Groundspeak Portal

How do I resubmit my waymark to a new category with out starting over? I was submitting my first waymark and it got rejected. After spending way too long searching for a category and not finding one that I thought it fit I submitted to a category that I thought was close enough. I can't fix it because it is missing a key component for the category I submitted to. The rejecter didn't provide any help about where to resubmit it. I don't see how to change the category. Is there a way? Starting over is a big waste of time. Having to search visually by clicking through selections for the category in the first place is a big waste of time. Why not use some computer  intelligence to help out. This process should allow for input of key words and the system should find the right category based on them. Thanks for the help.

You must read the full description on what is needed in the category.  You should also look at other waymarks in a category you want to submit to as it will give you an indication to what the category is looking for.   I am the one that rejected your submission because it did not fit in the category you submitted to.  You can't just change the category however you can  copy and paste to another submission.  Your submission would go in the Mosaic category but you must have two photos including a close up so that it can been seen that it is a mosaic and you only submitted one photo in the original submission thus I did not recommend that category. 

The system does allow key word searches for categories.  If you would have searched for mosaic that category would have come up.

Well Bruce thanks for trying to help. If you had read my message you would understand that I spent a lot of time reading the full descriptions of the categories and looking at the other waymarks in the various categories, not that I really wanted to spend my morning doing that. I did use the search feature and I looked at Mosaic. My object is a bench that is covered in mosaic tiles. It is not like the others in that category that are also either murals or statues. There is one bench in there but it is shapped like an otter, so I wasn't sure that my bench would fit there. In your category there are lots of benches, but they also have statues, so I knew it might not fit there either but I decided to give it a try.

Anyway thanks for the tip, since you think that my object is a mosaic I have submitted it to that category and well see what happens next., and yes cut and pasted did work, line by line. I was hoping that the system would simply let me change categories, but it apparently isn't designed for ease of use. I had also hoped that the system could find the right category for me based on keywords instead of me having to play search and read for a couple of hours. After submitting my first object I get the feeling that this system is setup to challenge people to find the right category instead of encouraging submissions and thus making the site more rich with content.

My recommendation at the beginning is to start with categories which interest you and find objects or locations which fit the categories.  This is opposed to finding objects and then trying to find categories to fit the object in only to be frustrated when you can't find a category, even though there may be a few which it may fit.  As you learn more of the categories and navigation on the site you will then be able to quickly figure out what category (s) an object or location can be placed.    If you have a location or object you want to showcase and can't find a category you can ask here in the forums, you will probably get recommendations for a category or more for the site.

I can tell you with 100% complete confidence that your bench will be accepted into the Mosaics category, probably even without the close-up.

Don't take waymark declines personally. Too many people, even people who've been doing a ton of waymarks, take declines personally. It's just a decline. If you don't want to "do the work" and "waste the time", don't participate in the hobby. Seriously. Your hobbies should be fun for you. Declines aren't a theme park ride, but they certainly aren't the end of the world. Just open another window and copy & paste over what you've got into a submission for the category it belongs in. You'd have to do this with waymarks that can be cross-posted to other categories... and for some waymarkers, that is like a theme park ride. Wheeee!

So please relax and don't be one of those people. Just submit your bench to the Mosaics category and move on.

If you're really ambition, create a new category called "Artistic Seating" and have it be for benches, chairs, couches and other seating items that have been artistically altered.

- Elle

haunthunters:

If you're really ambition, create a new category called "Artistic Seating" and have it be for benches, chairs, couches and other seating items that have been artistically altered.

- Elle

Ooh, I'd enjoy that category. 

Anything that Ambrosia is sitting on has been 'artistically altered.'

Seriously, that's a good category suggestion.

If michael3900 doesn't want to do it, y'all should go ahead and make that category.

