View Full Version : Maine geocoin tracking



attroll
01-07-2006, 02:16 AM
Is someone going to get something going for our Maine Geocoins for tracking or are we going to blow off everyone that bought coins and wants to send them out and track them? I have been receiving emails from coin buyers that want to know where are tracking program is. What am I suppose to do write then back and say to bad we are not going to have a tracking program?

WhereRWe?
01-07-2006, 08:04 AM
I'm all for it if there's some way you can incorporate one on this site. we definitely don't want to go the EXPENSIVE geocaching.com route...

:confused: :confused: :confused:

tat
01-07-2006, 09:16 AM
When we sold the coins, we specifically said they were not trackable. I could not find a reference on the site, but I'm sure it is in the forums somewhere. Rather than "blowing off" anyone, you could send the link to them.

Having said that, there is nothing stopping us from adding tracking. There are only two ways I know of to add tracking now. Either use the sequence number and create a web page (hosted here or somewhere else) or drill a hole and add a TB tag.

Here's an example of a crude tracking site http://www.geocky.org/coins It has been vandalized and most coins have only one tracking entry.

Do we have anyone who knows how to make a good tracking webpage? I'd love to help, but it would not be bullet proof!

How will the next coin be tracked?

Haffy
01-07-2006, 09:50 AM
I don't see where the confusion is. We specifically said that the coin is not trackable on GC.com or elsewhere so I don't know where everyone is getting this information. I know we had discussed this same topic at length on the original geocoin thread but that's all it was was just a discussion with nothing concrete on the coin being trackable. It was a long thread maybe 6 or 7 months in length so maybe some of the original members or other visitors to the thread topic saw something that we might be tracking it and assumed that it would be,who knows? :confused:

Haffy
01-07-2006, 09:55 AM
I don't know how eveyone else feels about the coin being trackable on GC.com but for myself the $1.50 that they charge for each trackable coin is a little steep in my opinion. But if that is what the general public wants then maybe we ought to at least consider it on the next coin that we develop. Just my 2 cents :)

Sabby
01-07-2006, 10:11 AM
I believe that the majority of coins are now considered "collectables" and that a coin place in a cache , trackable or not, will soon disappear.

If it means paying 0.50 to 1.50 per coin for all the coins so that a few people can watch their coin vanish in a few months, I say forget it. Let them add a TB to their coin.

People are trading coins for other states coins and selling them on ebay for a lot more than the initial cost. As time goes on the 2005 Maine coin will become rarer and rarer.

I say leave it be, it is not a trackable coin.

Well, thats my 2 cents,

Smitty & Co.
01-07-2006, 10:33 AM
I believe that the majority of coins are now considered "collectables" and that a coin place in a cache , trackable or not, will soon disappear.

If it means paying 0.50 to 1.50 per coin for all the coins so that a few people can watch their coin vanish in a few months, I say forget it. Let them add a TB to their coin.

People are trading coins for other states coins and selling them on ebay for a lot more than the initial cost. As time goes on the 2005 Maine coin will become rarer and rarer.

I say leave it be, it is not a trackable coin.

Well, thats my 2 cents,

I agree. When we first started out geocaching we bought a couple coins from groundspeak that were trackable on gc.com and placed them in caches only to have them disappear in the first or second cache they made it to. This was a huge disappointment to both my wife and myself but it really upset my young girls (7 & 12) who really wanted to see them travel.
Maybe I shouldn't say that's my 2 cents worth for fear someone will take my 2 cents and keep them as collectibles, LOL. So this is just my opinion!! :rolleyes: :p :rolleyes:

Trezurs*-R-*Fun
01-07-2006, 10:35 AM
I agree with most everyone sentiments on making the current coin trackable. Firstly, the current coin was never intented to be. Secondly, Maine's first geocoin is more of a collectors item than a TB and as such would soon be removed out of circulation and into private collections. Thirdly, setting up a tracking program after the fact would be time consuming and may prove costly as more bandwidth is taken up by folk that normally don't visit the GeocachingMaine.org site.

Maybe we could propose a trackable coin with a future minting but the current coin should stay as it is. As far as fielding questions about trackability we could come up with a FAQ page about MaineGeocoins link it to the geocachingmaine.org forums.

Cache Maine
01-07-2006, 10:40 AM
Our 2005 Maine coin is not trackable unless a cacher adds a TB tag...even a system at this point would be impossible to recreate since activation codes were not sent with the coins. There is no record of who got what number coin. We had looked at many options and discovered the volatility of such sites (like the one Tat mentioned) and also the idea of creating our "own" tracking site. The later would be very time consuming and a potential nightmare. Just getting those coins out the way we did cost Sudonim a great deal of time, energy, and lost sleep. It would be an absolute nightmare to have to add in establishing and logging each coin, it's number and it's activation code, and then getting them all attached to the correct coin, in addition to shipping, counting, sorting, taking orders, taking payments, following up, emails, more emails and even more emails... Impossible? No...they do it every day. But it is not a one man job.

