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Identification of Street Team Elite members
While Street Team Elite etiquette isn't entirely decided, some STE members are wary of others being able to edit spots that they've created, and would rather do so themselves. As well, it seems that the minimum a STE member should be able to do is take care of their own spots!
After a little faux-pas I made yesterday with editing, I noticed that there's no way for us to identify who's a STE member. Maybe this is deliberate, but it is annoying when you're trying to avoid editing other members' spots. Can we have a way for STE people to be identifiable easily? Maybe with a tag on their passport, or their names show up a slightly different colour on any page they might turn up.
On another quick note, a list of existing STE members by location would be good for this too, as well as giving people someone local to contact in case they need a duplicate merged or somesuch.
After a little faux-pas I made yesterday with editing, I noticed that there's no way for us to identify who's a STE member. Maybe this is deliberate, but it is annoying when you're trying to avoid editing other members' spots. Can we have a way for STE people to be identifiable easily? Maybe with a tag on their passport, or their names show up a slightly different colour on any page they might turn up.
On another quick note, a list of existing STE members by location would be good for this too, as well as giving people someone local to contact in case they need a duplicate merged or somesuch.
I’m happy to be on the team!
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Hey everyone — Just so you know, we are planning on adding a little STE badge to accounts sometime soon.
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As an STE, I don't feel we should be editing anyone's descriptions for tone, no matter what they say. Gowalla asks everyone to "be creative", and, ya know, creativity is a very personal thing. We're not meant to be creating a new Fodors, so in my opinion the more idiosyncratic the spot description, the better.
While I am happy to merge dupes, nudge spots, increase radii and do random fixes, rewriting others descriptions feels like a real breach of etiquette. I know I would be pretty upset if someone came along and rewrote descriptions of spots I'd personally created. I see STE's not as wiki editors but just bug fixers.
So while I don't mind a tag or ribbon or whatever, I think we should be very careful editing anyone's spots, STE or no.
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Inappropriate?I agree with this. I would like to know who the other STE members are so there's no possibility of any ill-feeling.
My view is that the members have been given the facility to edit/merge all spots as they can be trusted to get it right. I don't want to be in the position of editing a spot that a STE member has created as I feel it should be changed. I've no doubt that they are in the best position to know what information should be on a spot and where it should be placed.
I would also like to have the ability to contact the creator before editing/merging the spot to ensure that it's done with consideration of what they want. That's easy to know if they've requested it on here, but not so easy if I see one that I think needs editing/merging.
This last part goes back to a suggestion already on here somewhere - the ability to contact the creator to leave a comment about the spot (other than when checking in), in particular to highlight a problem/discuss an edit. -
Inappropriate?That's a good idea! I figured out a handful of folks who are on the STE in my area, and have taken precaution to avoid editing their spots. Also I'm aware of STEs in the areas I've visited. So I've mainly been working on updating/editing the spots I've created first. I did notice that some of my spots were already updated, which is fine, as long as they don't merge my spot by accident and remove it... cuz I'm pretty sure I was the first one there, and I like to think that I'm pretty accurate in creating my spots, even in version 1.1. :o)
I think if we were to stumble upon a spot to edit, and we are not aware of the creator being STE, that it would be a good idea to put a little badge (can we have a STE badge?) next to their name when we click the edit link. That way, if the Alamofire guys want to give STE a little anonymity, at least I would think STE would appreciate knowing who else is on the team.
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I like this idea (the STE coming up when you hit the edit button). -
Inappropriate?I agree also. As one in that position, I am very reluctant to make changes in descriptions unless it is clear that the player is not currently active. Merges are another thing ~ if spots were made after 1.2 it is easier, since spot making and locating improved greatly with 1.2. For spots made before that, I am reticent to merge with out notifying creators, as it was not always easy to see a similar spot in a close-by location.
I’m gowallacated as usual
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I will add descriptions, but unless (and I haven't seen one) a description is vulgar/rude I wouldn't edit it.
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I too would add a description where there wasn't one already, but wouldn't edit an existing one. I guess unless it was very wrong?
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I think adding descriptions to other peoples' spots is a bit over the line unless we have a way to contact the creator and find out their intentions. I often make short descriptions at spot creation (especially if with family who have other stuff on their minds) then go back. I would like to hear from a dev about this.
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If there is a short description (as in your example) then it should be left alone. If there is no description, then I'd leave it unless a period of time (to be decided) has passed when it's obvious they aren't going to maintain it. If there is a description, it shouldn't be edited save for grammatical errors or to correct rudeness, etc.
There are two things that may be useful. 1) a "contact creator" button for STE to send a message through Gowalla to say "are you going to do anything with this spot" and 2) a lock on adding descriptions for a set period of time unless you're the creator (or unless the creator has replied to a message saying "yes you can edit it"). -
Inappropriate?Maybe for now the one's of us who are on the STE, and read these getsatisfaction posts could mark our own profile pictures in some way.