- Elle

I like that idea. If someone makes the bench category I have some more benches to post. I'm just a basic member and can't make categories.

haunthunters:

Don't take waymark declines personally. Too many people, even people who've been doing a ton of waymarks, take declines personally. It's just a decline. If you don't want to "do the work" and "waste the time", don't participate in the hobby. Seriously. Your hobbies should be fun for you. Declines aren't a theme park ride, but they certainly aren't the end of the world. Just open another window and copy & paste over what you've got into a submission for the category it belongs in. You'd have to do this with waymarks that can be cross-posted to other categories... and for some waymarkers, that is like a theme park ride. Wheeee!

Just a little hint on why a decline is made could make the difference between somebodies contributing and enhancing your community and deciding to blow it off.

We are choosing the latter, thanks for the fun, just passing through.

C-ya

cj&jr:

haunthunters:

Don't take waymark declines personally. Too many people, even people who've been doing a ton of waymarks, take declines personally. It's just a decline. If you don't want to "do the work" and "waste the time", don't participate in the hobby. Seriously. Your hobbies should be fun for you. Declines aren't a theme park ride, but they certainly aren't the end of the world. Just open another window and copy & paste over what you've got into a submission for the category it belongs in. You'd have to do this with waymarks that can be cross-posted to other categories... and for some waymarkers, that is like a theme park ride. Wheeee!

Just a little hint on why a decline is made could make the difference between somebodies contributing and enhancing your community and deciding to blow it off.

We are choosing the latter, thanks for the fun, just passing through.

C-ya

Officers cannot make a decline without providing some words in the explanation field. These explanations are visible to the other officers in the group. This means the officer is accountable for their approvals and declines and what they say on the matter. An officer can be demoted or altogether removed from a group for inappropriate behavior. The groups are designed to enforce accountability and democracy.

It's highly unlikely that no reason was given for the decline. Additionally, an officer for the group can be contacted for further information. As a non-officer of the category, you won't know who declined a waymark unless they gave their name in the explanation field, but any officer in the group managing the category can look up the decline and answer questions. They can also open dialogue about your waymark with the officer who did the decline. I understand that not every category is as communicative and helpful as the officers in my categories but I'd wager that there are very, very few officers who are not willing to be cooperative and help someone with their waymark.

I don't recognise your username so I know any trouble you've experienced has not been in one of my categories. However, if you address your specific issue, I'm sure you'll receive some answers and results.

That said, it's your choice how you play.

- Elle

These waymark declines were mine in the US Benchmark category. One was declined for not having the required closeup photo of the survey cap being waymarked along with several other problems. The other one had several problems which I listed in the decline message along with the answer to one of the optional variables.
The second waymark was resubmitted with no changes other than to answer the variable with the answer I provided. I again declined it with an even longer explanation of the problems and provided a link to one of my waymarks for this type of marker. I even provided my email address and invited cj&jr to contact me directly with any questions. I'm not sure what more I could have done to help them.

Double post

volcanoguy:

I'm not sure what more I could have done to help them.

You could have hopped in your rig and drove over  to Philomath to help them enter the waymark and take photos for them. Any good waymark reviewer would have at least offered that.



Wait, I am closer....maybe I should drive up.

Come on gang, from skimming this it seems that there are several 'elitist' sounding comments. That's just not cool, and is what people on the other site do.

We're better than that.

It would beneficial for officers to always include the specific reason for the decline and offer suggestions on how to get the decision reversed upon resubmission.

Waymarking works/will work because of a stead stream of new locations to visit. We should be in the mode of working to get new listings available and encouraging people to continue to participate.

Way-Nazi is not a suitable approach.

the blue quasar:

Come on gang, from skimming this it seems that there are several 'elitist' sounding comments. That's just not cool, and is what people on the other site do.

Hmmm  I just reread the entire tread and the only elitist thing I can see might be mine. Haunthunters gave some good advice about not taking declines seriously. Volcanoguy responded to a comment about declines giving specific examples of what he did do and asking what more could be done. My comments were made tongue in cheek mostly due to the proximity of all of those involved (all in Oregon) and were not meant to be 'elitist' but  if they were taken as such I readily apologize.