I see the potention for another coin. I also see the possibility of having it trackable through gc.com so that we can claim a Maine Geocoin icon for ourselves before somebody else does....But it may be a limited release, only available to Maine cachers...only 100-200 minted....remember, this is our coin and we can do whatever we want. This whole geocoin craze has gone NUTS. For instance, you can cut a coin, limited edition, and get 100.00 for it on ebay. That's HOW they are selling them now. No prebuy, no nothing. Sometimes I wonder what is going to happen to this whole geocoin thing....will it continue to escalate and make the coins even more valuable...or will it fall flat on it's face when some one comes out with the bigger better tradable. Maybe that's what we should be working on. Let's think like Moun10bike did so many years ago and discuss a new tradable that people will go nuts over. Think of the bandwidth we could buy, and remember that Maine Geocaching Facility we were all talking about??? Woo hoo!

Smitty & Co.
01-07-2006, 10:43 AM
As far as fielding questions about trackability we could come up with a FAQ page about MaineGeocoins link it to the geocachingmaine.org forums.

Great idea Steve!! :D

WhereRWe?
01-07-2006, 12:32 PM
I don't see where the confusion is. We specifically said that the coin is not trackable on GC.com or elsewhere so I don't know where everyone is getting this information.

I don't think there's any confusion on the part of the "regulars" on geocachingmaine.org. We all knew that they coins were not trackable. Regardless, the first Maine geocoin sold on eBay stated (erroneously) that the coin was trackable on this site. I myself made a comment to the effect that the seller could expect a lot of bad feedback is someone bought his coins expecting that they were trackable.

But having said that, we don't know who Rick is getting the emails from. I suspect they may be from people who bought coins - either from this site or eBay - not realizing that they were NOT trackable. Caveat emptor.

But if there's a way to log the coin number that you have, then be able to track it even if (as expected) it gets "collected" after only one or two caches, I say go for it and make the coin owner haooy

Smitty & Co.
01-07-2006, 01:34 PM
I say go for it and make the coin owner haooy

What is haooy?? LOL :confused:

WhereRWe?
01-07-2006, 02:04 PM
What is haooy?? LOL :confused:

A typo - the "O" is right next to the "P". :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

(Darn laptop keyboard is too small...)

Sudonim
01-07-2006, 03:07 PM
I have been fielding emails from several people asking how to track their Maine coins too. The Ebay auction listing a "trackable Maine coin" didn't help things, for sure.
When we set this up, there was a discussion on tracking. There were good arugments both ways, but the majority agreed that it wouldn't be worth it. (It would have added about $2500 to our coin order). I have gotten several comments on how nice it was to buy the Maine coin for far less than many other coins on the market. A couple of European buyers did comment that the trackable coins are very desirable in GB and Germany, but the concensus was to put a serial number on the coin, but not to track it.
As Cameo mentioned, sorting the coins was a big job to begin with. It would have taken another few days to attach name and tracking number to almost 2000 coins.
The idea of doing a trackable coin to "lock in" a Maine logo is interesting. I believe that I had read that a logo costs $150 and numbers are $1.50/coin, though that may have changed or be incorrect.

attroll
01-07-2006, 04:05 PM
wbdent I posted this question in the forums here for several reasons. The main reason was for answering the question as it arises in the future. This way I could just send them to this link and they could read the answer to their question as to why we did not put a tracking program into effect. I for one thought the purpose of putting serial numbers on the coins were to use them for tracking. That is what serial numbers are for. I also agree that the coins will not last long in caches before people will steal them for their own private collections. But I also know we discussed tracking them and decided that paying GC to track them was to much and out of the question. I thought some was going to find a tracking program that the Maine geocoin could be used on. I must have misunderstood this when it was being discussed. But it looks like I have the answer and now I can refer anyone that ask in the future to this link.

Gob-ler
01-07-2006, 09:13 PM
It does not matter to me, but I do recall seeing that they were not to be trackable on GC, but something I think was mentioned about them being tracked on this site. Maybe I am mistaken.

Yeehawma
01-08-2006, 04:37 PM
My understanding when I bought my MaineGeocaoins was that they were not trackable. Therefore, I bought one extra just to make into a TB for that purpose.
Those who have worked long and hard on this put the option out there and it was decided not to make them trackable. These folks volunteered thier time and resources for the development of the coin. For me, it is unreasonable to ask them to figure out a way to track them after the fact. It might be helpful to have a specific statement in the FAQ to address this.
Perhaps the next coin could be a trackable one. That will mean it will also be costlier. But will there be as much interest?

