Groundspeak Portal

I've seen you misspell catEgory, many time now in the forums, and have also seen you joke about spelling. Think of forums as kind of the back room and waymarks as the front room for the general public and search engines. With todays computer's there very little excuse for spelling errors. So when spelling errors make their way into your waymarks, our more public front, it makes waymarks look unprofessional or done by uneducated people. I don't think that's you nor the the image you want to portray.

So my simple tip to you is: to bring up the quality of your waymarks, make sure your spelling and grammar are correct. You can start with "category"! :-)

I love the Stanton entry in the civil rights category. If you choose to edit the text for corrections, here are some other errors that stand out:
• "well taking" should be "while taking"
• personally I think "pics" is too informal of a word
• stylistically, signing/ending every one of your long descriptions with a "Happy WMin', …" does not fit the style of the waymarking site. Sorry if no one has pointed this out, but you are the only one doing this. You already receive credit at the top as the poster of the waymark. Try to craft your a waymark more as a wikipedia entry, unbiased and factual. Study the style used by the thousands of other waymarkers and bring some uniformity to all of our work.

Keep'em comin' though,

This is an email I got this morning and I wanted to talk about it. #1. Thanx for pointing out my simple spelling error and i'll do my best to correct it. #2. I'm not an english major so I appologize that all of my listing aren't properly worded. This is how I am and how I write so I'll try to do better but I'm not going back to english class. #3 Pics is a very common word that is used today. I see it a lot more often in the computer world then I do in real life so I see it as being a fitting word to use in my listings. Again I'm sorry if you disagree. #4. My ending "Signature", the way I've ended the last 113 approved waymarks, does anyone else feel that this is inappropriate? I come from a geocaching background and most cachers have a signature. Are my waymarks really bothering a lot of you and you're afraid to say it? I am not an encyclopedia, I'm not wikopedia and I'm sorry if I don't fit the "Style" of the waymarking site. If I'm really doing all of these waymarks wrong then please tell me now so I can pull all of my poorly written waymarks off of your beautiful site. I wouldn't want people to visit a nice site if my waymark is written to poorly or I've misspelled another word. I really would like to know now if I'm wasting my time. Thanx,...opps...Thank You, Yours Truely, Swizzle

Thank you for not calling out the individual who sent this message to you. I hope you don't feel alienated. You're new to waymarking and you're enthusiastic. You've posted over 100 waymarks far sooner than I did. People like you need to be involved in this hobby.

Sometimes, it helps if you back up and reread an otherwise offensive email with a truly concerned and polite tone of voice, aloud if necessary. I noticed that the sender gave you a list of corrections you could make to a specific waymark you posted that they liked. I think that's a positive thing, honestly.

And, do keep 'em coming! I've actually made a little more time for the forum lately because you've been involved. It's new life and a fresh perspective. There are some really good people involved in Waymarking who are here to help. Consider an unsolicited proofreading as a friendly handshake in this hobby.

A couple of recent forum posts have reiterated the suggested style of facts and information in the waymark description and opinions and feelings in the visit log.


Realize that everyone who sees these web pages, might not a waymarker. Search engines are now finding waymarking web pages and presenting them to non-waymarkers as the result of a search. Hopefully these pages present useful, well-written and factual information to the searcher, even though they're not a waymarker or have any idea what waymarking is. When they read "Happy WMin' ", they probably don't have a clue what this means. Heck, I even had to think about it when I first saw it.


If a researcher or college student views a waymark as a result of a search and sees spelling errors and grammar problems, it could color their opinion of our site as a whole. One of the reasons wikipedia has become such a respected site, is because the quality of most pages, not in a draft state, is very high.


Many waymarkers already draw material from wikipedia, because the material there is well written. Wikipedia allows its community to easily edit and correct spelling and grammar errors of other well-intentioned contributors. This results in a degree of uniformity and quality across the site.


As waymark page creators, the individual poster here holds the primary responsibility for the content, spelling and grammar of their work. The category managers could edit contributions, but I don't see that happening a lot. Sometimes they may point out things that they'd like the poster to correct, after the the approval.


