Groundspeak Portal

I returned from holidays and after couple weeks "without" internet access I recognised several new categories which are mostly devoted to fastfood chains or some kind of shops. Hmmm... maybe it is interesting (why not...), maybe not (for me not so much) but generally I am not against it if it is interesting for large amount of US-waymarkers.

But in spite of that reality I feel some kind of disappointing - for example our proposal of Renaissance architecture (which is focused to hundreds or thousands of very valuable examples of European architectural heritage and touristic targets...) was "killed" because it is not global...

Hmmm, guys, sometime I feel that we are all equal, but some of us are more equal... (Orwell)
It means that everything from US is approved but we, Europeans, are in inequal position... Pity...

Dorcadion Team:

It means that everything from US is approved but we, Europeans, are in inequal position... Pity...

 

I've noticed that as well.  I wonder if people really aren't considering if a cat is global so much as it being "something I can add a Waymark to."  Because there is a larger group of US Waymarkers the US-centric cats get passed, but those that are Euro-centric (or any other region/country/whatever) don't.

hey, i got several architectural waymarks i tried to post--but they were of the variaties we have now (baroque, pre/post victirian).....there are lots of nonUS cats for those.....

i think it brings us back to voting--mentioned elsewhere.......
maybe its that there are more 'US' markers overall. AND more US markers who vost on categories........

and yes, its a can i post something there too.....i recently persuaded the National/State forests to leave it open for those outside the US to post one (you have to make a case for it)......

thought i do enjoy my specifics (benchmarks, historical plaques), i also enjoy a good broad category when it might relate to a country/state, but can be found in many other places (UK historic markers, family bonaparte) the US has the American Guide Series, but when i was posting several of those i thought about the Lonely Planet books. why not a lonely planet category? i know they have a book about everywhere (and thats another category you coud post to)

you complain about us centric stores? what about walmart? they are world wide--can someone post the 'big w' in downtown brisbane so i can visit it? why not create some of your own [european] store categories? (not that you dont already have a few). The canadians got fed up with us and made some for themselves....

i think another main hurdel for those of you across the pond is that in our numbers over here we have also created friendships and, thus, banded together to accomplish things. im willing to work with anyone who asks.

things have stagnated. ideas not as easily dreamed up.....but believe me, im not to fond of the newer stuff either.....the line of thought there was that we have some 'chain' stuff, some 'indie' stuff, but we have a large number of things in the middle that we have left out. and cant we all agree that the caste system doesnt work if there isnt some sort of middle class....

so do i not have any takers on the NatGeo or Cuba ideas?

To be fair though in line 46 of the grid really has one US specific (IHOP) and one Euro specific (Stolpersteine.) The rest can be found technically anywhere.

As has been discussed here before, I don't think the Renaissance Architecture category was rejected because it favored Europe over the rest of the world.  There are quite a few categories that are specific to other parts of the world other than the North America - including Czech Geodetic Points.  Maybe someone would like to go through the list and tabulate how many categories are specific to the U.S., specific to another country or world area, and those that are totally international. 

In regard to the three new categories for regional food chains - they are not necessarily confined to the U.S.  There is a definition of "regional" as it applies to the U.S., but "regional chain" is also defined as a franchise/chain that is specific to one country, or possible more than one country in close proximity.  So, if there is a Czech franchise of coffee shops, they can be included.  Just added a small Canadian chain.

Even so, I think we do need to be sensitive to this issue and try to create truly international categories whenever possible.  And, a new category should not be declined ONLY because it favors one country or region of the world. 

So, there may be a decline in quality of new categories, but that argument would have to be made on another basis.  The thread on peer review raises some of these issues.