Unnamed Sources

Do you ever come across the ultimate online reference for a difficult-to-find category and then refuse to share the wealth? I'll admit that I've been known to sit on some Websites, even though I have a great category resource page over on waywardwaymarking.com to share this type of information. I don't hold back forever - just until I have a chance to waymark one for myself. After that I'm all about the sharing. Recently I hemmed and hawed about adding a certain Art-o-mat Weblink to the category resource page because there are less than 100 possible waymarks in that category (I believe) and I only have a visit so far. I would have held onto it if there were any spots listed that I could find in the near future (Oregon, Idaho or Washington) - but all of the machines in my area had already been posted. So I begrudgingly added the link to the resource page.

So am I the only stingy waymarker out here? I'm guessing that most of the gridders have been known to hide a resource or two. Who knows, I may still have some great ones that I'm not unveiling. I would tell you, I promise, but then I'd have to kill you. :)

I urge everyone to share their national and international online resources that pertain to specific categories (I don't include region specific resources so the page doesn't get too unwieldy.) Of course, I understand if you have to hold onto it awhile to get first dibs. I'm not looking for the sites that the category description already shares, but others that you come across that would help people locate waymarks within a specific category. Informational Websites are great, but information is often easier to come by than a great database or site locater. My goal is to build up the Webpage so all of us can use it as a resource. Just email me if you have something that you think might be a good addition to the page.

The photo above shows one of the two Art-o-mats that we have visited. This one is in Oak Park, IL, and the other is located in downtown Tacoma, WA. If we get a chance we may visit the Washington D.C. Art-o-mat in the the Tenleytown neighborhood next week.

New Categories

I have to say I'm a bit shocked. Usually when I go to the category review page and see over 4 different categories to vote on almost every one of them is by a new waymarker that has gotten overly excited and doesn't quite understand what creating a category entails.

I feel a bit bad for them, but often, it's "nea" down the list of them with pretty much the same explanation: "You need to take more time writing up the category. The long description is an important part of the category, because it helps people understand what is being looked for - it can't be skipped. Also, you need to think through some posting requirements so, again, people know what you are looking for - we can't read minds." Yada yada yada....

Today when I opened the voting page and saw 5 categories that I needed to vote on I thought, "oh man - not again!" Boy was I surprised as I read the categories and they all seemed to be well thought out and written. The "Water Parks" category needed a bit of work, but it still worked. At first I thought the "Historic Houses" would deserve a no vote for being too broad, but as I read through their detailed description I better understood the category. Although I think a better name would be "Historic Houses: Pre-Victorian" so they don't get a bunch of Victorian houses submitted by folks that don't stop to read the category description and requirements before they post.

It felt good to be able to vote yes for a change.

On the road again.... (I wish)

Well, we're not on the road yet, but I'm definitely itching to see the Tacoma area in my rearview mirror. Team Hikenutty absolutely LOVES road trips of all lengths, which makes us a big fan of the highway categories. So far the Website has categories for the Mother Road (US66), the National Road (US40), the Dixie Highway, the Pacific Highway (US99) and for Lincoln Highway Markers. I WANT MORE!!!

You'd think that those five would be enough, but recently I bought a couple of books that have me thinking of other great highways that could use a category.

First, I think that the Lincoln Highway could use a second category that is wider reaching. Currently only highway markers can be waymarked along that route, but last summer while traveling along the Lincoln we saw some awesome spots. Old service stations, vintage motels, roadhouses that have been open since the 1920's, road camps, and more. These places deserve their own category! I'm fine with the current category keeping its focus on the roadside markers, but I think there is some great Americana along the route that should be grouped together in its own category.


(L) Muffler Man in North Platte, NE; (R) Old Lincoln Hwy. motel in Cheyenne, WY


One more category and we should have the major east/west highways covered. We have the center of the country covered, but what about up north? Highway 2, dubbed the Great Northern, is the longest of all of the great transcontinental road trips in the U.S. and also the most stunning of the east/west passages. It takes you over the Cascade Mountain Range and past the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington, over the Rocky's and through Glacier National Park, the North Woods of Minnesota, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, into Canada, over Vermont's Green Mountains, through New Hampshire's White Mountains and ends up in Maine's beautiful Acadia National Park. Along the way you'll experience gorgeous spots and plenty of vintage Americana. I've never really travelled this route however I have been to Grand Coulee Dam country and here are a couple photos of that area.