The coaching and suggestions of others is the only collective editing power we have. I got coaching from several category managers when I began. I listened and adopted their styles. Later on, I found simple errors in the waymarks of others, including such things as the wrong state, impossible coordinates or even duplicate postings. I usually address it through a note to the originator and they have always fixed it and thanked me.


I think everyone here respects the work done by others. I wouldn't be contributing to this site, if I thought the site was crap. My desire is that every waymarker strives to create well written waymarks, do good research, and include nice pictures. Everyone here wants you to succeed.

Well, I think you know where I stand on these issues, and I'm sure that you've heard similar views from other waymark reviewers, so I'll try my best to keep my comments objective.

While waymarks need not always be devoid of personal style, the descriptions should be kept objective.  That doesn't mean we write like robots or churn out Wikipedia entries.  There is a difference though between creative writing and personal logging.  A waymark should not read like a diary entry, full of experiences, thoughts, personal reflections, and advice to the reader, however well intentioned.  That's not to say you should leave out material that is part of your personal knowledge of a waymark, but it should be written in an objective style. 

Waymarking does have a place for this more informal, chatty, personal approach and that is through writing a log entry or a note.  So you shouldn't feel as if you're being forced into an artificial format or that your personal creativity is being stifled.  Just put it in the right place.

Once you accept the fact that Waymarking is different from Geocaching, with its own style and expectations, the more comfortable you will be here.  Take time to read through waymarks in each category and pick out the best ones and use them as a general guideline as to what a great waymark would look like for that category.

As far as misspellings, grammatical errors, and writing style are concerned there are a few things to keep in mind.  We all misspell words which is why we use spell checkers and proofread.  If something slips by, I appreciate a note from a reviewer.  As a reviewer I will often correct these minor things myself - just easier for me and for the waymarker. 

As an interesting side note, I recently posted multiple waymarks for a site, the one that was my 5,000th waymark, and copied and pasted a couple of lines of text into the Quick Description and it had a glaring error (a year date with only three digits) in it.  I didn't catch it, and probably a half dozen reviewers didn't catch it.  (Makes one wonder if they read it at all).  I relate that just to say that it is easy for any of us to miss things.  And, I'm really lousy at the keyboard.  I mean, Miss Swain really did try to teach me to type in high school, but I was one of her challenges.  I just wish we'd had computes with spell checkers back then instead of typewriter erasers, white out and erasable bond.

I don't think one has to be an English major to write clear, correct English.  We don't expect people to be professional photographers either, but we expect decent pictures.  We might decline a waymark for poor quality photographs, though, and so it shouldn't be any more unusual to apply standards of good writing to a waymark.  The fact that your geocaching style has been accepted, doesn't mean that it is a good idea.  It may be that we're reluctant to find yet another point of contention.

Just do your best, and take suggestions, like the ones you received from the reviewer you cited, in the spirit intended -- one of helpfulness and encouragement.  And, I hope you never feel as if you and your efforts are not appreciated.  But, do take to hear the advice offered.

Above all, do keep 'em comin'!

When I first got back into waymarking it was under the pretence that this is indeed another GPS based "game". I don't feel that a simple game needs to be so formal and so well written. I do put the time on my research and if I learn something new I try to share it. I'm starting to think this "game" is only for english teachers with proper etiquite and grammer. I also didn't realize that our "game" is trying to compete with wikipedia. I must have missed that part of the rules. I was under the impression that you find a cool place to go, do a little research and make your waymark understandable enough so that others want to go there. Honestly if I had a choice to go to a park and Mark Twain and the Encyclopiedia Britanica wrote about the same park I would want to go more after reading Mark's Twain's description. I'm starting to feel like geocaching is quite casual and this site is a real black tie affair. Personally I'm a redneck, hick, backwoods boy who really doesn't care if everything is written by an english major. Do I really get under your skin that bad because of my poor spelling? Sometimes I feel like my waymarks are the chalk screetching on the blackboard that makes people cring. Maybe not that bad.

