Flickr Waymarking Group Photo Contest Winner

There's a group of waymarkers who love taking photos while out waymarking and so the waymarker Ambrosia created a group over on Flickr.com where they can show off their favorite waymark photos. We are always welcoming new members so if you are interested be sure to check out the group's page on Flickr.

The group hosts a monthly photo contest and the photo shown above is the winner for the October contest whose theme was "lines." Mr. 0 took this great picture at the Claibourne Cemetery Mauseleum. Use this link to see all of the photos that were entered in the October contest (and there were a bunch of great ones.) We tried out a new way of voting for this contest and it worked so well that next month we are going to open up the voting to any waymarkers, whether they are a Flickr group member or not. This way more people will have a chance to see the creative, beautiful photos that the group is uploading and maybe join in on the fun themselves.

Currently the November contest is underway and this one has an interesting twist. The theme is the letter "W" (for Waymarking) and the winner's photo will be used as the logo for the Flickr photography group on Waymarking.com. The "W" can either be an actual letter, say from a waymarked sign, or it can be a "found" letter that exists in the visual linework of the photo. The contest will run through the end of the month and then voting will take place between December 1st and 15th. If you're interested in joining in on the fun head over to the Flickr group and read the group thread about the November contest. If not, then we hope you'll join us for the voting process when that begins. You can find the current photos that have been entered in the November contest here. We also have a page for past contests that you might be interested in. Currently there are just the September and October contests shown there, as we just started up the contest this Fall (or Spring, depending on which hemisphere you're reading this in,) but it will continue to grow.

I'll try to keep everyone posted on the current contest and when voting cycles start and end. Happy waymarking!

Un-waymarkable Waymarks

I've always been somewhat vocal about my opinion that not everything needs to be waymarked. The point of Waymarking is to mark unique, interesting places - places that aren't on every street corner. I hadn't ever come upon a place that I thought was really incredible and not had a category to waymark it in. It just doesn't happen that often. I mean, there are over 600 categories. A place is bound to fit somewhere. Typically categories like "Official Local Tourist Attractions" or "Roadside Attractions" can accommodate some of the truly unique spots that don't fall within any of the other categories.

Well this week I came upon not one, but two places in Seattle that are incredibly cool that I can't find a category to waymark them in. One is an old Seattle standby that we've been visiting for years, the other a cool new specialty shop. I figure that I'll tell you about them here and maybe someone else will think of a category for them (but no "Best Kept Secrets" category - I want to waymark them in a way that I can truly describe the spot.)

First is a new one that I had never heard of until researching their neon sign. The place is called "Real Soda." It's based in California, but has an office in the Fremont District of Seattle. This is a place specializing in soda pop. Not the Coca-Cola and 7-up type soda that you find on your grocer's shelves in aluminum cans, but sodas like pure cane sugar Coca-Cola in bottles, imported from Mexico, Bavarian Nutmeg Imported Virgil's Special Edition Root Beer with ceramic top, Mystic Seaport Creamy Birch Beer, Tianfu China Cola.... The list could go on forever. These guys stock over 700 varieties of soda imported from around the world, all in glass bottles. They call their Website the "bubbly backdoor that transcends the aluminum curtain beyond which you will find a paradise of effervescence excellence." They even have a great neon sign guys!! Where, oh where can this wonderland of soda and nostalgia be waymarked, I ask you?!

The second spot I couldn't find a category for is Archie McPhee's, "Outfitters of Popular Culture", a retail location that truly can't be classified. Located in the Ballard district of Seattle, Archie's has long been a must stop location each year in the search for Team Hikenutty Christmas stocking stuffers. Here's a short list of a few items that you will find for sale at Archie's that you just can't do without: an electronic yodelling pickle, a boxing nun puppet, a librarian action figure complete with shushing action, bacon shaped bandages, corn dog air fresheners, a bobblehead Jesus, gummy haggis, world's largest underpants, glow-in-the-dark Flesh Eating Zombie play sets... These are just a few things I found in their catalog, which is nothing compared to the actual store. This weekend we'll be heading for Archie's to pick up composer action figures for Hikenutty Jr.'s music teachers and some Shakespearean insult gum for a friend of mine. I'll take some photos but if you can't wait for those to be posted take a look at the store photos that they've uploaded to Flickr.com. You can also take their helpful "Are You a Nerd" test to find out your nerd level (BTW, I scored 209. Does that mean I'm cool, or that I need to work harder at it?)

So if you have any ideas of where to waymark these spots, or have a spot that you would like to share but don't have a spot to do it on Waymarking.com, then be sure to comment on this post and enlighten us.

P.S. I shamelessly ripped the above photo from Real Soda's Website, but since I have drooled all over my blog about them, I don't think that they'll mind.

Beer me

I have sunk to what some folks would call a new low. I have just waymarked my first beer sign in the "Neon Sign" category. Never did I think that I would head down this sad and lonely road, out wandering strip malls, hanging out in front of taverns... It's addiction plain and simple. ;) Two months ago I would have chuckled at the thought of waymarking a beer sign but all that neon gas is going to my brain now. Just like a campfire, the warm glow of the glass tubes are mesmerizing.

I'm sure you waymarkers out there have that special category, that rules your life with an iron fist (you benchmarkers and Texas Historic Marker nuts know who you are.) If you don't, just wait, because you will if you stick around Waymarking for long. So don't start judging me.