Along the lines of the twibbons you can put on your twitter avatars.
It's not a perfect solution, but it's a start untill something more solid is decided :)
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If I knew how to create a Twibbon, I would! I would be happy with this as a temporary measure (as long as it's not in the bottom right corner - I kind of like my Gowalla Twibbon!). Of course, it'll rely on STE members to pick up on this and add the Twibbon- a better solution would definitely have to come from the devs.
Anyone out there able to sort something out?! -
I forgot to add - or think this is a good idea!
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Inappropriate?I think these are all good ideas and would like to see the devs adding something that shows who is STE as it makes it a lot easier than adding custom profile pictures etc (although that might be a good solution for now you still need to click on the creators name to get that info whereas a small star or similar next to the name would be better). -
Inappropriate?As an STE, I don't feel we should be editing anyone's descriptions for tone, no matter what they say. Gowalla asks everyone to "be creative", and, ya know, creativity is a very personal thing. We're not meant to be creating a new Fodors, so in my opinion the more idiosyncratic the spot description, the better.
While I am happy to merge dupes, nudge spots, increase radii and do random fixes, rewriting others descriptions feels like a real breach of etiquette. I know I would be pretty upset if someone came along and rewrote descriptions of spots I'd personally created. I see STE's not as wiki editors but just bug fixers.
So while I don't mind a tag or ribbon or whatever, I think we should be very careful editing anyone's spots, STE or no.
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I'm with you on not really rewriting other people spot descriptions Steve. After all, the whole idea of the 'game' is that it's the users opinion of what they find interesting for other to discover. So, you might have a coffeshop tagged with what to you seems as a ridiculous description, but to someone else it could be true. Obviously if they're taking the piss they should be edited to something more resonable though :)
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Oh indeed, this isn't about editing descriptions at all. It's those small things like nudging it to the correct place, adding a website or a twitter account, that this is all about (at least, from my perspective).
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Agree totally. I would also prefer people not nudge my spots, as some of them were created in a narrow pocket of available signal, thus moving them without being on the ground to check this might render a spot unusable.
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I think you have to be careful not to make a spot too far away though just because there is no signal as this may not be the case on other carriers (although for now the number of iPhone carriers has been limited but this is changing both in terms of new carriers supporting the iPhone and the advent of the mobile Gowalla site) - wouldn't it be better to put spots in the correct place but just enlarge the radius?
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Would also help if we could see the actual radius while in edit mode.
While 'small office' etc is good for now, my opinion of a small office might be different to the next persons. So i might think it's big enough to check into from say, the other side of the building, but unless i go round the other side at some other time when im not already checked in, i cant tell at the moment.
We're getting right off topic in this thread by the way! :) -
Just for information, the radius (in metres) for each size is as follows:
small - 35m
medium - 50m
large - 75m
x-large - 100m
xx-large - 150m
Those come direct out of the Gowalla dev feeds ;) I agree that the information should be displayed in the edit panel though as it isn't obvious but I suppose they are just putting in simple terminology.
With regards to editing other peoples spots, it might be good to show the edit history and who has changed what over time (that only STE can see) - that way you can see if somebody has been editing your spots, etc. The first step is marking out which people are STE though so that we don't edit each others spots. -
Oh wow, i was way off with my guesses.
Guess i have some editing of my own spots to do now. I thought small would be way smaller than that as well.
And yeah, i was thinking of some kind of edit history as well. -
Ben, I am talking about situations like in DC, where it was possible to make a spot on the corner but not at the front door, or in Durham where you could make a spot by the green but not directly in front of the Cathedral. To move some of these that appear to be out of place might make them inaccessible. There are some odd pockets of reception in DC.
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Simon - yeah the small one is quite big (hence in some places in London you can check into about 5 places at once) - edit history would definitely be good although don't want to turn Gowalla into Wikipedia!!
Beth - wouldn't it be better to put those spots in the correct place though and just enlarge the radius so you could check in from the odd pockets of reception but that they are still in the correct place? Granted there are places in the UK where reception is awful but that's just on the O2 network - now Orange are getting it I'm sure a lot of those would work fine and so people will adjust the spots so that geographically they are correct. -
Ben, that is why I would prefer to take responsibility for my own spots, especially those made in 1.1 earlier inthe summer (I think before you started). I put a great deal of effort into getting to and making the spots, thus have a vested interest in keeping them in good shape.
I think STE needs to be extra careful with editing non-STE spots as well.