P.S. For those who worked to make this coin possible, you did a great job!:)

Beach Comber
01-08-2006, 10:41 PM
Maybe I shouldn't say that's my 2 cents worth for fear someone will take my 2 cents and keep them as collectibles, LOL. So this is just my opinion!! :rolleyes: :p :rolleyes:

I believe I saw your two cents for sale on eBay shortly after you posted this comment :eek:

kayakerinme
01-09-2006, 01:03 AM
I believe I saw your two cents for sale on eBay shortly after you posted this comment :eek:

I saw them too and bought them for $25.40 'cause I thought they were worth much more than 2 cents. :p

DiverDave1998
01-09-2006, 02:56 AM
MaineGeocaoins are not trackable????

Smitty & Co.
01-09-2006, 08:00 AM
I believe I saw your two cents for sale on eBay shortly after you posted this comment :eek:

I keep losing my marbles too,:eek: only to have people tell me they saw them up for bids on Ebay. Of course, only I know they are priceless. :D :p

WhereRWe?
01-09-2006, 11:06 AM
I see that there are currently 7 Maine geocoins for sale on eBay (http://search.ebay.com//search/search.dll?from=R40&satitle=maine+geocoin).

They're being sold by people in Tennessee, Georgia, Michigan and California. I guess the Maine geocachers know enough to hang onto theirs! LOL! :D :D

Beach Comber
01-09-2006, 06:32 PM
I keep losing my marbles too,:eek: only to have people tell me they saw them up for bids on Ebay. Of course, only I know they are priceless. :D :p

You know what - I think that Joe and Anne are using those for their sig item - lol

hoys
01-14-2006, 01:23 PM
Here's an example of a crude tracking site http://www.geocky.org/coins It has been vandalized and most coins have only one tracking entry.

Do we have anyone who knows how to make a good tracking webpage? I'd love to help, but it would not be bullet proof!


Vandalized? How so?

There is a PHP bug that I haven't been able to track down, that causes garbage to be loaded into the database instead of user names sometimes. It's a mystery, and I'm not at all happy about the bug of course, but the site still works.

I would be happy to provide the source code to Geocaching Maine if you want to use it as the basis for your own tracking system. Maybe someone with better PHP skills than mine can point out the cause for this intermittent bug, too.

attroll
01-14-2006, 01:42 PM
Vandalized? How so?

There is a PHP bug that I haven't been able to track down, that causes garbage to be loaded into the database instead of user names sometimes. It's a mystery, and I'm not at all happy about the bug of course, but the site still works.

I would be happy to provide the source code to Geocaching Maine if you want to use it as the basis for your own tracking system. Maybe someone with better PHP skills than mine can point out the cause for this intermittent bug, too.

I am not a php person. But I can try and put the source code in the web site if you send it to me and it is self explanatory and uses a MySQL database. But I don't use PostgreSQL databases.

tat
01-14-2006, 06:51 PM
Please disregard the post below, We have a tracking page!!!!!




Vandalized? How so?


OOOPS! I may have jumped to a conclusion. I saw very odd looking names (lots of characters that made no sense to me) in some of the logs and assumed the site had been vandalized.

My point really was that the site looked like a good example of a simple tracking site that may not be too of a project to take on. But, it does not have many of the features that people might expect from a tracking system, ie. password security, ability edit logs, etc. And, there is some periodic moderating that needs to be done. If we host a tracking site, it is a long term commitment.

hoys
01-14-2006, 07:32 PM
OOOPS! I may have jumped to a conclusion. I saw very odd looking names (lots of characters that made no sense to me) in some of the logs and assumed the site had been vandalized.

Logical assumption, no offense taken or intended. I just wanted to make sure you weren't seeing something I wasn't.


But, it does not have many of the features that people might expect from a tracking system, ie. password security, ability edit logs, etc. And, there is some periodic moderating that needs to be done. If we host a tracking site, it is a long term commitment.

Agreed. I wanted to do things like password login, and in fact I was thinking about making it members-only. But then people would have to sign up for an account just to log a coin, which would really discourage use. So far, there's been no problem (other than the PHP bug, which has been driving me crazy for over a year trying to track it down in my spare time).

The source has been provided, and the code is actually pretty readable (I've been programming for many years), so it should be possible to add a users table (or even look up users in the Geocaching Maine database, which is what I had planned on doing for Geocky before I abandoned the concept of logins).

I'll be the first to admit it's far from perfect. This was my first PHP project (I usually program in an ancient language called RPG on green screen terminals, though I work in various other languages from time to time as the whim strikes), and if Geocaching Maine decides not to implement it, I'll fully understand. No offense taken if you don't.