Another thing I'm wondering about is my font size. I use the

html code to enlarge the font to make it easier for me to see. Now I have 3 denials in a row saying to fix the font. I've already had this same arguement over one silly little symbol that I personal thought made my listings look better. Now I just bite my tounge and leave them out. I don't want to stylize my listings after everyone else. I don't want to spend 4 hours making sure every single waymark I've written is a personal work of art. I've always been happy with B's and A- and the occasional C. I think my waymarks are good and I like them. They might not be up to your personal best standards but they're mine.

I honestly can't picture someone choosing not to go to one of my waymarks because I misspelled CatEgory for the 500th time. My Happy WMin', Swizzle & Family might not look professional to you and I'm sorry. I was just trying to put out a friendly new face and tell people to Have Fun Well...oh sorry..While Waymarking, and also at the same time showing that this is and can be a family hobby/sport/game by signing Swizzle & Family. Well the critism is constructive I'd like to know everything that irritates the waymarking public in general so I'm not spending a month going back through all of my waymarks to make them "more presentable" to the "general" public.

I do appreciate all of the coaching and the advice, don't get me wrong. I just feel if this has been a problem all of this time then we need to get it out before my next 4900 waymarks. My actual intentions here are to populate my area with waymarks. I am only placing that magic 5,000 and I'm done. Then I'll start all over from waymark number 1 and ask myself "how can I make this one better". If I should take away all signs of human feeling with removing my signature and reducing my font so that I have a mygrane from trying to read then let me know now so when I do go back through and improve them that I'm not spending a year doing it. The last thing I want to do is remove 5,000 signatures and reduce the font 5,000 times because it doesn't fit. Maybe we should take the html button away so that all of the waymarkers aren't allowed to use it. I thought that's why it was there. Swizzle

silverquill:

Well, I think you know where I stand on these issues, and I'm sure that you've heard similar views from other waymark reviewers, so I'll try my best to keep my comments objective.

While waymarks need not always be devoid of personal style, the descriptions should be kept objective.  That doesn't mean we write like robots or churn out Wikipedia entries.  There is a difference though between creative writing and personal logging.  A waymark should not read like a diary entry, full of experiences, thoughts, personal reflections, and advice to the reader, however well intentioned.  That's not to say you should leave out material that is part of your personal knowledge of a waymark, but it should be written in an objective style. 

Waymarking does have a place for this more informal, chatty, personal approach and that is through writing a log entry or a note.  So you shouldn't feel as if you're being forced into an artificial format or that your personal creativity is being stifled.  Just put it in the right place.

Once you accept the fact that Waymarking is different from Geocaching, with its own style and expectations, the more comfortable you will be here.  Take time to read through waymarks in each category and pick out the best ones and use them as a general guideline as to what a great waymark would look like for that category.

As far as misspellings, grammatical errors, and writing style are concerned there are a few things to keep in mind.  We all misspell words which is why we use spell checkers and proofread.  If something slips by, I appreciate a note from a reviewer.  As a reviewer I will often correct these minor things myself - just easier for me and for the waymarker. 

As an interesting side note, I recently posted multiple waymarks for a site, the one that was my 5,000th waymark, and copied and pasted a couple of lines of text into the Quick Description and it had a glaring error (a year date with only three digits) in it.  I didn't catch it, and probably a half dozen reviewers didn't catch it.  (Makes one wonder if they read it at all).  I relate that just to say that it is easy for any of us to miss things.  And, I'm really lousy at the keyboard.  I mean, Miss Swain really did try to teach me to type in high school, but I was one of her challenges.  I just wish we'd had computes with spell checkers back then instead of typewriter erasers, white out and erasable bond.

I don't think one has to be an English major to write clear, correct English.  We don't expect people to be professional photographers either, but we expect decent pictures.  We might decline a waymark for poor quality photographs, though, and so it shouldn't be any more unusual to apply standards of good writing to a waymark.  The fact that your geocaching style has been accepted, doesn't mean that it is a good idea.  It may be that we're reluctant to find yet another point of contention.

