Are there a lot of "approved" and still unpublished caches?

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rob3k
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Are there a lot of "approved" and still unpublished caches?

Post by rob3k » Tue Sep 28, 2010 10:32 am

Shame on me for not actually reading the e-mail that came when my most recent cache was approved, but I didn't realize it wasn't made available to search automatically. :oops: There are a few pretty active finders in my area and I was a little surprised that nobody logged a find over Sunday or Monday, so I checked it today and WOOPS! of course it was not published.

This is a big difference from GC.com and I think other hiders might make the same mistake I did. I can understand not wanting to model everything after another listing service, but this might be something to track and if it looks to be a common problem, change things so caches go live on approval.

Just a thought.

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glorkar
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Re: Are there a lot of "approved" and still unpublished cach

Post by glorkar » Tue Sep 28, 2010 12:10 pm

I wonder why that happened? As far as I can tell, the "Publish Now" option is selected by default. It should have been "live" as soon as you finished the listing.
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Re: Are there a lot of "approved" and still unpublished cach

Post by DudleyGrunt » Tue Sep 28, 2010 12:14 pm

I've not had this issue. I just double checked my recently (9/11) published caches that have not been found and they do appear to be available and ready to go.
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RVRoadTrip
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Re: Are there a lot of "approved" and still unpublished cach

Post by RVRoadTrip » Tue Sep 28, 2010 12:42 pm

Yep, shame on you. LOL

I will have to check to see if changing this would have any adverse effect on anything else. If not, I will change it.

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TermiteHunter
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Re: Are there a lot of "approved" and still unpublished cach

Post by TermiteHunter » Tue Sep 28, 2010 10:40 pm

The issue actually is the status section at the top of the form which is not displayed during the initial submission process. It is only visible if the cache is "edited". Apparently the default for this is set to "not ready". I found this after my first couple were reviewed. I usually do not publish them until I have proofed the actually cache page and verified the displayed coordinates on Google maps which allows me then to set the status (at the top of the page) and publish / write time (at the bottom of the page)

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RVRoadTrip
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Re: Are there a lot of "approved" and still unpublished cach

Post by RVRoadTrip » Wed Sep 29, 2010 10:18 am

When a new cache is submitted, the status is automatically set to "Hidden Pending Approval". The system checks for this status and notifies the OC Team as soon as it finds one. Once we review it, it is either accepted or rejected. Rejected caches are flagged and cannot be published until the CO makes the changes we feel are necessary, or if it is a cache type that is not permitted, it is archived on the spot. This is why you see a difference in the cache numbers on the home page. Approved caches are flagged "Not Yet Available" and the CO is sent an email telling them how to make it searchable.

I did find a significant conflict in making approved caches go live instantly, so this will not be implemented. I really, really, really clarified the approval notification email so users will know that action is required on their part to make the cache searchable.

rob3k
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Re: Are there a lot of "approved" and still unpublished cach

Post by rob3k » Wed Sep 29, 2010 12:16 pm

It was worth a look.

I rechecked my approval e-mail and it already did do a pretty good job of stressing that I needed to go back to the cache page and activate it. I'll have to create a new one to see the new e-mail. 8-)

I think I was just in cruise control mode based on my experience hiding caches on GC.com.

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