(L)Banks Lake, a Grand Coulee reservoir, seen from atop Steamboat Rock; (R) Steamboat Rock


Now that we have the east/west covered, I'll move on to the north/south corridors. So far the only full, cross-country north/south route that has a category is the Pacific Highway, US 99, which confusingly doesn't get near the Pacific Ocean. I propose four more - yep four - north/south routes that are all truly exquisite road trips.

First (and nearest and dearest to my heart) is the Pacific Coast Highway, US101. This is completely different than US99 (which is full of Americana, but very light on scenery). Many consider it to be the most beautiful long distance road trip you can take in the U.S. and I would definitely agree with them. Sorry to all of you easterners out there but there isn't much that can beat US101's views of the Pacific. You'll start up north in one of my favorite stomping grounds, Olympic National Park and from there you'll head south, hugging the coast. See the beautiful Hoh Rainforest in Washington, the many peaceful, pristine beaches of Oregon, Redwood National Park and Big Sur in California. And as many of you know, kitsch can only reach its full potential in beach towns for some reason. Maybe it's the salty air. I've travelled 101 from it's beginning in Olympic National Park down to San Francisco and the roadside attractions just can't be beat. These places should be gathered together in a Coast Highway category and I'd be willing to lead it if anyone is interested.


(L) Redwood National Park; (R) "Hole in the Wall" in Olympic National Park


Now I'll move across the country to the Atlantic Coast to U.S. 1, the "Colonial Coast Highway". It dates from 1926 and originally ran from Fort Kent, Maine all the way down to Florida's Key West. This summer I'll see the Atlantic for the first time (other than flying over it in a plane) and will have the chance to drive along a small portion of this road. It travels through some of the Nation's first and greatest cities and nowhere else will you get such a taste of history while you're on the road.

Moving back across the country to the wild west we'll hit the next great highway that should be waymarked - U.S. 93. Jamie Jensen, in his book "Road Trip USA: Cross-Country Adventures on America's Two-Lane Highways", calls it the "Border to Border" road trip but in fact it starts far north of the Canadian border (also numbered as highway 93) up in beautiful Jasper National Park. This trip is an exercise in extremes. The first half is spent in the Canadian and U.S. Rockies, and the second half in the Southwest's desert region. There you'll drop into Las Vegas, cross the Hoover Dam, cross route 66 west of the Grand Canyon and then head into the lush Sonoran Desert. Lots to see and do and above all else, WAYMARK! I'd show you a few photos of the southern portion of this route, but alas, they were taken before I owned a digital camera.

And last but not least, the Great River Road, which follows the mighty Mississippi from its headwaters in Minnesota to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico in New Orleans. We spent a day travelling along the river road last summer and it was quite enjoyable. I would love to spend some time along the northern portion of the road some day. I hear that Minnesota's portion of the road is incredible. There have to be a few folks in the Midwest who'd be interested in starting this one up.


(L) Mississippi River overlook in Davenport, IA; (R) Riverboat Paddlewheel


So there you have it. Six new, amazing categories just waiting to be created. I think the two coastal highways should be first. Any takers?

Category Dictatorships

It has always been a pet peeve of mine when category creators view a category as something "owned" by them. These category dictators see group officers as people to share the work load, but nothing else. In their opinion, they thought up the initial idea and could care less what anyone else's opinion is. I don't see it that way. They are leaders, not owners, and by refusing to listen to officer's suggestions they limit the category.

Close-mindedness leads to categories that become stagnant. If there needs to be some tweaking of the category it helps to have open communication, as I talked about in my last post. Without this communication and tweaking to waymarkers become frustrated and don't continue to submit to the category. Unless I am extremely interested in a subject I won't submit more than one waymark to a category that is unclear as to what type of waymarks they're looking for, or to a category where the officers are rude when they make comments. There are plenty of other categories out there to take up my time. I kick it to my ignore list and move on.

Another issue I have come across as an officer is when leaders go through and re-evaluate waymarks that have already been approved. Nothing is more irritating as a waymarker than to have a waymark approved and then denied. If an officer is regularly approving things that the leader doesn't think fit, then the leader isn't doing their job very well. It indicates that either the category needs to have a few changes or the group needs to sit back and discuss reviewing practices and what is and isn't acceptable. Just re-evaluating an officer's approved waymarks and not politely discussing the problems is micro-managing. It treats the symptoms and not the main issue.

I'm not saying that the leader's vision for the category means nothing, I'm saying it doesn't mean everything. We all share the Waymarking Website and a single person cannot own one section of it. A category is created to share places with the world and a leader is only the category's guide, not its god.

