonymity of reviewers, many people have met both cache tech and cache agent. In QC, the reviewers are pretty well known in the caching community because they are also active cachers.
And the last reviewer to be named in the Ottawa area (cache-Witch) also known as Red-hired witch, had the good news to the caching community by another reviewer, cachechisme