Just do your best, and take suggestions, like the ones you received from the reviewer you cited, in the spirit intended -- one of helpfulness and encouragement.  And, I hope you never feel as if you and your efforts are not appreciated.  But, do take to hear the advice offered.

Above all, do keep 'em comin'!

I'm trying but believe me it isn't easy. Maybe I'm too busy trying to create a good waymark without reading thousands of them first. If my signature doesn't fit then tell me its wrong or unacceptable. Don't sit on the fence about it and wait until I have a bunch posted and then mention it. Let me know and I'll remove it if it makes everyone feel better. Times like this I start to think that waymarking is not for me. The only good thing about waymarking seems to be the drive it creates to go find these places, to live the history and to share your experiences with others. I'm really having a hard time with seperating myself from my writting and doing so makes me feel wrong. I feel like a sheep or a robot. I must follow examples, I must triple read everything I do, I must write without feeling. I double read everything but I guess its not enough.

Sorry I'm starting to rant again. I just had a 4th denial in a row. 3 for font size and one because my waymark isn't humorous enough. I really don't see any reason to write out a waymark robot style and then log my visit with all of my personal feelings about a particular location. After several people log their visit then my personal feelings are buried under the mass of logs, unread and discarded. I guess I'm having another rough weekend and I'm ready to step away for a while.

I'm starting to feel like I'm back in school being graded. I don't know..whatever. Swizzle

=)

Just a couple of observations.

First, this is a classic illustration of the problem with subjective categories!

Either the officers take the attitude, "If it was humorous to the waymarker, then that's good enough" or the policy is, "Whatever strikes me as humorous at the moment is all that will be accepted." 

I've made several submissions to this category, things that made either me or my wife laugh, but failed to strike the funny bone of whoever reviewed the waymarks.

Well, maybe neither you nor I know how to tell a joke!

Second, maybe headstones are in a class by themselves, but they are often included in books of humor.  Maybe this is just too real.  Similar are people whose names match their occupations.  

Third, yes, I think sometimes one just has to be there.  A lot is lost when it is digitized and removed from the time and place.  Maybe it really is partly in the presentation.

Anyway, I don't lose a lot of sleep over these.  I'm on to the next one, and if I again see something really funny, I might try again.  Or, maybe I'll just keep my snickers to myself . . . .

As a second thought I decided to email the leader asking if it can be re-worded and re-submitted. I was kind of suprized to see only one active user the day it was declined and it wasn't the leader but the first officer. Is it possible for 1 person to vote on a submittion and it's instantly declined without the leader and the second officer seeing it? I'm guessing that they can all vote from their email box without logging onto the site? I just thought it was a little strange is all. I see that the STIFF headstone has been immortalized on their category page so I din't think my humor was inappropriate in the least. So I don't think it was declined for bad taste. Maybe if the name was seperate, "SHOT WELL", it'd be more funny? I still have the question of my Font Size & My Signature. Are they or are they not acceptable. Please don't view this as a loaded question. I'm not about to leave the site if someone says "No, it should be removed" or disagrees with my signature or chubby font. I want some honest opinions from more then just the leaders and officers. I feel like I'm getting a one sided review here and think that there are more people out there like me that are having a really hard time with the proper way to submit waymarks when all 929 categories ask for different things. Swizzle

I've read many times the term "Waymarking Community". A community is made up of mant different people, each with their own personality and level of education. To badger one another over grammer is absolutely ridiculous. WE ARE NOT WIKIPEDIA!

Spelling as it has been mentioned is frequently corrected by some of the peolpe who review the waymarks. A simple reminder should be sufficient. Hopefully the person writing up his waymarks eventually learns to be a better speller of at least checks his work. The personal experience in a waymark's write up should be kept to a minimum, but is there really any harm in its existence? I for one don't think so. So a muggle finds a waymark Googling, so what. As long as the information is correct, what's the harm? WE ARE NOT WIKIPEDIA!