Next time I'll make sure my tongue is showing so everyone knows it was a joke. No offense or tone intended.

volcanoguy:

These waymark declines were mine in the US Benchmark category. One was declined for not having the required closeup photo of the survey cap being waymarked along with several other problems. The other one had several problems which I listed in the decline message along with the answer to one of the optional variables. The second waymark was resubmitted with no changes other than to answer the variable with the answer I provided. I again declined it with an even longer explanation of the problems and provided a link to one of my waymarks for this type of marker. I even provided my email address and invited cj&jr to contact me directly with any questions. I'm not sure what more I could have done to help them.

Huh?

We got nothing. We came here looking for help...yet there is nothing we can see anyplace else.

Well, it seems you have done just about everything you can. We never found your "decline message". Would we need to be an "officer" to view them? Oh, we did make changes when we resubmitted the mark. Credibility, hum.

Sorry for the intrusion.

cj&jr:

]Huh?

We got nothing. We came here looking for help...yet there is nothing we can see anyplace else.

Well, it seems you have done just about everything you can. We never found your "decline message". Would we need to be an "officer" to view them? Oh, we did make changes when we resubmitted the mark. Credibility, hum.

Sorry for the intrusion.

When a waymark is declined an automatic email is generated from the system saying that the waymark was declined and also contains the message the person entered when they declined the waymark.  The person declining the waymark has no control over whether the message is sent or not, it is supposed to be sent automatically.  If you don't know why a waymark is declined you can email any member of the group and they can look up the decline message.   The person declining the waymark should enter in what needs to be changed to make the waymark acceptable or that submitted waymark just is not right for the category.  Don't expect the person to recommend a better category, sometimes they will but it should not be expected.

We got nothing. We came here looking for help...yet there is nothing we can see anyplace else.

I wonder if it went to your spam folder? Are you receiving your waymark confirmation notices when you submit the waymark initially?

Would we need to be an "officer" to view them?

If you are a member of the group you can view them in a "past activity" tag on the member page. Unfortunately, this group is closed to new members at this time. I tried to go and look up the activity but couldn't either.

Sorry for the intrusion.

No intrusion. We really do try to help. I misunderstood that you were looking for help with the issue. I took the original post as a " I got a decline and I am out of here" post and proceeded to joke about the issue rather than assist.  Apologies for not understanding.
Feel free to contact directly me through waymarking.com if you have question in general about waymarking and the process. In regards to the US BM category contact the leader of the group or Volcanoguy directly about the listing and perhaps they can send you a copy of the notes from the decline.


TheBeanTeam

Sorry for not responding sooner but I've been gone all day. Here are the comments that were sent with the decline message.

First submittal of "Sunstone area boundary" WM4MDR
Comment: The approver has written the following message to you: Welcome to waymarking. A few changes are needed before this waymark can be approved. Monumentation type should be "Cadastral survey disk" As a Cadastral marker the Designation should be something like "T33S R24E 1/4 S11 S14" A description of how to locate the disk is required in the Long Description field. Not required but the county is "Lake"

First submittal of "Sunstone central marker" WM4ME2
Comment: The approver has written the following message to you: Welcome to waymarking. A few changes are needed before this waymark can be approved. No readable closeup photo of cap as requirements list. From what I can see in the photo this is also a "Cadastral survey disk" and as such marks some corner of the public land survey system similar to the your other submitted marker in this area. Not required but the county is "Lake"

Second submittal of "Sunstone area boundary" WM4MDR
Comment: The approver has written the following message to you: Sorry that you are disapointed that your first waymarks were declined, but there are certain requirements for each category. They are listed under additional information on the main category page. The first two apply in your case. 1. A closeup photo of the disk is required. A second photo taken a few feet from the disk with the disk in view is a very welcome addition! 2. A description of how to locate the disk is required in the Long Description field. This is particularly important for those marks not listed in an online database. Example: 14 feet NE of a 4-inch oak tree and 7 feet W of the face of the curb of Main Street. Example: 8 inches inside of the SW corner of the bridge. #1 is okay for this submittal but not for the other one. #2 is not met for this submittal, is better for the other one. You list the monumentation type as a benchmark but these are cadastral survey disks, this needs to be changed. Based on the link you provided in the private message this marker is not on the Sunstone area boundary. It is a public land survey marker, marking the 1/4 corner between sections 11 and 14. WM1NJ0 (http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM1NJ0) is an example of how I do these kind of markers. If you have any questions, please contact me directly at (my email was included here). Volcanoguy

