>But the likelihood of this is slim. Grounded Inc has made one >concession >in agreeing to give cache submitters a checkbox to indicate >that they want >their cache to be available for other sites to use, for >example, in >Buxley's maps. For various reasons, I expect only a >minority of caches >will ever be released by Grounded Inc in this way.
it should be noted that a great number of people have expressed(in the forums and such) that they would like their caches to _only_ be listed on geocaching.com
ie many people would probably not want to post their cache info to a public database bcuase they dont like the idea that they can't forsee where it will wind up/what people will do with it. many people are especially annoyed at the prospect of commercial venture using them. this all kinda jives with the reasons jeremy claimed he was trying to protect, or whatnot, cache info from "data mining" or whatever...i.e. his assertions for doing so are not without merit, especially since _many_ people have expressed that they do not want their cache info as public...others who do, are free to do so/post them elsewhere at this point...
for a public database to work/attact people i think there would need to be some guidelines/caveats concerning what the cache info can be used for, which really makes things more complicated. who would bother to enforce those guidelines anyway.
i think the only way to set up an "alternative" at this point is to do just that, create a url, so people know what you are going to do with the info. perhaps people wil lsubmit caches there as well..but yeah, its redundant and make things out of date/sync. so i dunno...
my main point is that it really doesnt have as much to do with info being "released" by geocaching.com, like you claim, as it has to do with the desire to have one's caches posted somewhere else, which is lacking at this point..the checkbox is most likely an action that was requested by many people-jeremy would get much grief if people suddenly found their caches listed elsewhere, so he's giving them an option...if you all feel strongly enough about this, i suggest you make the alternative database very attractive somehow...
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