As far as the enlarged text goes, I do have to say when reviewing a waymark it does tend to look too large for the width the large description. Perhaps thta's simply because it's not what I'm used to seeing. Or maybe it simply is too large. I don't know, I'm not an expert.

One last thing. You aren't the only person here I've seen use the phrase "Happy Waymarking".

 

Just my two cents...

Maybe I should try to reduce the size of it a little bit? I'm not trying to pee in anyone's cornflakes here but some of these things to seem to be petty. I'm looking for a happy medium is all. I'll try a few a

and see how that works. I think it would fit the page better if the grey box on the right didn't overlap the text box so much. I think that's more of a feature problem though. Swizzle

It's nice that someone cared enough to mentor you with such a clear and concise email. You seem to be someone open to feedback, and thats probibly why they took the time to go the extra mile there.

I agree with the email all the way through, with the exception that everything isn't black & white, there are shades of gray, that would be nice but aren't worth pushing for.


As far as you font goes... I generally only use a special font to bring attention to somthing in a waymark. If you use it all they way through, it defeats the purpose, and nothing stands out.

I've edited your submissions. I try to keep as much of your 'spirit' and 'enthusiasm' in the waymark, but correct errors and misspellings.

The spelling error messages I don't mind. I do the corrections and I'm happy that my waymark got approved. The use of while instead of well is a bit confusing to me at times because I've always heard the well. So while I'm typing this it doesn't sound right in my head. So I bite my lip and fix the error. Its the whole "Stylization" thing that really gets me. Maybe I should have done a copy and paste on that part instead of addressing the whole email. I strongly feel that the more waymarkers that you get in here the more your are gonna run into us improper folk. I think the reason that it bugs a few of the reviewers so much is because you are more into professionalism then a lot of us on the site. So that's why you let those little errors bug you. Maybe you've struggled to keep a high standard of quality in your own works and expect the same of everyone else. If that's the case then waymarking needs to lose the game aspect, all of the funny signs, and any other catagory that isn't deemed "professional". Did some of you come here from wikipedia? I'm just trying to figure out why a game has to be taken so seriously and why everything needs to be perfectly structed and why personal feelings and insight are frowned upon.

I keep hearing the same thing over and over, "put your personal thoughts and feelings in a log, where it belongs". How many of you have put a log on a geocache page and later looked for that log? It gets buried and maybe 2 or 3 people out of a couple hundred will get to read it. If I'm passionate enough about a place to give it a little color and trying to make it a little upbeat so others will be more then willing to drive that extra mile to check it out, then why is it so wrong to keep that at the top of the page? Why must it get buried and lost forever? Swizzle

Font:   Actually, use of the large, bold font makes it more difficult for me to read!  All I see is a bigl block of black.  Another thing that would make your descriptions more readable is to put in paragraph breaks, so it's not a solid block of text.  I see this a lot.  Other types of formatting problems happen when people just copy and paste from a web site.  I find your forum posts hard to read for the same reason.  But, you don't seem to have a problem with the font here, so I don't know why you have a problem with normal font in a waymark.  Maybe you can compose it in your word processor, then past into the waymark, which I do sometimes anyway.

Signature:  I prefer not seeing it, but I don't think it is entirely inappropriate.  Again, this could vary from category to category.

Spelling:  With the tools we have available, I don't think correct spelling is too much to expect.

Grammar:  This is a matter of degree.  Slight irregularities should be expected.  Heck, my PhD candidate daughter calls me for grammar questions because she never learned it in school.  And, there are regional variations. 

For all of the above, I seldom decline a waymark because of these issues alone.  Now and then I see one that is so riddled with mistakes, or has serious formatting problems, that I send it back for revision.  Usually I just send a note with the acceptance point out the problems and asking for changes, or, if they are few, I may correct them myslef.

Style:  This is really such a personal issue, but I'll hold out for the standard of objectively written descriptions for most categories.  As I've said, I believe this does not eliminate personal creativity and style, or adding personal observations as long as they enhance the waymark.  But, if things are included such as what one felt like that day, what the weather was like, what the dog did, etc. then it only distracts from the waymark. 

