Replace hidden date by publish date for "not found caches" tool

Question

The "not found caches" tool provides a list of caches without FTF together with some basic information including the hidden date.
My feature request is to replace the hidden date by the publish date, since this would allow the user to really see how long the cache is published.

Comments

I must admit, I've never seen the point of the "hidden" date. This is set by default to the date when the cache listing was first created, which may be different to the date when the cache is actually placed. Personally when I have a cache published, I edit it so that the hidden date is the publication date - I happen to believe that is what people actually want to know anyway.

Of course this doesn't apply to events.

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I agree HiddenDate is pointless. As far as I am concerned, geocaching can remove it (keep it in the API and GPX if it is in there, in case some app uses it, just make it equal to PublishDate)

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[quote]HiddenDate is pointless[/Quote]

Well this "term" is used by a few Unknown caches - but yes, normally it's pointless :)

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The publish log does not exist in the database for caches before 2005. (I am not sure on the date.)

Also for a cache that has been published archived and republished, which publish date is right?  On republish it is supposed to meet the newer rules so this matters to folks especially for puzzles.

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Since I'm just talking about caches without FTF, caches published before 2005 should not be a problem (it's ok to use the hidden date in this case). Caches that get republished should use the most recent publish log (they should appear as new caches on the list).

The idea of the feature request is that newly published caches appear on the top of the list, so you can identify them directly. Furthermore, you want to know whether a cache was published today or like three days ago (which might indicate a difficult/interesting mystery cache).

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HiddenDate is not pointless, it is meant to be the time at which you as a cache owner went out and placed the physical container. There is a difference between that and published date in two scenarios:

1) Events. It is common (in Denmark, anyway) to release new caches at the event. Sometimes those caches aren't published until later. This gives the attendees at the event a head-start for FTF.
2) Blind caching. If you by chance stumble across an unpublished cache, you are allowed to write in its logbook. I have done so a number of times. A log is then justified.

The sanity check here is that you should not be able to find the cache before it has been even hidden (because there is no cache to be found) but you _can_ find a cache after it is hidden but before it is published.