Why I miss the old Connect (a gamer's confession )

[CaptainHook]

I used to think regularly about new topics that I could bring up to this platform. I used to have a habit to document and review every new place I visited. I used to open the Connect and see the random posts that appeared before logging in to learn new things or to share knowlege. And why?

Because I liked to see my level rise so I knew I improved the maps. I liked to see the number of likes rise so I knew I posted something worthy. And I liked to see the number of solution rise so I knew I was helping people. And I liked to compare myself with the crowd on the badges page, that was the catalyser of my motivation. I guess that makes me a gamer.

Perhaps it's silly but I miss the old Connect because all those things have become impossible or so much harder. I understand the idea behind the removal of the gamification elements - the junk was sometimes annoying but there were definitely mechanisms to handle it.

Like this, Connect has become much more serious but it lost some of its atractivity and specificity. It's now a platform for users of one product (maps) that doesn't differ much from others (from my point of view). You have my respect if you keep on contribiting the same as before - I probably won't.

I'm afraid I'll be posting reviews rather on sector specific sites, photos on instagram, go to area specific forums to satisfy my curiosity and discuss general ideas on facebook. It's not a break up but my relationship with Connect has become open. Am I bad? 

[JanVanHaver]

I agree @CaptainHook that some of the no doubt well intended changes have a very high baby/bathwater level.

[aka_Rὁn]

@CaptainHook

It is refreshing to see things from a totally different perspective and although I agree with you on the details your classification of Connect 2.0 as "more serious" astonished me somewhat because the Trendy Wendy lifestyle mag interface seems to have relegated the more important bread-and-butter issues to the backalley.

Now there seems to be absolutely nowhere  to get the kinds of answers we need as you can see from the way that moderators immediately point us to the "submit feedback" link now as if that did anything ...

Some Local Guides have been waiting for over 3 months for any kind of support and so in many ways the system is no longer fit for purpose if one has serious concerns.

The other typical response is to tell Local Guides to use that landfill area known as the "Ideas Exchange" where good suggestions are rapidly buried under so many others and only the most popular ones remain visible or accessible.

Some Local Guides have already discovered that they cannot find the ideas they posted weeks ago even after searching back through the threads.

What a mess, eh ?

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[aka_Rὁn]

for the benefit of those not familiar with the phrase, @JanVanHaver's comment about the "high baby/bathwater level" is a reference to "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" which is probably aj expression which is unknown across the pond and in other parts of the English-speaking world.

Oh Mein Gott ! 

This turns out to be of German origin and I always thought it was BritSpeak !

Baby and Bathwater Expression on Wikipedia

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[JanVanHaver]

It's weird @aka_Rὁn how sometimes expressions are exactly the same in English and German, sometimes different in details and sometimes completely different.

That is one of the discoveries I made when I decided to set up a blog with expressions in German (as part of my effort to learn the language)

[aka_Rὁn]

@JanVanHaver

I have just given it an initial read-through and found it most enjoyable and have bookmarked it for further reference since it could come in handy in future.

Now you can add "das Kind mit dem Bade ausschütten " to your list !

Etymology has always been an avid interest of mine and it extends to colloquial expressions (ancient and modern).

Will you ever be allowed to post your "Best Practice" series on Connect 2.0 again ?

I have followed your wise advice re: adding only the required fields when "adding a missing place" and it has worked in over 90% of the cases and where it didn't has revealed problems with Street Wise and Google Maps data that needs to be fixed.

The "official" advice - when followed - was leading to automatic "NOT APPLIED" responses and so the unwritten rulebook which some of the moderators tend to throw at us is almost entirely irrelevant to the real world.

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[JanVanHaver]

Sure @aka_Rὁn I will make sure Best Practice posts are posted in Connect 2.0 (reworked older ones and some brand new ones). Simply did not find the time yet.

[aka_Rὁn]

@JanVanHaver

The big question is where - and under what heading - your will be allowed to post it on Disconnect 2.0 ...

😉

By the way, your blog quotation by Yuval Noah Harari reminds me of a similar one by the anthropologist Dr. Margaret Mead which is now (erroneously) being disputed even though I heard her voice the same words myself when she visited our university when I was  studying anthropology and ancient history.

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[ChristyFromCanada]

No, you're not bad! You are courageous! I "dropped out for awhile. I was having so much fun learning about and using the old connect. That was back in July and August and I made level 5 and I don't play video games! The new connect came whether I wanted it or not and so I tried, but I "felt" very alone. As if I am working in a kind of vaccum and I feel guilty because I am a very loyal person who does not like skipping randomly all over the place. I want to map, and I found problems where people in my area had used streetmaps to apply final locations for businesses and I fixed quite a rew but now that I have been absent for a few months, and I came back and found that about half my corrections were addressed, but a certain drugstore is still in the middle of the street! Yes, I feel as you do.

Sadly I didn't make much of a difference and I never did connect with any localguides in my own area. Don't know why. I have connected with people in Ireland, Australia, Iran, India and Malasia