Groundspeak Portal

When a waymarker submits a waymark for review to a category, the group officers are all emailed a notification that provides each of them with a direct link to that waymark's review page. Only one officer needs to do an initial review of a waymark, whether that decision is to Approve, Decline or send to a Group Vote. When one of the officers makes that decision, an additional email is not sent out to update the officers unless the waymark is being put up for a Group Vote. When a waymark is approved or declined officers are made aware of the decision when they click through to the review page from their email. An alert will appear at the top of the page saying, "NOTICE: This waymark has already been approved/declined by one of the other group members (officer's username)" This means that waymark has already been reviewed and no action is needed from any other officers in the group.

It's important to take a moment to notice if this alert is present at the top of the review waymark page because an officer can unintentionally and unknowingly reverse a previous officer's review. This creates general disharmony within a group and confusion for the waymark poster. In fact, even repeated approvals on a single waymark can be disturbing for a poster.

There have been two occurrences that I have been involved with where another officer and I were reviewing at the same exact time with different results. Both times brought a bit of confusion but were unintentional and worked out. In this rare instance the alert would not show up and I realize this isn't what you are referencing here but thought I would point it out since sometimes it can be an unintended situation.

Some groups and users seem to have members that review any and all items even if they have already been approved as a matter of course. They seem (my perception) to think it is a vote process or something. RPH is correct in saying that this is confusing and even disconcerting for the poster of the waymark.

It would be nice maybe if once a waymark is approved or rejected if further reviews were only available in a re-evaluate type of group vote. So the button allows for a group vote to be called but not an automatic re-approval or disapproval.

I am thinking it is the emails that cause this to happen. I think that if you get in the habit of clicking through from the waymarking page, things that have already been approved won't even show up.

Two very good points here. So you're saying:

1. When someone is currently viewing the review page for a waymark it should lock the waymark from further actions (edits or other reviews)
2. Once a waymark is reviewed and if another officer disagrees,  a re-vote is the only option for review

I like this. Any other comments on how this can be improved? Disagreement?

The only thing that might be an issue is if from the original email someone could still review a waymark after it has been opened.

Lets say I open up 10 waymarks in tabs to review. I often will look them over even if they have been approved but lets say that in the time it takes me to review the first nine, number ten has been reviewed by another of my group.

The waymark still will not say that another officer has reviewed it unless I refresh the page. Would the lock prevent me from reviewing the waymark? If yes then I think it would be an improvement.

I think locking an under-review waymark is reasonable, as long as the lock times out pretty quickly -- 10 minutes?  30? 5?

I don't think I would lock when one is under review, hard to actually do in a web app anyway.  I would accept the first review received and not do an update on a later one (might consider displaying that the waymark had previously been reviewed).

First review should stand regardless. If two people are reviewing it, whoever completes first is what should stand. This would be consistent with the Group Vote process in so much as when a vote is already complete, you cannot cast a vote since you already missed it.

If the action/result was inaccurate, an option to call an override vote would be nice and I think the leader should have 'second' the motion to call for an override vote. Maybe the leader should have the ability to retract the listing but they should already trust their officers and have taught them the listing criteria anyways... that's another reason Groups were created, to share the duties. I suspect that most Waymarks are declined because some officers and/or categories are just too picky.

BQ

globetrotters.us:

I am thinking it is the emails that cause this to happen. I think that if you get in the habit of clicking through from the waymarking page, things that have already been approved won't even show up.

 I tend to review waymarks the same way. Then go and delete a bunch of email, or check them just to see what else other players have found.

What if, instead of taking you to the waymark review page, the URL in the email takes you instead to the review queue? Would introducing this extra step annoy you?

opinionate:

What if, instead of taking you to the waymark review page, the URL in the email takes you instead to the review queue? Would introducing this extra step annoy you?

It wouldn't be an extra step, really, if the email is rephrased to state that the link is going to review queue. That's just a tweek of this statement: "You can review the waymark here:" Right? So, I wouldn't be annoyed at all. It only may be confusing if the wording is left as is, giving the impression that they'll be sent to the waymark's review page.

opinionate:

What if, instead of taking you to the waymark review page, the URL in the email takes you instead to the review queue? Would introducing this extra step annoy you?

I like the idea of a review Queue. 

opinionate:

What if, instead of taking you to the waymark review page, the URL in the email takes you instead to the review queue? Would introducing this extra step annoy you?

I'd like to go one step further. If my waymarking messages could stay in a queue on the waymarking website, instead of going to my email. The a little icon to say I have unread messages.

globetrotters.us:

opinionate:

What if, instead of taking you to the waymark review page, the URL in the email takes you instead to the review queue? Would introducing this extra step annoy you?

I'd like to go one step further. If my waymarking messages could stay in a queue on the waymarking website, instead of going to my email. The a little icon to say I have unread messages.

Agreed. Or maybe just get one email a day, kind of like LISTSERV's 'digest' mode.

Maybe it is the Geocaching reviewer in me but I know that I need to check my Waymarking review queue every day or two. I don't need to get the individual emails.

A daily digest of pending reviews and votes would be much nicer for me.

BQ

globetrotters.us:

opinionate:

What if, instead of taking you to the waymark review page, the URL in the email takes you instead to the review queue? Would introducing this extra step annoy you?

I'd like to go one step further. If my waymarking messages could stay in a queue on the waymarking website, instead of going to my email. The a little icon to say I have unread messages.

Wouldn't  this step also  reduce the number of postings that get "lost: in the shuffle?" I've had a few waymarks that ended up in this Limbo. I think a link to the review que would be a good thing.

When I look at "My Page" I see "alerts" that tell me I have waymarks to review in a category or new categories to be reviewed. Until these steps are completed these "alerts"  keep showing up. Isn't "Our Page" the "nerve center?"  And should be our starting point?