I understand the reason for the decline, and with the system as it is, the reason was valid, so that isn't the issue. I never thought that it was personal. As I stated in my first post, I knew that my bench didn't quite fit in the "sit-by-me" category.

What I am getting at is that the categories are so specific that sites that are worth listing can get left out. I think that a site should be able to be submitted to a general category, such as art or monument and not have to fit a very specific subcategory.

I think this site should be about the objects not about the categories. I'm interested in documenting interesting sites that I come across so that other people can find and enjoy them. I don't find it interesting to play  the game of find the right sub-sub-category.

And by the way I'm quite relaxed after taking a walk and sitting the bench, so while I appreciate your concern with my health, it really isn't necessary.

I understand you wanting to be able to submit to a more general area and not have to categorize things to submit them however waymarking structured itself with categories to avoid a random collection of things and to insure that waymarks meet the standards of a category.  Waymarks are not accepted by global reviewers but rather ones specifically for the category the waymark is submitted to.  There is talk that in the future if you don't know what category a waymark should go into that you will be able to submit it in some type of pending status for others to help categorize if it fits in an existing category.  The details of this have not been completely fleshed out.

It think the idea of a pending status, where more experienced people choose and submit to the final category, is a good move. That way the work that someone does with a submission isn't wasted and they get some help from the system.

I still think that it would be a shame to reject submissions just because they don't fit a strick sub-category or that a category doesn't exist. In that case it could make sense to put them in the general category where they best fit.

BruceS:

I understand you wanting to be able to submit to a more general area and not have to categorize things to submit them however waymarking structured itself with categories to avoid a random collection of things and to insure that waymarks meet the standards of a category.  Waymarks are not accepted by global reviewers but rather ones specifically for the category the waymark is submitted to.  There is talk that in the future if you don't know what category a waymark should go into that you will be able to submit it in some type of pending status for others to help categorize if it fits in an existing category.  The details of this have not been completely fleshed out.

What's to stop people from submitting all of their waymarks and letting the system sort them out? It panders to people who want to waymark everything they see and then smush it into a category later instead of finding categories that interest them and going out to get what's in their community.

It seems cumbersome to be honest. If someone cannot find the category through a keyword search, the forums are more than able to help identify categories that a waymark would fit into. That's the way the system helps now and I think that works well without bogging down the actual system.

- Elle

haunthunters:

BruceS:

I understand you wanting to be able to submit to a more general area and not have to categorize things to submit them however waymarking structured itself with categories to avoid a random collection of things and to insure that waymarks meet the standards of a category.  Waymarks are not accepted by global reviewers but rather ones specifically for the category the waymark is submitted to.  There is talk that in the future if you don't know what category a waymark should go into that you will be able to submit it in some type of pending status for others to help categorize if it fits in an existing category.  The details of this have not been completely fleshed out.

What's to stop people from submitting all of their waymarks and letting the system sort them out? It panders to people who want to waymark everything they see and then smush it into a category later instead of finding categories that interest them and going out to get what's in their community.

It seems cumbersome to be honest. If someone cannot find the category through a keyword search, the forums are more than able to help identify categories that a waymark would fit into. That's the way the system helps now and I think that works well without bogging down the actual system.

- Elle

Like I said not all the details have been worked out.  The system will not sort them out, other waymarkers will.    Not sure what the "rules" will be about these waymarks like will they show in searches, waymark counts etc as these details have not been worked out.  In discussion the advantage were for new people and also to help identify new categories when an abundance of waymarks of one type show up.