Recruiting and Category Proposals

Re: Tearooms anyone?

Redneck Parrotheads — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:53:55 GMT

I had a similiar thought to the "- So I need my GPS for the visit but not for posting the waymark" comment but that was because you didn't put anything in the posting requirements about where to mark the coords. I don't remember if I asked you to put it in or if I just let it go and clicked Yea with no comment. I'm almost getting used to seeing that oversight. Almost.

Congratulations on the approved category!

Re: Tearooms anyone?

haggaeus — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:42:46 GMT

Yes, there were total 79 votes, 6 voters abstained and 1 voted Nay, that seems pretty good. Thanks everybody who participated.

Some comments:

- Will you accept at tea house that just happens to sell bubble tea, too, along with the regular teas?
- I think there is still a great deal of subjectivity as to what will meet your definition of a qualifying tea house. Very few places serve ONLY tea, and trying to determine what percentage of their business is tea and how much is coffee, other beverages and food is really impossible.
Sure it will be subjective, I guess we'll be getting some border submissions which will have to be decided in officer vote. Some examples:
- a teahouse offering green tea, black tea (both loose leaf) and bubble tea - ok
- a place called "coffee and tea house" serving coffee and a few sorts of loose leaf tea - still seems ok to me
- a cafe (called "cafe") serving also few sorts of tea - probably not
- a "coffee and tea" kiosk where you can buy a bag tea in a styrofoam cup - no
- a chinese restaurant where you can order a kettle of green tea with your meal - no

- The requirement of a person or GPS in the visits is not needed in my opinion. A photo requirement from a different perspective would be adequate.
- So I need my GPS for the visit but not for posting the waymark?
I guess it is a standard visit proof, and it is you OR your GPS - no need to take a picture of a compass if your GPS is integrated with your camera

- I have a few reservations about this - like the exclusion of Japanese tea houses. Seems irrational to me to exclude an entire country from your category.
Of course tea houses in Japan are welcome! The objects I wanted to exclude are garden houses designed for bringing your own equipment and tea and performing tea ceremony by yourself. Sorry if that was not made clear.

- Dress Code?
(as a variable, or required in the description). I haven't seen a tearoom with dress code regulations yet, is it really needed?

I'll wait a day or two with the activation - if any of the officers improves the description to clarify the above issues, please send a group e-mail.
Meanwhile you can have some tea and take pictures and coords of your favorite tearoom. I'll try to look for some in Moscow.

Re: Tearooms anyone?

dopeyduck — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:14:48 GMT

The TeaRooms category was successful, and I'd like to thank everyone for their comments as they were all very constructive. I'll let haggaeus address all the different comments in another post, but I'm sure the category will be fine-tuned based on the feedback (i.e. the GPS in photo part). This was a collaboration between west coast US, east coast US, and Europe, and we did pretty good despite some language and cultural barriers.

I know there was a question regarding the Japanese ceremonial tea houses. I think they were excluded due to the "ceremonial" aspect, not due to geographic reasons. I imagine there are tea shops/tea houses in Japan that serve tea that are not ceremonial in nature and those would be included. If someone has more insight on the Japanese culture who could help clarify and guide this aspect, PLEASE chime in.

I think the "serving food" portion was to primarily exclude kiosks, carts, and walk-up window places. If they have pastries, snacks, etc, you can sit down to enjoy it, and an extensive assortment of teas (more than just your standard set of tea bags), then we'll likely accept it. And yes, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf would be acceptable.

Re: Tearooms anyone?

haggaeus — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:14:20 GMT

It took some time but Tearooms and Teahouses cat is finally in peer review now, please check it and vote.
I hope the description is clear enough (I like the loose leaf criteria provided by DopeyDuck).
Any suggestions are welcome in peer review comments, I'll post a summary of comments here when the vote is over.

Re: Tearooms anyone?

haggaeus — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:01:20 GMT

Sorry, I don't go into wm forums that often, just today I saw two strange categories in peer review and went to check if there is anything about them here, and saw that my thread is active.

About variables - I also prefer free approach, almost anything can by included in the text. The posting instructions should include some guidelines ("if you know about any specialties served in the tearoom, please mention it in the description").

Optional website URL would be good - you can post waymarks in plain text and still have a clickable link.
Opening hours would be useful, but also better in the text than as a variable.

The waymarkable objects would be tearooms as defined by wikipedia. Maté and Masala tearooms look ok to me even if it is not exact from botanical point of view. Does it make sense to explicitly exclude cafes, coffee shops, tea and coffee stores where you can't have a tea? Chain/franchise tearooms? I checked the one I know: Dobra Cajovna - about 20 tearooms across CZ - and found that it has also two tearooms in the US, see http://www.dobratea.com/index.php?toc=tearoom - I don't see problems with franchises like this :)

The group is created, open enrollment turned on, Rose Red invited.