I remember a few waymarks of water tanks where the persons father had been involved with them in an official capacity.  This was communicated in the private message box, and I suggested that it be put in the description as it gave interesting information about the site based on personal knowledge and experience.

I agree that we are not Wikipedia, as I've stated before.  But, when I read a waymark description, I want my attention focused on the subject of the waymark, not on the person writing it.  Maybe that is one way to judge the description.

And, yes, you will find enormous variation among the categories.  If we have 900 categories, each with at least three officers, some with more, then there are potentially 3,000 or so individual reviewers each with his own take on these issues.  So, what one will see as a serious issue, another will not.  There's just no way around that, as much as we might like consistency.

I agree with everything silverquill just posted, and pretty much follow the same practice.

silverquill:

But, when I read a waymark description, I want my attention focused on the subject of the waymark, not on the person writing it.

I think this is a perfect way of looking at it.

swizzle:

I keep hearing the same thing over and over, "put your personal thoughts and feelings in a log, where it belongs". How many of you have put a log on a geocache page and later looked for that log? It gets buried and maybe 2 or 3 people out of a couple hundred will get to read it. If I'm passionate enough about a place to give it a little color and trying to make it a little upbeat so others will be more then willing to drive that extra mile to check it out, then why is it so wrong to keep that at the top of the page? Why must it get buried and lost forever? Swizzle

Personally, I don't feel the need to add my feelings about a place, or my experience, to the waymark description, even though I may feel passionate about the particular location. If others find my waymarked location interesting enough to visit based on it's own merits, and my description, and the pictures I've included, then that's fine.

If they don't, that's fine too.

In other words, I don't feel the need to drive visitors to my waymarks by adding in things of a personal nature in the description.

But that's just me.

Have any of you declined a waymark for Font size alone? I've already started to reduce the font size on my listing and they are a little harder for me to read but they are managable. As far as not having a problem with the font size in the forums you are wrong. I do have a hard time reading the font size and proof-reading my post is tough. If I was to use bold font everytime I replied to a message then it might be construed as angry responses. That's why the font is unchanged here. Earlier today I editted one post at least 5 times because I kept missing my spelling and using the wrong words or forgetting an ing. Simple stuff but still tough to catch without giving myself a mygrane at less then 10 inches from the monitor the whole time.

My signature will stay for now but if you feel that Happy Waymarking, Swizzle & Family is better then Happy WMin', Swizzle & Family then I'll bend on that a bit.

My spelling, I appartently don't have a spell checker on my word program and notebook doesn't have it either. I end up with 2 open windows so I can run my text through my email. I hit the compose button, put my text in that and then do the spell check. I haven't done it on every waymark and I just started doing this. Only after finding out my spelling is such a big issue that people who haven't reviewed any of my waymarks email me with their advice.

As far as the personal feelings in a waymark I'm still as stuborn as can be. I'm not explaining what a dog did or how beautiful the flowers are. I'm not there to tell the weather either. What I do type in is what I think about the subject. If I think its a real cool monument and I'd love for others to see it and the area is rich in history and I happen to mention other waymarks then I don't see what's wrong with that either. As long as the main focus is on the original waymark and the others mentioned are an after thought. Some of my recent waymarks I've used other waymarks as landmarks to let you know which direction to go or what you'll see before you get there. I can't see where my thinking is wrong in this and I'm afraid I'll never be a waymarkapedia kinda guy. Swizzle

swizzle:

As far as not having a problem with the font size in the forums you are wrong. I do have a hard time reading the font size and proof-reading my post is tough.

Most browsers provide the ability to easily increase the size of the font on cache pages you are viewing (IE: View->Text Size; in Firefox: Tools->Options->Content). By changing the font size on the pages you view in your browser, you may no longer feel a need to vary the font size (or make Bold) the contents of the waymarks you are submitting.

swizzle:

My spelling, I appartently don't have a spell checker on my word program and notebook doesn't have it either. I end up with 2 open windows so I can run my text through my email. I hit the compose button, put my text in that and then do the spell check.