You have to admit that beer signs have come a long way from the the typical logo-style signs of yore. In this lounge alone I saw a palm tree, this crab, and a ship. Next time you are driving through suburbia open your eyes a little and look for the glow. Take away a few preconceived notions and you might start to see the art in modern neon advertising. I mean, would it really make this little crustacean better if it read "seafood" instead of "Corona"? Ah, the deep questions that Waymarking makes you stop to ponder.

Controversial Categories

Last week Groundspeak held one of their town meetings and the topic was "Political and moral agendas and where (or whether) they fit in with waymarking." The topic was a hot issue thanks to a recent category called "Pro-Life Billboards" that went through peer review. My initial reaction was anger and disgust at the use of the Website to promote a specific agenda. This is a fun hobby promoting unique, interesting spots to visit. Who would look forward to visiting one of these nasty pieces of work. Obviously I lean to the left on this issue, however it went beyond that. I would be equally irritated to see a category like NARAL Headquarter's or something like that on the Website.

After thinking it through for awhile though, and listening to Opinionate's arguments (who by the way should consider a job working for a freedom of speech group) changed my thinking and helped me get past my bias towards the topic of the category. I mean, what is "controversial?" I'm not trying to get all existential on you, but what is controversial for one culture might be the norm for another and who am I to push my opinions on someone else. It is a dangerous thing when any group tries to push their ideals as the only ideals. But I won't go so far as to totally agree with Nate. Groups that deal in violence and intolerance do not have a place on Waymarking.com.

So what do we do with these controversial categories that come up? And how do we keep the site family friendly? Where do you put a category for say, good spots to find a prostitute, adult video stores, or (the example used in the town meeting) Neo-Nazi Headquarters? (I in no way want any of these things to be categories. I'm just throwing out some examples.) One idea that was thrown out was to create a 16th department on the site that would be for controversial categories or categories with agendas. There could be a radio button added during the voting process and after you vote yes, no, or abstain you would click on the button if you believe the category belonged in this section of the Website. It's one option for an issue that will likely come up more and more as the site grows.

So.....Any opinions on this topic out there?

70,000 Waymarks

Did anyone notice that Waymarking.com hit 70,000 waymarks today? That's 20,000 waymarks since July 1st when Bootron noted the 50,000 mark. The site seems to have hit its stride and I've been happy to see new active waymarkers, both posting waymarks and joining in on the forums. Just wanted to announce that good news. When I have more time in the next couple of days I'll post my thoughts about the recent town meeting that Groundspeak led. Happy Waymarking!

Unlucky 7

Today I had decided that I was going to do some armchair waymarking - you know, categories like Lucky 7 and Waytours where your waymark is actually a collection of other waymarks. Anyhow, I put together a couple of Lucky 7 waymarks and was in the middle of posting one when I accidently hit backspace. GONE! All that work was gone. I was going over the top too. I had added tons of html - links, photos, you name it - along with a description of each of the waymarks listed as part of the Lucky 7.

Now one would think that this loss taught me a lesson and instead of starting over I opened up MS Word and first typed the waymark information up there. But no, I did indeed start retyping the waymark into the submission form. This time I had completed the whole waymark. It was beautiful other than one typo that I caught, so I hit backspace to jump into that section and correct the mistake and @#$%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You guessed it. Gone. All gone.

At first I had to grip the edge of the table to keep myself from tossing my laptop across the room. Then I decided to be more constructive and to write this post with a plea to Groundspeak. It would be so nice if the site autosaved the submission page as posters filled in the info. For simple waymarks this doesn't matter, but for the more entailed waymarks like the history categories or some of the games this would be so helpful. Even now as I type Blogger is saving this post in the off chance the power goes out or I do something stupid. If an autosave feature is asking for too much, what about a window that opens when you try to navigate away from the form and warns you that you will lose your work if you continue. It could say something like - "Hey, BOZO! Yeah, you! Do you realize that by leaving this page you will lose all of this information that you've typed in?!" - or something to that effect. I know that you guys get requests about new functions for the website all of the time, but the painful loss is fresh in my mind so I decide to beg while I can still visualize that fresh, totally empty screen in my mind. Please, help this poor fool and save me from further loss!

The above photo is of a glass installation by Dale Chihuly at Union Station in Tacoma, Washington. The piece, entitled Monarch Window, is waymarked in the "Abstract Public Sculpture" category and is one of the waymarks that I plan on using in my new "Union Station's Lucky 7" waymark when I calm down enough to post it.

Let's see the visit logs!

Much talk has gone back and forth in the forums about how to entice people to visit existing waymarks, but people haven't really been talking about how the visit logs are used. Isn't that what they are for? Leaving information for people who might want to visit in the future? And yet how often do you come across an interesting waymark and actually read the visit logs? I almost never do, and yet it's not because I'm not interested in them. I just never think about them because they're hidden there at the bottom of the page and I have to click the link to read each log. It's tedious and it doesn't need to be.

I've always wondered why it is that the waymark logs aren't handled similarly to geocaching logs. It would be so great if the last 3 or 4 logs showed at the bottom with a link you could click to see them all. If logging waymarks is to become an integral part of the hobby of waymarking, they need to have a little more emphasis on the page. If it's likely that no one other than the original waymark poster will see the log, then I'm not going to spend as much energy as if it's going to be sitting there at the bottom of the page for all to see. Also, if the databases for the categories are going to be used as a referral system for things like restaurants and hotels, as some have suggested, then what a visitor thought about a spot is as important as the waymark itself.

It would be a simple change, one that might change the community's perspective on how worthwhile a waymark visit is. If a visit log is just to give the original waymark poster a pat on the back, I can't see that logging visits will ever catch on, gps photo or not.