Re: Tearooms anyone?

rose red — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:35:01 GMT

True. A lot of the info/thoughts could go into a well written log.

Re: Tearooms anyone?

0ccam — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 04:41:33 GMT

rose red:

If the Waymarker entered the tearoom they could put comments (some of the variables) in the Long Description.

If the waymarker entered the tearoom, they could also post a visit and put their experiences there.

Re: Tearooms anyone?

rose red — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 16:49:19 GMT

I think that only the name of the tearoom, photograph(s), short description, long description and perhaps the web site since a Waymarker would not need to enter the tearoom i.e. Tearoom Guide: http://www.teaguide.net/

If the Waymarker entered the tearoom they could put comments (some of the variables) in the Long Description.

If someone wanted to create the Category, I would volunteer to be an Officer.

Re: Tearooms anyone?

BruceS — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 18:07:01 GMT

rose red:

What would be the minimum: Name, short description, and long description?? Photo or no photo?? Web site (it could give the additional info)??

I would require a photo, waymark without photos are like looking at a phone book. I think you could have some of the variables you had listed above, just not all of them. Pick a few that are important to the enjoyment to of the tearoom.

Re: Tearooms anyone?

rose red — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:37:55 GMT

What would be the minimum: Name, short description, and long description?? Photo or no photo?? Web site (it could give the additional info)??

Re: Tearooms anyone?

the blue quasar — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 11:59:56 GMT

0ccam:
rose red:

Rate the tearoom

Does this have to be there for the ratings pulldown to show up in the visit log?

Because that's the only place the rating should be, not in the waymark posting.

Agree... rating should be a visit function, not a creation function.

BQ

Re: Tearooms anyone?

0ccam — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:20:44 GMT

rose red:

Rate the tearoom

Does this have to be there for the ratings pulldown to show up in the visit log?

Because that's the only place the rating should be, not in the waymark posting.

Re: Tearooms anyone?

rose red — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:32:43 GMT

What would be the minimum: Name, short description, and long description?? Photo or no photo?? Web site -- it could give the additional info??

Re: Tearooms anyone?

BruceS — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:12:06 GMT

silverquill:
rose red:
Here is a rough outline:

Name

Address

City, State

Zip Code

Phone number

e-mail address

Directions

Short Description

Long Description

Prices with name and description of each service

Credit Cards/Checks/Cash??

Wheelchair Accessible

Watercloset/Location (that is the term used in a tea rooms locations book)

Lot Parking

Metered or Unmetered Street Parking

Hours/Days

Reservations required?

Rate the tearoom

Yikes! I hope this isn't what you propose for required information for a waymark. This is way too detailed. At least I don't see waymarking as a review service like Yelp. Personally, I think info for a waymark should be limited to a few basic things easily available to the casual waymarker and visitor. This is true, at least, for commercial categories. I know I would avoid a category that asked for this much minute information. I found trying to determine hours of operation almost impossible in many cases. This is my personal take, of course, but I think you might have a lot of others that would shy away because of this, "Prices with name and description of each service?" I don't think so. And, most of the things on that list are either not applicable or just don't make sense where I live.

But, press on! It could be a good category,

I agree with Silverquill on this one. This many variables which are not readily available would not be a good idea. This type and number of variables would only lead to people either avoiding the category or making things up to fulfill the variables.

I have done only a couple waymarks in the National Register category however now with the Focus site the information needed is available in at least least two locations.

Re: Tearooms anyone?

silverquill — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 06:44:57 GMT

rose red:
You have obviously never filled out a form for U.S. National Register for Historic Places.

Only a few hundred . . .

I think it is a good example, though, of redundant info as nearly all of it is copy and paste from the register. At least it's info that is readily available. Since it was started this way, we're stuck with it.

Then there is my "Municipal Parks" category! Good grief, what I put in there is way too much. It was one of my early categories, and I thought it would be cool to put in everything I could think of. At least very few fields are required, and it does provide an easy way to provide some description. If I could design either of these categories today, I'd certainly do them differently. But, neither of these are commercial categories which I think should be kept easy and casual to do.

My main point is not the number of fields, but the fact that they seem to me to require a lot of effort to obtain, and some are trivial or just not universally meaningful.

But, this is my personal approach to waymarking, and others may have other goals that they find meaningful. I'd still go to Yelp if I wanted this kind of information though.