(I have a London trip proposed, which includes many of my spots there. I know they all worked well on the ground when I left, which is why I dislike the idea of making changes or having other well-meaning STEs making changes. -
Beth - No I remember 1.1, happy memories of standing in the rain trying to check in whilst my iPhone crashed! I agree that STEs shouldn't alter other STEs spots but I do think that spots created with 1.1 could be moved to their correct locations as it's a lot easier to check-in now and besides you could just enlarge the radius if there are any problems. I would never alter yours or any other STEs spots though!
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I'll be honest, the radius of nearly all my spots Is set to small and all have been centralised. As Ben says this is 35m but generally when you're about 50-60m away you can check in. Being a little OCD, I've also visited the spots to check that you can still grab the stamp. If not, then I've increased the radius to allow for any local GPS issues. There may be some overlap but I'm okay with this because I wouldn't want for someone to visit and not be able to check in.
Increasing the radius is an option, but I only do it if I need to. I know that the devs want to keep the editing away from the app to not complicate things, but if you were able to amend the position and the radius from the app then you would know there and then if there was an issue checking in and be able to resolve it without revisiting. -
I'd definitely be up for radius editing within the app (although I generally create things outside the location and then later at home move the spot to the center and increase the radius - a good example is a baseball stadium)
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Just wanted to leave a note: We are actively following this discussion. Your input is very valuable to us, and clearly, we already put a lot of weight in your use and application of our little service!
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I will add descriptions, but unless (and I haven't seen one) a description is vulgar/rude I wouldn't edit it.
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Hmmm...I am not sure about adding descriptions. The description
making seems to be the privelege of the spot creator. For example, my UK spots had no descriptions for awhile because the only way to make them was during spot creation and I was on a spendy international plan. Since that time I have gone back and added descriptions to those spots. To me, all but the gentlest adjustments to the description field are the responsibility of the spot creator. -
Beth: Some gowalla'rs clearly aren't as diligent as you. They abandon great spots. If there's no description, STE add, simple as that :)
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Maybe STE should only add a description if one hasn't been added a certain number of weeks after spot creation (e.g. after 3 weeks) - this gives spot creators time to go back and add them whilst also balancing having great spots with no descriptions. A spot creator can always override the STE description in any case but I think a period of time to let them do it themselves is necessary
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Ben, I agree with that Idea. I think that the role of the STE will be better accepted by non-STE players if we are careful and not overbearing with these adjustments. (I am not quite sure Gowalla is old enough to have truly abandoned spots just yet :-)
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I'm with Beth on this one. I think the inclusion (or not) of a description is down to the spot creator. Having created nearly 700 spots and still going through them checking they've got descriptions, I would be really annoyed if I got to one that someone had edited with their own description.
Also, not all spots in the Trips are described, so I guess even the devs don't consider it to be essential for the spot. -
Inappropriate?Incase people dont know about this as well, i find it comes in handy to have this bookmarklet in your bookmarks bar when you're editing spots!
On the spot pages it brings up google streetview, can come in really handy!
Of course, it only works where there is street view, but you get a nice pop up when it's not available.
I'm not sure who created it, but hats off to them.
javascript:d=document,e=d.createElement('script');e.src='http://ixalon.net/gwsv.js?'+(new%20Date()*1);void(d.body.appendChild(e));
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Again, one needs to be sure to not nudge something into a signal no-man's land.
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I think the bookmarklet was by Chris Warren from Edinburgh. Great addition to Gowalla!
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Yays for Ix!!!! :) This is an awesome plugin by another one of my friends.
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Inappropriate?Hey everyone — Just so you know, we are planning on adding a little STE badge to accounts sometime soon.
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Nice!
Thanks Josh :) -
Excellent news! Another suggestion would be the ability to contact the spot creator about any issues (without having to 'friend' them first). If this is too much, then the ability to contact a STE through Gowalla would be useful for everyone if they want a spot looking at, although I appreciate that the STEs are most likely active on GS hunting out those merges!
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The ability to "tag" a spot that's incorrect from in-app would be handy. Then STEs could filter the spots list to those that are tagged (similar to featured only) and look at what issues there are. Maybe a comment box when you tag a spot and STEs could see those comments as well.
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Inappropriate?Lewis' idea should definitely be considered. I often find dupes while I'm out and about but then forget by the time I get to a computer
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I agree - definitely a good idea
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Ditto! I hit so many spots when I'm out and about, and could easily forget by the time I get to a computer.
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It's obviously a separate issue to this one, so I'll go ahead and make a new Idea for it, rather than further derail discussion here :)
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Inappropriate?Have you guys thought about adding a list of STE members to the wiki? http://www.bluwiki.com/go/Gowalla
You all could identify yourselves and add your (default) locations, and that way there would be a comprehensive list of who and where you all are... furthermore, non-STE members would have a more available resource for someone to contact re: nudging, editing, etc.
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good thought!
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I like this too.
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