Monday, August 25, 2008

Kilroy was where?

So, I was updating the spreadsheet that I keep of the categories and the grid and noticed that half of my grid seemed to be off one space. I wandered up the grid on the Website, looking for the culprit, and there, in the middle of one of my previous bingos was Kilroy, poking his big nose over the grid and mocking me. So unfair!!! This bald punk had stolen my bingo!!! To make matters even worse, I was in D.C. recently and could have grabbed one of the two there that Rose Red and Marine Biologist have posted. (BTW - the photo Rose Red's, posted in the gallery of her Kilroy waymark.)

I'm sure that I'll find one of these at some point, and I have no problem with the category. Just the fact that it was inserted into the middle of the grid. I think the categories are assigned their grid spot according to when the group created the category. So if a category is created and then the group just sits on it awhile, or if it fails and they don't decide to try again until months later, the icon still gets placed according to when the original category description was written, no matter how many categories have been added to the grid since then.

While casual waymarkers may have no issue with that, those of us who keep track of the grid find it incredibly irritating. There has to be a way to fix this. Has anyone else lost a bingo this way? Lost this bingo?

5 comments:

Gil said...

I don't think this is true. A recent category I helped create (Herbaria) was just recently accepted when we made the category over a year ago. Our grid location is at the end.

I think it was a screw up on the Kilroy icon location. Supposedly GS is looking into it.

Hikenutty said...

Hmm... I wonder why it got stuck all the way up there? I wonder what the grid order is based on. Anyone have an idea?

Bruce said...

The problem is that the order that grid is laid out is based on the date and time the category is marked as visible in the directory (that hidden check mark that some people forget to mark after the category has been approved). Well this check box can be completed at any time after the category has been completed even before it is sent to officer vote or peer review. The kilroy category was written several months ago and the check box was probably checked at that time.

Originally the grid was going to be laid out by order approved but this caused problems when people did not remember to check the box. Then it was changed to when category was made visible thinking that this could only occur after the category was approved. Well this bug is the problem.

One way to solve it is to order by date approved or date made visible which ever is later.

My overall recommendation is to add the make visible or activate the category as the final step in the category creation wizard and it only be available after the category is approved in peer review. This would also prevent people from forgetting to "activate" their category.

Anonymous said...

OOPS! I had no idea that this would have been a problem. And yes, Kilroy was started some time ago. Other categories I had been working on had put it on the back burner. After awhile I got tired of looking at it and finally decided to get it completed. Soory if it screwed up anyone's bingo, but that's Team Farkle 7 for you. Always looking for ointments for our flies!

Hikenutty said...

Not a problem. My problem is with the way they add things to the grid not with the category itself.

I was more irked about having to move everything around on the grid spreadsheet that I have on my computer than with losing the bingo, actually. I'll find a Kilroy one of these days and win back my bingo. :)