An additional step would not bother me at all if it keeps confusion to a minimum.  I'm a big fan of KISS- Keep It Simple...Stupid...LOL!

the blue quasar:

globetrotters.us:

opinionate:

What if, instead of taking you to the waymark review page, the URL in the email takes you instead to the review queue? Would introducing this extra step annoy you?

I'd like to go one step further. If my waymarking messages could stay in a queue on the waymarking website, instead of going to my email. The a little icon to say I have unread messages.

Agreed. Or maybe just get one email a day, kind of like LISTSERV's 'digest' mode. Maybe it is the Geocaching reviewer in me but I know that I need to check my Waymarking review queue every day or two. I don't need to get the individual emails. A daily digest of pending reviews and votes would be much nicer for me. BQ

If there were a tab for review queue under groups I manage, I would ignore the e-mails entirely and just check that link daily.  If we replaced e-mails with this system it would make for fewer e-mails and be more efficient.  I am concerned that some categories with officers that are infrequent visitors would get much worse since they would not even receive the e-mail as a nag.  Hmmm...  maybe can we do this and then have some sort of nag e-mails for the infrequent category managers that leave submitted waymarks go for extended periods without review?  

Great ideas, everyone. We're working on something else at the moment but we'll try to make some tweaks to the review system incorporating these ideas next.

opinionate:

What if, instead of taking you to the waymark review page, the URL in the email takes you instead to the review queue? Would introducing this extra step annoy you?

Truth telling  -  I filter out all of my email notifications of waymark submissions into a folder that I never check!   This includes initial notifications and resubmissions.

I use the direct link on my home page to my review queue and work everything from there.  If it has been reviewed, it isn't in the queue.   This is so much easier than messing with the emails, and I can check it wherever I might be, and whenever I can - usually several times a day.

Now, not everyone gets quite the volume that I do, so I would worry about officers that are one just one, or a few categories, or ones that have infrequent submissions.  If email notifications are eliminated entirely, than I think we'd run the risk of more waymark submission getting overlooked.  It's easy to filter them out, and they can be dealt with however one sees fit.  No big deal.

I think that having the email link connected to the person's entire review queue is an excellent idea.  There might be other waymarks there that slipped by, for one thing, and it really isn't that much of an extra step, and if there are multiple waymarks, it actually saves steps.

And, I'd be in general agreement that somehow locking a waymark once it is reviewed might be a good idea, at least by closing the regular review function.  My only hesitation is that sometimes I mistakenly hit the wrong button.  I write a "decline" message, and then click on "accept."  I wouldn't want to have to put it up for a group vote just to correct that.  But, if the "reconsider" button on the side is still active, that would solve that problem, and still make it less likely that a second officer would mistakenly review a completed waymark.  Maybe the "reconsider" function could be made functional only for the officer who did the initial review, I don't know.

Thanks for bringing the subject up, Elle.

I like the idea of the approval queue notification emails coming in digest form, though I want to keep Visit notifications as they are.

The approval queue notification link should go to the queue paqe, not to specific marks.

The Vote notifications should not change either.

i mentioned this in another post somewhere....and then what about the points system? can each officer get one for approving it?

what about the beta days when there was only one officer and things were autoapproved?

I assume that the digest form of notification would include a list of all waymarks that had come up for review.

If so I can support it. If it would exclude any submissions that had been approved already, I fear I would miss something in a category I really care about. I often look over all the submission even if they have all been reviewed by another officer. With a digest that was comprehensive I could still do this.

One thing I would like to see added to the review queue page are any votes pending in categories I am an officer in.  I realize they are listed on my groups tab but I always go to the review queue.

chapterhouseinc:

i mentioned this in another post somewhere....and then what about the points system? can each officer get one for approving it? what about the beta days when there was only one officer and things were autoapproved?

Certainly would need to be addressed.  I recently had a couple of waymarks in a category approved by two officers - quite some time apart, too.   The second review acted just like an original.  It kicked the waymark up to the top of my list (something I still find annoying since the last upgrade) and the second reviewers name is now the one that appears on the waymark!  There really has to be someway to keep an already approved waymark from being reviewed a second time, except by intentionally "reconsidering" it or putting it up for an officer vote.  And, if the point system is implemented, then that is another consideration. 

Don't think implementing an autoapprove feature again is in our best interest, except for the new orphan category.

i hate it when the first one left a note id like to reply to or just know who said it, but somone else has already written over it.

what about when youre waiting on a lot to be processed, only to find the same mark several times....

yes, thos its been approved for weeks (months?)and its approved again.....

a vote que section (at the bottom) would be swell....i think ive missed some vote emails or something, ill get a message about vote completed when none was called--could be some of the vote snags though.

when a vote is completed--enough votes cast # wise--you will get a link from the vote called notification sying it is resolved. why not have an approval resolved. i do kinda like that if the mark is already approved you go to the approval que....

And if there's a way that Waymarking can do my laundry while I'm reviewing waymarks, that would be awesome.

The most I know about programming is BASIC on the Commodore 64 so I don't have any idea how involved any of this is.

Once a waymark has been reviewed by another officer, a message in red text appears at the top of the review screen saying as much. Since this text is overlooked from time to time, why not adjust this screen to remove the review features. The text at the top could then say that So'n'So approved/declined the waymark and then offer the option of sending the waymark into Group Vote for a re-evaluation. And make the red text bigger... maybe?

I'd like to see that Group Votes become mandatory for the re-evaluating process.

I also like the review notifications linking to the review queue. And having a separate list on the same page for pending Group Votes is a good idea, too.

 

And I'm serious about the laundry.