This has been your latest installment of Janell's Pet Peeves. For more, just ask me about chain store categories. (kidding :) The photo above really has nothing to do with this post. The Victorian triplex is posted in the "NRHP - Contributing Buildings" category which is led by a person I've found to be a great collaborative leader, JimmyEv. So I guess that it has a tiny bit of context.

Great groups have great communication

Something that I've noticed lately: the better the communication, the better the category. When a category is approved and the officers start reviewing waymarks they soon find that maybe the category definition or requirements aren't as clear as they expected they would be. That's okay, because if a leader and the officers are doing their job they will talk about issues that are raised and adjust things accordingly. No category is perfect and even the most well written and thought out descriptions might need some tweaking over time.

Discussion, disagreement, even debate, is necessary - in some categories more than others. Next time, before you hit that "vote" button when reviewing a questionable waymark, consider sending out a group email and asking the group about it first. Often there are underlying reasons that things are going to vote - something unclear in the category description that could be fixed. Why not talk it over and see if there's a way to make things clearer. It will save you work in the long run by limiting the posting of waymarks that don't fit the category. It will definitely make people who post to your category happier, because no one likes to put the work into posting a waymark and then have it declined.

If officers in the group don't have the "email group member" ability then be sure to email the group leader and see if they will change this. If you are the group leader, then what are you waiting for?! Go make the changes so your officers can better participate in discussions. I assure you that your category will benefit from the change. There really isn't a reason not to do this. In fact, I wish that it was an automatic feature for officers. Maybe make it automatic, but allow the leader to take back the privilege if an officer is abusing it.

Anyhow, just my 2 cents. Happy waymarking!

How small is too small?

Recently I was voting in peer review for something and at the time thought that the available waymarks might be too small in number for the category to be viable. So how small is too small? I can't remember the exact voting criteria, but I know that one of them is "abundance". I've always thought that could go either way - there are so many possible waymarks that there's really no reason to waymark them (my beef with most fast food categories) OR there are so few that they will be too difficult for people to find.
When I think about it though, if something is interesting with maybe a bit of historic importance thrown in, doesn't that make it exactly the type of place to be waymarked so others can find the spot in the future? If there are only 50 possible spots worldwide, wouldn't it be great to create a place where interested folks could find all 50?

Here's another thought. What if the 50 spots aren't worldwide, but they are all in one small area? Would it meet criteria then?

There really is no exact answer. Drawing the line somewhere would be foolish because there are too many factors involved. This is yet another example where being too rigid will limit the Waymarking Website. Better to embrace the fuzziness of the criteria in this case than to create some silly line in the sand.

So here's a confession though. When voting, I admit that my willingness to vote "yea" for a category is definitely affected by how interesting the category is to me. Try as I might to be objective, there are times when I just can't swallow a category and I might invoke the "too many/too few" criteria. I try not to do that very often, but sometimes it happens and I know I'm not the only one who does this so don't get all "holier-than-thou" on me. I'm not saying it's good practice, just that it happens.

Just thinking as I type here, so sorry if this post is difficult to follow. If you do understand what I'm talking about, let's hear how you feel. Oh, and the photo above is 8Nuts MotherGoose's photo of the Dubuque Shot Tower which we visited last summer. "Shot Towers" is one of those categories were the total possible waymarks are very limited, however, it still seems like a worthwhile category.

Take your time when creating a category!

I know that most of you who read my blog have a lot of experience under your belt when it comes to creating a new category. This post is to urge you to positively mentor new waymarkers who might be a little over excited to see their first category on the grid.

Recently I've noticed some categories coming through peer review that would make wonderful categories, but I still feel I have to vote no on them because either the description is too vague or the requirements are odd or even non-existent. I try to leave a lot of kind feedback about how I think it's a great idea, but "here are some changes you might want to make and then try sending it through peer review again."

When you first get into waymarking it can be a blast and many people want to fully throw themselves into the hobby! That's great!! Let's welcome them with open arms AND a little kind advice when they stumble because they've tried to run before they can walk, so to say. The longer a person waymarks, the more familiar they become with the typical posting requirements, how a category is structured, and how broad or narrow a range of category can be.

Kudos to the seasoned waymarks who I see joining groups just to help out a new person who isn't sure about how to go about creating a category. Sometimes its a topic they aren't even interested in, but they give of their time anyhow, and it makes a big difference in the quality of the categories. I had this kind of help when I created my first category, Abstract Public Sculptures, and now that I've been around awhile I can pass on what I was taught by elder, waymarking sages. :) And now I'm seeing people that I've helped go on to help other beginners. To me that is the true spirit of the waymarking community. Sure, you get some asses, but they are everywhere. Concentrate on the positive and you will find it everywhere!