You may want to consider using the (free) Firefox browser. Firefox has a built-in spell checker (along with a number of other features that you may find useful).

swizzle:

Have any of you declined a waymark for Font size alone?

Never. Quality content isn't about html tags for me. It's about research, writing, and effort. The only time I like to see things spelled 100% correctly is the category title, because that's a mf to change after the category is added to the directory. Everything else can be edited.

I don't bother spell checking forum posts. If I typo here, I typo. So what.

Try not to let helpful suggestions dig into you like this. They aren't saying you aren't good enough to waymark, they're just trying to help you like they would appreciate being helped. People often reach out to others in a way that they would recognise help themselves.

I have made some important professional contacts because of this hobby. Mind you, I was doing everything required for waymarking, short of bringing my GPS to log coordinates of places, but there was something about sharing that there was a website where I would be posting information that really opened some doors. So, obviously, I benefit from some writing consistency. That doesn't make me stingy. It makes me a geek. And I enjoy that very much.

Thank goodness we aren't Wikipedia. I haven't figured out that language yet. When I finally do, I'm going to update a few things about my area. The history is achingly incomplete. Not to mention that the people to whom I've introduced Waymarking are more receptive of it than if I'd said I was writing for Wikipedia.

And please don't refer to Waymarking as waymarkapedia. It just strikes me as dismissive. Everyone in this thread has been trying to help you reconcile the message that was sent to you. Without even knowing who sent it, it just wasn't that bad of a thing. I could show you some emails I've received from Waymarkers that would make you blush.

I know the original email sender meant good, don't get me wrong there. I just don't think I should "stylize" my writing style after other waymarkers. we are all individuals here and we all have our own way to write a paragraph. I don't mind seeing someone's personality coming through in there writing as long as the main focus is on the subject.

Now is foxfire a whole new search engine? I prefer to use my yahoo for a search engine. If its just another program I'll try it. I've also already tried the font adjuster on my computer and it seems like every page is different. I'll shut my computer down and turn it back on in the morning and all the font is tiny. I re-adjust it and a few pages later I'm looking at micro text or the largest text. I don't know. I'm about ready to call the local museum to see if they want to put my computer on display.

As far as font size goes. I've had 3 declines all in similar catEgories and all with the same basic message to fix the font. I explained why the font is the way it is and that I wasn't changing it so now I'm waiting for another decline so I can re-adjust the font. Just seems like its taking a long time. I'm glad I didn't get into waymarking in my 20's. I would have made a complete fool out of myself by now and told off some potentially good friends.

I appologize (yet again) if I've offended anybody by this whole rant and I'd rather just see it burn and die now. Can we get this one locked out. Thanx, Swizzle

swizzle:

Now is foxfire a whole new search engine? I prefer to use my yahoo for a search engine. If its just another program I'll try it.

Firefox is a web browser, not a search engine. It can be used instead of Internet Explorer.

You can download it from here: http://www.2009-mozilla.com/

Alright, I've always used internet explorer, is this gonna mess up my computer to add another browser or should I delete internet explorer first? Swizzle

My advice is:
 
If your waymark sounds like what you would put in a cache log, then it is not objective and rewrite it.  Your waymark is not your claim that you have found something... it is to inform others about it.  If you put the word "I" or "we" in your description then you probably are not being objective.  Normally the only time I use the word I in a waymark description is when I say something like 'I was not able to find much about this location and if any one has more information please let me know" or something like that. (I never say "there is nothing on the internet about this location", as many people have found when they say that, I will send them a link or two)

If  you are just using font sizes and other emphasis now just because you have just learned how, use with you new found "skill" with discretion.  Do not make your whole waymark font size larger, the site has set the desired font size with style sheets etc.    If you are making your waymark font larger so you can read it then you need to work on your computer and set the font there,  the rest of us don't need to have giant font.

swizzle:

Alright, I've always used internet explorer, is this gonna mess up my computer to add another browser or should I delete internet explorer first? Swizzle

You don't need to remove Internet Explorer.

Cool I'll give it a shot. Swizzle