Neon's Illegitimate Sibling :)

I've been posting about the neon dilemma and in my last post I talked about the resolution and how a new category was going to be created for the less artistic of the neon signs that have no place to be waymarked. Well I'm happy to say that the new category passed peer review and is now open for business.

Although some signs don't have the gloss and style needed to make it into the Neon Lights category, the Neon Sign category will provide a place for these simpler and yet still interesting signs. Will the category collect a lot of boring signs? Probably, but the lesson that I have learned is that what is boring to some is wonderful to others. I'm glad to see that open/closed signs have been excluded, and I'd like to see typical beer neon excluded, but other than that I think that the officers did a great job putting together the category. I'd also like to see a variable added for the estimated age of the neon so that eventually if a search function is available to filter the drop-down variables folks who aren't interested in the modern stuff could filter that out - something like "20's -50's", "60's & 70's" and "80's to current". Who knows if that will ever be available, but I keep hoping.

This post is not dissing the "Neon Lights" category. I'm a member of both groups and I understand the desire to keep the category focused on only the artistic, pictorial style of neon. It was wonderful that the group was able to support this new category and pave the way for a smooth time in the peer review process.

I've transferred over the 12 signs that I had posted in the Neon Lights category that work better over in the Neon Sign category. Soon the Neon Lights group will be reevaluating the signs that now fit better in the new category. If you get a few declined, bear with the group and know that there's another home for those waymarks.

Category Crush

At the danger of angering some of the folks who read this blog, I'm going to go on a little rant here. What is with all of the lame categories lately? I understand people getting excited about waymarking and wanting to jump right in and create a category, but give me a break! Some of the things coming through peer review I find odd - boy scout created footbridges rather than just plain footbridges. I have to admit I wasn't especially fond of the footbridges category, but it's grown on me. However - is this really a category that needs to have other variations? And the Jeep trails category - who cares what club/vehicle type creates the trail? Isn't the off-roading category sufficient?

The recent flood of new categories can be seen as a good thing, though. It likely means that a lot of new people are starting to waymark. But it is bringing up a flaw in the system. Categories are getting approved that are duplicates of other categories and peer review isn't weeding these out. Take the recent "Exceptional Restaurants". This sounds very similar to the "Independent Diners" category (which is for all recommended restaurants, not just diners.) Do both of these need to be on the category list? Or Domino's pizza (seen in peer review - I don't know if it passed) - doesn't that fit in the "take-out food" category? Peer review works on some of these duplicate categories, but not all of them. As more people start waymarking, more of these categories will make it through peer review and the grid will be clogged with narrowly focused categories. And as BruceS noted in the forums, once a category is approved, it's on the grid for good.

Silverquill recently proposed a mandated submission of category ideas to the forums before they are allowed to go to peer review. Yes, this won't always work because people will list it in the forums and then not really look at the comments being made. It also will leave the evolution of waymarking in the hands of the small group of people who frequent the forums. But something needs to be done! And it seems like some type of category discussion prior to peer review is the answer. At the very least there should be some place where people can submit the category idea and people more familiar with the grid can let them know which categories are similar and if their idea duplicates another. I'd love to hear some opinions on this. Anyone? Or is it just me who is bothered by this.

New Category Ideas

Lately I've been itching to start a few new categories. I went through a phase when I first started waymarking when I had tons of ideas and really enjoyed creating categories, but then I burned out on it. I guess everyone probably does that - you start waymarking and have all these cool ideas that you want to turn into categories. Then, I realized it was a lot easier talking other people into creating the group and just joining as an officer. You still get the fun but only have to do half the work. :) Did anyone else go through that category creating phase, or is it just me?

Now I'm getting the itch again. I keep getting ideas and then forget to write them down. I remember two of them, though: "Unintentionally humorous signs" (read the last post) and then "Old theatre marquees/signs". I've wanted to see a theater sign category on the grid for a long time but didn't want to work through all the logistics as to what the requirements would need to be. I'd still be glad to pass the theatre sign idea off to someone else and join as an officer, though. Any takers?

The sign pictured here is from the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theater - a historic theater built in 1921 that can be found in the Chicago Loop. I'll be waymarking it soon in the U.S. National Registered Historic Places, the American Guide, and the Official Tourist Attraction categories.